Michael Tucker spent 2025 with the Cubs, then signed a four-year contract including the highest average annual value in major league history with the Dodgers to replace Michael Conforto in the outfield. Now, the loop is completed, as Conforto signed a minor league contract with the Cubs, per multiple reports.
Jon Heyman of the New York Post on Sunday night was first to report the signing, and Jesse Rogers of ESPN noted it was a minor league deal.
Conforto signed a one-year, $17 million contract with the Dodgers following two down yet still productive seasons with the Giants. He bottomed out with the Dodgers, hitting just .199/.305/.333 with a 83 wRC+ that ranked 191st among the 215 major leaguers with at least 400 plate appearances.
Rated as below replacement level by Baseball Reference (-0.7 WAR) and FanGraphs (-0.6 WAR) but slightly above by Baseball Prospectus (0.9 WARP), the lefty-batting Conforto still played nearly every day on the strong side of a platoon, starting 106 of the Dodgers’ 115 games against right-handed pitchers. Until suddenly once the postseason started, Conforto didn’t play at all, and was left off the Dodgers’ roster in all four of their postseason series.
Conforto, who turns 33 in March, is a career .245/.343/.442 hitter with a 115 wRC+ in his 10 major league seasons. He hit .255/.356/.468 with a 124 wRC+ for the Mets before missing the 2022 season after right shoulder surgery. In the three years since, with the Giants and Dodgers, Conforto had hit .225/.316/.390 with a 98 wRC+.