The Cubs announced a series of roster moves to reporters today, including Bruce Levine of 670 The Score. (Twitter links) Marcus Stroman, who was scheduled to start tonight’s game, has instead been placed on the injured list. No designation was given for his placement, suggesting he is going on the COVID-related IL. Right-hander Adrian Sampson will have his contract selected to take Stroman’s place on the roster. Additionally, Frank Schwindel is being optioned to Triple-A. The club had an extra man on the roster for yesterday’s doubleheader and needed to subtract someone.
Stroman’s absence leaves the Cubs in a particular bind for tonight’s game, though if his placement is simply due to a close-contact situation or light symptoms, he could be activated as early as tomorrow (and thus likely lined up to start Tuesday’s game against the Padres). If Stroman has indeed tested positive for COVID-19, he’ll face an absence of at least 10 days, unless he passes certain criteria — two negative PCR tests, approval from a three-physician panel, and at least 24 hours without a fever.
The right-hander has been inconsistent over his first five starts in a Cubs uniform, but Stroman is coming off his best outing of the season, seven shutout innings of two-hit ball against the Brewers on May 1. If Stroman does have to miss an extended period of time, Wade Miley might be just about ready to step right into the mix, as the veteran (who hasn’t yet pitched in 2022 due to elbow inflammation) tossed a rehab outing on May 5.
Sampson posted a 2.80 ERA over 35 1/3 innings for Chicago last season, and re-signed a new minor league deal with the Cubs in March. A right-handed swingman, Sampson has started all five of his games at Triple-A this season, and could also fit into the rotation picture as a Stroman replacement.
Schwindel was claimed off waivers from the A’s last July, and he took over regular first base duty for the Cubs after Anthony Rizzo was dealt to the Yankees prior to the trade deadline. In a difficult period for the rebuilding Cubs, “Frank The Tank” was a bright spot, as he unexpectedly broke out to hit .342/.389/.613 with 13 homers over 239 PA for Chicago. This performance made Schwindel an instant favorite among Wrigleyville fans, and earned him a sixth-place finish in NL Rookie Of The Year voting.
Unfortunately, Schwindel’s 2022 hasn’t been as positive, as he has batted only .209/.250/.308 with two home runs over 96 PA. With Schwindel now looking to find himself at Triple-A, the Cubs may turn to another unheralded breakout candidate at first base, as Alfonso Rivas as gotten off to a hot start over his first 73 PA.
Tank is needed in the Bigs to help with the Cubs tank job.
I feel bad for Cub fans.
Why? I’m a cubs fan, anyone that was actually paying attention saw this coming.
Reading is fundamental
Really do as well from going from perennial playoffs to being mediocre so quickly is disappointing.
To be fair he has been more productive than heyward
The bat boy is more productive than Heyward
No he hasn’t? Heyward has an 82 wRC+ and .1 fwar. Schwindel with 61 wRC+ and -.5 fwar. That’s how you know he’s been bad.
Before the season I said the Cubs should trade for Hosmer and was soundly shot down. Frank the Tank was the 2nd coming of Rizzo I was told.
Depends on which Rizzo; the Rat or Betty…
Hosmer will run out of gas eventually. They always do…
Rivas has looked decent at the plate and i think everyone but the Cubs must have known Schwindel’s offensive output was not sustainable
Is Frank the Tank cooked?
As always, we await developments.
Cubs looking like a 100 loss team now. This could be guaranteed with another selloff this summer.
Nothing left to sell! Problem is that they have a manager with less than 2 years experience managing a bunch of unproven players with a few veterans over the hill. David Ross will be lucky to manage this team to avoid 100 losses
I don’t see the cubs being a 100 loss team, I pegged them at 73 wins and I’m fairly certain they will achieve that goal this year even after they fire sell at the deadline.
I don’t expect the Cubs to keep stroman, Hendricks or Miley after the deadline. Robertson looks like a valuable trade chip and I’ll go ahead and assume the Cub will deal Simmons, Villar and Contreras but we will still have a lot of young talent and we will some of our kids come up.
Madrigal is a lot better than he’s been playing, Nico is good, Suzuki is good, Gomes is solid, I love Rivas, happy is doing well…. We should see Frazier after the deadline getting consistent at bats, maybe valezquez and moldenado will get a call up along with killian. I really like Thomson and Steele although it kind of looks like they need to swap roles.
I don’t see this team being like the 2014 version where teams really start noticing the young talent but I do think we will realize we have more talent than most people thought.
I know cubs are tanking but how do you option schwindel and keep Hermosillo on the roster. Smh. At least I got to live to see 2016
Hermosillo’s ops+ is 11! You can’t just let that type of production go!
But hey, he made a nice catch once and hit that one double this year…. Totally offsets his 3 errors, -2 DRS and ineptitude at the plate.
Unfortunately for the Cubs Frank the Tank is now Frank has Sank.
He lasted longer than Tuffy Rhodes. So there’s that.
Fortunately for Cubs fans, Stroman isn’t much of a loss.
Unfortunately for Cubs fans, they kinda stink.
Stroman is on the COVID IL. He will be back soon. He has been close to his peripherals from last season in everything except HR/9 so far and his FIP is 4.18 showing that he has been a bit unlucky. He is actually doing better than his career numbers. Far too early to write him off.
Maybe some COVID IL manipulation due to Stroman getting destroyed so far in 2022?
That’s ludicrous. Marcus Stroman’s last two starts were quality outings including his last one against the Brewers when he threw 7 shutout innings in the Cubs 2-0 victory a week ago on Sunday, May 1st: https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/MIL/MIL202205010.shtml. Incidentally, that was the Cubs last victory. They’ve lost 5 straight games since then.
Stroman also owns 2 of the 3 Cubs QS so far in 2022.
—and the four runs he gave up in the first inning in his start before, against the Rays, were all on Villar’s inability to catch a ground ball or catch a ball on a steal. (yes, it’s important to pitch through those things–which he didn’t). By no means has he been lights out, but he has been much better than the numbers on paper. “Destroyed” is a pretty incorrect word.
How bad the A’s 1B is they should claim frank back. Better than most of the players they have.
Schwindel bad; Hermosillo bad; Ortega bad
I love seeing Hermosillo in the line up every time we face a lefty… must have some excellent exit velocity on all those foul balls
Schwin and a miss. He gone. My little protégé should have traded him when he still had value. Ah well
Yeah but the ad on Ukrainian women!
Frank had options left so he was sent down, he wasn’t DFA’d. He’ll be back if he can turn things around in AAA. It’s worth a shot.
In other words, nice story. He gone.
So… no enthusiasm for Rivas?
I like Rivas, he has a really solid hit tool and plays impressive defense at first. A lot of people knock him for his lack of power for a first baseman but I’d rather have a first baseman who can hit that lacks power than a guy who has power but cannot hit or play defense.
The cubs would be in good shape with Rivas, Nico and Madrigal is they didn’t also have heyward, Hermosillo and ortega.
I think a lot of cubs fans though schwindel was going to be better (not sure why) same with ortega and they though Frazier was going to come in and re-establish himself as a star in the league.
Yep. The silver lining is getting Rivas in there and playing every day.to find out what he’s got.
Schwindel struggling doesn’t surprise me. You could tell when he was in the Royals system that he was nothing more than a AAAA hitter.
Schwindel optioned then immediately brought back up. Most likely Justin Steele to the IL.