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Cubs Select David Bote, Option Nick Madrigal

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The Cubs selected the contract of infielder David Bote this morning, as noted by Tony Andracki of Marquee Sports Network. Right-hander Adbert Alzolay was placed on the 60-day injured list to make room for Bote on the 40-man roster, while infielder Nick Madrigal was optioned to Triple-A in the corresponding active roster move.

The news marks the 31-year-old Bote’s first time on a big league roster since 2022 after he was outrighted off the Cubs roster in November of that year. Bote remained in the organization despite having more than the three years of service time necessary to reject an outright assignment because he did not have the five years of service time required to retain his salary. That was particularly significant for Bote, who was in the midst of a five-year, $15MM extension he signed with Chicago prior to the 2019 season.

That left Bote to play out the 2023 season and the beginning of the 2024 season at the Triple-A level, where he’s posted above average numbers in both seasons while splitting time between all four infield spots. In his return to the majors, the Cubs are surely hoping that Bote can offer the club decent production off the bench, as he did in his first five seasons with the club. To this point in his big league career, Bote has slashed a combined .231/.318/.393 (91 wRC+) while playing primarily second and third base.

Even that slightly below average production would constitute a major upgrade over what Madrigal has offered the Cubs so far this season. In 94 trips to the plate across 51 games with the club this year, the 27-year-old has hit a paltry .221/.280/.256 with just four walks and three extra-base hits, all of them doubles. That translates to a wRC+ of just 59, and the infielder hasn’t made up for that anemic offensive production with the glove, as his -5 Outs Above Average this year places him in the third percentile of all qualified fielders this year.

It’s been an extremely frustrating Cubs tenure for the former fourth overall pick in the 2018, who was traded across town alongside Codi Heuer in the deal that sent Craig Kimbrel to the White Sox at the 2021 trade deadline. Since making his Cubs debut in 2022, Madrigal has hit just .254/.301/.312 with a wRC+ of 75 as he’s struggled to translate his pure contact profile into production at the major league level due to lack of power and a minuscule 4.5% walk rate. The 27-year-old will now head to Triple-A in hopes of figuring things out at the level while waiting for his next big league opportunity.

Making room on the club’s 40-man roster for Bote is Alzolay, who has been sidelined since the middle of last month due to a flexor strain. While the Cubs have previously indicated that surgery is not being considered for their closer, he nonetheless already appeared poised for a lengthy absence when manager Craig Counsell indicated late last month that Alzolay would remain shut down for at the next few weeks. Now that Alzolay has been transferred to the 60-day IL, even a minimum stay would keep him out until around the All Star break. It’s a tough blow to a Cubs team that has struggled badly in the bullpen, as their relievers have combined for a 4.53 ERA that’s better than only the lowly Rockies among all NL clubs.

Julio Teheran To Opt Out Of Minors Deal With Cubs

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Veteran right-hander Julio Teheran is opting out of his minor league deal with the Cubs, according to Jon Heyman of the New York Post. Teheran signed with the Cubs back in April after a brief stint with the Mets earlier this year but now appears poised to return to the open market as a free agent.

Teheran, 33, has pitched in parts of 13 big league seasons since he made his debut with the Braves back in 2011. The right-hander first stepped into a full time role with the club as a member of their rotation back in 2013 and spent the next seven seasons in a mid-rotation role with the club, making at least 30 starts in each of those seasons and pitching to a 3.64 ERA (111 ERA+) with a 4.22 FIP overall during that time. That impressive durability allowed him to post the ninth-most innings among all big league pitchers across those seven seasons while making less starts than only Jon Lester, Jose Quintana, and Max Scherzer during that timeframe.

Teheran’s time with the Braves came to an end following the 2019 campaign, however, and he’s bounced between several MLB organizations in the five years since then. He’s pitched for the Angels, Tigers, Brewers, and Mets at the big league level during that time and spent the 2022 campaign out of affiliated ball, instead pitching in the Atlantic League and Mexican League that year. The right-hander’s results at the big league level have left something to be desired since he departed Atlanta; in 110 2/3 big league innings since the start of the 2020 season, Teheran has posted a 6.10 ERA with a nearly matching 6.11 FIP while striking out just 16.1% of batters faced.

