Justin Steele To Begin Rehab Assignment Next Week
The Cubs have been without left-hander Justin Steele since he was pulled from his Opening Day start against the Rangers in the fifth inning due to a hamstring strain last month. It appears that the club’s time without their staff ace may be nearing an end, however, as Maddie Lee of the Chicago Sun Times relayed this afternoon that (per manager Craig Counsell) Steele is set to join the club’s Triple-A affiliate in Iowa for a rehab assignment in the coming days. Counsell added that Wednesday is the likely target for Steele’s rehab appearance, with MLB.com’s injury tracker noting that the southpaw threw 47 pitches in an extended Spring Training game yesterday.
Steele, 28, has surprised in recent years by emerging as a front-of-the-rotation caliber arm in Chicago. The lefty was selected by the Cubs in the fifth round of the 2014 draft but did not make his big league debut until 2021, when he pitched to a mediocre 4.26 ERA and 5.52 FIP in 57 innings of work. When Steele returned to the club’s rotation the following year, however, it was clear he had taken his game to the next level: in 55 starts since the start of the 2022 campaign, Steele has pitched to an excellent 3.09 ERA (140 ERA+) with an even better 3.06 FIP.
While Steele’s 24.6% strikeout rate during a 2023 campaign that saw him make his first All Star appearance and finish fifth in NL Cy Young award voting was right around league average, his strong 5.0% walk rate and 50.3% groundball rate were both excellent according to Statcast, ranking in the 93rd and 83rd percentiles respectively. Steele will bring that well-rounded profile back to a Cubs rotation that has dealt with plenty of injuries to this point in the 2024 campaign. In addition to Steele, the Cubs have spent time this season without veteran right-handers Jameson Taillon and Kyle Hendricks. While the former has performed well in two starts since returning from the shelf, the latter struggled badly even when healthy enough to take the mound with a 12.00 ERA in four starts.
Fortunately for the Cubs, a quartet of unproven arms have handled things admirably in the absence of more established arms. Leading the charge has been 30-year-old lefty Shota Imanaga, who signed a four-year, $53MM contract with the Cubs over the winter after being posted by the Yokohama BayStars of Japan’s NPB. Imanaga has been sensational in the early going of his first MLB season, with a 0.98 ERA that leads all qualified MLB starters backed up by a strong 2.36 FIP in 27 2/3 innings of work.
Sophomore swingman Javier Assad has been joined by rookies Jordan Wicks and Ben Brown to fill out the rest of the club’s rotation, and the trio have performed admirably to this point with a combined 2.82 ERA in 60 2/3 innings of work in 12 starts. The Cubs are surely looking forward to Steele’s return even in spite of those strong performances, of course. With the lefty seemingly on track for a return in early May, it appears the most likely course of action for Chicago is to move Brown into a full-time bullpen role when the club’s ace is ready to go.
Brown’s debut season in the majors has gotten off to a solid start as he’s swung between the Chicago rotation and bullpen. After allowing six runs in just 1 2/3 relief innings against the Rangers during his MLB debut, Brown has settled in and dazzled with a 1.02 ERA, 1.88 FIP, and 27.0% strikeout rate in 17 2/3 innings of work across five appearances (two starts). Brown’s move to a full-time bullpen role would surely help a Cubs bullpen that recently lost long relief arm Drew Smyly to the injured list and saw closer Adbert Alzolay removed from the closer role last week after converting just three saves in seven opportunities so far this year.
Cubs, Dan Straily Agree To Minor League Deal
The Cubs have agreed to a minor league contract with veteran right-hander Dan Straily, reports Craig Mish of SportsGrid and the Miami Herald. Straily had recently signed on with the Long Island Ducks of the independent Atlantic League, but he’ll change course and instead return to affiliated ball on a non-guaranteed pact with one of his former clubs. The agreement between the two parties is still pending a physical.
The 35-year-old Straily has spent the past four season with the Lotte Giants of the Korea Baseball organization, although he also had a brief run with the Diamondbacks’ Triple-A club in 2022. His time in the KBO produced a 3.29 ERA in 503 innings, as Straily whiffed 23.4% of his opponents against an 8.4% walk rate. His 2023 season wasn’t his best, however; he posted a 4.37 ERA over the first half of the season before being cut loose.
