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Cubs Activate Seiya Suzuki, Option Narciso Crook

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The Cubs activated outfielder Seiya Suzuki from the 10-day IL this morning, the team announced. He had been out since late May with a finger injury. Outfielder Narciso Crook was optioned to Triple-A Iowa to make room on the active roster.

Suzuki’s return will come as a welcome relief to Cubs fans, who’ve watched their team slide well out of contention in his absence. The outfielder was the toast of the game in April, bursting onto the scene with a .279/.405/.529 triple-slash through his first 84 plate appearances before cooling off significantly in May. Heading into play today, his line sits at .245/.344/.432 for the season — hardly a poor debut but also nowhere near the heights of his first few weeks.

While it’s Crook’s roster spot that Suzuki is taking, it’s Nelson Velazquez whose playing time will likely be most affected. Manager David Ross had of late largely deployed an outfield rotation of Ian Happ, Rafael Ortega, Christopher Morel, and Velazquez, with Suzuki’s return likely pushing Velazquez into Crook’s bench role. Crook had logged a .250/.222/.375 batting line in nine trips to the plate.

While 2022 may be a lost cause for the Northsiders, the second half should at least provide the club with a chance to consider the longer-term outlook. As MLBTR’s TC Zencka noted yesterday, the Cubs have a number of players (Morel, Happ, Nick Madrigal) with some positional versatility but an unclear future. Suzuki’s future at Wrigley is relatively settled, but he’s hardly been the only Cub with injury issues. A comparatively healthy backside of the season could go a long way toward settling some questions for a team beginning to look ahead to 2023.

Cubs Notes: Suzuki, Madrigal, Schwindel, Stroman

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The Cubs have a number of players on the injured list who are nearing their return. The closest to returning is rookie outfielder Seiya Suzuki, who could rejoin the club as early as tomorrow, per MLB.com’s Jordan Bastian (via Twitter). Suzuki was the man of the hour in April as his Major League career got off to a bang, slashing .279/.405/.529 across 84 plate appearances in March and April. May was less kind to Suzuki as he hit .211/.279/.338 across 79 plate appearances before landing on the injured list with a right finger sprain. Suzuki has been out for almost six weeks now.

Zooming out, the Cubs are taking stock of what kind of talent they have on hand this season, with Suzuki presumably a part of the long-term outfield picture, along with rookie Christopher Morel and veteran Ian Happ, though Morel and Happ both have enough versatility to move around the diamond a bit. Another piece of that long-term position player picture is second baseman Nick Madrigal, who plans on taking live batting practice on Tuesday, notes Bastian. Madrigal missed three weeks with a back issue and returned to the lineup for just under two weeks before landing back on the shelf with a groin strain that’s kept him out of action for another three weeks.

This season was supposed to be a time for Madrigal to establish himself along with Nico Hoerner as the middle infield of the future in Chicago. Madrigal wasn’t hitting much, with just a 45 wRC+ through 115 plate appearances. That said, he wasn’t having much batted ball luck (.264 BABIP). He was striking out a little more than usual – though with a 14.3 percent strikeout rate, he was still putting the ball in play far more often than the average Major Leaguer. It’s a small sample size on which to judge Madrigal, and the Cubs would love to see him return soon to start taking ABs back from David Bote and Andrelton Simmons.

First baseman Frank Schwindelwill join Madrigal for some batting practice on Tuesday as he aims to return from a couple of weeks away with a lower back strain. Swindel’s long-term role on the Cubs is less obvious, given that he’s already 30 years old, but he’s also not likely to be arbitration-eligible until the 2025 season. Schwindel could turn into an interesting trade piece, but he’ll have to hit better upon his return. Currently, Frank the Tank owns just an 83 wRC+ on the year. As a right-handed first baseman/designated hitter, Schwindel will need to hit in order to generate much value, be that on the diamond or in a trade.