While those results certainly leave something to be desired, Teheran’s 14-appearance stint with the Brewers last year, where he posted a league average 4.40 ERA with a 4.93 FIP in 71 2/3 innings, provided some reason for optimism that he could still be a useful arm at the big league level. That was enough to earn Teheran a one-year big league deal with the Mets in early April, although he only made one start for the club before being designated for assignment and returning to the open market. That’s when Teheran landed with the Cubs, who at the time were dealing with injuries to Justin Steele and Jameson Taillon in the rotation while veteran starter Kyle Hendricks was struggling badly.

Since then, however, Steele and Taillon have returned from the shelf to join Shota Imanaga in the club’s rotation and youngsters Ben Brown and Javier Assad have impressed in starting roles of their own, clouding Teheran’s path back to the big leagues in the Cubs organization. With the aforementioned quintet, Hayden Wesneski, and perhaps even Hendricks all ahead of him on the organizational depth chart, it’s understandable that Teheran would prefer to return to the open market in hopes of finding a club that can offer him a clearer path to the big leagues.

Teheran’s performance at Triple-A Iowa during his time with Chicago is unlikely to help him in that endeavor, as he struggled badly with an 8.82 ERA in 32 2/3 innings of work. Still, it’s certainly feasible to imagine a club in need of starting depth offering Teheran a spot in their minor league system, where an injury or two could create an opportunity for the 33-year-old to make his way back to the majors.

Cubs Sign Jackson Tetreault To Minor League Deal

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The Cubs have signed right-hander Jackson Tetreault to a minor league deal, as noted by Talk Nats on X earlier today. Talk Nats adds that Tetreault had interest from multiple teams, including “advanced talks” with the Blue Jays, before ultimately settling in Chicago.

Tetreault, 28 in June, was a seventh-round pick by the Nationals back in 2017 and worked his way through the club’s minor league system to make his big league debut back in 2022. In four starts with the club that year, Tetreault struggled to a 5.14 ERA and 6.16 FIP in 21 innings of work before suffering a stress fracture in his shoulder that sidelined him for the remainder of the 2022 season. Tetreault was outrighted off the Nationals’ roster that November but remained with the organization for the 2023 season as he rehabbed the injury, ultimately making two appearances at the High-A level, though he struggled badly in the appearances with ten runs (eight earned) allowed over 5 2/3 combined innings as he allowed two walks and fourteen hits including three home runs against four strikeouts.

Those appearances in May of last year were Tetreault’s most recent professional outings, as he was placed on the injured list in June and has not pitched since. He elected free agency back in November but didn’t land a deal anywhere until today, when he signed with the Cubs on a minor league pact. Prior to his injury, Tetreault had the look of an intriguing potential back-end starter with the Nationals, pitching to a 4.34 ERA in 28 starts at the Double-A level and a 4.04 ERA in 14 appearances at Triple-A.

Given his extended layoff in recent years, it’s not clear how healthy Tetreault is or what role he may take up now that he’s signed with Chicago, although the club could surely benefit from upper-level pitching depth with key pieces of the club’s bullpen such as Julian Merryweather, Adbert Alzolay, and Yency Almonte all on the injured list in addition to rookie starter Jordan Wicks. Tetreault figures to act as that sort of non-roster, upper level depth alongside fellow minor league signings such as Julio Teheran, Edwin Escobar, and Carl Edwards Jr.

Shota Imanaga's Next Start Pushed Back To Wednesday

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Cubs left-hander Shota Imanaga was set to take the ball for a start against the Cardinals last night, but after rain caused the game to be postponed until July he’s seen his start pushed back until the club’s game against the Brewers on May 29. That scheduling change will give Imanaga a whopping ten days rest between his most recent start against the Pirates last week and his next, but Patrick Mooney of The Athletic writes that manager Craig Counsell made clear that Imanaga’s extended layoff wasn’t injury related, instead describing the decision as a “proactive” effort to manage his workload amid the 30-year-old lefty’s workload.

It’s not necessarily news that the Cubs are managing Imanaga’s workload, as he’s started just two games on regular rest so far this season. By inserting additional rest day’s into the lefty’s schedule, the club is hoping to soften Imanaga’s transition from the typical NPB schedule, where teams utilize six-man rotations with one day off a week allowing starters to pitch just once a week, to MLB’s five-man rotations with less frequent days off. It’s hard to argue with the results of Chicago’s plan, as Imanaga has been the best starting pitcher in the sport by the results this season and has authored a historic beginning to his big league career: his microscopic 0.84 ERA is both the lowest in baseball this year and the lowest of any rookie pitcher’s first nine starts in the modern era.

