- Marcus Stroman hasn’t pitched since July 31 due to inflammation in his hip and, more problematically, a rib cartilage fracture that was discovered as he was on the cusp of returning from that hip issue. However, he tossed 29 pitches during a live batting practice session yesterday, per Maddie Lee of the Chicago Sun-Times, and Cubs manager David Ross acknowledged that the right-hander appears to be ahead of schedule in his recovery. Stroman will likely require at least one minor league rehab start (if not two), but it seems there’s a good chance the 32-year-old could return before season’s end — and perhaps factor into the postseason rotation. How Stroman fares down the stretch will be worth watching with a particularly close eye, as he has a $21MM player option for the 2024 season but has long appeared likely to decline that and return to the market in search of a lengthier pact.
Cubs Rumors
Cubs Designate Shane Greene For Assignment
The Cubs have announced to reporters, including Bruce Levine of 670 The Score, that right-hander Shane Greene has been designated for assignment. His roster spot will go to left-hander Luke Little, who was reported earlier to be coming up.
It’s a quick turnaround for Greene, 34, who was just selected to the roster a week ago. He pitched one scoreless inning on Sunday but will now relinquish his roster spot to Little as the club looks to strengthen its left-handed relief corps.
Prior to coming up to the big leagues, Greene was stretched out in the minors, an interesting development since he has primarily been a reliever for most of his big league career. He tossed 16 2/3 innings over five Triple-A starts, going as long as five innings in his penultimate outing there. He had a 2.21 earned run average in those, striking out 27.9% of hitters while walking 10.5%.
The Cubs will place him on waivers in the coming days. He’s made 344 career appearances at the major league level, with inconsistent results. He finished three separate seasons with an ERA at 2.67 or below but saw that shoot up to 7.23 in 2021. He was only able to make two appearances last year and one so far this year. He’ll see if any club is willing to give him a roster spot in the coming days, though he won’t be postseason eligible for that club since it’s after the September 1 cutoff.
Cubs To Select Luke Little
The Cubs are promoting left-hander Luke Little to the majors, reports Tommy Birch of the Des Moines Register. Little isn’t on the 40-man roster but the Cubs already have a vacancy there. A corresponding move will be required to get him onto the active roster.
It’s a belated birthday present for Little, who turned 23 years old just a week ago. The ironically-named Little, listed at 6’8″ and 220 pounds, was selected by the Cubs in the fourth round of the 2020 draft. He made an 11-inning professional debut in the Complex League in 2021 before getting a larger body of work after that.
He split 2022 between Single-A and High-A, tossing 65 2/3 innings with a 2.47 earned run average. His 13.3% walk rate was on the high side but he paired that with a huge 35.4% strikeout rate. This year, he’s gone from High-A to Double-A to Triple-A with a combined 2.12 ERA in 63 2/3 frames. He’s still giving out walks at a high clip of 15.1% but is punching out 37.6% of batters faced.
Those strong results have gotten the attention of prospect evaluators, with Baseball America currently ranking him #19 in the Cubs’ system, highlighting his fastball velocity. He’ll now get a chance to try his hand at getting major league hitters out and will be making his major league debut as soon as he gets into a game.
The club hasn’t had much of a left-handed presence in its bullpen this year. Brandon Hughes made 17 appearances earlier in the season but has been out of action for a few months dealing with a knee injury. Anthony Kay has an ERA of 6.35 in his 13 contests and is currently on optional assignment. That leaves Drew Smyly, who struggled in the rotation and got bumped to the bullpen, as the club’s only southpaw reliever at the moment.
Bringing Little up to the big leagues will give them another option in that department as they enter the final few weeks of the playoff race. Their 75-64 record puts them 2.5 games back of the Brewers in the Central and in possession of the second National League Wild Card spot.
