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Cubs Rumors

Robinson Chirinos Announces Retirement

By Darragh McDonald | May 3, 2023 at 8:06pm CDT

Veteran catcher Robinson Chirinos announced on Twitter today that he is retiring from professional baseball. “With a happy, yet heavy heart, I am announcing my retirement from professional baseball,” the statement reads. “After much contemplation and reflection, I have decided to close this chapter of my life. It has not been an easy decision, but I feel that it is the right one for me as I have given my heart and soul to this sport over so many years.” He then goes on to thank his family members, teammates, coaches, fans, team staff and many others who he crossed paths with over the years.

Chirinos, now 38 years old, originally signed with the Cubs as an amateur out of Venezuela back in 2000, shortly after his 16th birthday. An infielder at that time, he would toil away in the Cubs’ minor league system for a decade, starting his move to the catcher position in 2008. He was added to the club’s 40-man roster after 2010 but was traded to the Rays a few months later, going alongside Chris Archer and others as the Cubs acquired Matt Garza.

It was in that 2011 season that Chirinos was able to make his major league debut, getting into 20 games, but he had to miss the entire 2012 campaign due to a concussion.  He was traded to the Rangers in April of 2013 for a player to be named later and would eventually spend six years with that club. His role was initially limited but gradually grew over time as he provided some pop behind the plate. From 2013 to 2018, he hit 67 home runs in 442 games, slashing .233/.325/.443 during that time for a wRC+ of 104. That coincided with a good stretch for the club as well, as Chirinos was able to get into four postseason games with the Rangers between 2015 and 2016.

He reached free agency for the first time after 2018 and he eventually signed with the Astros for one year and $5.75MM. He had a nice season in Houston, launching 17 home runs and hitting .238/.347/.443 for a wRC+ of 112. He would get into 14 more postseason games that year as the Astros went to the World Series, ultimately falling to the Nationals in seven games.

He would go into journeyman mode for the next few years. He returned to the Rangers for 2020 on a one-year, $6.75MM deal but ultimately hit just .162/.232/.243 in the shortened season, which included a trade to the Mets. He signed a minor league deal with the Yankees for 2021 but fractured his wrist after being hit by a pitch in Spring Training. He was released and eventually got into 45 games for the Cubs after returning to health, then got into another 67 contests with the Orioles last year.

All told, it was an unusual career for Chirinos, who seemed to do everything a little later than normal. He didn’t start playing his primary position until his mid-20s, then didn’t make it to the majors until his age-27 season and didn’t really become a regular until he was 30. Both FanGraphs and Baseball Reference consider his best season by wins above replacement to be 2019, his age-35 campaign.

Despite that delayed trajectory, he still managed to get into 714 major league games and make 2,457 plate appearances. He tallied 480 hits, including 95 home runs, scoring 275 times and driving in 306. MLBTR congratulates Chirinos on a fine career and wishes him the best in the next stages of his life.

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Baltimore Orioles Chicago Cubs Houston Astros New York Mets Tampa Bay Rays Texas Rangers Retirement Robinson Chirinos

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Cubs Trade Luis Torrens To Orioles

By Steve Adams | May 3, 2023 at 3:22pm CDT

The Orioles have acquired catcher Luis Torrens from the Cubs in exchange for cash, per a team announcement. Right-hander Joey Krehbiel was designated for assignment in order to open a spot on the 40-man roster.

Torrens, 26, signed a minor league deal with the Cubs in the offseason. He appeared in 13 games for them this season but tallied only 22 plate appearances, going 5-for-20 with a double, a walk and eight strikeouts in that time (.250/.318/.300).

Prior to that brief run in Chicago, Torrens spent two years with the Mariners after coming over alongside Ty France and Andres Munoz in the trade sending Austin Nola, Austin Adams and Dan Altavilla to the Padres. In 799 Major League plate appearances, he’s a .227/.289/.352 hitter with 19 long balls, a 26% strikeout rate and a 7.8% walk rate. While he wasn’t especially productive in his time with Seattle, he did make a fair bit of hard contact, averaging 91 mph off the bat and putting 45.7% of his batted balls in play at an exit velocity of at least 95 mph.