On the other side of the ball, the Cubs have a pair of starting pitchers in Marcus Stroman and Drew Smyly who will make rehab starts this week. Smyly begins his rehab with a start in Single-A on Monday, while Stroman is closer to returning to Wrigley, pitching for the Iowa Cubs in Triple-A. All of the Cubs’ veteran additions to the rotation have struggled to stay healthy this season, with Stroman and Smyly making nine starts apiece thus far, while Wade Miley has taken the hill just four times.

Cubs Notes: Mills, Stroman, Smyly, Suzuki

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Alec Mills threw only seven pitches in today’s start against the Red Sox before being forced out of the game due to lower-back pain.  More will be known once Mills undergoes testing, but it would seemingly appear as though the right-hander’s bad back could again be forcing him to the injured list.

Mills missed a little over three weeks of the 2021 season with a lower back strain, and a similar injury also put him on the IL to begin the 2022 campaign.  Unfortunately for Mills, he then suffered a quad injury while rehabbing earlier this season, which delayed this season debut until June 7.  This missed time has clearly had an adverse effect on Mills’ pitching, as he has struggled to a 9.68 ERA over 17 2/3 innings since coming off the IL.  Today’s abbreviated outing was only the second time in seven appearances that Mills hadn’t allowed multiple earned runs.

It was also only Mills’ second start in those seven games, as Chicago had primarily been using him as a reliever until injuries forced Mills back into rotation duty.  Should Mills be headed to the IL again, the Cubs will be in need of a starter in the short term, though help could be on the way soon.

Marcus Stroman is set to make a rehab start on Sunday for Triple-A Iowa, as the righty looks to be on the verge of returning from a stint on the 15-day IL.  Shoulder inflammation sidelined Stroman back on June 10, and he also missed around two weeks earlier this season due to a placement on the COVID-related IL.

The stop-and-start nature of his season has contributed to Stroman’s disappointing 5.32 ERA.  While his 3.71 SIERA is more palatable, Stroman’s strikeout rate is barely above the league average and he has some of the worst hard-contact numbers of any pitcher in baseball.  It could be that this IL visit serves as a reset on his season, as Stroman told MLB.com’s Jordan Bastian that he feels he more “proper build-up” after two bullpen sessions and a live BP session.  The right-hander hopes that he’ll only need the one rehab start before returning to the Cubs, which would line Stroman up for a start in Chicago’s upcoming series against the Dodgers.

Drew Smyly is also set to begin a minor league rehab assignment on Monday, following a similar ramp-up pattern of two bullpens and a live BP session.  Smyly has missed a little over a month due to an oblique strain.  The veteran lefty’s first season in Wrigleyville has seen him post a 3.80 ERA/4.09 SIERA over 42 2/3 innings, with a strong 5.6% walk rate, but also a career-low 18.9% strikeout rate.  That latter figure could give rival teams some pause in considering Smyly as a deadline pickup, though if he is able to return quickly and pitch well in July, Smyly figures to get some attention by August 2.

On the position-player side, manager David Ross told Bastian and other reporters that Seiya Suzuki should be activated from the IL as early as Monday.  Suzuki has a third minor league rehab game scheduled for today, which could be the final step in his recovery from a sprained left ring finger.  The outfielder has now missed over five weeks of action, interrupting his first MLB season.  Suzuki had gotten off to a red-hot start in the first few weeks of play, but came down to earth in the 23 games prior to his injury — Suzuki has hit only .183/.253/.293 in his last 91 plate appearances.

Cubs Select Narciso Crook, Place Jason Heyward On Injured List

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The Cubs announced that corner outfielder Narciso Crook has been selected onto the major league roster. Center fielder Jason Heyward is headed to the 10-day injured list, retroactive to June 27, due to right knee inflammation. In order to create a 40-man roster spot for Crook, Michael Hermosillo has been transferred from the 10-day to the 60-day IL.