Imanaga’s peripheral numbers largely back up his stellar performance to this point, as well; his 27.8% is the 13th-best figure in all of baseball this year among qualified starters, while his 4.3% walk rate places him ninth. Only Chris Sale, Jack Flaherty, and Pablo Lopez have struck out more batters while walking fewer than Imanaga this year, leaving the 30-year-old’s complex $53MM guarantee with the Cubs appearing to be one of the biggest steals of the offseason a third of the way through the 2024 campaign.

Cubs’ Adbert Alzolay Shut Down For At Least Two More Weeks

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Cubs righty Adbert Alzolay has been on the injured list since May 13 due to a flexor strain, and it seems a return in the near future isn’t likely. Manager Craig Counsell told the team’s beat yesterday that Alzolay, who recently received a second opinion on the injury, will be shut down entirely for at least two more weeks (X link via Meaghan Montemurro of the Chicago Tribune). A lengthier shutdown is possible, but he’ll be reevaluated in 14 days to gauge any progress. For the time being, surgery is not a consideration.

The 29-year-old Alzolay was easily the Cubs’ top reliever in 2023, pacing the team with 22 saves and leading their qualified relievers with a 2.67 earned run average. The former top prospect punched out 26.5% of his opponents against a sharp 5.1% walk rate. Alzolay got out to a much rockier start in 2024, logging a 4.67 ERA in 17 1/3 innings as his strikeout and walk rates swung dramatically in the wrong direction (17.3% and 8%, respectively).

Given those struggles and what increasingly looks like a lengthy stay on the injured list, it’s fair to presume Alzolay wasn’t pitching at full strength prior to his IL placement. His sinker lost a full mile per hour from last year (95.3 mph to 94.3 mph), and his four-seamer is down just over a half mile as well, checking in at 94.7 mph in ’24 after sitting 95.3 mph in ’23, per Statcast.

It’s tough for any team to lose its top reliever, of course, but it’s particularly troublesome for a Cubs bullpen that has ranked in the bottom half of MLB in most categories. Chicago relievers are 20th in baseball with a 4.15 ERA, and fielding-independent metrics grade them similarly (17th in FIP at 3.92, 15th in SIERA at 3.63). The bullpen does collectively have the eighth-best strikeout rate of any relief corps in MLB (24.4%) … but also the eighth-highest walk rate (10.3%).

Further complicating matters is the fact that righty Julian Merryweather, one of the team’s top setup men and top strikeout arms last season, is already on the 60-day injured list due to a stress fracture in his ribcage. Counsell indicated this week that Merryweather has been cleared to resume throwing but also noted that his IL stint will exceed the 60-day minimum (X link via Ryan Herrera of CHGO Sports). That’ll push him into mid-June in a best-case scenario. However, with Merryweather only just starting a throwing program and needing to build toward facing live hitters before an eventual minor league rehab assignment, it’s feasible his IL stint could stretch to late June or even into July.

With Alzolay and Merryweather shelved, Hector Neris and Mark Leiter Jr. are the only two members of the Cubs’ bullpen with any late-inning experience of note in the majors. Neris signed a one-year, $9MM deal over the winter and currently sports a 2.50 ERA but also a career-worst 17% walk rate. Leiter has been excellent, continuing to make good on the jackpot the Cubs hit in minor league free agency a few years back. Beyond that pairing, things get far murkier.

The only other member of the Cubs’ bullpen with even two years of MLB service is Kyle Hendricks, who was just dropped to a relief role after struggling immensely in the rotation. Righties Hayden Wesneski and Jose Cuas are the next-most “senior” members of the unit. Each entered the season with just over a year of service time, and both have been optioned at least once this season. The Cubs are hopeful that recently reacquired Tyson Miller can fill a late-inning role, and they’re giving looks to homegrown rookies like Porter Hodge and Luke Little as well. But the bullpen as a whole is quite light on established arms, exacerbating the impact of losing two of last year’s top relievers.