Defensively, Torrens has drawn below-average grades from Defensive Runs Saved and most pitch-framing metrics. He has a career 21.7% caught-stealing rate that’s below the league average, and he came up empty in his only attempt to throw a runner out with the Cubs. He did throw out nine of 28 attempted thieves (32.1%) as recently as last season.

Torrens is out of minor league options, so the Orioles will carry him on the big league roster. That’ll give them three catching options, as he’ll join 2022 Rookie of the Year runner-up Adley Rutschman and veteran James McCann on Baltimore’s roster.

Krehbiel, 30, hasn’t pitched in the Majors this season but logged 57 2/3 innings out of Baltimore’s bullpen in 2022, notching a solid 3.90 ERA with a below-average 18.4% strikeout rate but a sharp 7.4% walk rate. Overall, her has a 3.78 ERA in 69 Major League frames between the D-backs, Rays and O’s.

The 2023 season has been rough for Krehbiel, however. While he’s sporting a 2.00 ERA in nine Triple-A frames, he’s also walked more batters (seven) than he’s struck out (six) and has plunked another hitter. That’s nearly 22% of Krehbiel’s opponents that have either drawn a free pass or reached via hit-by-pitch. Even beyond those command woes, Krehbiel’s broader numbers in Triple-A (5.34 ERA in 175 1/3 innings) are actually worse than his big league output.

The Orioles will have a week to trade Krehbiel or attempt to pass him through outright waivers. He’s been outrighted once before, so even if he goes unclaimed, he’d have the right to elect free agency if he chooses.

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Baltimore Orioles Chicago Cubs Transactions Joey Krehbiel Luis Torrens

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Cubs Designate Ryan Borucki For Assignment

By Darragh McDonald | May 2, 2023 at 3:06pm CDT

The Cubs have made a couple of roster moves today, per Meghan Montemurro of the Chicago Tribune. They have recalled catcher Miguel Amaya and designated left-hander Ryan Borucki for assignment.

This series of moves was prompted by an injury to Yan Gomes, who was hit in the head by a backswing yesterday and removed in the second inning. That left Tucker Barnhart as the only healthy backstop on the roster, which led the Cubs to call on Amaya.

The 24-year-old has had a long journey to get here, having been signed as an international amateur out of Panama back in 2015. He’s been considered one of the club’s more notable prospects for quite some time, with Baseball America ranking him #2 in the system in 2019. He was added to the club’s 40-man roster at the end of that year in order to protect him from being selected in the Rule 5 draft.

The minor leagues were canceled by the pandemic in 2020 and then Amaya only played 23 games in 2021, eventually requiring Tommy John surgery that wiped out a lot of his 2022 as well. Due to those factors, he’s only played 76 minor league games since the end of 2019, missing out on a big chunk of development time.

He’s off to a great start here this year, having hit .273/.411/.659 in 13 Double-A games. The injury to Gomes will give him a chance to skip Triple-A, at least for the moment, and make his major league debut as soon as he’s put into a game. Gomes is still under evaluation, per Montemurro, and the extent of his injury will likely impact how long Amaya is up in the majors.

As for Borucki, he was just selected to the club’s roster on the weekend and now gets designated for assignment without even getting into a game. A former starter with the Blue Jays, he’s converted to relief in recent years with mixed results. He had a 2.70 ERA in 2020 but that jumped to 4.94 and 5.68 in recent years as his strikeout rate dipped in kind, going from 28.8% to 21.4% and 18.9%.

The Cubs will have a week to trade him or pass him through waivers though the interest might be muted given his struggles in recent years. He’s also posted an ERA of 12.00 in Triple-A so far this year. In the event he clears waivers, he would have the right to elect free agency, both on account of having a previous career outright and having more than three years of major league service time.

