It was a small signing yesterday for the Chicago Cubs, but a necessary one, adding right-handed slugger Tyler Austin for the bench. Austin has been a star in Japan, putting up numbers comparable to many of the biggest names we talk about, but he’s 34, and there are fair questions about whether the mid-30s strikeout rate he used to run in MLB will return and sap him of any productivity this time around. So the deal was quite modest, reflecting the possibility that the Cubs won’t actually wind up carrying Austin all season when all is said and done. The Cubs’ official announcement of the signing listed Austin as an infielder and outfielder, which I found interesting given that he’s exclusively played first base the last few years. For the Cubs, it’d obviously be nice if he could also handle an occasional corner outfield start, but my guess is he is mostly a bat off the bench, with infrequent starts at first base to give Michael Busch a rest against a particularly bad lefty match-up or something. If he can just be an average overall bat when match-up protected, and pop the occasional dinger, that’s a win. But hey, you never know if a guy might just explode. I’m reminded of Darin Ruf, who washed out with the Phillies, then returned to MLB from three years in Korea ahead of the 2020 season at age 33. He proceeded to hit a whopping .272/.381/.519/143 wRC+ for the Giants over two seasons of part-time work. Tyler Austin certainly has been a monster in Japan, right up there with some familiar names: Number of >.600 SLG Seasons in NPB Since 2020 (min. 200 PA) Tyler Austin 3 Munetaka Murakami 2 Yuki Yanagita 1 Seiya Suzuki 1 Rest of NPB 0 Austin is now headed back to MLB for his age-34 seasonpic.twitter.com/nEFM5VutIF— Yakyu Cosmopolitan (@yakyucosmo) December 18, 2025 Why even try to sign Munetaka Murakami, amirite?! An interesting side note on the signing: Austin got a $1.25 million guarantee, rather than a minor league deal. Good get for him, in one sense. But in another sense, you sometimes see guys in his situation get a minor league deal … but with an even larger big league salary. In other words, sometimes your choice is either a might-not-ever-get-it larger amount, or a guaranteed smaller amount. For Austin, I wonder if the 40-man spot was the biggest goal, as he does not have any minor league options available. When you sign a minor league deal in that situation, teams can be a little slower/more reluctant to call you up that first time, knowing they can’t ever send you back down without first going through waivers. For the Cubs, this means that if Austin doesn’t make the team or clearly isn’t going to be able to hack it early on in the season, they’ll have to send him through waivers immediately, and then it’s a crapshoot on whether he winds up in the minors or is simply gone from the organization. The risk is barely a million bucks, though. Worth it. Another interesting side note: absent some special rule in his deal as a player coming from the NPB, which you sometimes see and sometimes don’t, Austin would be controllable via arbitration for three more seasons after 2026 in the event he becomes a contributor and the Cubs want to keep him. (That said, I’m kinda wondering if there is a carveout, given how long he was in Japan. Seems like those guys pretty much always get guaranteed free agency after their initial signing back in the States.) As of right now, if you call Seiya Suzuki the “starter” in right field, and call Moises Ballesteros the “starter” at DH, the bench would look something like this: Austin, whichever of Miguel Amaya and Carson Kelly is not starting that day, one of Owen Caissie or Kevin Alcantara, and then a utility infielder that probably isn’t yet on the roster (Jonathon Long may be big-league-ready, but his positional usage probably overlaps with Austin’s, and the Cubs may want someone who can more capably handle other infield spots). All of that can and will change through moves this offseason, and, frankly, on through Spring Training as the Cubs sort out injuries, effectiveness, waivers, and various minor league signings. But whatever happens on that front, it was always going to make sense to have a righty bopper in the mix, hence Tyler Austin.