The Cubs announced they’ve placed second baseman Nico Hoerner on the 10-day injured list, retroactive to May 9, due to a left hamstring strain. Utility player Miles Mastrobuoni was recalled from Triple-A Iowa to take his spot on the active roster. Chicago also reinstated reliever Brandon Hughes from the IL and optioned swingman Javier Assad to Iowa.
Hoerner has gotten off to a nice start to the year. After signing a three-year extension in Spring Training, the 25-year-old infielder has put together a .303/.348/.395 line over 164 plate appearances. He’s already stolen 12 bases in 14 attempts and has kept his strikeout rate to a customarily excellent 10.4% clip. The Stanford product has gotten typically strong reviews from public metrics for his defense at second base.
The Cubs have deployed Hoerner at the top of the lineup. Since he came up with the hamstring issue a few days ago, Nick Madrigal and Christopher Morel have gotten some looks at second base and in the leadoff spot. That’ll continue for at least the next week, with Mastrobuoni also again in the picture after hitting .291/.494/.455 over 18 games in Iowa.
Hughes, 27, figures to return to a high-leverage role out of the bullpen. The southpaw was excellent as a rookie last year, tossing 57 2/3 innings of 3.12 ERA ball with a strong 28.5% strikeout rate. He’d seen some time in the ninth inning by year’s end and picked up eight saves. He’s twice gone on the IL because of left knee inflammation thus far in 2023, though, limiting him to five MLB appearances.
All these changes, yet Hosmer somehow keeps his spot on the roster. Ridiculous.
They swapped a position player for a position player, a pitcher for a pitcher. It’s not like they sent down Mervis or Morel and kept Hosmer.
I don’t mind Hosmer being on the roster, just don’t like seeing him in the line up.
The Cubs have plenty of guys who can play every day/need at bats in the infield. Madrigal, Morel and Wisdom all in the infield mix and Swanson basically plays everyday unless he is hurt. So there really isn’t a reason why we should have to turn to Hosmer unless there is an emergency.
Hosmer is a good mentor, good guy to have on the bench and has taken Mervis “under his wing”. Whenever a Cubs player does well, Hosmer is jumping off the bench to congratulate them. He’s basically a player coach at this point.
Drasco, tell that to yourself the next time that Hosmer is penciled into the lineup and takes ABs from even someone like Mastrobuoni. Aside from the fact if he is penciled in, he’s more than likely to go 0-4, or maybe a very feeble 1-4.
Billy Hamilton is more valuable than Hosmer – oh, and I bet a good teammate. Hosmer just wants to remain relevant. This is likely his last stop, so yeah, he better do something. He isn’t even likely to be better defensively than Mervis at this point.
And lastly, if the Cubs knew prior to signing Hosmer that they’d sign Mancini, IMO, I don’t think they’d have bothered to sign Hosmer. He’s a wasted roster spot. I’d just as soon have another P on the team.
The Cubs already are carrying 13 pitchers.
That’s true Murph, re the 13 pitchers. OK, so how about replacing Hosmer with: Darius Hill, or Jake Slaughter – or even Mr Rogers (if he was still around). I’m positive they’d all be good teammates – – – AND “jump off the bench” to congratulate teammates.
Any of us could do that.
Maybe he’s good at delivering speeches..
That’d be great if there were positions for them. Bringing up a player and having them ride the bench does nothing for their development.
Well, Hill and Slaughter aren’t 22 years old – they’ve both been around quite awhile in the system. Hill’s been in Iowa at least a couple years and I guarantee can hit better than Hosmer. Slaughter should be called up at some point this year, IMO this would have been a time to get his feet wet – and as far as a roster spot – easy call for me – Hosmers.
I’m not a Hosmer fan, especially when he comes up with the bases loaded and swings at the first pitch for a double play. I’d be okay if they DFA’d him when Nico comes back and leave Miles up if he’s playing well (he wasn’t doing much during his first time up this year).
I’d like to point out how clueless you are about baseball but your comments do that all by themselves.
