Cubs DFA Julian Merryweather, Select Brooks Kriske

After plucking Merryweather off the waiver wire before the 2023 season, the Cubs turned his career around. That year, Merryweather used his high-90s fastball and devastating slider to amass 72 innings of work, with a 3.38 ERA and 98 strikeouts. 

But the writing has been on the wall for the 33-year-old this year. After spending most of the 2024 season on the injured list with knee tendinitis, Merryweather has looked awful in 2025. In May, Merryweather has surrendered nine earned runs, five walks, and 13 hits while giving up runs in five of his nine outings this month. 

The Cubs are trying to make the playoffs, and cutting Merryweather loose is yet another example of the team not messing around with guys who are ineffective and failing to progress. Giving a short leash to Jordan Wicks and Luke Little earlier this year shows that the team wants as many guys throwing strikes consistently as they can get to find a stable group of relievers. They can't afford a guy who is supposed to be a high-leverage setup man consistently letting opposing teams get the best of him.

Despite his age, Kriske only has 21.2 big-league innings under his belt since 2020, where he has an 11.22 ERA. That sounds bad, but Kriske has been very effective in Iowa this year. In 18.2 innings at Triple-A, Kriske owns a 3.38 ERA with 28 strikeouts while limiting batters to a .191 batting average. According to CHGO's Brendan Miller, Kriske primarily uses a splitter, which he has worked to perfect in recent years.