Cubs add Andres Santiago, Taylor Teagarden, Jorge de Leon

By David Miniel | Jan 10, 2015

With players reporting to camp in a little over a month, the Chicago Cubs have added some depth by agreeing on multiple minor league contracts early this morning.

The first player signed today was right handed pitcher Andres Santiago according to Baseball America’s own Matt Eddy on Twitter. Santiago, 25, was drafted by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 16th round during the 2007 MLB where he spent his first four seasons playing in both the Gulf Coast League and Arizona League.

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On Aug. 28 of last year, Santiago pitched a no-hitter against his new team, the Tennessee Smokies as a member of the Chattanooga Lookouts. He finished the 2014 campaign with a record of 6-8, 4.47 ERA, 98/53 K/BB with a 1.43 WHIP through 129 innings of work at the Double-A level.

Shortly after signing a starting pitcher to a minor league contract, the Cubs brought in another reliever who is hoping to crack the big league scene once again.

Former Houston Astros reliever Jorge De Leon was originally playing shortstop but later converted to pitching during the 2010 season. The young Dominican born righty made 23 appearances with the Short-Season A Tri-City ValleyCats that season and finished with a 2-1 record on top of a 0.64 ERA.

He was later released by Houston only to be picked up by Billy Beane‘s Oakland Athletics on Oct. 9., where his stay didn’t last long. Jorge was on the move yet again after the Athletics designated him for assignment just a month after claiming him off waivers.

There’s a solid chance he’ll work out of the bullpen for the Triple-A affiliate, unless he’s able to show new manager Joe Maddon that he’s ready to get things done with the major league Cubs.

Now with the Theo Epstein and Jed Hoyer trading for Miguel Montero then bringing in David Ross, everyone’s expecting Welington Castillo to be dealt sometime in the near future. The Cubs lost Eli Whiteside and John Baker during the off-season, so they went out and found themselves another veteran to help even things out in case things get out of hand.

Taylor Teagarden, 31, was a member of the 2005 Texas Longhorns NCAA Championship team and was drafted by the Texas Rangers that same year. A little interesting note, Teagarden’s first major league home run came against former Cubs’ starter Scott Baker when he was a member of the Minnesota Twins back in 2008.

Since then, Teagarden spent two years with the Baltimore Orioles before landing with the New York Mets last season. He currently owns a career .202/.262/.382 clip with 21 career home runs, 68 RBIs, 37 walks, 26 doubles and 100 hits behind 495 at-bats.

Teagarden only played in nine games with the Mets in 2014, his last against the Miami Marlins where he went 0-4. The veteran out of Dallas, Texas will more than likely begin the year with the Triple-A Iowa Cubs, seeing as they only have one catcher on the roster in Lance Rymel.

Next: Mark Grudzielanek Named Cougars Manager

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