May 30: The Cubs announced the Swarmer move as part of a broader series of transactions, with various reporters relaying the slate, including Mark Gonzales. To make room on the 40-man roster for Swarmer, Ethan Roberts has been transferred to the 60-day IL. To make room on the active roster, Jonathan Villar was placed on the 10-day IL after suffering a mouth injury while working out. Meghan Montemurro of the Chicago Tribune provides further context, saying that Villar had an exercise band snap back into his mouth, suffering an injury that will require significant dental work.
Furthermore, Anderson Espinoza has been recalled as the 27th man for today’s doubleheader. Nelson Velazquez, whose recall was reported yesterday, has also been added.
As for Roberts, he was placed on the IL May 2 with shoulder inflammation and won’t be eligible to return until early July. While there’s no timetable on his return, it seems the club isn’t expecting him back before then, based on today’s transaction.
May 29: The Cubs are going to select the contract of right-handed pitcher Matt Swarmer, per Meghan Montemurro of the Chicago Tribune. He will start the first game of tomorrow’s doubleheader against the Brewers, making his major league debut. Swarmer isn’t on the club’s 40-man roster, meaning a corresponding move will be required at some point between now and the start of the game.
It was reported earlier today that the Brewers will be promoting Ethan Small to make his major league debut in the same game, making it a battle of the debutants in tomorrow afternoon’s Memorial Day tilt. For those who like factoids, Jesse Rogers of ESPN relays that this will be the first time the Brewers have been involved in a game with two starters making their debuts, while the Cubs haven’t done it since 1944.
Swamer, 28, was a 19th round selection of the Cubs in the 2016 draft. Since then, he has quietly crept towards the majors without garnering too much attention from prospect evaluators. He’s never appeared on Baseball America’s list of top Chicago farmhands, nor on that of FanGraphs, though he did get a brief honorable mention on the FanGraphs list going into 2019. Just over a year ago, Eric Longenhagen of FanGraphs did focus his radar on Swarmer, complementing the movement of his slider.
Last year, between Double-A and Triple-A, Swarmer made 20 starts and four relief appearances, logging 112 2/3 innings with a 4.79 ERA, 25.4% strikeout rate and 7.6% walk rate. He seems to have taken a step forward this year, as he’s made five starts and four relief appearances, throwing 39 innings with a 2.08 ERA. He’s gotten his strikeouts up to 27.3% but is also getting more walks with a 9.1% rate. A .213 BABIP and 82.8% strand rate are surely helping to deflate that ERA somewhat, though there’s lots to like about his results nonetheless.
The Cubs’ rotation currently consists of Marcus Stroman, Drew Smyly, Justin Steele, Kyle Hendricks and Keegan Thompson. But thanks to tomorrow’s doubleheader and another this Saturday, they are currently in a stretch of playing 11 games in 9 days. It’s possible that Swarmer will stick around for at least a couple of start to help the club get through that gruelling stretch. They then have a couple of days off in the following week, which should allow them to return to a five-man rotation, though health and performance issues can always change plans quickly.
Ain’t no way that mattcubs guy came in here to the Miley post and got it right. if you see this, are you Matt Swarmer yourself?
Haha. I’m not him, no. Hes just been pitching incredibly well and Ross suggested that Killian wasn’t going to get a shot yet. Figured he may be next up.
@mattcubs, If you are on FB, join a group called Chicago Cubs Top Prospects.
i was thinking the same thing lol
It will be interesting to see who they DFA. They could probably DFA Villar or Gsellman without too much issue. I don’t think they will DFA Ortega now given that they really don’t have a backup CF to Morel.
Gsellman makes the most sense at this point.
As always, we await developments.
Hermosillo? Maybe even Alexander Vizcaino? He’s been pretty horrid in the minors.
Also what’s up with brailyn Marquez?
Hermosillo would be another great choice. Great question regarding Marquez, 100 mph lefty just disappeared after reaching the majors in what, 2019? Covid, injuries, and Visa problems have made him a ghost.
He’s still in extended spring training as of last month.
Hermasillo is on the 10 day IL. Figure eventually they will find a reason to move him to the 60 day.
Swarmer will be sent down after the game and another arm will be called to take his place. It’s the game within the game.
Anyone have a scouting report on Swarmer, can’t find anything on him. Another low 90s sinker guy? (The Theo/Jed/McLeod special)
He has a history of flyball tendencies throughout the minor leagues. Fangraphs has a scouting report on him but he’s likely to allow a ton of homers.
Thanks. Not terribly exciting though…
That said, Alex Faedo is the more well known, younger version. So he could be ok with the slightly deadened ball.
He is so..so..so..swarmy.
Well, they should trade for Kyle Schwarber immediately so the play by play guy can go crazy.
