Chicago Cubs Reach Minor League Deal with Cheap Reliever

The Chicago Cubs have reached a deal with a reliever they can stash at Triple-A Iowa and control in 2025.

Jun 9, 2024; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA; Minnesota Twins relief pitcher Josh Staumont (63) pitches against the Pittsburgh Pirates during the tenth inning at PNC Park. The Twins won 11-5 in ten innings. / Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports

The Chicago Cubs have agreed to a minor-league deal with reliever Josh Staumont, according to reports from KSTP and SKOR North Radio.

The right-hander’s MLB bio page had not been updated with the agreement.

The 30-year-old was last with the Minnesota Twins, who designated him for assignment a week ago. The Twins were unable to trade him and he was not claimed on waivers.

He is 1-0 with a 3.70 ERA in 25 games this season, with 18 strikeouts and 14 walks in 24.1 innings.

Staumont began the season on the Minnesota’s 15-day injured list with a left calf strain and was up-and-down between the Twins and their Triple-A affiliate in St. Paul. He joined Minnesota on a free-agent deal in December.

For the Cubs, there’s little risk in signing him to a minor-league deal. He joined the Twins on a deal that paid him less than $1 million and Minnesota is on the hook for his remaining salary. He also has one more year left before he can test free agency. So, if he pitches well, the Cubs can get him on a cheap arbitration deal in the offseason.

Before he joined the Twins, he spent his entire MLB career with the Kansas City Royals, breaking into the Majors in 2019. He was, at times, quite reliable for the Royals. In five seasons he went 9-7 with a 4.01 ERA in 169 games, with 191 strikeouts and 95 walks in 168.1 innings.

His best season was 2021, when he went 4-3 with a 2.88 ERA in 64 games, as he struck out 72 and walked 27 in 65.2 innings.

The La Habra, Calif., product played college baseball at Biola University and later at Azusa Pacific, a Division II school. But, he was good enough to earn a berth in the Cape Cod Baseball League and helped Yarmouth-Dennis win a league title in 2024.

Kansas City selected him in the second round of the 2015 MLB Draft.

Staumont joins an Iowa Cubs team that has six of the Cubs’ top prospects on the roster — pitcher Cade Horton, infielders Matt Shaw and James Triantos, outfielders Owen Caissie and Kevin Alcantara, along with catcher Moises Ballesteros.

Chicago doesn’t have to put Staumont on its 40-man roster, in spite of his MLB experience, as he cleared waivers and signed a minor league contract. He’ll get about six weeks to prove that he’s worth keeping for spring training next year.