Prior to that stretch of overseas success, Straily pitched eight seasons in the big leagues, splitting his time between the A’s, Marlins, Reds, Cubs, Orioles and Astros. He had a fair bit of success, albeit in inconsistent fashion. From 2016-17, Straily posted a 4.01 ERA with a 21.3% strikeout rate and 8.5% walk rate in 373 innings between Miami and Cincinnati. Overall, he has a lifetime 4.56 ERA in 803 1/3 big league frames.
The Cubs already have a fair bit of pitching depth, but they also have Justin Steele, Kyle Hendricks and Drew Smyly — who’s been working in a relief capacity this season — on the injured list. At the moment, the rotation includes Shota Imanaga, Jameson Taillon (who just returned from the IL himself), Javier Assad and Jordan Wicks. Ben Brown and Luke Little have also started games this season. Straily becomes the second notable veteran starter to join the Cubs organization on a minor league deal in recent weeks. Right-hander Julio Teheran also inked a minors pact with the Cubs after being cut loose by the Mets and is currently in the Triple-A rotation in Des Moines.
Cubs To Place Cody Bellinger On IL With Fractured Rib, Recall Pete Crow-Armstrong
3:55pm: Bellinger technically has two cracked ribs, Counsell tells Jesse Rogers of MLB.com, though there’s still no timeline for his absence.
3:25pm: The Cubs are going to place outfielder Cody Bellinger on the injured list due to a fractured rib, per Robert Murray of FanSided, relaying words from manager Craig Counsell on 670 The Score. Fellow outfielder Pete Crow-Armstrong will be recalled in a corresponding move.
Bellinger crashed into the wall at Wrigley Field last night while attempting to make a catch and was later removed. The club announced that he had a right rib contusion with Counsell saying after the game that the initial x-rays came back negative. It would appear that further testing has revealed a fracture and Bellinger will require a stint on the injured list to heal up.
It’s unclear at this point exactly how much time Bellinger will need to heal this fracture but the club will likely provide more information today or in the coming days. Either way, it’s an unfortunate blow for the club as Bellinger was just starting to heat up at the plate.
He hit .167/.270/.296 through his first 14 contests but his line in his past eight games was .333/.412/.700. Instead of building on that momentum, he’ll now have to sit out while dealing with this rib injury for some unknown amount of time.
For the Cubs, they already have several pitchers on the injured list and today’s news will leave them doubly shorthanded in the outfield. Seiya Suzuki went on the IL last week due to an oblique strain and is looking at an absence of about a month or so.
Those injuries will open the door for Crow-Armstrong to get another shot in the majors. He’s long been considered an excellent defender but with less certainty about his offense. He got his first taste of the majors late last year but hit just .000/.176/.000 through his first 19 plate appearances. He’s also been struggling in Triple-A so far this year, with a line of .203/.241/.392 in 83 plate appearances down there.
Despite the lack of offense lately, Crow-Armstrong might get a decent run of playing time in center while Bellinger is out. As mentioned, he should at least provide the Cubs with strong glovework, but the hitting will be more of a question mark. Ideally, he could get back to the form he showed prior to his promotion last year, when he hit .283/.365/.511 between Double-A and Triple-A. Some combination of Ian Happ, Mike Tauchman and Alexander Canario will also be in the mix for outfield playing time, with Patrick Wisdom heading out to the grass on some occasions as well.
For Bellinger personally, this injury will possibly put a dent in his plans to return to the open market in search of the long-term contract he didn’t find this winter. Though he hit .307/.356/.525 for the Cubs last year while also providing strong outfield defense, it seems that teams around the league were still hesitant about his injury-induced struggles in previous seasons. He required shoulder surgery after the 2020 season and hit just .193/.256/.355 over the two subsequent campaigns.
Even though his results were good last year, he also spent some time on the injured list due to a left knee contusion. Even when he returned from the IL, the Cubs kept him at first base for a while to limit the wear and tear on him, as opposed to running him out to the more demanding position of center field.
