Rafael Ortega’s two-year tenure with the Cubs has ended. The Cubs declined to offer Ortega a contract Friday. the deadline to tender contracts to both arb-eligible and pre-arb players.
Ortega batted .265/.344/.408 (162-for-612) in 221 games for the Cubs in 2021 and 2022, with 18 home runs and 24 stolen bases. All that was worth 2.3 bWAR.
Which doesn’t sound bad, but he wasn’t a good defender (negative bWAR) and really was just a placeholder until the Cubs — presumably, now — acquire better players.
Ortega suffered a broken finger in September while the Cubs were playing the Mets and missed the last couple of weeks of the 2022 season.