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The Taking of Pelham Easy As 1-2-3
The Cubs have claimed LHRP Christian Devont'a (C. D.) Pelham off waivers from the Texas Rangers.
The 24 year old 6'6 235 lefty was a 33rd round draft pick of the Texas Rangers out of Spartanburg Methodist JC ($40,000 bonus) in 2015 (he was also selected in the 25th round of the 2014 draft by the Milwaukee Brewers but did not sign).
Pelham features a mid-90's (T-98) CT FB and a power slider, but has had control issues throughout his career (kind of like another big lefty reliever the Cubs acquired a few months ago, Brad Wieck), especially in 2019 (40 BB in 32.1 IP split between AA and AAA).
Pelham was rated one of the Rangers Top 15 prospects by Baseball America post-2018 and he pitched in the Futures Game in July of that year.
Pelham has no off-season roster restrictions so he can be placed back onto waivers by the Cubs and outrighted to AAA if he were to clear waivers.
Note that beginning in 2019, a club must wait a minimum of seven days before it can place a player who was claimed off waivers during the off-season (defined as beginning the day after the conclusion of the MLB regular season and extending up until the first day of Spring Training) back onto waivers again, so the earliest the Cubs can place Pelham back onto waivers (if they choose to do so) is next Wednesday (12/4), and if he is placed back onto waivers next Wednesday the earliest he would clear the waiver wire is a week from Friday (12/6).
If Pelham were to be outrighted prior to the Rule 5 Draft he would be eligible for selection, but if Pelham makes it through waivers without being claimed ($50,000 waiver price with no roster restrictions), you can be fairly certain that he won't be selected in the Rule 5 Draft a week later ($100,000 draft price with roster restrictions).
Pelham has two minor league options left and he cannot reject an outright assignment to the minors because he has not been outrighted previously in his career and he has not yet accrued three years of MLB Service Time, and if outrighted he would not be eligible to be a minor league free-agent until post-2021.
With the addition of Pelham the Cubs MLB Reserve List (40-man roster) now stands at 38 (two slots are open).
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