Cubs Designate Vidal Brujan For Assignment
ByNick Deeds | at
The Cubs have designated utility manVidal Brujan for assignment, according to a report fromMaddie Lee of the Chicago Sun Times. The move makes room for catcher/DHMoises Ballesteros on the active roster.
Brujan, 27, was acquired from the Marlins this past offseason in the trade that sentMatt Mervis to Miami. He’s served as a utility option on the Cubs’ bench throughout the year. Most of his work came at third base, but he also made cameos at second, shortstop, and all three outfield spots. He appeared in 36 games total this season but made just 47 plate appearances. He was extremely unimpressive at the plate in that limited time, with a .222/.234/.289 (42 wRC+) slash line. He struck out at a 25.5% clip and walked just 2.1% of the time while going 2-for-3 on the bases with three extra-base hits, all of them doubles.
That poor performance on offense isn’t exactly a surprise. Once a consensus top-50 prospect in the sport as a member of the Rays, Brujan has failed to establish himself in the majors across three organizations at this point. His career .192/.259/.271 slash line (50 wRC+) is only marginally better than his 2025 performance, and at this point he seems best suited to a role as a versatile depth option for a club with a thin bench. That’s the role he’s filled in Chicago, but now the Cubs must turn to Ballesteros amid an injury to outfielderIan Happ, who fouled a ball off his shin during last night’s game. It’s unclear how severe Happ’s injury is at this point, and he’s not yet been placed on the injured list. Even so, it’s a given he’ll be out of the lineup for at least today’s game, and as long as he’s unavailable Ballesteros can step in at DH whileSeiya Suzuki slides over to left field in Happ’s stead.
As for Ballesteros, the 21-year-old is one of the club’s top prospects and already made his big league debut earlier this year. He went 3-for-16 with two walks and a strikeout during his five-game cup of coffee in the majors back in May, but a better gauge of his ability is likely his performance in 86 games at Triple-A this year. Ballesteros has slashed .332/.393/.496 in 379 plate appearances with the club’s Iowa affiliate this year while striking out at a microscopic 12.9% clip. He’s walking 9.2% of the time and boasts 36 extra-base hits, including a whopping 26 doubles. An extremely talented all-around hitter who is primarily held back by questions about his ability to stick behind the plate, Ballesteros will now get another chance to show off his talents at the major league level.
The Cubs are expected to be aggressive buyers with the trade deadline set for tomorrow evening, and top prospects like Ballesteros could theoretically find themselves on the move. Ballesteros’s promotion doesn’t necessarily mean the 21-year-old is off-limits in trade talks, though it should be noted that top outfield prospectOwen Caissie and right-handed pitching prospectJaxon Wiggins, among others, have been more frequently discussed as possible trade chips than Ballesteros.
33 Comments
Good luck replacing his light bat, poor defense, and awful baserunning
Lol. His base running wasn’t an issue. I don’t think they’ll miss his .222 BA 3RBI and 10 hits coming off the bench.
I hope this is not an opportunity to auditon Moises Ballesteros for trade suitors!
Lol
Cubs not messing around, Presley next please.
I really hope some other team gets desperate for relief help and offers some kind of swap for Pressly. Even if it’s just cash considerations . Especially if the Cubs add a reliever he should be the first one to go.
Happ to the IL made room on the active roster. And Ballesteros was already on the 40man. Probably gotta call up a BP arm.
The Brujan DFA makes room for Ballesteros on the active roster, not any movement of Happ who apparently isn’t going on the IL. They still have one opening on the 40 man. DFA of Flexen brought it down to 39, where it stands this morning.
38* they DFA’d both Flexen and Brujan and have not added anyone to the 40 man
Yes, true that—thanks Ryno….you are correct.
But it was Brujan getting tossed that allows Ballesteros to come to the active 26.
Happ is not going to the IL. That was the initial move to he made but as the title of the article says Vidal Brujan DFA’d. Which is why they recalled Moises Ballersteros.
Something that should have been done awhile ago . Now bring up Jaxon
Wiggins for a start
1. He’s in Double A
2. He’s already on a pitch limit being shut down briefly for over a month
3. He’s not quite ready for the Show
Heard that Jaxson Wiggins may be one of the pieces in a trade if there is deal with the D’Backs for Suarez and Gallen or Kelly.
I’ve heard that too. The Cubs should not trade Caissie or Wiggins for rentals. If 1 or both are traded it needs to be for Joe Ryan or Mackenzie Gore with one of their high end relievers going to the Cubs with them
Just seems to me that some fans of teams don’t want to give up anything for a trade. If a player has 3 years of control it is going to cost a team a solid minor league piece, I’m saying top 10 or even a top 5 prospect. So, for a rental piece that too is going to cost a top minor league piece. Yes, it may be a rental but either way you go you have to give up something to get something that may push you into the playoff and beyond. Teams are not going to take lower rated minor league players as their main return in making that deal for a playoff run, I guess teams will have to go with what got them to where they are now for the final push.
Good lord I thought this nightmare would never end.
A bad trade for Cubs and Marlins
Hello Independent League Vidal
Ain’t even good enough for an independent league
Probably México
Mervis can go with him
Even in AAA, Mervis is either a ground ball to the 1B, a strikeout, or a home run. He needs to go to Korea.
Savannah Bananas new mascot/ beer vendor.
Overdue. It’s interesting: His hitting actually looked a little better early in the season–he had a couple of drives held in the park by the April winds at Wrigley Field–but the more we saw of him, the worse he looked. He doesn’t seem to have major-league bat speed, and he aggravated the problem by adopting a long, slugger’s swing. From the start he seemed a bad fit for the roster, as the spot could have been better used for an outfielder or just a hitter; they already had Berti to back up the infielders. I guess this means Ballesteros will stay up for a while, and get his chances at DH, and maybe he will be able to invigorate the Cubs’ slumping offense.
Vidal, so soon?
I see what you did there, it’s a hairy situation
I love Brujan…but how he has stayed on a big league roster this long is amazing. good for him.
@Alan53
Don’t know why I can’t reply to your comment but this is long overdue. I didn’t expect a ton from him but this move should’ve been done 2 months ago and they should’ve brought up Jonathon Long. He would’ve been a better platoon for Busch since Counsell still thinks it’s a good move to bench Busch vs. LHPs
Log—means he probably muted you—same for me–I called him out for blatantly making up stats and boom — no more replies. It’s still a source of daily amusement that someone can be so smart with a keyboard thinking everything he writes is believable.
You must have countered one of his postings at some point.
Wait I thought Happ was going to the IL and that would have made room on the active roster. Surely there’s another move coming
Got two open spaces on the 40 man!
Happ played today.
Hmmm…weird, the greatest manager in MLB history couldn’t make him a better player.
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