The Cubs announced a lengthy series of roster moves Tuesday, most notably placing Kris Bryant on the disabled list (retroactive to June 23) due to left shoulder inflammation. Chicago also placed right-hander Justin Hancock on the DL due to inflammation in his right shoulder and optioned righty Duane Underwood Jr. back to Triple-A Iowa. In place of that trio, the Cubs are calling up right-hander Dillon Maples, right-hander Luke Farrell and infielder David Bote.
It’s the first career trip to the disabled list for Bryant, who entered play today hitting .280/.383/.481 with nine homers, 20 doubles and three triples so far on the season. There’s no timetable available yet for Bryant, who hasn’t played since this past Friday.
The 27-year-old Hancock has posted a strong 1.46 ERA in 12 2/3 innings for the Cubs so far, though his 11-to-9 K/BB ratio is far less encouraging. Underwood, 23, recently made his MLB debut in a spot start, tossing four innings of one-run ball.
Of the names being recalled to join the big league roster, Maples is the most noteworthy. The 26-year-old flamethrower is widely considered to be among Chicago’s best prospects, and the organization hopes that he can help to anchor the relief corps for years to come. If that’s to happen, though, Maples will have to considerably improve his control. The righty has the ability to wholly overpower opposing hitters, as evidenced by averaging better than 14 strikeouts per nine innings pitched across three minor league levels over the past two seasons. However, Maples’ control has been terrible in that time as well; he averaged 5.3 walks per nine innings pitched in 2017 and has issued 24 free passes in 25 1/3 innings with Triple-A Iowa so far in 2018.
Bote has been up and down with the Cubs this season, appearing in a total of eight games and hitting .263/.286/.368. The 25-year-old has a career .282/.360/.510 slash in 70 Triple-A games and has experience at every position other than catcher (including seven innings of minor league relief pitching). Farrell, 27, was claimed off waivers last October and has already pitched 20 innings in the Majors for the Cubs this year, recording a 4.50 ERA with 30 strikeouts against eight walks.
This is why Theo and Jed did not trade from their position player depth for the possibility of an injury to their star player.
They have no star players. Only in your mind. How many star players on the cubs went to the all star game last year?
Wow, and I thought the trolls were thick on Yankees threads.
Lol. Good one.
Blessed be the Baseball gods!
Bryant is one of the most overrated players in all of baseball.
Against my better judgment, I’ll bite. Care to explain?
On what planet? Career WAR over 21, MVP, Rookie of the Year, World Series Champion… by contrast, Arenado has played twice as long and only has a WAR of 30.4… so overrated
let’s not forget about all the things he dose with the cubs that can’t be put on a stat sheet or in a formula he is a winner and a leader you need young stars who are leaders and winners to keep the winning environment that the cubs have lacked for 100+ years because the guys cubs brought in to break that culture are going to gone soon and you need guys like bryant to continue on the new culture and show the guys that will replace the current cubs stars how to play and win
also by no means i am not a cubs fans tbh i hate them but maybe if they cont. to dominate the nlc maybe our get off there ass and go back to building a playoff team and not a wc team
The most ridiculous part of your statement is that at least 5 people agree with you. Likely your 5 other profiles. A man gets injured and your response is to talk about how he is overrated? I wonder what team you root for.
Must be off the roids right now.
Hopefully only 10-20 days. Back after ASG/break 100%.
I think Addison Russell and his tender glove hand might be next to DL. Happ a lot of time at 3B, Baez/Zobrist up the middle.
More than half of the posts are trolls. There are some real Cubs haters out there. Talk radio style uneducated trash talkers are my least favorite thing about sports. Intelligent discourse and reactions are a minority in regard to baseball commenting/discussion. It’s usually just hate/trolling/trash talk/random completely incorrect feelings and assumptions from minuscule sample sizes.
Get better Bryant, baseball isn’t as exciting without it’s stars imo. Though it should be interesting to see how Madden puts together the lineup without him for a stretch for the first time in years
Did you just write an entire paragraph trolling about how much you hate trolls..?
It’s so meta!
How is that paragraph trolling? I was lamenting the state of sports discussion. I love baseball but don’t discuss it with my coworkers because it basically just ends up being myteam vs yourteam trashtalk that I find incredibly boring. Same stuff on these boards
Then why be on these boards? Go for a walk instead
So, he shouldn’t be on these boards because other people are too stupid to hold an actual conversation? Sometimes, it really isn’t too much to expect that people have some knowledge about the subject matter they are talking about. It’s actually nice to talk to people about a shared interest AND have it be engaging and intelligent.
Every team has injuries. Just part of the game.