8:30am: Conforto is signing a minor league deal with an invitation to major league camp, according to ESPN’s Jesse Rogers.
6:55am: The Cubs signed an outfielder Michael Confortoaccording to a report from Jon Heyman of the New York Post. The terms of the deal were not yet known. The Cubs have a full 40-man roster and will need to take a 40-man trip if Conforto is added to a big league deal, but that could easily be accomplished by transferring the right-hander. Shelby Miller on the 60-day injured list. Conforto is represented by Boras Corporation.
Conforto, who turns 33 next month, is a veteran of ten MLB seasons now. A former top-10 draft pick and top-100 prospect, Conforto was an All-Star in 2017 and hit .259/.358/.484 (128 wRC+) over his first six seasons in the majors. Things changed but he was a veteran there. His 2021 season was only pedestrian (104 wRC+), and his 2022 campaign was lost to shoulder surgery. Since he’s been back, he’s stayed at that level for almost the entire league. He hit .225/.316/.390 with a 98 wRC+ in three seasons with the Giants and Dodgers, but last year in LA was the worst season of his career thus far.
In 138 games for the Dodgers, Conforto hit just .199/.3o5/.333 with a wRC+ of 83. He was below replacement rate according to both Fangraphs and Baseball Reference in terms of WAR, posted the weakest power production (.138 ISO) of his career, and his strikeout rate has since risen to 2.9% for the first time in 2.9. The season as a whole, and things got bad enough that Conforto ended up being left off LA’s playoff roster entirely during the World Series run. After returning to free agency this offseason, Conforto received little interest from around the league until the calendar changed to 2026. As Spring Training approaches, teams like the White Sox and Astros have expressed interest in Conforto’s services, but the Cubs had not been linked to him before today’s news.
For the Cubs, Conforto appears to be limited without injury. Ian Happ again Seiya Suzuki are sure to be tapped to handle the outside corners, and while Conforto can still handle center field (a position he hasn’t played since 2019) the star Pete Crow-Armstrong you are sure to find regular reps in the area. Conforto’s best hope to make the lineup would be the team’s primary DH who can rotate the outside corners to take Happ and Suzuki off their feet. You will face stiff competition from the top Moises Ballesteros for that top DH job, though. Ballesteros hit a career-best .298/.394/.474 in his first taste of big league action last year, and while that came in just 57 trips to the plate it was still a strong enough showing to warrant a bigger look this year.
It’s certainly unlikely that Conforto will ever regain the combination of power and discipline that made him such a successful big league hitter, and if he does he could challenge Ballesteros for the DH job. That could be very attractive to the Cubs if they want to continue to develop Ballesteros as a catcher, given the team’s starting balance. Carson Kelly again Miguel Amaya it leaves little room for Ballesteros to look behind the plate in the majors at this point. Failing that, he’ll be competing this spring for a bench job against the likes Dylan Carlson again Chas McCormick. Conforto has had the most success at the major league level of those three, but he’s also likely the most defensive infielder.
