Cubs may have just found a sleeper lefty to add to pitching staff

The Chicago Cubs might be able to help broker a career resurgence for a left-handed pitcher.

Some would view Roenis Elias’s MLB career as a massive failure, but there’s a potential pathway toward a career resurgence for the left-handed pitcher that the Chicago Cubs are hoping for.

Chicago just signed Elias to a deal that, barring further details disproving otherwise, will likely be a Spring Training/minor league “prove it” deal for Elias to charter his path back to the MLB.

Cubs are creating a pathway for Roenis Elias to revitalize his big league career

Surveying his existing MLB performances dating back to 2016, fans might think there’s little reason to be excited about this one.

He was a journeyman pitcher that flirted with a 4.0 ERA throughout his career and holds a record of 22-24. He has logged 7.5 strikeouts per nine innings, but with so much movement and a small sample size littering the majority of his stat page with each team, it’s hard to get a precise feel for what Elias is capable of, especially at this stage in his career.

Elias hasn’t pitched in the big leagues since pre-pandemic. All we have to go off of is his apparently impressive performance in the Dominican Winter League and some minor league appearances. in the DR, this season, he’s 4-0 with a 0.92 ERA which inspires hopefulness that a flier is well worth it.

Elias started his career as a starting pitcher but later transitioned to a relief role. As a starter (297.0 innings pitcher) his ERA was 4.15, as a reliever (98.2 innings pitched), 3.38.

As far as where Elias has been since 2019, Bleacher Nation points out that after he was bounced around in 2018 and 2019, the pandemic season happened and then he tore his UCL. Perhaps with the madness of the pandemic and an injury behind him, he’s capable of getting back on track in the Cubs minor league system and eventually coming up for big league play.

Ultimately, it’s a fine move to give the Cubs some options and some hope for what will come out of Iowa next season. This move doesn’t hurt them at all and creates avenues for a potential big-league resurgence for Elias.