The Cubs still find themselves just 1.5 games back of the Brewers from the division lead. They’re 3.5 games up on a surging Cardinals club, with Pittsburgh only a half-game behind St. Louis. The Reds sit eight games back of the division lead — a notable but also hardly insurmountable deficit with so much of the season yet to play out. Given Chicago’s active offseason — bringing in Shota Imanaga, re-signing Cody Bellinger, signing Neris, trading for Michael Busch — the front office will likely be looking to add to the roster so long as the team remains within striking distance in what’s currently a wide-open division. Every postseason hopeful tends to be on the lookout for relief pitching come deadline season, but the Cubs’ need is shaping up to be more acute than most contenders.

MLBTR Podcast: The Likelihood Of A Juan Soto Extension, What’s In Store For Pete Alonso, And Corbin Carroll’s Struggles

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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…

Plus, we answer your questions, including…

  • What do you think about a trade between the Tigers, who are desperate for hitting, and the Orioles, whose bullpen hasn’t been great? Detroit has a surplus of good relief pitchers, could they be trade partners? (21:05)
  • If Mason Miller were to be traded from the Athletics to another American League team and go on to win A.L. Rookie of the Year, would that team get an incentive draft pick? (26:30)
  • Say Shota Imanaga and Yoshinobu Yamamoto finish at the top of Rookie of the Year voting in the National League, will the Cubs and Dodgers get the draft compensation for having them in the majors the whole season? Considering they both signed MLB contracts, that seems antithetical to the new draft compensation for well performing rookies rule. (28:05)
  • Corbin Carroll? That’s pretty much the question: Corbin Carroll? Is there hope this season? How long can the Diamondbacks keep running him out there with no improvement in sight? I love the guy, I have as a keeper, and he was a big part of my plans for this season. Needless to say, it’s not going so well. (31:00)

Check out our past episodes!

The podcast intro and outro song “So Long” is provided courtesy of the band Showoff.  Check out their Facebook page here!

Cubs Moving Kyle Hendricks To Bullpen

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The Cubs are moving Kyle Hendricks to the bullpen for the time being, manager Craig Counsell told the team’s beat (X link via Patrick Mooney of the Athletic). Counsell indicated the team is hopeful that the veteran right-hander will be able to move back to the rotation in the future, but he’ll first need to improve his results.

Hendricks has been a starting pitcher for his entire career. For the first seven years of his MLB tenure, he was an unconventional top-of-the-rotation arm. Hendricks’ pristine command and ability to keep the ball on the ground more than overcame middling velocity and strikeout totals. He won the ERA title during Chicago’s curse-breaking 2016 season and picked up a pair of top 10 finishes in Cy Young balloting.

Things haven’t gone as smoothly over the last three and a half years. Hendricks posted a near-5.00 ERA in both 2021 and ’22. He returned from a capsule tear in his shoulder to turn in a 3.74 ERA over 24 starts a year ago. That convinced the Cubs to trigger a $16.5MM option for this season. While it wasn’t a particularly surprising move at the time, that’s a decision the front office surely wishes it could have back.

Opposing lineups have teed off on Hendricks through his first seven starts of 2024. He has allowed 37 runs over 30 2/3 innings. Hendricks has conceded 10 home runs and has a career-low 7.7% swinging strike rate. His 48.2% grounder percentage and 7.3% walk rate are each respectable, but opponents have put together a massive .362/.411/.638 slash line over 151 plate appearances.

A lower back issue sent Hendricks to the injured list at the end of April. Following a three-week absence, he returned to start a pair of games against the Pirates. Hendricks tossed five innings of one-run ball in his first outing back but was tagged for eight runs in 4 2/3 frames last week. Counsell acknowledged after the game that the Cubs needed better production from that rotation spot.

They’ll try to patch that together for the time being. The Cubs are planning a bullpen game on Thursday against the Braves in what would have been Hendricks’ spot. They’ll eventually need to settle on a fifth starter behind a strong front four of Shota Imanaga, Justin Steele, Jameson Taillon and Javier Assad. Righties Ben Brown and Hayden Wesneski are capable of logging multiple innings, and the Cubs could welcome back left-hander Jordan Wicks before too long.

A forearm strain sent Wicks to the injured list on April 28. Meghan Montemurro of the Chicago Tribune tweets that the former first-round pick will soon head on a rehab assignment after getting through a bullpen session this afternoon. While Wicks had a 4.70 ERA through his first five starts, a strong 25.9% strikeout rate offers reason for optimism that he can manage better results after being reinstated.