Cubs Notes: Stroman, Hughes, Brown, Burdi
The Cubs have been without right-hander Marcus Stroman for just over a month now thanks to inflammation in the 32-year-old hurler’s right hip and a subsequently-diagnosed rib cartilage fracture. Upon the reveal of Stroman’s rib injury two weeks ago, whether or not he would be able to return this season came into question as he was set to be shut down for several weeks without a clear timeline for recovery. Fortunately for fans on the north side, Stroman’s timetable seems to be coming into focus with a return this season clearly still on the table.
Manager David Ross told reporters (including Maddie Lee of the Chicago Sun Times) ahead of today’s game against the Reds that Stroman will throw a bullpen session in Arizona. That still leaves a long way for Stroman to go before he can return to a major league mound; assuming tomorrow’s bullpen goes well, he’ll need to progress to facing live hitters and then likely require at least a rehab start or two in the minor leagues before he can return to the starting rotation for the Cubs. Still, even a brief cameo from Stroman before the regular season comes to a close could be a huge boon to Chicago.
Stroman sports a 3.85 ERA and 3.58 FIP across 23 starts this year, but it’s really been a tale of two seasons for the veteran hurler: while he posted a sterling 2.28 ERA and 3.33 FIP in his first sixteen starts, his final seven starts before hitting the injured list saw him post an ugly 9.00 ERA, albeit with a less outlandish 4.39 FIP. It’s hard to say how much of that downturn in performance was related to Stroman’s current injuries, but a healthy and effective return for the right-hander would not only help the Cubs as they look to make the playoffs in a full season for the first time since 2018, but also give them another quality option to start in the playoffs alongside lefty ace Justin Steele and veteran hurler Kyle Hendricks, should they succeed in reaching the postseason.
- Sticking with the Cubs, Lee also relayed updates from Ross regarding a trio of potential bullpen options for Chicago down the stretch. Left-hander Brandon Hughes and righties Nick Burdi and Ben Brown are expected to pitch today with Triple-A Iowa. Hughes was a breakout reliever for the Cubs last year with a 3.12 ERA in 57 2/3 innings of work with the club last year, but struggled through 13 2/3 injury-plagued innings earlier this season before undergoing knee surgery back in June. Hughes’s return to the bullpen would surely provide a boost for Chicago as swing option Drew Smyly is the only southpaw in the club’s bullpen at the moment. Brown has not yet pitched in the majors but is one of the club’s top prospects who had long been rumored as a potential late-season bullpen option prior to an injury that kept him out of action for the entire month of August. Burdi managed just three innings with the Cubs earlier this season in his first major league work since 2020 before going on the injured list with appendicitis and ulnar nerve irritation.
Cubs To Select Shane Greene, Recall Alexander Canario
The Cubs are set to select the contract of veteran right-hander Shane Greene from Triple-A Iowa, reports ESPN’s Jesse Rogers. He adds that outfield prospect Alexander Canario, who’s already on the 40-man roster, will also be recalled for his Major League debut.
Greene, 34, has pitched in the Majors every year since 2014, albeit for just three innings in 2022. The former All-Star reliever experienced a stark dip in performance back in 2021 and has tallied just 26 2/3 innings from 2021-22, posting a 7.09 ERA in that time. He signed a minor league deal with the Cubs earlier in the summer and has since appeared in five games — all of them starts, interestingly — pitching to a 2.16 ERA with a 28.6% strikeout rate and 12.9% walk rate in a still-tiny sample of 16 2/3 innings. The Cubs have built him up since signing, and he’s totaled nine shutout innings with 12 strikeouts against three walks in his past two starts.
Whether Greene is used as a starter or initially added to the bullpen as a long reliever isn’t yet clear. The fact that he’s been starting and is stretched out enough to have thrown five innings in a recent start, however, gives the Cubs some options to consider in the season’s final month.
As for the 23-year-old Canario, he’ll make his big league debut just over two years after being acquired from the Giants in the trade that sent former Rookie of the Year and NL MVP Kris Bryant to San Francisco. While he’s not generally considered to be among the game’s very best prospects, Canario ranks 12th within the Cubs’ system at Baseball America, 14th at MLB.com and 24th at FanGraphs. He draws praise for his impressive raw power, above-average speed and strong throwing arm, but there are also concerns about Canario’s hit tool and penchant for strikeouts.
