Cubs Have Agreed to Deal with Daniel Descalso
***Update***
Ken Rosenthal has reported that the deal is for $5 million guaranteed over two years with a $3.5 million club option for 2021 that includes a $1 million buyout. With performance bonuses, the deal could reach a max of $8.25 million.
Sources: Descalso deal with #Cubs is two years, $5M with a club option fo 2021.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) December 18, 2018
Option for 2021 in Descalso’s contract with #Cubs is worth $3.5M. Team can also buy him out for $1M. Potential overall value, with performance bonuses, is $8.25M. Descalso gets a 49.25 percent increase over the $1.675 AAV in his previous two-year deal with #DBacks.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) December 18, 2018
Jon Heyman followed up with more specifics of the deal, which pays $1.5 million in 2019 and $2.5 million in 2020, with the option/buyout in 2021. Descalso will earn an additional $50,000 for reaching 425, 450, and 475 plate appearances, then another $100,000 for reaching 500.
Daniel Descalso: 1.5M in 2019, 2.5M in 2020, 3.5M club option in 2021 ( 1M buyout). 50K 425, 450, 475 plate appearances, 100K 500 plate appearances. #cubs
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) December 18, 2018
If you’re keeping score at home, that’s a max of $250,000 per season. Added to the possible $7.5 million (remember it’s either the buyout or the $3.5M salary), we get the $8.25 million Rosenthal mentioned.
According to Jon Heyman of Fancred, the Cubs have reached a deal with free-agent infielder Daniel Descalso. This has been a possibility for the last few days, as Ken Rosenthal tweeted about the Cubs’ interest this past Friday. No terms have been made public as of post time, though USA Today’s Bob Nightengale had said competition from the Cardinals for their former player could make the pursuit too rich for the Cubs’ blood.
Descalso and Cubs have a deal. Nice pickup. Yet another player with versatility for their roster, which is full of them.
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) December 18, 2018
We took a more in-depth look at Descalso in an earlier piece, so you can review that for some of the specifics. Suffice to say, he’s a 32-year-old utility infielder coming off of a career-best 1.6 fWAR season that elevated his career total to 2.2 fWAR. He’s versatile defensively, though metrics don’t a paint a very pretty picture of his aptitude with the glove.
At first blush, Descalso would seem to be a replacement for Tommy La Stella, but he figures to be significantly more expensive and might need more plate appearances. While La Stella averaged around 170 PAs over the last three seasons, Descalso’s averaged north of 400 in two health seasons with the Diamondbacks. As such, this seems to indicate some other changes with the roster.
Exactly what those are remains to be seen, but it’s something to monitor as the winter continues. Hot stove is lit!