Cubs to sign Jake Marisnick

9:12 am: Marisnick and the Cubs have agreed to a one-year deal with the Major League with a mutual option for the 2022 season, tweets Jon Heyman of MLB Network. The contract guarantees Marisnick $ 1.5 million. USA Today’s Bob Nightengale tweets that the guarantee will be paid in the form of a salary of $ 1M in 2021 and a buyout of $ 500K on a mutual option of $ 4M. He can earn an additional $ 500,000 in 2021 via incentives, Heyman add.

8:15 am: The Cubs and the free agent outfielder Jake Marisnick agree to a contract, reports Jon Morosi of MLB.com (via Twitter). Marisnick is represented by Reynolds Sports Management.

Marisnick, 30 in March, has spent most of his career with the Astros but was with the Mets in 2020. A pair of hamstring injuries limited the floating foot outfielder to just 16 games, although Marisnick has been quite productive in his small sample of 34 home plate appearances, hitting .333 / .353 / .604 with one pair of homers and three doubles.

This level of production, of course, should not be expected in the future. Marisnick has been an below par hitter for most of his time in the Majors, although he made up for that under par with well above par speed and a great glove. Over the past four years he’s been a .234 / .297 / .441 hitter overall, although he’s done better against the left pitch (.247 / .313 / .443).

Marisnick’s speed was down a bit in 2020, although the pair of hamstring strains surely contributed to that fact. Statcast measured its sprinting speed at 29.2 feet per second from 2016 to 19, but reduced it to 28.2 last year. It still ranks in the 84th percentile of MLB players, however, and Marisnick typically sits in the 94th percentile or better with these wheels. He also ranked among the game’s top 20 forwards in Statcast’s Outs Above Average each year from 2016-19, and he was rated as a similar elite defender by Defensive Runs Saved and Ultimate Zone Rating.

Cubs already had an option for right-handed peloton with another newcomer Pederson game and right fielder Jason heyward in the form of Phil ervin, so it’s possible that Marisnick will kick him out of the plans. Ervin is a much better hitter against lefties than Marisnick but doesn’t stack as well defensively. Chicago could certainly carry both players on the roster and more aggressively use a squad setup in the outfield. At the time of Pederson’s signing, it was reported that he would be receiving beatings almost every day, although playing him against lefties would dampen much of his value.

Either way, the Cubs are a much better defensive team now with Marisnick on board. Funny enough, they’ve also now actually traded their fourth shooter with the Mets as well. Albert Almora Jr., not offered by the Cubs earlier this winter, signed with New York last week.