It’s hard to handicap the reclamation reliever race for the Cubs’ bullpen, if you were to set up a precondition that only one of the group can make it on Opening Day (which may not necessarily be a safe assumption, because injuries happen). The Cubs brought in an impressive group of veteran relievers on minor league deals, and obviously the goal is that more than one will contribute in the big leagues across the season, even if only one made the Opening Day bullpen.
But if you absolutely had to pick just one minor-league-deal veteran to make the bullpen out of the gate, it would probably be Collin Snider, whom the Cubs targeted very early in the offseason thanks to his connection to Tyler Zombro and Tread Athletics.
You don’t choose based on Spring Training results, but it doesn’t hurt that, including his latest appearance yesterday, Snider has struck out 8 of 18 batters he’s faced this spring, walking just 2 of them.
Snider, 30, was a stuff darling for a while, and then broke out after coming to the Mariners in 2024. But injuries and the attendant mechanical issues sapped him in 2025, and now the Cubs are trying to help him get back to where he was. We know the velocity is back to where it was, so that’s a good sign, and this piece at FanGraphs further supports that things are in a good place right now:
“I was very rotational [in 2024], throwing too side-to-side, whereas I need to be north-south,” Snider said. “Side-to-side made the velo go down, because I couldn’t get behind the baseball. I was aware of what was going on, but I didn’t know why I was doing it, or how to make the adjustment quickly. It ended up being one of those things where I needed the offseason to straighten it out ….
“I was throwing [the sweeper] sideways, but I was top-spinning the baseball, so it wasn’t seam-shifting as much,” Snider explained. “When my body and hand are in the right spot, I get the ball spinning the way I want. Right now, all of my spin profiles are matching up to where they were in 2024, and where I want them to be. That’s the goal. I’m not looking to create anything new, just be back to what gave me the most success.”
Health is never assured, nor are results even if you’re executing your pitches exactly the way you want. But, when you’re talking about a guy who has very recently had big league success while operating with his current pitches (velo, spin, movement), you don’t mind the bet that he could get it back.
So, again, if you were forced to make a bet on a reclamation reliever who’ll make the Cubs out of Spring Training, Collin Snider would probably be the guy as we sit here today. But it’s still a relatively distant thing.
Of note on Snider, by the way, he is out of minor league options, so if the Cubs do carry him out of the gate (which means putting him on the 40-man and 26-man rosters), he cannot thereafter be removed from the bullpen without first clearing waivers. So the Cubs will want to have at least some degree of confidence in his ability to stick if they’re going to carry him.
Also of note on Snider, he is shy of three years’ service time at the moment. That means if he were to break back out and stick, the Cubs would be able to keep him around via arbitration for up to another three seasons if they wanted. While that wouldn’t be the deciding factor in a decision to use a roster spot on him on March 26, it is probably not a total non-factor.
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