6:10PM: Bote’s ankle injury is “significant,” manager David Ross told reporters (including Tim Stebbins of NBC Sports Chicago), and it isn’t out of the question that Bote’s season could be over. Ross said Bote hurt his right ankle in rather fluky fashion, as he stepped onto a baseball while participating in a pregame baserunning drill. “You watch the replay, and it’s pretty nasty, how hard he rolled his ankle,” Ross said.
3:37PM: The Cubs announced a flurry of roster moves today, including the news that David Bote has been placed on the 10-day injured list (retroactive to August 26) due to a right ankle sprain. Chicago also designated right-handers Jake Jewell and Ryan Meisinger for assignment, and selected the contracts of right-hander Scott Effross and infielder Alfonso Rivas from Triple-A.
This is Bote’s second IL placement of the season, after a separated shoulder put him out of action for close to two months. Bote has seen most of the everyday second base at-bats since returning from that first IL trip, though he is still struggling at the plate, with only a .202/.270/.339 slash line over 268 plate appearances. The severity of the sprain isn’t yet known, and Cubs radio broadcaster Zach Zaidman (Twitter link) said Bote’s injury occurred yesterday during batting practice.
Both Effross and Rivas are now in line to make their Major League debuts, as the rebuilding Cubs continue to look at younger players. Effross was a 15th-round pick for the team in the 2015 draft, while Rivas was a fourth-round pick for the A’s in the 2018 draft, and was dealt to Chicago in January 2020 in the trade that sent Tony Kemp to Oakland.
On-base skills have been Rivas’ calling card over his brief pro career, as he has hit .288/.393/.411 over 1037 PA across three minor league seasons. The left-handed hitting Rivas has done much of that damage against right-handed pitching, and he has played some left field and right field to go along with his customary first base spot.
Effross began the season at Double-A and was then promoted to Triple-A for the first time. Overall, the 27-year-old has a 3.41 ERA and 27.61% strikeout rate over 60 2/3 combined innings this season, working out of the bullpen for 29 of his 31 appearances. Effross tends to rely more on grounders than missed bats, as he has consistently topped the 50 percent threshold for groundball percentage during his minor league career.
Jewell and Meisinger each signed minor league contracts with the Cubs during the offseason, and both right-handers were selected to the MLB roster within the last month. Jewell has a 9.90 ERA over 10 innings, while Meisinger has a 12.27 ERA in 7 1/3 innings.
The Cubs are a patched up ramshackle team right now. There’s no debate there. Hoyer and his front office will hopefully continue to figure it out. The question is just how long will this process take.
Hopefully, by 2023 the Cubs are a contenders again! A season without the Cubs playing at the top level is a failure for the whole game
lol!
The Sox have the worst rated farm system. Your window is 3-4 years.
1) The farm system will get better because they have been drafting prep players primarily, and they won’t start popping in the top 100 for a couple years. They are also basically 95% locked on Oscar Colas, which will help them as well.
2) Basically their entire core is signed through at least 2025 on team friendly deals, meaning adding FA to compliment this core is entirely possible.
The Sox have essentially emulated the Cubs rebuild, and tacked on the added bonus of actually signing their core pieces to long term deals early. The Sox also have a nice core of young pitchers coming through the system as well. This window should be more open than 4 years unless something truly catastrophic or incredibly stupid occurs
Jimenez is injury prone and will be an albatross with his deal. The Sox farm isn’t even top 20 no matter how you spin it. The “window” is 2 years at best. Robert is an injury every year type also and Tim Anderson is a POS prototype
Enjoy your team, man. They’re super fun to watch… for now.
Nope
TA has been consistently getting better every single year, Robert and Jimenez, in their limited MLB time, while being hurt, have put up impressive numbers and they show the ability to last. And the Farm not being in top 20 isn’t even a relevant argument, since the core is mostly under 25.
