2:35pm: The Cubs have announced the Happ/Ballesteros swap as well as Hodge landing on the IL. Right-hander Ethan Roberts has been recalled as the corresponding move for Hodge.
10:28am: The Cubs are welcoming Ian Happ back from the injured list for tonight’s game in Miami, president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer tells the Mully & Haugh Show on 670 The Score. Rookie Moisés Ballesteros will be optioned to Triple-A Iowa.
That’s not the only forthcoming roster move. Manager Craig Counsell told Maddie Lee of The Chicago Sun-Times last night that Porter Hodge is heading to the 15-day IL with a left oblique injury. They could recall someone from Triple-A this afternoon to take Hodge’s bullpen spot, though it’s possible they’ll activate Ryan Brasier from his own IL stint instead.
The Happ/Ballesteros swap is a reversal of last week’s roster move. Chicago placed the veteran outfielder on the 10-day IL, retroactive to May 10, with a left oblique strain. That was evidently very mild, as he’s back after a minimal stint despite the tendency for many oblique strains to linger for weeks. Ballesteros was called up for the first time. Hoyer said this morning that Ballesteros was aware at the time that it’d be a brief promotion no matter how well he played, as the Cubs always intended to send him back down once Happ returned from what they expected to be a minimal IL stint.
Ballesteros, 21, was raking at .368/.420/.522 clip over 34 games in Iowa. He’s a career .288/.371/.459 minor league hitter despite consistently being one of the youngest players at each level at which he’s appeared. He didn’t produce much in his first look at MLB pitching, going 3-16 with a pair of walks over five games. He hit a run-scoring single off the White Sox’s Yoendrys Gómez for his first big league hit on Friday and had his first multi-hit effort in last night’s loss to the Marlins.
The Cubs used Ballesteros strictly as a designated hitter over the past week. He’s a polished offensive player but needs to continue developing as a catcher in Iowa. Happ’s return to the lineup will push Seiya Suzuki back to DH from left field. Happ will presumably slot back at the top of the batting order. He’s hitting .269/.364/.381 through 187 plate appearances.
Hodge, 24, has been Counsell’s most frequent choice in high-leverage situations. He has allowed a 5.12 ERA through 19 1/3 innings. His 22.6% strikeout rate is way down from last year’s excellent 31.7% mark. It’s not especially strong production overall, though the lackluster ERA is mostly attributable to one six-run blowup at the hands of the Diamondbacks a month ago. He has allowed three earned runs in 9 2/3 frames since that appearance, albeit with six strikeouts and walks apiece.
Ryan Pressly entered the season as the Cubs closer. He has not pitched well and has not recorded a save since April 13. Hodge had been leading something of a committee approach to the ninth inning. Daniel Palencia has stepped up as one of Counsell’s more trusted late-game arms. The Cubs called on him for what would’ve been his first save of the season last night. He entered the ninth inning with a 7-6 lead and quickly recorded the first two outs before allowing a double, a walk, and a two-run walk-off triple to Jesús Sánchez.
Let’s hope Happ is fully healed. The Cubs need him at his best for the upcoming stretch, especially against the Reds.
Trade Happ for pitching and if they really believe in the farm system, let some of them play. But they can’t because they gave a mediocre 1st rd pick a giant extension, gold glove or not he’s very replaceable.
Reds have Starting Pitching depth; and Happ is a Univ Cincy guy…
Happ also has a no trade clause and loves playing for the Cubs
Happs contract is extremely reasonable for his skill set.
I wouldn’t trade him, I would trade from the farm depth before I traded proven regulars.
Hey hanley:
What’s your advice for your Chisox? I think they need your ‘insight’ more than the Cubs F O ever would.
Yea, I know because you watch baseball on TV and never played competitively.
There are plenty of guys who played baseball competitively and who don’t have a clue when it comes to analyzing baseball. John Smoltz, for one.
Tell us which player will replace Happ and his usual 3.5 to 4 WAR, Hanley.
Well, he has a NTC in any case, and he also has somehow become the face of the team in recent years (he is a bit of a self-promoter). And they don’t really believe in the aging “kids” in the farm system, I don’t think.
Even with the happ return, hopefully the cubs learned lesson that they need an additional outfielder in addition to a bullpen arm and a starter. Can u imagine this team with 2 outfielders going down leaving brujan to be that outfielder?
Cubs have outfielders in AAA that can come up to full in if needed.
They need regular playing time and aren’t bench pieces, that’s why you end with guys like brujan on your roster
I’ve never really bought this “need regular playing time” stuff. If they were good enough, they’d be up. ONKC and Alcantara, for example, have had plenty of playing time in the minors; the trouble is, they’ve spent too much of it striking out.
Yes, it is odd that the Cubs are apparently planning to play the whole season without a backup CF.
Unfortunately, Brujan IS our backup CF. If PCA was out for any length of time, I’d guess they call Alcantara back up.
How can they option Moises after he parted the sea?! Unacceptable Chicago!
With rising sea levels, he’s gotta keep training back down at sea-parting camp to stay sharp.
Rising sea levels…
New York is almost fully submerged by the Atlantic!!
Unfortunately, Moises won’t have have an opportunity to part the “Red” sea in Cincinnati this weekend. 🙂
Ian nice guy makes dinger dollar coffee to promote social causes. Sure he gets choked up sometimes but who doesn’t love a good cry.
Don’t you have a bunch of .180 and .190 hitters to worry about on your own team?
McMahon would look so nice for depth even with Shaw here hopefully for good now.
Moises hopefully learned what is and isn’t working against big league (well AAAA) pitching, and now he can go back to Iowa and make the necessary minor adjustments to his approach so that next time he is not looking like Jason Heyward beating everything into the ground to the right side of the infield.
That said, I think he is the primary trade chip this July. Some rebuilding team will be happy to play him at the big league level, have him catch 30% of the time and DH against RHP the rest of the time.
16 AB. That should be enough to see what Ballesteros can do at the major league level.
It would be enough for the Orioles brain trust.
“El Gordo” we will see you next year!