Cubs Claim Righty Reliever Eric Orze off Waivers from Twins

It seems like the Cubs always find a Chicagoland native or two every year to add to the bullpen, and the latest of those is righty reliever Eric Orze. The Elk Grove product attended the University of New Orleans and was a fifth-round pick by the Mets in 2020, eventually making his MLB debut in 2024. He was then traded to the Rays for outfielder Jose Siri and pitched well over 41.2 innings in 33 games. The Rays sent him to Minnesota in return for righty Jacob Kisting, but Orze was not nearly as good with the Twins.

That’s what his 5.66 ERA says, anyway, but a lot of the underlying metrics suggest he should have gotten much better results. He had a 3.34 FIP and gave up just one homer in 41.1 innings while limiting hitters to some of the least hard contact in the game. Orze’s problem is that he sprays the ball around a lot, resulting in far too many walks and not nearly enough chase.

He’s got a pretty nasty splitter that he throws 50% of the time, but his control and command of it are decidedly lacking. The real key here is that Orze has a 93 mph fastball, and the Cubs’ recent pitching defections meant that Jed Hoyer was woefully shy on those types. Or maybe it’s because we just came out of spooky season, and his No. 19 jersey bears significance in Stephen King’s canon.

In all seriousness, the Cubs must feel they can help Orze rein in that splitter to some extent. There may also be some familiarity with the front office, as both pitching VP Tyler Zombro and new VP of international scouting Steve Miller spent time in the Tampa organization. Orze is out of options, so this may be one of those situations where the Cubs will eventually try to sneak him through waivers and keep him around to fine-tune some things.

That’s not really a concern for the time being, as they have tons of room on the 40-man and won’t come close to filling it prior to the lockout.