?
When I Googled this guy. It said “cubs to promote prospect Matt Swarmer” he’s 28 is he still a prospect at this point? I’m hoping Nelson Velasquez stays up. Maybe they’ll finally cut ties with Heyward. Eat the rest of the contract. I’m sure someone with OF needs would be desperate enough to pick him up on the cheap. Maybe trade bad contract for bad contract.
Heyward has 10/5 no trade rights. So when they DFA him, he will probably just become a free agent like Justin Upton.
Selecting who to FDA, with this team – you can hardly make a bad choice.
Yeah I know. He’s gonna be stubborn like Derek Lee. Refused to waive his no trade until the last minute. Soriano did the sane
So much for trying to win the game. Killian would of been the call if they were actually trying to compete.
They sell 35,000 tickets each game and gallons of beer. You are right . They don’t care still making more money than most division leaders
“It was reported earlier today that the Brewers will be promoting Ethan Small to make his major league debut in the same game, making it a battle of the debutants in tomorrow afternoon’s Memorial Day tilt.”
When I first read this I thought it said “battle of the debutantes”, not “battle of the debutants”, and I thought “Why are teenage girls going to be fighting at the game? 😮
Haha! I thought the same….Like, wow MLBTR is really hard on these newbies, calling them girls and such …lol.
I totally forgot about Ethan Roberts. I don’t even remember him pitching.
Villar’s injury is a new one.
It’s a good thing the Cubs traded Yu Darvish for 1 year of Zack Davies and 4 – 16 year old scratch off lottery tickets Look at all this SP depth?? And all these power arms that can throw Regan era mid 80’s heat?? As a life long Cubs fan I love MLB TV. I am enjoying watching Rizzo hitting for the Yankees, Javy playing for the Tigers, and Darvish pitching for the Padres. I am not wasting time watching this dumpster fire again after only tanking less than 10 years ago, AGAIN.
Javy, Rizzo, and Bryant have been terrible this year. There’s a reason they were all traded. If they are a serious organization they will extend Contreras.
Rizzo has been perfectly fine
@ACK, if you have no clue about the prospects the Cubs received for Rizzo, Javy or Darvish- you can’t be much of even a baseball fan, much less a Cubs fan. You would be correct to say that they probably should be spending more money to stay competitive while they are in the rebuild. But again, by now we all should likely expect Ricketts to be cheap.
@Dogbone Rizzo slash line is .213/.325/.798. That’s not horrible. That’s borderline all-star.
Darvish ERA 3.76 52 Inns WHIP 1.082. That’s a TOR starter.
Javy has been hurt and he is always streaky. Yeah KB I would have passed on re-signing, but Rizzo & Javy I would have resigned.
Go ahead and watch bad baseball. They traded Darvish final 3 years and $67 million plus took Davies $10 million and thru in about $10 million and signed Stroman and his no heat velocity for 3 years $71 million. It’s not surprising Hendricks has struggled since he hasn’t had a Arrieta from 2015-2017 or Darvish as a high heat SP around him.
Life is too short to watch bad baseball from a FO & owner not even trying. It’s not all about the money. You can spend less and still compete and put a MLB quality lineup on the field. The Cubs have chosen to do neither,.
It’s also hard to develop talent when they are surrounded by AAAA talent. Winning baseball is usually a product of playing good baseball. Players learn good fundementals playing winning baseball, not this dumpster fire.
I don’t disagree with all you are saying. But once the Darvish trade was made, their direction was chosen and there was no going back. Ricketts is extremely cheap, he’s spending all his money trying to create Rickettsville. Hoyer I believe is trying to make the most, out of a situation that has dealt him a tough hand to play.
Once they started moving these guys, I really got over Rizzo being dealt, quite quickly. Javy also. They robbed the Mets.
How does an exercise band snap back in to one’s mouth?
Feels like this is the first time in the world this injury has happened.
Didn’t Sosa miss a game once from sneezing into a back injury? And I think Jose Cardenal missed a game due to eyes being “ stuck open”, and also a game because he couldn’t sleep due to crickets.
Ouch! Tough break for Villar.
Yeah, ouch is right. We got Pham smacking Joc, and Villar smacking himself.
Seriously, “requiring significant dental work” sounds incredibly painful to have occurred from an exercise band.
Man, I hope Villar is okay, truly.
Jed should have walked out to left field and told Clint Frazier to turn in his uniform and get out of my stadium after that horrendous play.
Swarmer pitched great only to get a ND
Crap defense and Norris pitching cost him the win today.
Yeah, I can see why it’s so tough to hit him too. He is awkward… Really awkward. It will be interesting to see teams that have a chance to hit against him a few times to see if it’s just something new, or if the delivery is really that deceptive.