The injury news wasn’t all positive. Montemurro adds that reliever Adbert Alzolay is headed for a second opinion after being diagnosed with a flexor strain last week. Alzolay saved 22 games with a 2.67 ERA over 64 innings a year ago. He has had a much tougher start to the 2024 campaign, allowing 13 runs (nine earned) over 17 1/3 frames.

Cubs Promote Luis Vazquez

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May 21: The Cubs have now officially promoted Vazquez, with Maddie Lee of the Chicago Sun-Times among those to relay the full slate of moves on X. Swanson was also activated off the injured list while Mastrobuoni and Pete Crow-Armstrong were optioned in corresponding moves.

May 19: The Cubs are promoting infield prospect Luis Vazquez to the majors, according to ESPN’s Jorge Castillo (who also happens to be Vazquez’s cousin).  The 24-year-old Vazquez will be making his MLB debut whenever he appears in his first game.

Since the Cubs’ next game isn’t until Tuesday, Vazquez’s call-up seems tied to Nico Hoerner’s health status.  Hoerner hasn’t played since last Monday due to a balky hamstring, and while the Cubs were hopeful Hoerner would be able to play Tuesday, it could be that the team decided that an official injured list stint was necessary to get Hoerner fully recovered.  Dansby Swanson is also already on the IL recovering from a knee sprain and was expected to be activated on Tuesday, so it is possible Vazquez could be joining the Cubs if there has been some unknown setback in Swanson’s recovery.

Whatever the case, the door has been opened for Vazquez to get his first shot at the big leagues.  A 14th-round pick for the Cubs in the 2017 draft, Vazquez didn’t do much at the plate until last season, when he batted a combined .271/.361/.456 with 20 home runs over 528 plate appearances almost evenly split between Double-A and Triple-A.  The hot hitting has continued into this season, as Vazquez has slashed .270/.369/.409 with three homers across his 164 PA with Triple-A Iowa.

This breakout year led the Cubs to put Vazquez on their 40-man roster last November in advance of the Rule 5 Draft, and for some extra attention from the pundits — MLB Pipeline has Vazquez ranked as the 13th-best prospect in Chicago’s farm system, while Baseball America has him 14th.  As per Pipeline’s scouting report, Vazquez was able to straighten out his swing and make better contact after learning to lower his hands at the plate, thus unlocking some extra power potential.  Between these improvements and Vazquez’s highly-touted defense, both Pipeline and BA think Vazquez now has a path to a Major League role as a versatile bench player.

Vazquez’s glovework and throwing arm each merit 60s on the 20-80 scouting scale, and as Pipeline puts it, “he’s so good at short that Chicago rarely has deployed him at other positions.”  Vazquez does have some experience at second and third base and shouldn’t have much trouble at either position given his shortstop capability, making him an interesting utility option for the Cubs on at least a temporary basis.  Miles Mastrobuoni and Nick Madrigal have been filling the middle infield roles with Swanson and Hoerner out, and if both players are indeed back on Tuesday, Mastrobuoni could find himself relegated back to Triple-A to create room for Vazquez’s promotion.

The Journeyman Outfielder Flourishing With The Cubs

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When the Cubs signed veteran outfielder Mike Tauchman to a minor league deal back in January of last year, the deal was barely a footnote in an offseason that saw Chicago splurge on stars such as Dansby Swanson and Cody Bellinger as they attempted to work their way back into the playoff conversation. Even the signings of veteran role players such as Trey Mancini and Eric Hosmer appeared to be more relevant to the Cubs’ chances as the season got underway, although injuries eventually forced the club to select Tauchman’s contract on May 19, 2023.

One year to the day later, the 33-year-old journeyman has emerged as one of the most important pieces in Chicago’s lineup as they renew their efforts to return to the postseason for the first time in a full season since 2018.

