After placing both Seth Frankoff and Jacob Hannemann on waivers, the Chicago Cubs saw the Seattle Mariners place claims on both players this weekend.
This time of year, rosters rotate on a semi-daily basis – even over holiday weekends. As fans celebrated Labor Day, the Seattle Mariners claimed two players from the Chicago Cubs.
First, Jerry Dipoti’s ballclub claimed outfielder Jacob Hannemann – a solid all-around athlete. A former third-round pick of the Cubs, Hannemann batted .265/.324/.404 with Triple-A Iowa this year. A dreadful stretch with Double-A Tennessee dampened his overall line, but he fits the Mariners’ MO.
Hannemann will vie for a spot on the Seattle big league roster next spring. It’s hard to imagine him being any type of impact player in Chicago. The Cubs’ outfield situation remains loaded for the foreseeable future and there’s no reason to waste a 40-man spot on a guy who is yet to really put it all together in the minors.
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Meanwhile, Frankoff, just wrapped up his first season in the Cubs’ farm system. The right-hander made 21 starts for Iowa. In 24 total appearances, he pitched to a 4.71 ERA. He also made his big-league debut for Chicago earlier this year – appearing in just one contest.
Again, the right-hander wasn’t likely to impact the big-league club anytime soon. Hard to find too much fault in these moves from the Cubs’ side of things.
Outside of these two pick-ups by the Mariners, the division rival Pittsburgh Pirates also claimed a Cubs player this weekend. Pittsburgh picked up left-hander Jack Leatherisch, who, unlike the other two names mentioned above, has a much higher ceiling.
With Triple-A Iowa this year, the southpaw averaged north of 14 strikeouts per nine. However, control issues continued to plague him. He walked more than five batters per nine innings pitched. That being said, if pitching coach Ray Searage can hone that in, the Bucs may have an impact arm on their hands.
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As rosters expanded here in September, Chicago selected the contracts of infielder Mike Freeman, right-hander Dillon Maples and recalled Victor Caratini and Rob Zastryzny.