The only way you can come to this conclusion of a window being open for a team this talented, and that is signed for the foreseeable future is either having an immense void in the concept of team building, or hatred of this team based on Fandom of another team. Essentially no logical thought went it that assessment of 2 years.
I have been. I realize it won’t be forever, but I am hoping to see this team be competitive for the majority of this decade. It will be a nice change of pace
Don,
Why are worried about what Cubs fans think about your team? They don’t even understand their own teams flaws…..like ever. Their boards are the biggest joke on this site. Ignore nonsense.
LOL. That’s because the bulk of them just graduated to the majors and are under control for at least 5 years. By then, the HS players we drafted and draft pics over the next 4-5 years will rebuild the farm system. Having drafted so many pitchers also give us leverage for trades later. This comment really makes no sense. Farm system don’t mean much because most of them won’t pan out anyway. Moving on….The time is NOW!
I think A lot of other fans enjoy their teams winning I think The Brewers are a little overdue in winning a WS! So are a lot of other teams that have never won a WS The baseball world is the whole league not just Chicago! Thank you for you passion!!
My hex as a child that put on the ex-Seattle Pilots remains effective.
Cool. The one I put in the Oklahoma City Thunder is also working.
Loved the Pilots, Jim Bouton et al. They were just a fart in the wind
Since the Cub won the big prize in 2016, Ricketts priority is not the teams success, it’s trying to prove to his family that he is a successful businessman. And that objective to Tom Ricketts and his father, is measured in how much is your Return On Investment. Or $$$$.
Same thing over and over….. Payroll history suggests a different story
2123*
The Cubs have only $43 million on the books for 2022. They could spend $145 million and still be under the tax threshold. The caveat is that there will be new CBA so know one knows how it will work right now.
I think they’ll wait until the farm is more stable and guys like Davis are ready before spending big. That’ll maximize your $ while getting cheap solid production & depth to go with it.
Expos: not really as a fan of another team in a whole different it doesn’t make a diff if they make it to the postseason or not
You’re joking right? Outside of a fluke in 2016 the Cubs have spent a century watching the World Series from their couch or listening on their telegraph. Baseball has been just fine with them being a nobody.
LOL. seriously?! The Cubs are done for years (maybe decades) to come.
Hey expos: Got IT!
CORRECTION: Cubs GM gets it! OOPS
No Expo does not get it!
Got IT!
What is your major malfunction!!!???!!!
Nice punctuation game, @emerson. Had you used merely one or two exclamation points or question marks we may have become confused as to your true intent.
Plus, it reminds me of when my teenage son’s girlfriend texts me about something. Cute.
Bro.
Your teenage son’s girlfriend texts you?
That’s creepy, dude.
Bro. Guy. Man.
For sure.
Example: “What time is family dinner this Sunday??? It’s always so good!!!!!!!!!”
But insinuating something else pretty much makes you the one creepy one there, bud.
Anyway: yeah..like your post.
Thought the established pattern was once every 107 years…
The “patched up” Cubs have scored 19 runs off the White Sox in 13 innings so far this weekend
Excluding players currently on the IL, I count 7 Cubs left from their 2021 opening day 26-man active roster (mlb.com/press-release/press-release-cubs-2021-open…):
RHP Zach Davies
RHP Kyle Hendricks
RHP Alec Mills
LHP Rex Brothers
INF Matt Duffy
OF Ian Happ
OF Jason Heyward
I think many people forget that if Hoerner, Madrigal, & Contreras we’re healthy and in this lineup, things would look & feel much different. Add in Davis by mid-season ‘22 and competitive team is possible.
It’s interesting to watch the rebuild process as they cycle through the arms. Cub minors are loaded with hard-throwing bullpen guys and Effross is the latest to come up, although I’ve never seen him, I’ve read that his funky delivery is deceptive.
Not to mention any potential free agent signing like Corey Seager or maybe Michael Conforto.