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Chicago Cubs Transactions Miguel Amaya Ryan Borucki Yan Gomes

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Cubs Select Ryan Borucki

By Nick Deeds | April 30, 2023 at 10:41am CDT

The Cubs have selected the contract of left-hander Ryan Borucki, according to the Chicago Tribune’s Meghan Montemurro. In a corresponding move, right-hander Caleb Kilian has been optioned to Triple-A. The club had an open spot on the 40-man roster following their decision to designate catcher Luis Torrens for assignment, so no 40-man roster move was needed to add Borucki.

Borucki, 29, made his major league debut as a starter with the Blue Jays back in 2018. He pitched to a solid 3.87 ERA in 97 2/3 innings of work across 18 starts. Unfortunately, injuries limited Borucki to just 6 2/3 innings in 2019, leaving him to convert to relief ahead of the 2020 season. Since his move to the bullpen, Borucki has struggled, posting a 4.66 ERA and 5.30 FIP over 65 2/3 innings across the past three seasons. He joined the Cubs on a minor league deal this past offseason, and gives the club a left-handed option out of the bullpen while Brandon Hughes is on the 15-day injured list with left knee inflammation.

Kilian, 26 in June, heads back to Triple-A after a brutal spot start yesterday where he surrendered seven runs on 10 hits, two walks and two hit batsmen in just 3 1/3 innings against the Marlins. Acquired from the Giants alongside Alexander Canario in the deal that sent Kris Bryant to San Francisco, Kilian was considered one of Chicago’s top prospects headed into last season. Things started to unravel for Kilian when he made his big league debut last summer. The right-hander posted a 10.32 ERA across three starts in the majors before heading back to the Triple-A, where he posted a 6.54 ERA in 63 1/3 innings for the remainder of the 2022 campaign.

Things haven’t gone much better for Kilian in 2023, as he had posted a 7.15 ERA in three starts at Triple-A prior to yesterday’s disastrous call up. Kilian was needed yesterday as both Jameson Taillon and Kyle Hendricks are on the shelf, though Taillon threw a bullpen yesterday per Maddie Lee of the Chicago Sun Times and Hendricks is currently rehabbing at Triple-A, leaving room to return Kilian to Triple-A in hopes he can return to his 2021 form.

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Chicago Cubs Transactions Caleb Kilian Jameson Taillon Ryan Borucki

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Cubs Place Brandon Hughes On IL, Recall Caleb Kilian

By Simon Hampton | April 29, 2023 at 12:15pm CDT

The Cubs announced they’ve placed left hander Brandon Hughes on the 15-day IL (retroactive to April 27) with left knee inflammation and recalled right hander Caleb Kilian from Triple-A.

It’s a bit of a blow to the Cubs’ bullpen, as Hughes was off to a solid start working to a 3.18 ERA with nine strikeouts across 5 2/3 innings. That backed up his rookie year in which the 27-year-old pitched to a 3.12 ERA over 57 2/3 innings. The southpaw posts quality strikeout rates, and limits left handed hitters to a .208/.283/.281 batting line, giving up just one home runs in 108 plate appearances over his short career.

The left knee appears to be a bit of a problem for Hughes, who was bothered by it during Spring Training and wound up on the IL on Opening Day as a result. The Cubs will certainly be hoping a second trip to the IL is enough to eliminate the problem.

With Hughes out, the Cubs will turn to Kilian, a right hander who’s only major league experience consists of three starts for the Cubs last season. Those starts didn’t go too well, as Kilian was rocked for 13 earned runs and gave up 12 walks in 11 1/3 innings of work. He’s struggled to a 7.15 ERA in his first three starts at Triple-A this season.

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Chicago Cubs Transactions Brandon Hughe Brandon Hughes Caleb Kilian

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Can These Five Players Sustain Their Strong Starts?

By Simon Hampton | April 29, 2023 at 11:20am CDT

We’re about a month into the 2023 baseball season, and as is always the case there are teams that are over-performing (that’s you, Pittsburgh) and under-performing. It’s not just on the team side either, certain players are off to better than expected starts, and while a month of play isn’t enough to make a definitive judgement on one’s season, it’s certainly enough of a sample size to have a conversation about whether a player has turned a corner.

