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Cubs Moving Drew Smyly Back To Bullpen

By Anthony Franco | August 24, 2023 at 10:12pm CDT

The Cubs are kicking left-hander Drew Smyly back into relief, president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer said this evening (relayed by Maddie Lee of the Chicago Sun-Times). Smyly had been set to oppose lefty Bailey Falter for Sunday’s series finale in Pittsburgh; the Cubs’ starter for that game is now listed as to be announced.

It’s a moderate surprise, as Smyly was generally expected to hold onto a rotation spot after Marcus Stroman’s recent injury setback. The Cubs had used Smyly three times in relief last week but gave him the start on Tuesday in Detroit. That outing didn’t go well — the Tigers saddled him with a loss by plating seven runs in 3 2/3 innings — and the Cubs have decided to return him to a relief role.

Smyly had worked a scoreless inning in each of the aforementioned three bullpen appearances. That’s far too small a sample on which to draw any conclusions, particularly given a generally weak slate of opponents (Blue Jays, White Sox and Royals). Moving him to long relief allows manager David Ross to deploy Smyly in lower-leverage situations than he’d have taken on as a starter.

It’s certainly not the result the Cubs envisioned when re-signing the veteran southpaw last offseason. Smyly had turned in a 3.47 ERA over 106 1/3 frames a season ago. The Cubs guaranteed him $19MM over two years on a deal that also allows him to opt out at the end of this season. Smyly hasn’t come close to replicating last season’s run prevention, allowing 5.28 earned runs per nine across 124 1/3 innings.

On the one hand, the front office likely anticipated some amount of regression. Smyly had a below-average 20.4% strikeout rate a season ago, leading to estimators like SIERA (4.06) and FIP (4.23) that were above his actual ERA. They certainly wouldn’t have anticipated his ERA jumping by almost two runs, though. Smyly’s 21.2% strikeout percentage is actually a touch better than last season’s, but his walks are up slightly and he has had a very tough time keeping the ball in the park. He has allowed 1.81 homers per nine, the seventh-highest rate among pitchers with 100+ frames.

The Cubs are through seven days in a stretch of 13 consecutive game days. The quartet of Justin Steele, Kyle Hendricks, Jameson Taillon and Javier Assad comprises the rotation. Chicago will have to find another solution for Sunday. They could try to patch things together with a bullpen game, though that’d run the risk of straining the pitching staff in advance of a crucial three-game series against the Brewers that begins the following day. Righty Hayden Wesneski is on the MLB roster and has starting experience; he struggled out of the rotation early in the year and has been working 2-3 inning relief stints of late.

If Chicago wanted to look to the minor leagues, they could go outside the 40-man roster. Prospect Ben Brown has been on the Triple-A injured list for three weeks. The Cubs optioned righty Caleb Kilian back to Iowa on August 15. Pitchers must spend at least 15 days on an optional stint before they can be recalled unless they’re brought back in conjunction with an IL transaction. The only way the Cubs could turn to Kilian by Sunday is if they place someone else on the shelf.

2021 first-round pick Jordan Wicks and former Marlins righty Nick Neidert are among the non-roster players starting games for Iowa. Chicago would have to select either player’s contract but has a pair of openings on the 40-man roster to accommodate a move if they so choose.

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Chicago Cubs Drew Smyly

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Post a Comment

19 Comments

  1. Prunella Vulgaris

    2 years ago

    It’s so nice to have a baseball team in Chicago that’s still relevant this late in the season.

    7
    Reply
  2. ThatCubsFan

    2 years ago

    I do wonder what happened with him. He was really good the first few months, then just wasn’t.

    Reply
  3. Lloyd Emerson

    2 years ago

    This needed to happen. I just wonder whose decision it was. I doubt it was Ross.

    1
    Reply
  4. NoNeckWilliams

    2 years ago

    What does this have to do with “trade rumors”?

    … Cubs

    1
    Reply
    • Braves_saints_celts

      2 years ago

      You do realize this site discusses almost everything baseball, from yes of course trades, but also other types of transactions such as dfas and free agent signings and also team and player reports. I can promise you it’s not just because of the “cubs” they write about all teams and players and plus it’s past trade season other than non 40 man roster trades. If all you want to read about is trades wait until the off-season. The group of writers on this site do a tremendous job spitting out great articles day in and day out and most of us who are baseball lifers and nerds who love soaking in all the information we can get based off of these articles, so if this isn’t your cup of tea, please by all means here is the door, please walk out of it and leave.

      11
      Reply
    • MLB Top 100 Commenter

      2 years ago

      The quality of their rotation has a lot to do with future trades and free agent signings.

      3
      Reply
    • fivepoundbass

      2 years ago

      Stop feeding the troll, guys

      3
      Reply
  5. Lloyd Emerson

    2 years ago

    Jordan Wicks was scratched from his start with Iowa yesterday, seems a reasonable option.

    3
    Reply
    • Unclemike1525

      2 years ago

      They already burned Killian by bringing him up from Iowa to do something he hasn’t done all year, Be a reliever. Wicks spent too much time in AA that wasn’t necessary but has still been getting it done at AAA and should be the pick. Neidert is just bad, If you bring him up you should of just left Smyly in there. The other long shot in the room is Shane Greene who they have been starting at Iowa and has actually looked pretty good. His last start he threw 5 SO innings, But my preference would still be let Wicks have a shot. When in doubt, The experience for a really good young P in a Playoff race would be invaluable. Hoyer has eaten so much money lately I doubt he wants to admit another failure right now.

      2
      Reply
      • Dogbone

        2 years ago

        It’s time to start seeing where Wicks is at. Time to see if, or where he might be able to contribute next year – as well as the possibility he can help this year down the stretch.

        Reply
  6. Unclemike1525

    2 years ago

    Wish they could move him to Iowa’s bullpen.

    Reply
  7. Ignorant Son-of-a-b

    2 years ago

    “given a generally weak slate of opponents (Blue Jays, White Sox and Royals)” …ouch, a little bit of shade thrown there towards Jays fans having their homeboys lumped in with the “weak slate” of Sox & Royals opponents. Yikes, if I was a Jays fan I’d want my MLBTR subscription fee returned to me lol. That’s some lowdown swizzle right there.

    Reply
    • Chicken In Philly?

      2 years ago

      Their OPS leader is Brandon Belt. I think the writer has it right.

      2
      Reply
      • Ignorant Son-of-a-b

        2 years ago

        Yikes where would the Jays be without Brandon Belt ??

        Reply
  8. Backup Catcher to the Backup Catcher

    2 years ago

    The starting rotation might prove to be the Cubs Achilles heal down the stretch. Other than Steele, the others are all capable on any given day of throwing goose eggs or BP.

    I like the offense. However, if they are gonna make the playoffs they may to have to win a lot of 7-6, 8-7, 10-8 games.

    Still, it’s not like the Brewers are the ’27 Yankees. They can be caught. Frankly, I’m rooting for the Cubs.

    Pre-season pundits didn’t even give them a chance to be a .500 team let alone make the playoffs. Would like to see Wrigley fans rockin’ and rollin’ in October.

    Go Cubs Go!

    6
    Reply
  9. whyhayzee

    2 years ago

    So Drew Smyly faces less batters?

    Reply
    • Vanilla Good

      2 years ago

      fewer

      Reply
  10. upstart17

    2 years ago

    He should be working for Kingsford lighter fluid and not a cub because all he does is get lit up

    Reply
    • UWPSUPERFAN77

      2 years ago

      AKA as Your fired!

      Reply

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