Crook, 27 next month, is in position to make his major league debut. He’s spent almost a decade in pro ball, originally entering the affiliated ranks as a 23rd round pick of the Reds back in 2013. A New Jersey junior college product, Crook played in the Cincinnati farm system until last year. His performance was generally inconsistent, but the 6’3″ outfielder slowly played his way as high as Triple-A. He spent the bulk of last season at that level, hitting .245/.360/.448 in 86 games.

The Reds never selected Crook onto their 40-man roster, and he qualified for minor league free agency at the end of the year. He inked a non-roster pact with the Cubs and has spent the whole season at Triple-A Iowa. Crook is hitting .268/.375/.510 with nine home runs through 184 plate appearances, drawing walks at a strong 11.4% rate along the way. He’s striking out nearly 30% of the time with Iowa, but the power and plate discipline were enough to get him his long-awaited big league look.

Crook adds a right-handed bat to the corner outfield and designated hitter mix for manager David Ross. The trio of Ian Happ, Christopher Morel and Rafael Ortega figure to assume much of the playing time. Heyward had already begun losing reps of late, as he’s having another very rough season. Through 151 plate appearances, he owns a .204/.278/.277 line with a single longball.

Hermosillo has been out since May 8 with a left quad strain. Today’s transfer rules him out for sixty days from that time, pushing his return window back to early July. The 27-year-old outfielder began some baseball activities last week but has yet to start a minor league rehab assignment.

Cubs Release Jonathan Villar

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The Cubs have officially released infielder Jonathan Villar, per MLB.com’s transaction tracker. This move comes in the wake of the team designating Villar for assignment last Friday. The 31-year-old infielder is now a free agent eligible to sign with any team for the league minimum, with the remainder of this offseason’s $6MM deal stuck on the Cubs’ books.

Despite jockeying for last place in the NL Central, the Cubs offense has actually been a middle-of-the-pack unit by numerous offensive metrics this season. As his release a few months into the season indicates, however, Villar was not contributing much to that silver lining. Through 46 games the switch hitter slashed .222/.271/.327 (67 OPS+) with just two home runs, a far cry from his usually solid career numbers of .256/.324/.399.

With David Bote’s return from the IL and team-controlled infielders like Patrick Wisdom and Nico Hoerner outproducing the lame duck Villar, it appears there was little incentive for Chicago to keep carrying a veteran with minimal trade value. The same can be said for Chicago’s other veteran infielder signing this past offseason, Andrelton Simmons. The 32-year-old Simmons has limped to a feeble .188/.212/.188 (14 OPS+) slash line this year, though shoulder issues are likely to blame for some of that showing. Given Simmons’ ongoing aptitude with the glove and almost inevitable regression to the mean, the team likely found more utility in hanging onto Simmons over Villar.

Despite the substandard first half, Villar’s profile should still hold appeal for other clubs. Even with declining speed, the infielder’s calling card has always been his penchant for steals, and that remained the case this year with a perfect 6-for-6 showing in that department. Additionally, while the Cubs ran out of patience for their offseason acquisition to turn a corner there are likely some hitting coaches out there who feel they can coax more production out of Villar’s bat. After all, he’s only a year removed from a solid 18-home run, 101 OPS+ showing with the Mets and has an average exit velocity not seen since his breakout season with the Brewers in 2016.

Central Notes: Happ, Merrifield, Cabrera

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With the Cubs currently sitting on a record of 27-44, speculation has naturally started building about players nearing free agency that could be moved at the August 2 trade deadline. One such player who will be coveted by rival teams is Ian Happ, though Happ doesn’t seem to be bothered by being the subject of rumors. “At some point, you get numb to it,” Happ tells Patrick Mooney of The Athletic. “Everybody’s been through it at certain points. It’s something that you just kind of get numb to and understand it’s part of the job.”

