Cubs Claim Lefty Reliever off Waivers
The Cubs have claimed 26-year old LHRP Jerry Vasto off waivers from the Kansas City Royals. Vasto was acquired by KC from COL for C Drew Butera in a trade on 8/31.
Vasto was the 24th round pick of the Rockies in the 2014 draft out of D-2 Felician College in New Jersey. The 6'2 175 southpaw combines a 92-94 MPH FB with an 84-87 MPH slider that has allowed him to rack-up some impressive strikeout totals (and a lot of walks, too) in the minors, where he has worked exclusively out of the bullpen since signing in 2014 (he was a closer at AA in 2016).
He made his MLB debut this past season on June 10th and rode the Albuquerque - Denver shuttle for a couple of months before getting traded to the Royals.
With the addition of Vasto, the Cubs MLB Reserve List (40-man roster) now stands at 35 (five slots are open), although the open slots won't stay open much longer because the five Cubs on the MLB 60-day DL (RHP Yu Darvish, RHP Justin Hancock, RHP Brandon Morrow, LHP Drew Smyly, and OF Mark Zagunis) must be reinstated no later than 5 PM (Eastern) on Friday.
Now that they have been awarded the claim, the Cubs might try and outright Vasto themselves. The fact that he got all the way to the Cubs without being claimed by another club (the Cubs have the #25 waiver claim priority) means they would have a pretty good chance of getting him through waivers if they put him back on the wire right away. And there are no off-season restrictions on outrighting him, either (he cannot elect free-agency if outrighted, he doesn't have enough minor league service time to be a Rule 55 minor league 6YFA, and he does not have Draft-Excluded status).
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