Cubs Daily Clips

January 25, 2019 • Chicago Sun-Times, Cubs agree to terms with reliever Brad Brach on $4.35 million deal https://chicago.suntimes.com/sports/cubs-agree-to-terms-with-reliever-brad-brach-reports/ • Daily Herald, Cubs bolster bullpen with righty Brad Brach https://www.dailyherald.com/sports/20190124/cubs-bolster-bullpen-with-righty-brad-brach • The Athletic, Cubs continue to push the envelope in player development with both technology and the human touch https://theathletic.com/784924/2019/01/25/cubs-continue-to-push-the-envelope-in-player- development-with-both-technology-and-the-human-touch/ • The Athletic, How Brad Brach fits into the Cubs’ plans for 2019 https://theathletic.com/784791/2019/01/24/how-brad-brach-fits-into-the-cubs-plans-for-2019/ • The Athletic, ‘I think this is a definitional year in a lot of ways’: Q&A with Theo Epstein on the 2019 Cubs, the state of journalism and kicking FGs https://theathletic.com/784112/2019/01/24/i-think-this-is-a-definitional-year-in-a-lot-of-ways-qa- with-theo-epstein-on-the-2019-cubs-the-state-of-journalism-and-kicking-fgs/ • Cubs.com, Cubs change pitching development philosophy https://www.mlb.com/cubs/news/cubs-plan-to-push-arms-in-pitching-development/c-303109434 • Cubs.com, Sources: Cubs agree with reliever Brach https://www.mlb.com/cubs/news/cubs-agree-with-reliever-brad-brach/c-303101662 • ESPNChicago.com, Cubs, Brad Brach reach one-year deal http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/25841899/chicago-cubs-brad-brach-reach-one-year-deal • NBC Sports Chicago, How Brad Brach's addition changes the shape of the Cubs' bullpen https://www.nbcsports.com/chicago/cubs/how-brad-brachs-addition-changes-shape-cubs-bullpen • NBC Sports Chicago, Cubs finally make an addition to their bullpen, and it's a good one https://www.nbcsports.com/chicago/cubs/cubs-finally-make-addition-their-bullpen-and-its-good- one-strop-brach-morrow • Chicago Tribune, Column: Cubs didn't just add a solid reliever in Brad Brach — they did so at a modest price https://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseball/cubs/ct-spt-cubs-brad-brach-bullpen-20190124- story.html -- Chicago Sun-Times Cubs agree to terms with reliever Brad Brach on $4.35 million deal By Gordon Wittenmyer A slow-moving winter for the Cubs gained some traction Thursday when they added right-hander Brad Brach to their bullpen, helping fill one of the club’s top targeted needs of the offseason. Brach, 32, agreed to a one-year, $4.35 million deal pending a physical, sources confirmed. The deal pays $3 million in 2019, with a mutual option for 2020 that includes a $1.35 million buyout clause. It could grow to a two-year value of $9.5 million if the Cubs exercise their side of the option. The Cubs have waited out the free-agent pitching market and explored trades in an effort to add two proven relievers while managing a payroll budget close to its ceiling. Brach is the first, and insiders suggested nothing was close on a possible second bullpen arm. The 2016 All-Star had a 1.52 ERA in 27 appearances for the Braves after being traded from the Orioles in July. He becomes an important late-inning insurance during the first month of the season with closer Brandon Morrow (elbow) expected to miss time in April. Brach, who turns 33 in April, has a 3.08 ERA in 424 career relief appearances for the Padres, Orioles and Braves, including stretches as the Orioles’ closer in 2017 and 2018, has held right-handers to a .209 average (.639 OPS) during his career. He has averaged 67 appearances with a 2.83 ERA the last four seasons. Brach is the highest-salaried (2019) player added this winter. Infielder Daniel Descalso signed a two- year, $5 million deal last month that pays $1.5 million in 2019. Pitchers and catchers report for spring training Feb. 12. -- Daily Herald Cubs bolster bullpen with righty Brad Brach By Bruce Miles The Cubs led the National League in bullpen ERA last season at 3.35, but there was plenty of unease about the pen heading into the off-season. On Thursday, the Cubs addressed the relief situation by agreeing to terms on a one-year deal with right- hander Brad Brach, according to sources. The free-agent contract is worth a reported $3 million with a mutual option for 2020. The deal will be finalized once Brach passes a physical exam. Brach, 32, pitched for the Baltimore Orioles and the Atlanta Braves last season, compiling a record of 2-4 with a 3.59 ERA with 12 saves and a 1.60 WHIP in 69 games. The 6-foot-6, 215-pounder worked 62⅔ innings, giving up 72 hits while walking 28 and striking out 60. The Orioles traded