I’ve had a draft saved for a little over a week now entitled, “The Cubs Should Go Ahead and Sign Josh Rojas.” Thanks to the holidays and travel, it was in that group of posts that I’ll get too eventually.
Well, the Cubs have forced my hand:
The Cubs are among the teams showing serious interest in INF Josh Rojas, per source. Rojas had a 2.2 bWAR in 142 games for the Mariners last season, starting 106 games at 3B. He has started mostly at 2B and 3B during his career, but can also play SS and both corner OF spots.
— Mark Feinsand (@Feinsand) December 30, 2024As Mark Feinsand reports, the Cubs are among the teams looking at utility man Josh Rojas in free agency. And the reason I had the draft saved is because the fit is just so obvious: Rojas is a lefty-batting utility man who can play well enough at all the infield spots, and played exceptional defense just last year at third base. So he checks two big boxes for the Cubs all in one player: lefty-hitting utility infielder, and also a guy who can hold down third base for a bit if the Cubs need to buy more time for Matt Shaw (or if he’s filling in at second base for Nico Hoerner as he recovers).
Rojas, 31, hasn’t ever been a “great” player necessarily, but he’s consistently been close to an average overall starter while moving all around, and registers as a very good bench guy (FanGraphs):
All the better: Rojas hit .240/.318/.370/104 wRC+ against righties last year, and .250/.325/.373/95 wRC+ for his career. A versatile infield glove who can be a league-average bat against righties? Get that guy on your bench!
Here’s where I speculate about the timing of this report and the recent Vidal Brujan trade. Today, I was scratching my head on the Brujan fit, right? Well, here’s a funny thing: having Brujan in the door, albeit as a clearly imperfect fit, does give the Cubs a little extra cover if they were pursuing Rojas. Now, they have a tiny bit more leverage in the form of “it’s ok if we can’t sign you, because Brujan is a cheaper less-good version of you.” The timing, to me, is not coincidental. It may not be the PRIMARY reason the Cubs went out and got Brujan, but if the Cubs knew they wanted Rojas and were having trouble sealing the deal, they might get Brujan as a back-up plan/leverage.
The Cubs have a ton of utility infield options on the 40-man – Brujan, Miles Mastrobuoni, Ben Cowles, Gage Workman, and Luis Vazquez – but none offer exactly the combination of skills/value/projection that Rojas does.
Rojas, who was non-tendered by the Mariners, was projected for a $4.3 million salary in 2025. I can see why the Mariners would’ve let him go at that price level, but he’s probably looking for a deal pretty close to that range, and the Cubs are probably looking at something decently south of it. That might be the dance, together with other teams having interest, too.
Which brings me to the other obligatory note in these situations: if there are indeed multiple teams in on Rojas, then it’s always possible that this is a purposeful leak designed to put pressure not on Rojas, but on some other interested team. (“Watch out, the Cubs are serious on him, you better act quickly!“)
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