Shoulder and ankle injuries have limited Canario to 161 plate appearances at the Triple-A level this year, but he’s slashed .276/.342/.524 when healthy. He’s swatted eight homers in that time and popped 37 long balls across three levels (High-A, Double-A, Triple-A) during the 2022 season. However, Canario also fanned in 27.5% percent of his plate appearances last year and has struck out at a 28% clip so far in Triple-A this season.
MLB Trade Rumors Podcast: Ohtani’s Torn UCL, Free Agent Power Rankings and Stephen Strasburg to Retire
The latest episode of the MLB Trade Rumors Podcast is now live on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts! Make sure you subscribe as well! You can also use the player at this link to listen, if you don’t use Spotify or Apple for podcasts.
This week, host Darragh McDonald is joined by Anthony Franco of MLB Trade Rumors to discuss:
- Shohei Ohtani’s UCL tear (0:45)
- 2023-24 MLB Free Agent Power Rankings: August Edition (10:15)
- Stephen Strasburg planning to retire (16:25)
Plus, we answer your questions, including:
- Would the Brewers be a good fit for Pete Alonso? (21:10)
- What will the Cubs do at first base next year and could Alonso be a fit? (24:50)
- Could Alonso fit on the Twins? (26:35)
Check out our past episodes!
- The White Sox Fire Their Front Office, Injured Rays and Prospect Promotion Time – listen here
- Pete Alonso’s Future, Yankees’ Rotation Troubles and Should the Trade Deadline Be Pushed Back? – listen here
- The Streaking Mariners, the Struggling Angels and Injured Aces – listen here
Boras On Bellinger’s Bounceback Season
Cody Bellinger’s 2023 rebound season with the Cubs has positioned him as one of the top players set to hit the free agent market this offseason. The 28-year-old landed second on MLBTR’s latest update to our Free Agent Power Rankings, and it’s all but a foregone conclusion that he’ll hit the market looking to secure a massive payday this offseason. If there was any doubt about that possibility, Bellinger’s agent, Scott Boras, removed it when discussing his client’s resurgence with USA Today’s Bob Nightengale. Interestingly, Boras called out the Dodgers organization for their handling of Bellinger when he wasn’t at full health.
“He was hurt, plain and simple,” Boras tells Nightengale of Bellinger’s 2021-22 seasons, when he batted a combined .193/.256/.355 in 900 plate appearances. “He has surgery, and the Dodgers asked him to play with a 35% strength deficiency, and then with COVID, he was deprived of the expert medical treatment. He didn’t have the shoulder strength. You don’t just go from a .900 OPS to a .500 OPS without understanding the impact of an injury.”
Bellinger famously injured his shoulder while celebrating a home run during the 2020 postseason. After swatting a go-ahead long ball in Game 7 of the NLCS, Bellinger and teammate Enrique Hernandez leapt and bashed their forearms together, which wound up dislocating Bellinger’s shoulder. He quickly had the shoulder popped back into its socket and continued to play through the World Series, but Bellinger underwent shoulder surgery in the offseason and didn’t look the same during 2021-22. He also dealt with a hairline fracture of his left fibula in April 2021 and later that season suffered a fractured rib when colliding with teammate Gavin Lux on a fly ball.
Fans tend to bristle at just about any public-facing comments from Boras, but in this case, injuries have long stood as an obvious and likely factor to Bellinger’s decline. The question surrounding his drop-off at the plate wasn’t so much one of whether the injuries were a factor, but rather one of whether he’d ever right the ship after struggling through a litany of injuries in under one year’s time.
The 2023 season in Chicago has rather emphatically answered those questions. Bellinger is hitting .321/.368/.546 with 20 home runs, 23 doubles, a triple and 18 steals (in 22 tries). He’s played both center field and first base for the Cubs, drawing above-average marks at each spot, and perhaps most critically has dramatically reduced his strikeout rate from 2021-22’s rate of 27.1% to a career-low 15%.
