Cubs Have Signed RHP Kenta Maeda to Minors Deal

As first reported by MLB.com’s Yuki Yamada, the Cubs have signed 37-year-old righty Kenta Maeda to a minor league deal a week after he was released by the Tigers. A former starter for the Dodgers, Twins, and Tigers, Maeda had a 7.88 ERA over seven relief appearances this season for Detroit. His fastball is only sitting around 90 mph, but that was never his calling card.

Rather, Maeda found a great deal of success over his first several seasons behind a filthy slider and wicked splitter. Both of those pitches have fallen off considerably in recent seasons, with both generating negative value over the past two seasons. The Cubs are hoping a change of scenery, and perhaps role, can get Maeda back to a place where he can provide a little depth for the staff.

Yamada reports that Maeda is expected to start on Saturday for the Iowa Cubs in their game against the St. Paul Saints. Rather than heading back to Japan to finish his career, the righty decided to join the Cubs in hopes of making it to 10 years of MLB service time. He is currently at nine years, so making it back to the bigs and sticking would mean he’d be just the fourth Japanese player to do so after Hideo Nomo, Ichiro Suzuki, and Yu Darvish.

That would make for a pretty cool story, but the Cubs first need to find out whether there’s anything left in the tank. It’s a low-risk move that could end up paying off if they can figure out the splitter and slider again.