Brach to Atlanta July 30, and he went on to pitch twice in the division series against the Dodgers. A 42nd-round pick of the San Diego Padres in 2008, Brach came up in 2011 and pitched for the Padres through the 2013 season. He was traded to Baltimore in November 2013. For his career, Brach is 31-23 with a 3.08 ERA, 33 saves and a 1.27 WHIP in 424 games, all in relief. The Cubs' bullpen was beat up late last season, with closer Brandon Morrow missing the post All-Star- break portion of the season with an elbow injury that required a cleanup in the fall. He likely will not be ready to start the 2019 season on the active list. Morrow's replacement, Pedro Strop, hurt his hamstring running out a batted ball in early September and missed the rest of the regular season. -- The Athletic Cubs continue to push the envelope in player development with both technology and the human touch By Sahadev Sharma MESA, Ariz. — Off in the left-field corner of Field 3 on the backfields of the Cubs’ spring training complex is a simple setup. Three Edgertronic cameras are lined up behind three pitchers throwing off flat ground to three catchers. Behind each catcher is a Rapsodo unit. It is all part of the technology that’s helping push player development to another level. While teams like the Houston Astros, Los Angeles Dodgers, Cleveland Indians and New York Yankees get much of the public love in this area, those around baseball suggest the Cubs are also among the organizations pushing the envelope as they try to find every edge in any department. The Edgertronics are high-speed cameras that work at a much higher frame rate, capturing images that otherwise might have been missed, especially in a pitcher’s arm motion. The images aren’t anything out of the ordinary; coaches and players have been digging into video for decades. But now they’re clearer, and even baseball traditionalists can buy into clearer video that shows aspects of mechanics that had never been able to be picked up so visibly. The players are able to see more and understand themselves better. It’s an easy win for player development. Where the images are taken to another level is when they’re combined with Trackman, Statcast or Rapsodo data. As defined on their website, Rapsodo “provides instant data on pitch velocity, spin rate, true spin rate, spin axis, and spin efficiency as well as strike zone analysis, horizontal and vertical break, 3D trajectory, and now release information.” Each bit of data on its own is useful to a degree, but marrying these technologies is what really helps teams learn more about their players. This was possible with older cameras, but the detail with high-frame-rate cameras takes this to another level. It’s particularly useful in analyzing the pitching motion — especially the arm path — given it happens so fast. On an older camera, the arm can go from cocked to finished in one frame, omitting a lot of detail. With the newer technology, the entire arm path is clear, so no piece of information is missed. Working with the pitchers during January instructs, and throughout the spring and into the summer, is minor-league pitching coordinator Brendan Sagara. Sagara was born and raised in Hawaii and as a 5- foot-7 pitcher, he jumped at the first Division I offer he received from the University of Hawaii at Hilo. Following college, Sagara pitched a few years of independent league ball before a labrum injury ended his career. That opened another door as a former manager helped him get into coaching in the independent league. He worked on the same staff as former Cubs assistant hitting coach and current Milwaukee Brewers hitting coach Andy Haines. One season, current Cubs hitting coach Anthony Iapoce was the center fielder for Sagara’s team. Eventually, Sagara got into scouting, working for the Mets and then the Braves, while still keeping his coaching gig. In 2012, he joined the Miami Marlins organization, coaching short-season ball and eventually becoming the assistant minor-league pitching coordinator. After his previous two predecessors, Derek Johnson and Jim Brower, left for major-league jobs, Sagara was named minor- league pitching coordinator for the Cubs prior to the 2018 season. In a little more than a year with the organization, Sagara has impressed even some big leaguers with his knowledge and organization skills. He spent time with the major-league club toward the end of last season and multiple pitchers valued the little tidbits he would share. Sagara is known to have what one pitcher referred to as a pitch-grip index.

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