Bellinger isn’t walking nearly as often as he used to (7.2% compared to his 14.4% peak in 2019), and Statcast shows that he’s not hitting the ball nearly as hard as he did during his 2019 MVP campaign either. That season saw Bellinger average 91.1 mph off the bat with an overall 45.6% hard-hit rate; this year he’s at 87.3 mph and 30%, respectively. The drop in quality of contact is a potential red flag, but the results are undeniably impressive. When Bellinger does make hard contact, he’s managed to make the most of it.
It all sets the stage for a lucrative payday this winter, when the free-agent market will be largely devoid of productive, prime-aged hitters. In typical quotable fashion, Boras quipped that “demand is often created by rarity,” calling Bellinger a “five-tool player” and Gold Glove-caliber defender at multiple positions before adding that “…the demand for that is very, very high.” Bellinger said all the right things free agents typically espouse, about his desire to remain with the Cubs and his affinity for the stadium, fans and culture.
Nightengale also spoke with teammates Dansby Swanson and Michael Fulmer, manager David Ross and bench coach Andy Green, all of whom raved about Bellinger’s importance to the club and his remarkable season overall. The exact asking price on Bellinger won’t be clear until the offseason begins in earnest, but it’s easy to envision Boras & Co. seeking a long-term deal worth more than the hefty sums secured for fellow clients Brandon Nimmo (eight years, $162MM) and Kris Bryant (seven years, $182MM). Both began their respective contracts in their age-30 seasons; Bellinger won’t turn 29 until the All-Star break next season.
Latest On Michael Fulmer's Forearm Injury
- The Cubs placed Michael Fulmer on the 15-day IL yesterday due to a forearm strain, a particularly concerning injury for a pitcher with a lengthy history of arm problems. Manager David Ross and pitching coach Tommy Hottovy spoke with reporters (including Maddie Lee of the Chicago Sun-Times) about Fulmer’s injury, saying that he had been trying to pitch through discomfort, with the team trying to accommodate the issue with some extra rest in between bullpen outings. “It wasn’t something we were like, ’Oh my gosh, if we pitch him, we’re in trouble.’ It was stuff we were monitoring,” Hottovy said. “It’s no different than what we do with a lot of guys. But he’s been grinding for a few weeks.” Fulmer will undergo tests on his forearm, but the hope is that some extended rest in the form of an IL stint can get him back onto the mound soon.
Cubs Place Michael Fulmer On 15-Day Injured List
The Cubs have put Michael Fulmer on the 15-day injured list due to a right forearm strain. The placement is retroactive to August 25. The move creates a roster spot for Jordan Wicks, who has been promoted to make his MLB debut in a start against the Pirates tonight.
Fulmer’s checkered injury history includes an ulnar nerve transposition surgery in 2017 and a Tommy John procedure in 2019, so another forearm-related issue is certainly a major concern for the 30-year-old right-hander. The severity of his current strain isn’t known, but it would certainly seem like Fulmer could miss more than the minimum 15 days, perhaps simply as a precaution given his past injuries. As such, the possibility exists that Fulmer’s 2023 season could be in jeopardy, given the lack of time remaining on the MLB calendar.
Winning AL Rookie Of The Year honors with the Tigers in 2016, Fulmer’s injury-related absences eventually saw him move to full-time relief pitching, which gave his career a second act. After posting a 3.17 ERA over 113 1/3 innings with the Tigers and Twins from 2021-22, Fulmer signed a one-year, $4MM free agent deal to join the Cubs last winter.
The bottom-line performance hasn’t quite been there, as Fulmer has a 4.47 ERA over 56 1/3 frames for the Wrigleyville squad. However, a 3.96 SIERA basically matches Fulmer’s 3.80 SIERA from 2021-22, so it could be that things are just balancing out after a bit of good fortune in the previous two seasons. Fulmer has greatly improved his hard-hit ball rate and whiff rate (both sit in the 90th percentile of all pitchers) and his 27% strikeout rate is the best of his career. On the downside, Fulmer has struggled with his control for the second straight year, with his 11.6% walk rate ranking in the bottom 10th percentile of all pitchers.