Happ’s case will be an interesting one to watch this year, as there are arguments for holding onto him as well as arguments for trading him. He’s slated to reach free agency after the 2023 season, making him a fairly logical trade candidate for a rebuilding team that isn’t likely to be competitive within that time frame. He’s also having the best season of his career, meaning the club might want to put him on the block while his value is at high tide. He’s hitting .288/.385/.475 on the year for a wRC+ of 138. Combined with solid outfield defense, he’s produced 2.2 fWAR on the year, which is already a career high, even with more than half the season still to be played.

However, the Cubs could also extend Happ and keep him around for the next competitive window. Happ seems open to that idea, saying “I’ve always been very clear, too, that I like playing here. This is a great place to play. I would love to be a part of competitive groups in years to come here.”

Some other notes from Central teams…

  • The Royals are 26-43 and will have to decide which of their players will be moved as part of their deadline strategy. Jon Heyman of the New York Post reports that a Whit Merrifield trade is being given more consideration than in previous years. Merrifield has been the subject of trade rumors for a long time, as the club has been mired in a years-long rebuild for essentially his entire big league career. The Royals went 81-81 in 2016, Merrifield’s debut season, but have been below .500 ever since. Despite that, the club has eschewed all trade overtures in past seasons. It would certainly come as a shock if the team were to suddenly change course and agree to a deal now, as Merrifield is having easily the worst season of his career. Through 69 games, he’s hitting .230/.277/.314 for a wRC+ of 66. To spurn offers for years and then suddenly relent when his value is at a low ebb would be a very surprising turn of events. Perhaps the club is concerned that the 33-year-old won’t be able to turn things around, though there’s time for him to do so. His contract runs through next year, with a club option for 2024.
  • The Cardinals announced that left-hander Genesis Cabrera is going on the injured list. No designation for his injury was given, implying that Cabrera has gone on the COVID-related IL. Righty Jake Woodford was recalled to take his place on the active roster. This is the second time COVID has hit the St. Louis bullpen in recent days, as T.J. McFarland also was sidelined earlier this week. Notably, both Cabrera and McFarland are southpaws, leaving the club short-handed on that side of their bullpen. There are two lefties now remaining, although Packy Naughton is more of a long relief option. That leaves Zack Thompson and his 14 2/3 innings of MLB experience as the club’s primary left-handed reliever. Cabrera has become a key asset for the club in recent years, notching 28 holds last year and 10 so far this year. He has a 2.27 ERA here in 2022, despite generating fewer strikeouts. His .193 BABIP and 93.1% strand rate are surely giving him an unsustainable boost, but he’s also lowered his walk rate to 9.3%. That’s still above league average, but much improved over his 12.1% career mark.

Cubs Designate Jonathan Villar For Assignment

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The Cubs announced Friday that they’ve designated infielder Jonathan Villar for assignment in order to clear a spot on the active and 40-man roster for fellow infielder David Bote, who has been reinstated from the 60-day injured list.

Villar, 31, signed a one-year, $6MM contract with the Cubs this winter on the heels of a solid showing with the Mets. The versatile switch-hitter produced a .249/.322/.416 batting line in Queens last year (105 wRC+) and carried a .259/.327/.408 overall batting line from 2018-21. However, the 2022 season in Chicago hasn’t gone well at all, as Villar has limped to a career-worst .222/.271/.327 output through his first 166 plate appearances.

Villar’s struggles at the plate stem from a sudden downturn in his ability to do much of anything against fastballs. He entered the 2022 season as a career .251 hitter against fastballs, but he’s seen 231 fastballs this season and posted a disastrous .119/.174/.119 batting line in his 46 plate appearances that have ended with a heater. There’s perhaps some poor luck from a BABIP standpoint (.217), but Villar has also whiffed in 43.5% of those plate appearances and posted a career-worst 18.2% swinging-strike rate against fastballs — so the poor showing can’t be blamed entirely on small samples and batted-ball luck.