Let’s take a look at five players who are have performed better than expectations over the first month, and try and predict whether they’ll be able to sustain their strong start. (All stats are up to date entering Saturday’s matches)

Joey Gallo: .265/.368/.796 with seven home runs 

The poster boy of the three true outcome hitter, Gallo has frustrated fans from Texas to New York to LA in recent years with his tantalizing power but sky high strikeouts and sub-optimal batting averages. Last year was one of Gallo’s worst, as he posted just a .160/.280/.357 line with a strikeout rate a touch shy of 40% between the Yankees and Dodgers and hit free agency without much fanfare. The Twins brought him in on a one-year, $11MM deal and it already seems to be paying off. Gallo’s shaved almost ten percentage points off his strikeout rate and is still walking at his usual solid clip.

Gallo appears to have a really good feel for the zone at the moment, swinging at more pitches in the zone and taking fewer called strikes. I spoke with Betsy Helfand, Twins beat reporter for the St. Paul Pioneer Press, on the MLBTR Podcast this week and she detailed some changes Gallo had made in his stance over the off-season. Perhaps also he’s benefitting from the shift changes. Gallo is pulling the ball more than in recent years, perhaps freed up to play more of his natural style with teams unable to shift quite so aggressively against him.

In any case, there’s a lot to like about Gallo’s start to the season in Minnesota. It’s probably unlikely he continues to hit a home run every seven at bats, but there’s every chance the Twins have themselves a much better version of Gallo than we’ve seen recently.

Yusei Kikuchi: Five starts, 27 IP, 3.00 ERA, 9.3 SO/9, 2.0 BB/9

Kikuchi came into the season clinging onto the final rotation spot in Toronto, but he’s been a really solid arm for them over the first month. Last season Kikuchi posted a 5.25 ERA in 20 starts for the Blue Jays and wound up out of the rotation by the end of the season. A big reason for his turnaround this year is a significant drop in his walk rate. Last season, Kikuchi was handing out free passes 12.8% of the time. This season? Just 5.7%. He’s also tweaked his pitch mix a bit, leaning less often on his fastball and bumping up the usage of his slider and splitter.

Yet a peak under the hood of Kikuchi’s performance does raise some red flags. He is still giving up far too many home runs, conceding about two every nine innings, much the same as his rate last year. He’s also carrying a sky high 97.2% left on base percentage, which is bound to drop some.

All in all, I’m skeptical Kikuchi holds on to the sort of numbers he’s putting up over his first five starts and expect a decent amount of regression. Maybe that still results in an improvement on last year and provides the Jays with enough to feel comfortable running him out every fifth day, but I still think he ends up with an ERA somewhere in the fours rather than the threes.

Cody Bellinger: .298/.475/.560 with five home runs 

After winning the NL MVP in 2019 with the Dodgers, Bellinger has descended into a below average hitter since, putting up a wRC+ of just 78 between 2020-22. That led the Dodgers to non-tender him at the end of last season, and he latched on with the Cubs on a one-year, $17.5MM deal. It looked like an expensive gamble at the time for Chicago, but it appears to be paying off.

Bellinger has almost halved his strikeout rate from a year prior, bumped up his walk rate but still isn’t hitting the ball nearly as hard as he was during his MVP season. In fact his HardHit% is at 31 this year, and was as high as 45.6 in 2019 and 38.1 last year. The huge drop in strikeouts really is the most impressive aspect though, as that’s where Bellinger had come undone in recent years. In 2019 his K rate was just 16.9%, but it rocketed up into the 27% range over the past few seasons, so to bring it back down to an elite rate is a firm indication of some meaningful change in Bellinger’s performance.

So with all that considered perhaps he’s sort of back? Mostly back? Or maybe on the way to being back? Either way, it’s still a hugely productive player for the Cubs and the signs are there that even if he’s not peak-Bellinger he’s still very much turned a corner.

