Cubs Sign Former Indians Closer Cody Allen to Minors Deal

In need of all the help they can get in the bullpen, the Cubs have signed 31-year-old righty Cody Allen to a minor league deal. That name should sound familiar to Cubs fans because Allen was the Indians’ closer for several years and pitched in the 2016 World Series. Unlike former and possibly future teammate Jason Kipnis, however, he does not hail from Northbrook.

Cubs have signed Cody Allen to a minor league deal and he will report to South Bend.

Allen has 153 career saves and was the closer for the Indians in that 2016 season.

— Tony Andracki (@TonyAndracki23) July 31, 2020

Allen was a stud reliever since coming up in 2012, averaging 71.5 appearances per season from 2013-18, but he started to falter in 2018 and then completely lost the ability to throw strikes consistently last year with the Angels. Hey, he sounds like a great fit for the Cubs already. His velocity has dropped off a couple ticks and is only sitting around 93, which, along with the lack of control, led to his fastball being entirely unreliable.

The Rangers released Allen last week and there’s not much from the past two seasons to indicate there’s much for the Cubs to reclaim, though Allen still posted around 11 K/9 in that time. This is a no-risk move that might end up helping David Ross find his sea legs with the bullpen, so it’s hard to be critical of it right now.

The Cubs’ 60-man player pool is now at 58.