Cubs sign LHP Andrew Chafin

News of the Cubs’ re-signing of lefthander Andrew Chafin broke late Tuesday evening. Here are the details:

A little complicated, but not expensive.

Chafin was acquired from the Diamondbacks at the August 31 deadline last year for a PTBNL. Minor leaguer Ronny Simon was sent to Arizona in November to complete the trade.

Chafin had been slowed by a finger injury during 2020 and didn’t make his Cubs debut until September 20. He made just four appearances for the Cubs covering three innings. He allowed one run, walked one and struck out three, which sounds not terrible, but uh-oh, that one run... [VIDEO]

Chafin is just one year removed from the solid season he had for the D-Backs in 2019: 3.76 ERA, 1.329 WHIP, 11.6 strikeouts and just 3.1 walks per nine innings. If he can return to that level of performance, he’ll be a useful lefthander in the bullpen, and the Cubs can always use more of those. Before this signing, which has not yet been officially announced by the team, the Cubs had just two lefthanded relievers with significant MLB experience on the 40-man roster: Kyle Ryan and Brad Wieck. (Brailyn Marquez has just one MLB appearance.)

There have been a couple of signings reported recently that the Cubs have not yet officially announced (Joc Pederson, Trevor Williams). When the Chafin signing and those two are made official, the team’s 40-man roster will be full.