Cubs Roster Moves: Carlos González Promoted to Chicago, Jim Adduci DFA’d
As first reported earlier today, the Cubs have indeed selected the contract of veteran outfielder Carlos González a few days after inking him to a minor-league deal. The 33-year-old will wear jersey number 2 as he starts in right and bats fifth for the Cubs Monday afternoon.
Here’s more from the Cubs’ press release:
González, 33, is a three-time National League All-Star (2012-13, 2016), three-time Gold Glove Award Winner (2010, 2012-13), two-time Silver Slugger (2010, 2015) and 2010 N.L. batting champion during his 12-year major league career with the Oakland Athletics (2008), Colorado Rockies (2009-18) and Cleveland Indians (2019). Overall, González is a career .285 hitter (1,425-for-4,993) with 300 doubles, 233 home runs, 782 RBI and 122 stolen bases in 1,362 major league games. He has a career .343 on-base percentage and .502 slugging, good for an .845 OPS.
Prior to 2019, González spent the last 10 seasons with the Rockies and departed Colorado among the franchise leaders in many categories, including games played (2nd, 1,247), doubles (3rd, 277), home runs (4th, 227) and RBI (4th, 749). He signed with Cleveland in March of this year and batted .210 (22-for-105) with two homers and seven RBI in 30 games before being designated for assignment on May 22. González signed a minor league contract with the Cubs last Saturday and went 2-for-8 with a solo homer in two games with Iowa prior to being selected today.
González broke into the big leagues with Oakland in 2008 before being traded to Colorado the following offseason. He won the 2010 N.L. batting title after hitting .336 (197-for-587) with 34 homers and 117 RBI to finish third in MVP voting. He earned his first of two-straight All-Star nods in 2012 and set a career high with 40 homers in 2015.
González earned his most-recent All-Star nod in 2016 when he batted .298 (174-for-584) with a career-high 42 doubles, 25 homers and 100 RBI in 150 games. Injuries limited him to 136 games in 2017 and 132 games in 2018.
Because he was not on a major-league deal, the Cubs had to make room on the 40-man roster by designating the 34-year-old Jim Adduci for assignment. He hit .261 (35-for-134) with eight doubles, seven homers and 29 RBI in 41 games with Triple-A Iowa this season and was 0-for-5 with the Cubs.