FA cost money, and unless a salary floor is agreed to, the Ricketts seem allergic to spending money on those.
I doubt the Cubs will start next season with a payroll under 50 million.
The Ricketts payroll history suggests they do spend and just come off the best 6 year run in Cub history. Zero reason to think they won’t spend next year.
Zero reason? They let their ENTIRETY of the remaining core of a WS championship team just get traded, because they weren’t going to pay them. Now, to be fair, none of them played anywhere close to deserving the money they wanted over the past couple seasons. But the Ricketts have been very open and loud about crying poor the last few years, especially last season. Hard to feel bad for them, when they chose to spend their money upgrading Wrigleyville as opposed to upgrading their team.
Hard throwing guys are pretty common nowadays. Plus having a bunch of guys that throw hard doesn’t equal bullpen success.
It’s obvious that Hoyer is cleaning out AAA by bringing guys up to see if they can get anyone out. If no then DFA. Cubs have some arms that are ready to move up thanks to the deadline deals.
What’s also very obvious is that Thompson and Steele are worthy but don’t have a pitch
to get people out. Change up would be the most obvious thing they could work on this winter. Will be interesting to see what and how much the Cubs spend this winter. There’s a lot of good SS but everyone in the System right now is listed as a SS in the Top 30.
It doesn’t have to be all, on long term contracts, but with all the money Ricketts is saving this year by dumping players- if the Cubs 2022 player salaries aren’t at least $170M, then he isn’t trying. Remember they need 2 good starters and a good vet reliever. And a SS and starting OFer.
To get anybody really good you’ll have to go long term. or somebody else will.
I don’t think they’ll be getting anyone really good. Just good enough to hope for a decent year and flip at the trade deadline.
I don’t think Thompson is anything. Steele has a chance as a 4-5 but probably a pretty good reliever. I think it’s just going to be a spot for a lot of 1-2 year deals next year for useful guys maybe coming off a bad season.
Wild game last night.
That was a softball game.
Bote is such a bad player cubs got lucky he is injured and can stop feeling need to play him. Release him in off-season
You forget that Bote has three years, $12 million on his contract left. He’ll be a utility infielder for them.
Jed Hoyer goat
Patrick Wisdom – Cardinals castoff- 25 HR
Dude went off against the Sox. As for the pitching, I didn’t expect too much from Dallas but never thought he’d pitch that poorly. Lance on the other hand had me baffled. It’s one thing for the Sox to lose but to get shut out and held to four hits is embarrassing. Alec Mills, really?
Gotta tip my cap to the scrubbies.
When Lance doesn’t have his command, he gets knocked around. It’s happened a few times since the break. Wisdom looks like he could be a a piece moving forward for the Cubs
Hard to believe Cards cut Wisdom. The guy looks like a player. The commenter that says Tim Anderson is a POS has Bauer for his idol….
I mean, the Twins had Big Papi. Some guys just don’t show it until they move on. Yeah, anyone hating on TA at this point is a straight up goon. I was hard on him about 4 years ago; he struck out a ton, never walked, and his defense was atrocious. He has worked his tail off to get to where he is. He is a legit face of the franchise and legitimately one of the faces of baseball along with Trout, De Grom and Tatis.
We gave White Sox two high minors we this year give a stud and we get a a decent 2b guy and a minor league pitcher who could be a set up man in near future.Hoyer good deal why not Cease back or Kopeck.
They never would have traded either for Kimbrel. Madrigal was only on the table because he wasn’t a factor in this year’s run. Cubs got a solid return for Kimbrel. If Heuer can correct himself, which it looks like he really has, he is gonna be a devasting weapon as a closer. I think the Cubs develop him, and flip him for some real good pieces in a year or two, and Madrigal becomes your leadoff hitter for the next decade (if Ricketts actually decides to pay him to stay)
I’m actually enjoying watching some of these ball players. Coupled with a bit of funding, the next couple of seasons could prove to be entertaining.