A lot of Fulmer’s struggles came earlier in the season, as he had a 1.83 ERA over 34 1/3 innings and 32 appearances prior to a rough outing last Monday, when he gave up three runs over just a third of an inning against Detroit. Since Fulmer also pitched a scoreless inning on Thursday, it’s probably safe to assume that his forearm strain didn’t emerge during that Monday game.
Fulmer’s absence creates another hole in Chicago’s bullpen, though Meghan Montemurro of the Chicago Tribune (X link) writes that Brad Boxberger is set to make another rehab outing with Triple-A Iowa on Sunday. Boxberger hasn’t pitched since mid-May due to a forearm strain of his own, but the veteran reliever looks to be on his way back to action. The news isn’t as good for Nick Burdi, who has also been out since May dealing with appendicitis, but the righty is now dealing with ulnar nerve irritation. More will be known about Burdi’s condition after he is re-evaluated in a few days’ time.
These bullpen injuries could explain why Drew Smyly will be headed back to the bullpen to provide some extra depth, while the Cubs turn to a younger arm like Wicks to try and fill the rotation gap left by Marcus Stroman (whose season is also in question due to a rib cartilage fracture). It makes for a lot of pitching questions for a team in a pennant race, as the Cubs currently hold the third NL wild card spot and are still within range of the Brewers for first place in the NL Central.
Cubs To Promote Jordan Wicks
2:07PM: Wicks will actually start today’s game, as the team informed reporters (including Meghan Montemurro of the Chicago Tribune) that Javier Assad will now start Sunday instead of today.
10:13AM: The Cubs are set to call up left-hander Jordan Wicks, according to ESPN’s Jesse Rogers (X links). There had been plenty of speculation that Wicks was on the verge of a call-up, and now the southpaw (who turns 24 on September 1) will get an early birthday present Sunday when he makes his MLB debut in a start against the Pirates.
Wicks was the 21st overall pick of the 2021 draft, drawing Chicago’s attention after a standout collegiate career at Kansas State. That success has translated into a pretty quick rise through the farm system, as Wicks has now reached the majors a little over two years since his draft date. Making his Triple-A debut just this past June, Wicks has a 3.82 ERA, 22.2% strikeout rate, and 9.8% walk rate over the limited sample of 33 innings for Triple-A Iowa.
This was enough to earn Wicks at least one start at the big league level, as it is possible he might be quickly ticketed back to Triple-A after helping the Cubs get through an extended stretch of games. Marcus Stroman’s injury seemed to herald Drew Smyly’s return to the rotation, but Chicago has instead decided to keep Smyly in the bullpen, creating the need for a new starter on Sunday. Wicks has pitched beyond the fifth inning only once in his 20 minor league games this season, so Sunday’s game might be more of a piggyback situation, with Smyly or other relievers stepping in before Pirates batters can face Wicks for a second time.
Still, even a cup of coffee in the majors is a huge moment in Wicks’ career, and it can serve as an audition for a longer look once rosters expand in September, or going into next season. Stroman can opt out of his contract and the Cubs might not exercise Kyle Hendricks’ club option, leaving some possible rotation spots open heading into Spring Training. Wicks has an opportunity to turn some heads and get himself into that conversation, with his minor league resume already standing out.
ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel ranked Wicks 51st on his preseason top-100 listing, though Wicks has yet to crack the top 100 for either Baseball America or MLB Pipeline in their preseason or midseason rankings. BA places Wicks as the eighth-best prospect in the Cubs’ farm system and Pipeline has him 10th, and all of the pundits feel he can become a big league-caliber starter in the middle or back of a rotation. Wicks’ outstanding changeup is the highlight of his five-pitch arsenal, though his slider is the only other offering that shows above-average potential. For more on Wicks’ development, James Fegan of the Chicago Sun-Times published a piece today with quotes from Wicks and Triple-A pitching coach Ron Villone about the youngster’s approach on the mound.
