Pair of recently DFAd veterans could be Jed Hoyer's next reclamation project

Given the sheer volume of pitching injuries sustained in the first five or so weeks of the season, the Chicago Cubs have no choice but to continually explore ways of bringing in fresh arms - and, sometimes, that means picking pieces up off the proverbial scrap heap.

On Tuesday, a pair of potential options were designated by assignment by their respective clubs. The Atlanta Braves DFAd 17-year big-league veteran Carlos Carrasco, while another NL east team, the Miami Marlins, cut bait on right-hander Chris Paddack, who signed a one-year, $4 million deal with the Fish this winter.

Given Carrasco is pushing 40 years old and hasn't even come close to being a league-average pitched since 2022, I'd say the chances of A) the Cubs bringing him into the mix and B) him delivering anything close to real value are slim. Since the start of the 2023 campaign, Carrasco has pitched 241 2/3 innings of 6.29 ERA ball, allowing more than 10 hits per nine.

It's been nearly a decade since his best season - a fourth-place finish in AL Cy Young voting in 2017 with the then-Cleveland Indians. That year, he led the league with 18 wins, firing 200 innings and posting a 3.29 ERA. He's had a long, productive career, but I don't see the fit with Chicago, especially after taking a look at his Baseball Savant page from last year.

Chris Paddack looks like the perfect Cubs' buy-low candidate

Paddack, however, is a different story. Armed with a six-pitch arsenal, the right-hander could be a perfect bounceback candidate if he gets in the lab with Tommy Hottovy and co. He's posted a strong chase rate this season, despite a complete lack of results. I think he could fit as a swing man, more than a rotation piece at this point, which would actually make a potential fit in Chicago even stronger.

The Cubs are still without several of their top projected relievers and will be looking to stockpile flexible depth. Paddack would cost just the pro-rated portion of the league minimum and, frankly, looking at some of the alternatives both inside and outside the organization, the team doesn't have much to lose by bringing someone like this into the mix.

Just 30 years old, injuries have been a factor in recent years but, again, if you're only on the hook for next to nothing financially speaking, the risk is basically non-existent. This is a name to keep an eye on as the Cubs continue to scour the market for pitching depth.

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