Tauchman is perhaps best known for his 2019 campaign, when he enjoyed a breakout season with the Yankees. The then-28-year-old had struggled through 69 plate appearances with the Rockies since making his big league debut back in 2017, hitting just .153/.265/.203 during that time, and was flipped to the Yankees in a minor trade during Spring Training 2019. Despite his lack of success at the big league level, Tauchman received an opportunity with the Yankees midseason when injuries to Aaron Hicks and Giancarlo Stanton left a hole in the Yankees outfield alongside Brett Gardner and Aaron Judge. He made the most of the opportunity and posted 3.1 fWAR in just 87 games as he slashed a whopping .277/.361/.504 with 13 home runs in just 296 trips to the plate.

While his incredible performance in 2019 offered some hope that he was emerging as a big league regular, Tauchman would fall back to Earth over the next two seasons. In 118 games with the Yankees and Giants across the 2020-21 seasons, his power production completely evaporated, leaving him with a paltry .203/.306/.291 slash line despite a still-strong 12.3% walk rate. Tauchman’s struggles ultimately led him to head overseas to play out the 2022 season with the Hanwha Eagles of the Korea Baseball Organization.

His 144-game stint in Korea went quite well, as he slashed a strong .289/.366/.430 in 648 trips to the plate as the club’s starting center fielder. On the heels of his strong performance, Tauchman tried his luck at returning to stateside ball in free agency during the 2022-23 offseason, although he ultimately was unable to find anything more than a minor league pact with Chicago. He held his own in 21 games with the Cubs during Spring Training, hitting a respectable .225/.354/.400 in 48 trips to the plate, but was ultimately unable to crack the club’s Opening Day roster even amid an injury to outfielder Seiya Suzuki as the Cubs instead opted to utilize Mancini and Miles Mastrobuoni in right field to open the season.

Tauchman’s chance would come later in the season, when an injury to Bellinger and the deep struggles of Hosmer led the club to place the former on the injured list and designate the latter for assignment. With a gaping hole in center field and only Ian Happ batting from the left side in the starting lineup, the Cubs selected Tauchman to the roster and installed him as a stopgap option in center field while Bellinger was on the shelf. Tauchman made the most of the opportunity, however, and by the time Bellinger was ready to return to the lineup in June, Tauchman was reaching base at a .415 clip and playing strong enough defense in center that the Cubs opted to temporarily move Bellinger to first base in order to keep Tauchman’s bat in the lineup.

Tauchman remained one of the club’s top on-base threats throughout the remainder of the season, and ended the 2023 campaign having eclipsed 100 games played and 400 trips to the plate in the majors for the first time in his career. His final slash line of .252/.363/.377 showed little power compared to his .227 ISO during his 2019 campaign with the Yankees, but his excellent 14% walk rate was second only to Ian Happ among Cubs hitters and he managed to reduce his strikeout rate to just 21.4%, a far cry from the 27% clip he had punched out at in the majors to that point in his career.

The showing was enough for Tauchman to not only be tendered an arbitration-level contract for the first time in his career but also enter Spring Training assured of a spot on the Opening Day roster. While the returning outfield trio of Happ, Bellinger, and Suzuki combined with the addition of Michael Busch at first base appeared likely to push Tauchman out of the Cubs’s starting lineup as the 2023 season began, a combination of early-season injuries to Suzuki and Bellinger and manager Craig Counsell’s willingness to play Christopher Morel at third base on a regular basis has opened up plenty of opportunities for Tauchman to continue to act as a regular in the club’s lineup this season.

Once again, Tauchman has made the most of his opportunities by delivering an even stronger start than he did in 2023. In 43 games with the Cubs this season, the 33-year-old is slashing an excellent .257/.375/.407 in 168 trips to the plate. He’s seen his walk rate tick up to a whopping 14.9% that’s good for seventh among all qualified regulars in MLB this year, while his strikeout rate has held steady at 21.4%. Most excitingly, Tauchman has even managed to show a bit more power than he did in his first season with Chicago; he’s already clubbed four homers and nine doubles after managing just eight homers and 18 doubles throughout the entire 2023 campaign.

All that adds up to an excellent 130 wRC+ that leaves Tauchman tied with Bellinger for 40th place among all MLB regulars and first among all Cubs hitters this season. It’s been a truly remarkable pair of seasons for Tauchman in Chicago, and if he can continue to produce at this sort of level the Cubs will have plenty of tough decisions on their hands with top outfield prospects such as Pete Crow-Armstrong and Owen Caissie knocking on the door of the majors. Regardless of the outcome of those decisions, Tauchman has done enough over the past calendar year to assure himself continued opportunities at the big league level even as he enters his mid-thirties in a remarkable turnaround for a player many had written off as a one-season wonder half a decade ago.

