9:12: Marisnick and the Cubs agreed to a one-year contract with the Major League with a mutual option for the 2022 season, tweets Jon Heyman of MLB Network. The contract guarantees Marisnick $ 1.5 million. USA Today’s Bob Nightengale tweets that the guarantee will be paid in the form of a salary of $ 1 million in 2021 and a purchase of $ 500 thousand in a mutual option of $ 4 million. He can earn another $ 500,000 in 2021 through incentives, Heyman he adds.
8:15 am: The Cubs and the free agent outfielder Jake Marisnick agree on a contract, reports Jon Morosi of MLB.com (via Twitter) Marisnick is represented by Reynolds Sports Management.
Marisnick, 30 in March, spent most of his career with the Astros, but was with the Mets in 2020. A pair of hamstring injuries limited the fast outfielder to just 16 games, although Marisnick was quite productive in his small sample of 34 plate appearances, reaching .333 / .353 / .604 with a pair of homers and three pairs.
This level of production, of course, is not to be expected in the future. Marisnick was a sub-average hitter for most of his time in the Majors, although he compensated for that sub-average bat with well above-average speed and excellent gloves. For the past four years, he has been a .234 / .297 / .441 hitter overall, although he did better with his left hand shot (.247 / .313 / .443).
Marisnick’s speed dropped slightly in 2020, although the pair of hamstring strains certainly contributed to this fact. Statcast measured its sprint speed at 29.2 feet per second from 2016-19, but dropped to 28.2 last year. This is still ranked in the 84th percentile of MLB players, however, and Marisnick is usually in the 94th percentile or better with these wheels. He also ranked among the top 20 outfielders in the game on Statcast’s Outs Above Average each year from 2016-19, and he was seen as a similar elite defender by Defensive Runs Saved and Ultimate Zone Rating.
The Cubs already had an option to hit the platoon with the right hand with other newcomers Joc Pederson and right defender Jason Heyward in the shape of Phil Ervin, then it is possible that Marisnick takes him out of the plans. Ervin is a much better hitter against left-handers than Marisnick, but he doesn’t do so well defensively. Chicago could certainly take both players into the squad and use a platoon configuration more aggressively on the field. At the time of Pederson’s hiring, it was reported that he would receive blows almost every day, although playing against left-handers greatly diminished his value.
In any case, the Cubs are a much better defensive team now with Marisnick on board. In a rather amusing way, they also now traded four outfielders for Mets. Albert almora Jr., not hired by the Cubs in the early winter, signed to New York last week.