New beginnings for this fringe reliever…
The margin between a very good major league reliever and one who can’t keep a spot on the 40-man roster is very small in actuality.
The Seattle Mariners’ bullpen is often regarded as one of the best in the game, and those who can’t put up scoreless innings often lose their spots. That happened to righty Collin Snider this year, who bounced up and down between Seattle and Triple-A Tacoma, eventually electing free agency in November after being outrighted off the 40-man in August.
Snider now has four partial seasons of major league experience, but made at least 17 Triple-A appearances in each of those seasons as well. His quest to land a full-time role in a big-league bullpen predictably led him away from Seattle as he enters his age-30 season.
Collin Snider lands minor-league deal with Cubs
On Wednesday, Snider’s training facility, Tread Athletics, announced that the right-hander had signed a minor-league contract with the Chicago Cubs for the upcoming season. The deal is not yet reflected on the righty’s official roster page.
In 128 major league appearances for the Mariners and Kansas City Royals, Snider is 9-7 with a 4.48 ERA, striking out 104 batters in 122 2/3 innings.
The Cubs’ special assistant/pitching guru Tyler Zombro also works closely with many Tread pitchers, so it’s no surprise that Chicago wanted to get its hands on Snider, who has (as the post states) trained at the facility for a long time.
The Cubs have also inked righty Phil Maton and (reportedly, as of Thursday) lefty Hoby Milner to contracts to improve the bullpen this winter. That’s clearly been a focus, and the greater need in Chicago now appears to be the rotation.
Seattle traded for lefty Jose A. Ferrer to shore up the left side of the bullpen last week, while the right side already looked complete. But Snider would still be a tough loss if he shows improvement, because Seattle had two full years to get him on track.