Cubs Notes: Swanson, Hoerner, Smyly, Wicks, Hendricks

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The Cubs are expecting to welcome shortstop Dansby Swanson back from the injured list prior to Tuesday’s series opener against the Braves, as noted by Kyle Williams of the Chicago Sun Times. Williams relayed that club manager Craig Counsell told reporters today that Swanson is “heading in a good direction” as he participates in baseball activities in preparation for his return.

Swanson has been on the injured list for just over a week due to a right knee sprain, although he had been playing through the issue since he first suffered the injury back on April 25. In the 13 contests he appeared in from April 25 onward before hitting the shelf, Swanson slashed an anemic .159/.229/.227 at the plate while committed two errors in the field. If those struggles were the result of the injury, the 30-year-old’s return to action figures to offer a huge boost to the Cubs as evidenced by a strong 2023 campaign where he slashed a respectable .244/.328/.416 (104 wRC+) while playing elite defense at shortstop.

The absence of Swanson has been exacerbated by a bout of hamstring tightness that has sidelined second baseman Nico Hoerner, who is an above-average defensive shortstop in his own right and had been handling the position in place of Swanson prior to his own injury. Hoerner, who has impressed with a solid .269/.361/.391 slash line (119 wRC+) to this point in the 2024 campaign, has not yet been placed on the injured list despite the fact that the Cubs aren’t certain when he’ll be able to return to action. Counsell indicated to reporters (including Williams) that if Hoerner isn’t ready to play tomorrow the club will likely wait until Tuesday to make an IL decision regarding Hoerner thanks to their day off on Monday.

The Cubs have missed their typical double play combo dearly, as they’ve been forced to rely on utility infielders Miles Mastrobuoni and Nick Madrigal as their fill-in options at shortstop and second base, respectively. The duo have managed wRC+ figures of just 35 and 62 respectively while offering nowhere near the Gold Glove award-winning skills of Swanson and Hoerner. Shortstop prospect Luis Vazquez has hit fairly well at the Triple-A level this season despite his glove-first reputation and is already on the club’s 40-man roster, making him a possible alternative should Hoerner require a trip to the shelf.

Looking toward the pitching staff, Counsell provided good news to reporters today as he noted that lefties Drew Smyly and Jordan Wicks both threw bullpen sessions on Friday and are nearing rehab assignments. Smyly appears to be slightly further along between the two, as Counsell indicated that he expected the lefty to begin his rehab assignment “early next week” without identifying a specific timeline regarding Wicks. The return of both southpaws figures to significantly bolster Chicago’s starting pitching depth; Wicks had a 4.70 ERA and a strong 3.26 FIP in five starts prior to hitting the shelf with a forearm strain, while Smyly began the season in the bullpen but has made at least 22 starts for the Cubs in each of the past two seasons.

That starting pitching depth figures to be particularly valuable to the Cubs given the deep struggles of veteran right-hander Kyle Hendricks. The 34-year-old soft-tosser was lit up to the tune of a 12.00 ERA and 7.70 FIP in five starts this season before he was sidelined by a low back strain in late April. He returned from the shelf last week and appeared to have potentially turned a corner after throwing five innings of one-run ball against the Pirates, but a start yesterday against those same Pirates proved to be disastrous as he surrendered eight runs (seven earned) on a whopping eleven hits in just 4 2/3 innings of work.

Asked about Hendricks’s deep struggles after yesterday’s game, Counsell made clear to reporters (including Patrick Mooney of The Athletic) that the Cubs need more from the right-hander going forward.

“We certainly need better,” Counsell said of Hendricks’s performance this year. “That’s not going to work. And that’s not going to be good enough.”

When asked if Hendricks will remain in the rotation going forward, Counsell noted that the club is dealing with a number of pitching injuries and is “going to need innings,” but also acknowledged that the club will need to “see what’s going on” regarding the veteran righty. Speculatively speaking, it’s easy to imagine the return of Wicks and Smyly offering the Cubs the sort of healthy pitching depth they’d need, alongside Hayden Wesneski and Ben Brown, to more seriously consider moving on from their longest-tenured player should Hendricks’s results not improve.

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