Cubs Add Lefty Josh Osich To Bulk Up Bullpen

Image credit: Josh Osich (Maddie Meyer/Getty)

The Cubs stayed busy, adding a likely low-cost addition to their bullpen in acquiring lefty Josh Osich in exchange for a player to be named later or cash.

 

CUBS ACQUIRE:

Josh Osich, LHP
Age: 31

Osich is a well-traveled lefty reliever whose journey from team to team began when he ran out of options. After parts of four seasons in the Giants bullpen, San Francisco waived him to clear him from the 40-man roster during spring training in 2019. He was claimed by the Orioles, waived again and then claimed by the White Sox, who managed to get him through waivers. After he spent 2019 in the White Sox’s bullpen, he was claimed by the Red Sox off waivers. Osich hasn’t had a lot of consistent success, but he is relatively durable (50-plus appearances three times in his career). Osich’s 86-88 mph cutter is his bread-and-butter pitch, but he will throw his low-90s fastball enough to keep hitters from just expecting the cutter. He’s generally handled lefties better than righties throughout his career. That’s been true again in 2020, but with the three-batter minimum he’s faced more righthanded hitters than lefties this year. Osich has been missing more bats this year and has a career-best 11.5 strikeouts-per-nine-innings rate. On the downside, he’s also been more homer-prone, which explains his 6.71 FIP, even worse than his 5.74 ERA.

 

RED SOX ACQUIRE

Player To Be Named Later

Any player not part of the 60-player pool cannot officially be traded as their minor league contracts are suspended. Baseball America will update when the player is named.