Cubs disaster Trey Mancini gets another chance with the Marlins

As part of Jed Hoyer's multi-layered attempt to address the Cubs' first base situation last winter, the team brought in veteran Trey Mancini on a two-year, $14 million deal. To say that marriage ended poorly is an understatement, as Chicago designated him for assignment at the deadline last summer to make room for Jeimer Candelario.

Now, with the veteran agreeing to a minor league deal with the Miami Marlins, the soon-to-be 32-year-old will try to turn things around. He'll be in big league camp with the club as a non-roster invitee and, frankly, the Fish have nothing to lose here. If he manages a strong showing in the spring and winds up making the team, they'll only be on the hook for the big league minimum, with the Cubs paying out the rest of the $7 million he's due in 2024.

Trey Mancini has really struggled since leaving the Baltimore Orioles

In his brief stint in Chicago, Mancini turned in one of the worst offensive performances of his career, batting .204/.280/.335 - which was pretty on-par with what he did down the stretch the year prior, after the Orioles sent the fan favorite to Houston in a trade deadline move. He scuffled badly with the Astros and never seemed comfortable outside of Baltimore.

In six years with the O's, Mancini was a solidly above-average player - and his monster 2019 campaign helped him gain a ton of national attention: 35 homers, 38 doubles and a career-high 134 OPS+. Of course, that very next year, he missed the entire season while battling colon cancer and his triumphant return to the field in 2021 earned him AL Comeback Player of the Year honors.

There are few nicer guys in the game than Mancini. So, while his Cubs tenure didn't pan out the way anyone had hoped, I'd love to see him land on his feet in Miami and get a few more years out of his career before he has to hang them up.