Johan Oviedo: Five starts, 29 2/3 IP, 3.03 ERA, 8.8 SO/9, 3.3 BB/9

Little was made of the return the Pirates received for Jose Quintana when they dealt him to the Cardinals at the deadline last summer. Yet in Oviedo, with a few changes, they may have unearthed a really solid mid-rotation arm. Oviedo had been a ho-hum arm in the Cardinals system getting mixed results and it didn’t appear as though his departure would really change much in St Louis.

Yet since coming over the Pirates, Oviedo has blossomed, and I’ll borrow from my colleague Steve Adams’ analysis in a broader Front Office piece on Pittsburgh’s impressive start to the season, which includes this on Oviedo:

Oviedo has upped his fastball velocity, doubled his curveball usage and morphed from a fringey swingman to what looks like a legitimate Major League starter. He’s not an ace, but the tangible changes here and immediate results are intriguing.

Oviedo’s fastball velocity may be up to 96.6 mph on average, but he’s throwing the pitch at a career-low 33.7% clip, instead heavily favoring his slider and curveball, both of which have a 34% whiff rate in 2023, per Statcast. Fewer fastballs and more breaking pitches have led to a stark increase in ground-ball rate – a well above-average 55.7% in 2023 – and a glut of weak contact. He’s yielded just an 85.6 mph average exit velocity and a paltry 31.1% hard-hit rate.

Steve’s piece is well worth a read, but the key here is that Oviedo and the Pirates coaching staff have made meaningful change to his pitching repertoire and are seeing results. With that in mind, it’s hard not buy this start from Oviedo. Perhaps there’s a bit of regression from the 3.03 ERA, but even if the Bucs have landed themselves a solid third or fourth starter who gives them a chance to win each time he takes the mound, it’s a huge win.

Jarred Kelenic: .325/.380/.663 with seven home runs

Is it finally happening? Kelenic has been one of the game’s top prospects for a number of years now but has failed to make an impact at the highest level. That may be changing. Kelenic has been one of the best hitters on a struggling Seattle team to start 2023, and could be blossoming into the sort of player the team dreamed on when they acquired him from the Mets.

Sure, Kelenic will see some regression from the .385 BABIP he holds right now, but the guy is hitting the ball and hitting it hard. He’s already barreled up ten balls and his HardHit% sits at 57.6%, a full 22 percentage points higher than last year and his exit velocity has shot up from the previous two campaigns.

As Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic details, Kelenic spent the winter in Arizona revamping his swing with Tim Laker, a former Mariners hitting coach and the results are clear. A career .168/.251/338 hitter in the big leagues, Kelenic looks to have finally broken out in 2023. Even if his strikeout and walk rates are largely in line with his previous numbers the fact that he can do more – a lot more – with the contact that he is making is the difference.

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Chicago Cubs MLBTR Originals Minnesota Twins Pittsburgh Pirates Seattle Mariners Toronto Blue Jays Cody Bellinger Jarred Kelenic Joey Gallo Johan Oviedo Jose Quintana Yusei Kikuchi

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Cubs Designate Luis Torrens For Assignment

By Darragh McDonald and Steve Adams | April 28, 2023 at 2:26pm CDT

The Cubs have reinstated outfielder Cody Bellinger from the paternity list, per Jordan Bastian of MLB.com. Catcher Luis Torrens was designated for assignment in a corresponding move.

Torrens, 26, has appeared in 13 games for the Cubs this season but tallied only 22 plate appearances. He’s 5-for-20 with a double, a walk and eight strikeouts in that time (.250/.318/.300).

Signed to a minor league deal back in January, Torrens has spent the past two-plus seasons with the Mariners after being sent from San Diego to Seattle alongside Ty France and Andres Munoz in the Austin Nola trade. He’s totaled 266 big league games and 799 plate appearances, batting .227/.289/.352 with 19 home runs, a 7.8% walk rate and a 26% strikeout rate. Torrens hasn’t made much hard contact in his limited plate appearances this year but showed a knack for it from 2020-22 when he averaged 91 mph off the bat and posted a hearty 45.7% hard-hit rate.