Your feelings hurt Drasco? Try ‘jumping off your couch to congratulate Hosmer’, next time Hosmer gets an XBH, you’ll be very still for quite awhile.
Why would your lack of baseball knowledge hurt my feelings? Or is it your lame attempts at insults that was supposed to?
…naked
Morel needs to play everyday until he fails for a stretch, dude was mashing in AAA.
Wasn’t Assad proving value as a long man?
Yes, but David Ross had him pitch 6 innings of relief on Tuesday for some reason. He pitched great until the 9th. He’s been very solid out of the bullpen.
One of Ross’ many questionable decisions.
Agreed
Nico would look good next to India in Cincy; I mean I can dream anyway..
Barrera would look good next to India in Pakistan.
I was really hoping he would avoid an IL Stint. Should’ve brought up Jake Slaughter or Miguel Amaya. Or even Brennan Davis. Mastrobuoni is terrible. Hopefully he doesn’t start. At most use him as a PH.
Davis is hitting .190 in AAA. And you want him why? Slaughter would need a 40 man spot and would require somebody leaving. Hosmer would be fine but then Slaughter would be there probably 2 years ahead of time so that makes no sense. Sooner or later the Cubs 40 man spots will be like gold and shouldn’t be wasted for no reason.
I didn’t know Davis was only hitting .190. Also didn’t know Slaughter wasn’t on the 40 man.
Jammer – there’s this new thing – – called the internet. Could be useful to ya.
Mastrobuoni slashed .291/.494/.455 in Iowa and in your opinion he is terrible. Your preference would be to bring up a guy that is slashing .200/.331/.310 or a 3rd catcher that’s a righty bat, when they are short on lefty bats. Do you have any stock tips?
Mastro was hitting the ball hard with no luck when he was sent down. He deserved a better fate.
He wasn’t the greatest on the ML team. That’s what I was talking about. I saw him play in Iowa. He was doing very well.
Hoerner has had a great season so far. Sad to see him go down with an injury. Best of luck.
From everything I’ve read it’s very mild. They’re probably just being cautious which is smart. With Morel, and Madrigal around and now Mastrobuoni who can play SS in a pinch if Swanson needs a day off. Nico has already missed like 3 days so it’s really like a 7 day DL. It’s still a long season, No need to be reckless.
That is good to hear. I am not a Cubs fan, but I am a Nico Hoerner fan,
Hoerny Nico shouldn’t be out long, so enjoy the Great Stromboli while he’s up.
As a Nats fan, I was very impressed with his play overall in the recent series with us, especially his prowess on D. Hope he recovers soon because I like to watch the best players play.
IDK, I think the Cubs have been making some odd personnel decisions lately. Bringing Asad up North in the beginning was a mistake. He should of been left to stretch out in Iowa. If Tailion was only able to pitch 3 innings at a time why the heck was he here and not rehabbing in Iowa, Until he could at least throw 5? Signing Hosmer and keeping Mervis down was an obvious mistake. The whole clock thing needs an enema. Hughes coming up and going on the DL twice is dumb, They should just fix his knee before they ruin his arm.
On the good side Amaya has really impressed me. After having probably the 2 worst injuries you can have as a C (TJ and Lisfranc), He must of worked his a** off to be back looking this good so soon. The Iowa bullpen has like 6 guys who can throw high 90’s and they look good. If Boxberger and Fulmer don’t pick it up they might be trade bait yet. Heuer still needs a lot of work, I hope they don’t rush him back. All in all, Even with the weird decisions they’re still 500 and in the middle of things. Ross isn’t having his best season making lineup and pitching moves either. Despite it all, I’m liking their chances still in the Playoff race, They haven’t even had a hot streak yet. Surprised the weather hasn’t caused more pulled muscles. The Cubs training staff must be doing wonders as even Madrigals piano wire hamstrings and groin are holding up. LOL
Some good points unc, your comments on Amaya and Heuer are very true. The Amaya scenario is an amazing story- particularly how well he performed while in Chicago. Gives us hope for down the road.
And watching Heuer, even when he was with the Sox, his pitches didn’t seem to have much deception nor consistent movement.