7:48pm: Stroman will indeed pitch out of the bullpen for the time being, writes Meghan Montemurro of the Chicago Tribune. He could be an option to return to the rotation at some point down the stretch, but he’ll build up with multi-inning relief work. The Cubs will stick with a starting five of Steele, Hendricks, Wicks, Jameson Taillon and Javier Assad for the time being.
6:49pm: The Cubs announced they’ve reinstated Marcus Stroman from the 15-day injured list. Daniel Palencia was optioned to Triple-A Iowa in a corresponding move.
Stroman is back for the first time since the end of July. He initially landed on the IL with inflammation in his right hip. That wasn’t a particularly serious issue, but he was subsequently diagnosed with a rib cartilage fracture that necessitated a longer shutdown. At one point, it seemed unclear if he’d make it back to the club at all this season.
Fortunately for Chicago, he’ll return for the last couple weeks. The Cubs have Justin Steele, Kyle Hendricks and Jordan Wicks lined up to start this weekend’s three-game set in Arizona. The Cubs don’t have a set starter for their next series against the Pirates, which begins Tuesday. It’s possible they hold Stroman until that point, but the fact that they activated him tonight might suggest he’ll be available out of the bullpen this weekend.
Stroman has been throwing for a couple weeks but didn’t go on a minor league rehab stint. The Cubs presumably won’t want him immediately logging 75-100 pitches in his first game action in six weeks. A few multi-inning relief stints could be a way of building his arm strength while still getting him into potentially pivotal games as the club tries to lock down a playoff berth.
For the first couple months of the season, the right-hander was in the NL Cy Young conversation. After tossing seven scoreless innings against the Pirates on June 20, he carried a 2.28 ERA with a massive 59.9% grounder percentage over 16 starts. He received a deserved All-Star nod for the second time in his career on the back of that strong first half. However, Stroman had a couple clunkers headed into the break and was rocked in three of his first four outings of the second half. Over his seven starts preceding the IL stint, he allowed an even 9.00 ERA in 30 innings, with his ground-ball rate dipping to 52.9%.
Showing well over the final couple weeks and potentially into October would go a long way towards bolstering his stock in advance of a possible second career free agent trip. Stroman has a $21MM player option for the upcoming season. It seemed a lock he’d decline that in search of a longer-term pact while he was dominating over the first couple months. While that could still be the case, the option would have been more borderline if Stroman had lost the bulk of the second half to injury. He’ll look to demonstrate he has put the rib issue behind him.
We now know that a fractured rib cartilage injury take six to seven weeks to recover from. The mystery has been solved.
Go Cubs!
Marcus, we trust you will keep your focus on that long term contract that will be hell for your new team.
But not for you.
Have all the fingers crossed—-Stroman to pitch well and Seiya moved out of right field and to DH tonight. Morel in right (yikes). Hoping that there is nothing wrong with Seiya….late lineup changes usually are not good.
morel’s biggest issue is hes literally the worst defender the cubs have had in the past 5 yrs, hes a DH only which means when hes slumping there will be times where is a healthy scratch for 5 games
This has nothing at all to do with Stroman, but while Baltimore and the Rays are playing in a hugely important series, MLB network is showing the riveting match up between the nyy and the Pirates. Yankees are God!
PNC Park is gorgeous.
Aye, that it is, laddie. Absolute gem of a ballpark.
If only the team was!!
It’s because Roberto Clemente is being celebrated – please check the person to the left and to the right of you – is everyone celebrating? Please discreetly report anyone not celebrating.
Francisco Lindor for the Mets and Alexis Diaz for the Reds wore 21 tonight.
Yes and then send them to vaccination camp
Rays all ready took the first two
An expensive bullpen guy.
I like a strong bullpen but geez.
But what?
lmao be gone troll
Go fly the L.
not talking to u
OK. Thanks for clarifying that.
Intriguing development down the stretch.
We’ll see how long it takes before he cops an attitude about the situation and begins airing his grievances throughout the clubhouse.
bruh he’s coming off injury, its highly probable stro agrees with the move. Also he’s been MUCH better in his relationship with the fans and team, he regularly tweets out how much he loves the atomosphere. He even said he would’ve been willing to resign with the cubs in the offseason had he been traded which was the plan before his injury.
Most manager In MLB who’s teams are fight for a playoff spot have It In the back of they minds that If team fail It may mean that they get fired.
Such Is not the case for David Ross as long as Jed Hoyer Theo Epstein shadow Is running the Cub David Ross Is safe. Good Luck Cubs Fans
David Ross has been a much better manager, his job is 100% safe no matter what happens to the Cubs this season. If I had to say his job is top 5 in safeist.
His job shouldn’t be safe – Ross has directly lost the Cubs multiple games with terrible bullpen management. His job is only safe because of his role on the 2016 Cubs. He also sucked on Dancing with the Stars.
Side note, letting Ian Happ hit in the 3 hole most of the season makes zero sense – he takes his walks but is not a run producer.
very good, take all the time needed to come back. Our rotation is gonna be nasty for a 3 game series, Steele, Stro, Wicks (maybe kyle)
Does anyone actually like this guy(srs)?
Stroman seems like the guy you want to just cold clock at the bar.
It’s a long throw from the bullpen to home plate. Wouldn’t they rather have him pitch from the mound?