Cubs sign former All-Star right-hander

The Cubs and free-agent righty Michael Fulmer are in agreement on a contract, tweets Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. The deal is pending a physical. Fulmer is represented by BBI Sports Group.

In Fulmer, the Cubs land one of the few remaining quality relievers on the market. The 2016 American League Rookie of the Year broke into the majors as a starter and thrived in that role before injuries — namely Tommy John surgery and a separate ulnar nerve transposition procedure — derailed his career. He returned to full strength in 2021, however, and after a few shaky starts early in the season found a home in the Detroit bullpen.

From that point through the 2022 trade deadline, Fulmer was a rock-solid setup man and closer for a sub-.500 Tigers team. Detroit flipped him to the Twins prior to the 2022 trade deadline, receiving minor league pitcher Sawyer Gipson-Long in return. Fulmer continued his smooth transition to the bullpen with a nice showing in Minnesota down the stretch, and he now touts a 2.90 ERA, 23.8% strikeout rate, 8.5% walk rate, 39.2% grounder rate and 0.64 HR/9 mark in 111 2/3 innings since moving to a relief role on a full-time basis.

Fulmer had some command issues in the first half of the 2022 season, but those were largely ironed out following his trade to Minnesota, with whom he walked just 7.5% of the batters he faced. There are at least a handful of red flags on his 2022 season beyond the brief uptick in walks, however.

For instance, the 95.6 mph Fulmer averaged on his heater in 2021 dipped to 94.3 mph in 2022, while his 24.6% strikeout rate fell to 22.1% (and just 20.6% after the trade). The right-hander also went from one of the game’s best at managing hard contact (87th percentile average exit velocity, 76th percentile hard-hit rate) to just slightly above-average in 2022 (55th percentile exit velocity, 61st percentile hard-hit rate). Additionally, his strong 34.6% opponents’ chase rate on pitches off the plate fell to 31.2% in 2022 — a career-low mark in a full 162-game season.

The extent to which factors like that combined to slow Fulmer’s market can’t be fully known, but it’s still a bit of a surprise that it took until the week before spring training for him to reach a deal. While financial terms of his contract haven’t yet come to light, the Cubs tend to wait out the market and scoop up veteran relievers at relatively bargain rates. Chicago hasn’t inked a reliever to a multi-year deal or even topped a $5M guarantee for a reliever since signing Craig Kimbrel four years ago.

If that trend indeed continues, it could well prove to be a bargain for them. Fulmer isn’t a dominant, overpowering bullpen anchor, but he’s been a quality setup man with slightly above-average ability to miss bats, solid command and a knack for avoiding hard contact over the past two seasons. If his 2023 results fall in line anywhere between his 2021 and 2022 output, it’ll be a nice upgrade to a Cubs bullpen that is lacking in certainty.

Prior to the agreement with Fulmer, righties Brad Boxberger and Rowan Wick were the only relievers in the Chicago bullpen with even three years of major league service time. The Cubs don’t have a set closer, so Fulmer figures to join Boxberger, Brandon Hughes and perhaps former top prospect Adbert Alzolay — who was excellent in a small sample of bullpen work last year — in competing for work in the ninth inning.