Cubs Sign Reliever Phil Bickford to Minors Deal

This is another move that’ll have people complaining for no reason that Jed Hoyer only targets cheap deals, but it’s the kind of addition every team makes plenty of over the winter. Adding well-traveled reliever Phil Bickford on a non-guaranteed minor league contract presents zero risk and gives the Cubs a little more bullpen depth in the organization.

The 29-year-old spent most of last season in Triple-A and made eight appearances with the Yankees, pitching to an 8.64 ERA with six strikeouts and one walk in 8.1 innings. Over parts of five seasons, Bickford has a 4.62 ERA with 210 strikeouts and 73 walks over 187 appearances for the Brewers, Dodgers, Mets, and Yankees. More than half of those free passes (39) came in 2023, but he’s displayed very good control otherwise.

A fastball/slider guy, Bickford’s stuff can play up a little due to his 91st-percentile extension. He tends to hang too many pitches, though, leading to a lot of hard contact and far too few strikeouts despite a pretty good whiff rate. The Cubs may see something they can tweak with the slider to make it a more consistent put-away pitch than it has been over the last two seasons.

Bickford put up 126 strikeouts over 112.1 innings across 2021-22, then saw his control get really spotty in ’23. His numbers at Scranton/Wilkes-Barre were in line with his previous results, so it’s entirely possible there’s plenty left in the tank. Solid pickup, especially if he grows the lettuce back after toiling under the Yankees’ draconian grooming policy.