The Cubs announced that left-hander Justin Steele has been placed on the 60-day injured list and right-hander Jack Neely has been designated for assignment. Those moves open two 40-man spots for outfielder Michael Conforto and infielder/outfielder Scott Kingery. It had been reported in recent days that Conforto would make the team, with Kingery likely being added as well.
Steele is working back from last April’s UCL surgery. He has advanced to facing hitters in live batting practice sessions, according to the MLB.com injury tracker. The Cubs apparently don’t feel he’ll be ready for major league action within the first two months of the season, though. Steele could go on a minor league rehab assignment towards the end of April with an eye to making his season debut in late May.
Neely, a 25-year-old reliever, made six appearances late in the 2024 season. He gave up six runs in as many innings. A former 11th-round pick of the Yankees, he was traded to the Cubs just before his MLB debut as part of the return for Mark Leiter Jr. Neely spent all of last season in the minors, struggling to a 6.23 ERA across 30 1/3 innings.
The righty has a sinker-slider combination that misses bats but which he struggles to command. Neely struck out 28% of opponents while issuing walks at an untenable 19% rate in Triple-A last season. He’s likely to wind up on waivers this week. Neely has one minor league option year remaining and wouldn’t need to be on the MLB roster if another team takes a flier on the stuff.
Conforto and Kingery secure the final two position player jobs, beating out fellow non-roster invitee Chas McCormick in that role. Matt Shaw and backup catcher Miguel Amaya fill out Craig Counsell’s four-man bench.
Getting rid of a young pitcher with promise for a couple of old losers is typical Hoyer nonsense at it’s finest when he has perfectly capable people on the 40 man already to do those jobs. Like in the Little Rascals, ” Dey’ll Nevore loin”.
I was disappointed seeing them fire Jack Neely too. That is a head scratcher move
Have to agree that this isn’t the move. I doubt Neely amounts to much, but Jed has a history of cutting good arms too quickly- Estrada, Megill, etc.
Also, didn’t expect Steele to need the 60-day IL, perhaps just a roster move to lower his total IP this season.
I was a little surprised they dumped Neely, but he did walk 27 guys (and hit 7 others) in 30 innings in AAA. That is…potentially a red flag.