Chicago Cubs Sign Long-Time Pirates, Mariners Farmhand
The Chicago Cubs added to their ledger of minor-league signings with a deal to bring pitcher Blake Weiman to the team, per the MLB Transactions log.
Weiman was signed on Friday and then assigned to Triple-A Iowa on Saturday.
Weiman is another arm the Cubs can try out as they toy with their bullpen for the 2024 season. The Cubs recently signed Hector Neris, which helped solidify their eighth inning slot, assuming that Adbert Alzolay remains the team’s closer.
Weiman spent the past two seasons with the Seattle Mariners organization. He spent all of last season with Triple-A Tacoma, where he made 44 appearances in relief and finished with a 4-4 record and a 5.17 ERA.
Before that, he spent five years in the Pittsburgh organization. The Pirates made him their eighth-round pick in 2017 out of Kansas.
He slowly rose through the ranks of the Pirates’ organization, which included an invitation to the 2018 Arizona Fall League, where he was named to the Fall Stars Game and he claimed an invitation to Major League spring training before the 2019 season. Later that season he reached Triple-A Indianapolis but missed the final two months of that season due to an injury.
The COVID shutdown of minor-league baseball in 2020 seemed to truncate his progress. He went back to Indianapolis in 2021 and went 5-0 with a 4.76 ERA but couldn’t get a promotion to the Majors. Midway through the 2023 season, the Pirates released him and he hooked up with Seattle.
For his minor-league career, Weiman is 21-12 with a 3.89 ERA in 197 appearances with 286 strikeouts and 62 walks.
