The Cubs have placed lefty Mike Montgomery on the 10-day disabled list, Mark Gonzales of the Chicago Tribune was among those to report on Twitter. He’s said to be experiencing shoulder inflammation.
It is not yet clear just how significant an injury Montgomery is dealing with. Clearly, though, it’s a concern with only six weeks of the regular season remaining. He’ll be replaced in the rotation for the time being by Tyler Chatwood, with southpaw Randy Rosario being recalled to take the open roster spot.
Montgomery, 29, has been a godsend since moving into the rotation. In 13 starts, he has provided the club with 73 innings of 3.08 ERA pitching. While his 45:21 K/BB ratio in that stretch isn’t all that compelling, Montgomery does have a strong history of inducing groundballs. He has also consistently outperformed ERA estimators since reaching the majors, holding opponents to a .276 batting average over his career, though it’s certainly debatable whether that’s something we should expect to continue.
Regardless of one’s beliefs regarding Montgomery’s true talent levels, he has unquestionably represented a steadying force for a rotation that has dealt with a fair bit of uncertainty. With Yu Darvish slated to begin a rehab stint this weekend, there is at least the promise that he’ll be able to return before too long. But he’s still likely going to require a few outings and had struggled before hitting the DL. Meanwhile, turning to Chatwood really isn’t all that appealing an option. His control woes have continued since he was dropped from the starting five. In 5 2/3 innings over three relief appearances, Chatwood has allowed four earned runs and handed out five walks to go with three strikeouts.
Of course, the Cubs were not fully committed to utilizing Montgomery as a starter. They had just skipped his most recent outing, though that was said to have been done to keep him fresh. And while Montgomery has previously expressed consternation at being pushed to the pen, he seemed at peace with the possibility of spending time again as a reliever. Even if the plans may have called for an eventual return to the relief corps, though, that doesn’t mean that now was the preferred time. And it certainly does not draw the sting of any time lost due to injury. Montgomery, after all, would be quite useful to have in the bullpen while still constituting a key rotation depth piece. The Cubs will certainly hope he’s able to return to action in relatively short order.
Well, $hit
Get ready for the Chatwood walk-a-thon on Saturday.
Yeah f*ck this. Chatwood is garbage
Chatwood needs to be just traded, but we can’t find anyone as dumb as we were the day we traded for him
Bad trade for Upton the one in the minion or even the Cuban kid with Boston whowill never be in the show with the Red Sox bad contract trade.
Cut are lost DFA for Chatwood his being dogged by Fans is got to effect his homeboy Hendricks ,so do itHanley Rameaz has it Done by in Boston ( surprise no one picked him up must be attitude) but Cubs got Bass ( coming back soon )and Randy R in the pen Who is getting it done.
nooooooooooo!!!
I honestly would just prefer Jorge De la Rosa get a start
I can deal with that, let’s see what he has.
Was surprised when Joe skipped Monty in the rotation last time. Now we know why.
Chalk up a Chatwood loss for Saturday.
Oh no. We suck again
Time for him to be cut I think it’s effecting The Professor that’s his friend or classmate DFA cut are lost spend it on little league baseball near Chicago and inner city.
Should of put Rizzo in the rotation. Would be more fun to watch then chatwood.
Chatwood’s 90 walks in 100 innings is incredibly bad – approximately $140k per walk the Cubs are paying
That’s not entirely true. Your number assumes that the other batters he faced he does for free. If you take the amount of salary hes made so far this season and divide that by the total number of batters faced it comes to just under 20k. That also doesn’t take into account plate appearances.
I bet the Red Sox paid Dice-K more to walk batters. He truly sucked.
Somehow the team still wins a lot when he pitches. Hopefully they score one more than Pirates score .
Maybe Chatwood has TOS?
Can’t feel the ball in his hand due to numbness?
I think his problem is between his ears
Regardless pick up Hamels next year and DFA Chatwood So Randy R can stay in the bullpen yet to see his dance moves . Focus on him people behind the cameras
Always have more pitching, kids.
They do, they could start De la Rosa
Hell even Chavez
Too bad the Cubs aren’t loaded with young pitching like the Cardinals are.
Well at least chatwood has done good in the pen
Ummm…no. His ERA out of the pen is over 6. It just seems better because you don’t have to watch him walk guys for longer than one inning.
I’d bet Chatwood pitches well today. If MLBTR commenters are in agreement that someone is horrible after half a season of struggles, then you can put money on the opposite being true
Serves him right for breaking Matt Holliday’s thumb. #karma
I don’t think you understand how Karma works, Earl
Sure do. Be irresponsible, cause an injury. Down the road, injury befalls you. What goes around, comes around. I don’t think you understand how karma works, pal.