Defensively, Torrens has drawn below-average grades from Defensive Runs Saved and most pitch-framing metrics. He has a career 21.7% caught-stealing rate that’s below the league average, and he came up empty in his only attempt to throw a runner out with the Cubs. He did throw out nine of 28 attempted thieves (32.1%) as recently as last season.

The Cubs will have a week to either trade Torrens, attempt to pass him through outright waivers or release him. He was outrighted by the Mariners last August, and that prior outright assignment gives him the ability to reject a minor league assignment in favor of free agency if the Cubs place him on waivers and he goes unclaimed.

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Chicago Cubs Transactions Cody Bellinger Luis Torrens

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Injury Notes: Skubal, Hendricks, Suarez, Lynch

By Anthony Franco | April 25, 2023 at 9:56pm CDT

The Tigers have been without left-hander Tarik Skubal since he underwent surgery to repair a flexor tear in his forearm last August. Detroit hasn’t provided a specific recovery timeline for the 26-year-old hurler, though he’s out until at least late May after starting the year on the 60-day injured list. Skubal is soon to hit a notable marker in his rehab process, as he’s in line to throw his first post-surgery bullpen session this week (link via Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free-Press).

Skubal will certainly need multiple ’pen sessions and likely some live batting practice work before he’s ready to step into game action. Petzold notes the club is still without a firm timetable on when he might embark on a minor league rehab stint. That he’s throwing is obviously a plus and provides some hope he could return when or not long after he’s first eligible. Skubal developed into perhaps Detroit’s best pitcher before the injury, working to a 3.52 ERA with a 24.5% strikeout percentage through 21 starts last year.

Some updates on other injured pitchers around the league:

  • Cubs starter Kyle Hendricks will begin a rehab assignment with Triple-A Iowa on Thursday, tweets Bruce Levine of 670 The Score. The right-hander is still working back from a capsular tear in his throwing shoulder suffered last August. He’s been throwing for the better part of six weeks but the club has understandably taken a cautious approach to building him up. Hendricks will require multiple rehab starts, with Levine suggesting the hope is he can return to the Wrigley Field mound in the middle of May. The 33-year-old worked to a career-worst 4.80 ERA over 84 1/3 innings last season. He’s headed into the final guaranteed year of his contract, with the Cubs deciding on a net $14.5MM decision for 2024 ($16MM option, $1.5MM buyout) at year’s end.
  • The Phillies are also sending one of their starters on a rehab stint this week. Left-hander Ranger Suárez will pitch two innings with Double-A Reading on Thursday, relays Matt Gelb of the Athletic. According to Gelb, he’s expected to make three or four minor league appearances before making his MLB season debut in the middle of May. The southpaw was slowed by a bout of forearm inflammation in Spring Training, part of a tough exhibition season from a health perspective for Philadelphia. He threw a personal-high 155 1/3 innings with a 3.65 ERA and an excellent 55.4% ground-ball percentage in 29 starts last year.
  • Royals left-hander Daniel Lynch threw a bullpen session this afternoon, tweets Anne Rogers of MLB.com. He’s expected to log three innings in an extended Spring Training game on Thursday before beginning a rehab stint. That could position Lynch for his season debut in mid-May after a strain in his throwing shoulder shut him down at the end of Spring Training. One of the expected key starters for K.C. coming out of their rebuild, Lynch has had up-and-down results in his first two big league campaigns. He allowed a 5.13 ERA across 131 2/3 innings last season. With Kris Bubic lost for the season and Brady Singer struggling in the early going, a step forward from the 26-year-old Lynch takes on all the more importance for the Royals in the long term.
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Chicago Cubs Detroit Tigers Kansas City Royals Notes Philadelphia Phillies Daniel Lynch Kyle Hendricks Ranger Suarez Tarik Skubal

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Cubs Place Jameson Taillon On IL With Groin Strain

By Darragh McDonald | April 20, 2023 at 4:00pm CDT

The Cubs announced to reporters, including Jordan Bastian of MLB.com, that right-hander Jameson Taillon has been placed on the 15-day injured list with a “mild to moderate” left groin strain. Taillon had been the scheduled starter for tonight’s game against the Dodgers but righty Javier Assad has been recalled and will take the ball instead.

