Cubs 40-man roster coin-flips: Jason Adam

I was on Twitter when the news broke. A player had been so severely injured in batting practice in Des Moines that the players left the field. Jason Adam suffered a gruesome ankle injury, and missed an extended period of time. He made it back before the end of the season, not only to Triple-A, but to Wrigley. His comeback was very impressive. However, when assessing roster moves, the future is the key, not the past. Here’s my 40-man coin-flip for Jason Adam.

A fifth-round draft selection by the Royals out of Blue Valley Northwest High School in Overland Park, Kansas in 2010, Adam has been traded, sold, released twice, and styled a 5.91 ERA in 2021. Iin three September innings after the comeback, though, he struck out six and allowed just one baserunner. He’s rather in-between on the extraneous consideration. He’s still inexpensive and has an option season remaining, but is a free agent, if he wants to be, if bounced from the 40-man roster again. If you think he’s going to figure everything out in the next five or six months? By all means, keep him around.

One thing I’m trying to run a bit away from is asking people to “prove” something. Proof is absurdly hard to provide for something that, quite by definition and circumstance, can’t have happened yet. I am very willing to request evidence, however. If the braintrust buy Adam as a better longer-term piece than (taking a deep breath) Adrian Sampson, Cory Abbott, Tommy Nance, Trevor Megill, or Michael Rucker, so be it. That’s about what it would take. All five of those arms have better “return to Iowa” protocols than Adam.

With Adam, if he thinks the Cubs treated him fairly in his injury, sure, bring him back on a minor-league deal. If he thinks the Cubs did him dirty enough for that to not be possible, such is life. Adam would be a nice piece to have in Des Moines, but with Ben Leeper, Manuel Rodriguez, the next Pitch Lab successes, and whoever else gets sent to Triple-A, having a few useful relievers ready shouldn’t be a problem. (Particularly if the Cubs wrangle a few arms like Ryan Tepera and Andrew Chafin in free agency.) It’s not his age, or anything like it. The Cubs should (and probably will) have better options, all things considered, to call on.

Though his comeback was fantastic.