The Cubs have used Villar at second base (225 innings), third base (95 innings) and shortstop (17 innings) this season, but defensive metrics are down on him at all three spots. Villar has never rated well as a shortstop, so it’s not a surprise to see sparse usage and poor ratings there. However, he’s generally been a solid enough defender at second base — at least until the 2022 season. In this year’s 225 frames, he’s posted a staggering -7 Defensive Runs Saved mark and received a similarly damning grade from Statcast’s Outs Above Average (-5).

By designating Villar for assignment, the Cubs are effectively eating the roughly $3.4MM of his contract that has yet to be paid out. They’ll remain on the hook for that money unless another team claims Villar off waivers or acquires him in a trade — both of which seem quite unlikely, given the veteran’s struggles at the plate this year. The likeliest outcome is that Villar will be released and become a free agent. At that point, any of the league’s other 29 teams can sign him and owe him only the prorated league minimum for any time spent on their Major League roster. That sum would be subtracted from what the Cubs owe Villar.

Bote, 29, returns to the Cubs after missing the entire season to date while recovering from November shoulder surgery. The infielder separated his shoulder during a game last May, and while the injury didn’t immediately require surgery, it clearly hampered Bote at the plate. In 327 plate appearances, Bote posted a career-worst .199/.276/.330 batting line. The surgery originally came with a projected six-month recovery period, but Bote’s return comes closer to eight months out from the date of the procedure.

It’s been a rough couple of seasons for Bote, who back in 2019 signed a surprising five-year extension that came with a $16MM guarantee. It was something of a head-scratching move for the Cubs even at the time, as Bote was a part-time player who’d posted a .239/.319/.408 batting line as a rookie in 2018. The first year of the contract certainly made it look like a sound investment, as Bote slashed at a .257/.362/.422 rate and was an underrated contributor on a Cubs team that was in contention for much of the year. He’s hit just .200/.285/.353 in 472 plate appearances since that time, however, although the shoulder injury certainly offers some explanation for last year’s struggles, at least.

The Cubs owe Bote $2.5MM this season and will pay him salaries of $4MM and $5.5MM in 2023 and 2024. They also hold a pair of options, the first valued at $7MM and the second at $7.6MM.

Conner Menez To Sign With NPB’s Nippon-Ham Fighters

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Left-hander Conner Menez is in agreement with the Nippon-Ham Fighters of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball, the club informed reporters (Japanese-language link from Yahoo! Japan). Menez announced the agreement on Instagram this afternoon.

While Menez had been playing with the Cubs’ top affiliate in Iowa, he’s been granted his release to pursue the overseas opportunity. Salary terms have not been disclosed, but he’ll surely make more with the Hokkaido-based club than he would’ve in Iowa.

Menez made the briefest of appearances with the Cubs this season. Signed to a minor league deal over the offseason, he was selected onto the major league roster in early May. He pitched a scoreless inning during a loss to the Diamondbacks a few days later, then found himself optioned back to Iowa. The Cubs designated him for assignment two weeks back upon selecting Caleb Kilian onto the 40-man roster. Menez cleared waivers and returned to Triple-A, making three more appearances before departing the organization.

The former 14th-round pick had an excellent showing in the upper minors this season. He tallied 21 innings across 11 outings, working to a 2.14 ERA with a quality 28.7% strikeout rate. That work caught the attention of the Fighters’ front office. In announcing the agreement, general manager Atsunori Inaba suggested he would step into a high-leverage relief role.

Menez has appeared in parts of four MLB seasons, spending the 2019-21 campaigns with the Giants before this year’s cup of coffee in Chicago. He’s worked to a decent 3.95 ERA through 43 1/3 innings at the big league level, but his stock took a hit when he struggled in Triple-A last season. Menez’s much better showing in Iowa gets him an opportunity in Japan’s top league. Having just turned 27 years old, he’s certainly young enough to reappear on the MLB radar a year or two down the line if he shows well in NPB.