Taillon, 31, joined the Cubs over the offseason on a four-year, $68MM deal. That came on the heels of a strong two-year run with the Yankees, where he made 61 starts over 2021 and 2022, tossing 321 2/3 innings. He posted a 4.08 ERA in that time along with a 21.9% strikeout rate, 5.7% walk rate and 37.1% ground ball rate. That solid stretch did much to undo an injury-prone label that previously surrounded Taillon. He underwent Tommy John surgery as a prospect in 2014 and underwent the procedure a second time in 2019. But in both instances, he returned and posted good results, leading to his current career ERA of 3.85 over 801 2/3 innings.

This groin strain has popped up seemingly out of nowhere as Taillon, as mentioned up top, was scheduled to start tonight’s game until this news broke. Just this past weekend, he tossed five scoreless innings against the same Dodgers club he was set to face tonight. It’s unclear if he felt the injury that night or perhaps during a bullpen session in between then and now.

Regardless of how or when it happened, the Cubs will now have to play without Taillon for however long he’s out, which will be at least two weeks with this IL placement. The rotation has been a strength for the club in the early going this year, as their collective 2.66 ERA ranks third among all major league clubs, helping them jump out to an 11-6 start. Marcus Stroman and Justin Steele have excellent ERA figures of 0.75 and 1.44, respectively, while Drew Smyly and Hayden Wesneski have decent marks of 4.70 and 4.15.

Those four will now be joined by Assad for the time being. He posted a strong 2.66 ERA in the minors last year between Double-A and Triple-A, helping him make his major league debut. Between last year and this year, he has a 4.07 ERA in 42 major league innings thus far. He’ll look to bring some of that minor league success to the bigs and keep the Chicago rotation in good shape, at least until one of Taillon or Kyle Hendricks is able to return.

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Chicago Cubs Transactions Jameson Taillon Javier Assad

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MLB Trade Rumors Podcast: Shohei Ohtani, Julio Urias, Aaron Nola, Ian Happ, Juan Soto, Marcell Ozuna

By Simon Hampton | April 19, 2023 at 11:30pm CDT

Episode 3 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; use this link to find the show on Spotify and this one for Apple. You can also use the player at this link to listen, if you don’t use Spotify or Apple for podcasts.

This week, host Simon Hampton is joined by MLBTR founder Tim Dierkes to discuss a wide range of topics around the baseball world:

  • We discuss Tim’s 2023-24 Free Agent Power Rankings article, including the contract Shohei Ohtani might command, as well as the markets for Aaron Nola and Julio Urias (3:26)
  • The Cubs and Ian Happ agree to a surprising three-year, $61MM extension. So did the player or the club get better value out of this deal? (18:41)
  • A busy week on the extension front includes the Twins agreeing to a four-year, $73.5MM contract with starter Pablo Lopez. We discuss the improvements Lopez has made this season and give our thoughts on the contract (23:04)

Plus, we answer your questions, including:

  • Why do the Giants only seem willing to spend money on position players, and not starting pitchers?  This question also includes our thoughts on the Logan Webb contract (26:59)
  • As Juan Soto gets off to a slow start in 2023, is there any hope for him to return to his 2021 numbers and what does this mean for extension talks? (31:24)
  • Are the Braves wasting a roster spot on Marcell Ozuna? (36:22)

Check out our past episodes!

  • Rays, top prospect debuts, Angels, trade deadline, Gary Sanchez, Francisco Alvarez – listen here
  • Early trade deadline preview, Jake Cronenworth extension and the Padres, Marlins trade ideas, Cardinals rotation, Dodgers – listen here

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