We need to have a conversation about the Chicago Cubs and their International Free Agent ventures — specifically their inability to identify and develop pitchers in that market.

I’ve seen more and more chatter recently about the Cubs struggles when it comes to international players helping the Major League roster, and it surely hasn’t and won’t help that the Milwaukee Brewers have two of the top ten prospects in baseball — both international signings.

While Miguel Amaya, Moises Ballesteros, Kevin Alcántara are young players on the Major League roster with Jefferson Rojas, Pedro Ramirez, and some young infielders not too far behind them, the IFA-signed pitching outlook isn’t nearly as rosey. Jostin Florentino (who was Cubs Minor League Pitcher of the Year but has limited upside) is the only international player ranked in the Cubs’ Top 30 prospects.

So what kind of pitching value have the Cubs gotten from the international market over the past several years? Folks… it’s not much.

For this exercise, I’m excluding Shota Imanaga (4.5 WAR) who did sign under International Free Agent rules but never appeared in the farm system so to call him homegrown or “developed here” feels like a stretch. Similarly, Daniel Palencia (0.5 WAR) was left off. While he was nearly entirely developed by the Cubs, they didn’t use their own IFA cash to make the signing as he was acquired in the Andrew Chafin trade.

Dating back to 2014, a couple years removed from Carlos Zambrano (37.7 WAR as a Cub, 38.3 WAR overall) and just one year post-Carlos Marmol (10.0 WAR as a Cub, 9.7 WAR overall) the Cubs have produced just 6.0 WAR from internationally-signed pitchers.

6.0 WAR in 12 seasons.

• Javier Assad, ‘22-‘25: 5.1 WAR
• Adbert Alzolay, ‘19-‘24: 2.1 WAR
• Manny Rodriguez, ‘21-‘22: -0.6 WAR w/ Cubs
• Brailyn Marquez, ‘20: -0.2 WAR
• Jen-Ho Tseng, ‘17-‘18: -0.4 WAR
• Felix Peña, ‘16-‘17: 0.0 WAR w/ Cubs
• Gerardo Concepción, ‘16: 0.0 WAR

I’m not sure what’s more jarring — the 6.0 total WAR, that 5.1 of it came from Javier Assad, the fact that only seven IFAs have made the bigs in those 12 seasons, or that only two players have actually produced positive WAR.

It’s all bad news and in reality, should probably lead to significant overhauls in international scouting strategies. The lack of production has put significant pressure on drafting pitchers, something that the Cubs also haven’t done well outside of a couple seasons.

Well that sucked to write.

Editor’s note: Erian Rodriguez was previously listed as a prospect signed as an IFA, when in fact he was drafted. Rodriguez was born in Panama but went to high school in Georgia