Former Cub Brooks Raley Drawing Interest from Old Club as Tommy John Rehab Continues

Aging lefty with sub-90 mph velocity? Check. Recovering from Tommy John elbow reconstruction? Check. Former prospect who found greater success after leaving? Check. Brooks Raley is the Platonic ideal of a Jed Hoyer pitching acquisition, which is why the Cubs are among the teams checking in on him. That comes from Ken Rosenthal, who reported that the 36-year-old “has discussed multiyear arrangements” as he works his way back from surgery last May.

A sixth-round pick by the Cubs back in 2009, Raley made his MLB debut in 2012 and started five games during the club’s worst season in nearly five decades. He worked in a relief role the following season, tossing 14 innings over nine appearances, then spent 2014 between the Twins and Dodgers organizations. Raley then headed to the KBO and put up very pedestrian numbers over five seasons with the Lotte Giants.

He flipped a switch upon returning to MLB with the Reds in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, dialing back his fastballs and curve in favor of very heavy cutter usage. Raley upped his changeup in subsequent seasons and balanced things out a little more with his sweeper taking over as his primary offering upon joining the Rays in 2022. After having never posted better than a 23% strikeout rate in any of his first seven professional seasons, Raley has not been less than 25.8% over the last five while bouncing between the Reds, Astros, Rays, and Mets.

Granted, we’re only talking about 20 innings in ’20 and seven last year prior to blowing out his elbow. The expectation is that he’ll be ready to go by the second half of the coming season, so a two-year with escalators and options would grant him security at what should be a fairly low cost to his team. Despite not averaging 90 mph on any of his pitches, Raley has missed bats and gotten called strikes at better than a league-average clip. He’s also been particularly good at limiting homers over the last three years.

I don’t see a whole lot to get excited about here, but this would basically be like pre-ordering a deadline addition. Raley can be stashed on the 60-day IL to keep a roster spot open, then could be activated once he’s healthy and the Cubs have a need in the bullpen. There’s more than a little risk here because a successful return is hardly guaranteed, particularly at Raley’s advanced age. He doesn’t need to wait for his velo to bounce back, but the key is getting that big sweeper cutting across the zone with a change that remains well to the arm side from his low three-quarter slot.

This feels like the kind of move Hoyer likes to make, and I’m not just saying that to continue the opening joke. They need more lefties for the ‘pen and Raley is a dude who can get outs at what should be a low enough cost to justify the attendant risks. That said, Hoyer still needs to buy more certainty in his relief corps.