Bullpen Moves: Marlins, Cubs, Guardians

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Given the way the game is played these days, bullpens are dynamic entities constantly changing shape. Though longer injured list stints and option limits were intended to somewhat slow this ebb-and-flow of arms moving in and out, the game of musical chairs continues. Let’s check in on some of the changes being made in bullpens around the game today…

  • The Marlins have placed Louis Head on the 15-day injured list with a left shoulder impingement, recalling Zach Pop from Triple-A, per Christina De Nicola of MLB.com (via Twitter). Head’s contributions on the year haven’t necessarily been additive, as the 32-year-old reliever owns a 7.23 ERA/5.29 FIP across 23 appearances totaling 23 2/3 innings. The injury is a bit peculiar as well since it’s not his throwing arm. Pop was a Rule 5 pick from the Orioles by the Diamondbacks, whom the Marlins then acquired via trade. He appeared in 50 games for the Fish last season, pitching to a 4.12 ERA/3.77 FIP across 54 2/3 innings.
  • The Cubs have placed veteran southpaw Daniel Norris on the 15-day injured because of a finger strain. To take his roster spot, they have recalled Adrian Sampson from Triple-A, per Meghan Montemurro of The Chicago Tribune (via Twitter). Norris hasn’t had a great season, but if he’s healthy, he made draw some trade interest simply as a veteran southpaw. Currently, however, he owns a 7.24 ERA/5.73 FIP in 24 appearances covering 27 1/3 innings. Sampson has been up and down, designated for assignment, and brought back. Despite his frequent travels, he has tossed just 5 2/3 innings with the Cubs this season without giving up an earned run.
  • The Guardians have optioned Anthony Castro to Triple-A and recalled right-hander Yohan Ramirez, per Paul Hoynes of cleveland.com (via Twitter). Castro, 27, with his third team in three years, has slogged through eight appearances, surrendering eight earned runs in eight innings on 11 hits and seven walks to 10 strikeouts. The Guardians acquired Ramirez from the Mariners via trade for cash and a player to be named later. He made seven appearances with the Mariners, posting a 7.56 ERA across 8 1/3 innings of work.

Ethan Roberts To Undergo Tommy John Surgery

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The Cubs announced to reporters, including Maddie Lee of the Chicago Sun-Times, that Ethan Roberts will undergo Tommy John surgery. Roberts was already on the 60-day injured list due to shoulder inflammation, meaning no roster moves will be necessary.

This is yet another unfortunate setback for Roberts here in 2022, on the heels of a promising 2021. A fourth round draft pick from 2018, Roberts threw 54 innings with an ERA of 3.00 between Double-A and Triple-A last year. That came alongside an impressive 32.6% strikeout rate and 7.7% walk rate. On the strength of that season, he was selected to the club’s 40-man roster in November and then cracked the Opening Day active roster out of Spring Training.

His big league career got off to a good start, as he allowed just a single earned run through his first five appearances. However, his next four appearances yielded six earned runs, perhaps due to injury. He was placed on the IL on May 2 due to shoulder inflammation. He began a rehab assignment on Sunday, though was removed after just four pitches, presumably due to his elbow issues becoming apparent.

With this news of his imminent Tommy John surgery, Roberts will be out of action for around 12-18 months, the typical recovery window for such procedures. As such, this will wipe out the remainder of his 2022 and potentially his entire 2023 as well. Needless to say, that’s an unfavorable turn of events for a pitcher who previously seemed to be on a good trajectory. The 24-year-old will spend the rest of the year on the IL and finish the season with exactly one year of MLB service time. He’ll need to return to the 40-man over the offseason but can go back on the 60-day IL for the entirety of next season, assuming he holds his roster spot through the winter.

For the Cubs, they’re not in a competitive window right now, but it’s still unfortunate that they will be losing development time for one of their promising young pitchers. They will now have to wait until 2024 to get a better idea of how Roberts can factor into their future bullpen plans.

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