Cubs Add Workhorse Lefty Reliever Hoby Milner

If we’ve learned one thing about Jed Hoyer’s pitching preferences, it’s that he’ll take funky outlier qualities over velocity every day of the week and twice on Sunday. That is certainly the case with veteran lefty reliever Hoby Milner, who makes up for a fastball that could barely activate a flux capacitor with a sidearm delivery that leverages extreme angles for major east-west pitch shapes.

This signing, first reported by Bleacher Nation’s Michael Cerami, gives the Cubs a lefty specialist who can be deployed situationally to take advantage of his extreme splits. Milner has limited left-handed batters to a .221/.269/.339 slash over parts of nine big league seasons, and he held them to a .208/.226/.300 line with the Rangers last season. That came over a career-high 73 outings, giving Milner 274 appearances over the last four seasons.

Though his fastball didn’t quite average 88 mph last season, Milner relies far more on his sinker and sweeper. Even his changeup sees more usage than his warmer as he leans into that low slot to keep the ball on the ground with most of his pitches landing armside and low. The sweeper actually finds the heart of the zone very frequently, though coming from the batter’s hip creates enough deception to keep it from being hit hard in the air too often.

This is a one-year deal for $3.75 million, so the risk is relatively low for a guy who figures to work mainly in the middle innings unless there are several big lefties coming up late. No corresponding move was necessary because the Cubs still have plenty of room left on the 40-man roster. Moves like this are necessary when it comes to filling out a bullpen, so Milner doesn’t in any way preclude the Cubs from doing bigger deals in the days and weeks to come.

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