The bounceback in 2023 wasn’t enough to get Bellinger the mega deal he was likely hoping to secure, and he instead returned to the Cubs on a three-year deal that allows him to opt out after each season. After inking that deal, the ideal scenario would have seen Bellinger stay healthy and productive for the whole year, therefore casting aside some of the doubts about his health and long-term viability. Each day that he spends on the injured list this year will limit his ability to shift the narrative before deciding whether to trigger his opt-out at the end of the season.
Cubs Place Kyle Hendricks, Drew Smyly On Injured List
The Cubs announced a series of roster moves, with Sahadev Sharma of The Athletic among those to relay the full slate. Right-hander Kyle Hendricks and left-hander Drew Smyly have each been placed on the 15-day injured list, Hendricks due to a lower back issue and Smyly due to a hip impingement. Right-hander Hayden Wesneski and left-hander Luke Little were recalled in corresponding moves. The club also designated Garrett Cooper for assignment and recalled Matt Mervis, as swap that was reported on earlier.
Hendricks, 34, has been out to an awful start this year. MLBTR’s Anthony Franco recently took a look at the righty’s struggles, before Hendricks made his most recent start. As of right now, Hendricks has logged 21 innings this year over five starts. He has allowed 28 earned runs in that time, leading to an eye-popping earned run average of 12.00.
He’s never been a huge strikeout guy but his 15.1% rate this year is lower than any season since his 2014 debut. It’s possible there’s some bad luck at play, with Hendricks having allowed a .392 batting average on balls in play. He’s also stranding only 50.3% of runners while a third of his fly balls have gone over the fence. His 7.75 FIP and 4.44 SIERA each suggest that he has deserved better, though to very different degrees. That’s due to FIP counting home runs as the pitcher’s fault whereas SIERA gives more weight to batted ball data as opposed to actual results.
Hendricks is likely due for at least some normalization of his extreme results to this point in the season, but there will have to be a waiting period of at least a few weeks before the details of that correction are revealed. Per Meghan Montemurro of the Chicago Tribune, Hendricks felt his back bothering him before his start on Sunday and continued to feel it during the outing. The severity of the issue isn’t clear but he’ll have to miss at least a couple of weeks.
The Cubs will now have to figure out who joins the rotation alongside Shota Imanaga, Jordan Wicks, Jameson Taillon and Javier Assad. Tonight marks the start of a stretch where they play 16 games in a row before their next off-day. Smyly has plenty of starting experience and could have been a candidate for such a job, but he’s now on the IL himself.
Wesneski has been working in a swing role for the club in recent years and could perhaps make a few starts. Ben Brown has been pitching multi-inning stints this year and would be another option. Veteran Julio Teheran was signed to a minor league deal last week and gives them a non-roster option. Due to Cooper being designated for assignment, there’s now an opening on the 40-man roster.
Report: Cubs To Designate Garrett Cooper For Assignment
The Cubs are going to designate first baseman Garrett Cooper for assignment, per Robert Murray of FanSided. It appears he will be the corresponding move for Matt Mervis, as Tommy Birch of the Des Moines Register reports that Mervis is being called up.
The transaction comes as a surprise, since Cooper has generally been playing well. He signed a minor league deal with the Cubs in the offseason and made the Opening Day roster. Since then, he’s hit .270/.341/.432 for a wRC+ of 118.
Despite that strong surface-level production, there are also some concerning elements under the hood. Cooper has struck out at a 31.7% clip so far this year, a few ticks above his career rate, which was already a bit above average. He also has an unsustainable .391 batting average on balls in play, well above the .290 league average.
Beyond Cooper’s performance, it seems that Mervis may have just forced the club into making a move. He had huge amounts of helium in 2022, despite landing with the Cubs as an undrafted free agent. The pandemic led to the 2020 draft being shortened to just five rounds and Mervis wasn’t selected, leading to him signing with the Cubs afterwards.
Despite being somewhat overlooked at that time, he shot onto everyone’s radar in 2022, going from High-A to Double-A and Triple-A, hitting .309/.379/.605 that year. That led to his first taste of the majors last season, though he hit just .167/.242/.289 in his first 99 big league plate appearances. He still hit well in Triple-A last year and is off to a strong start here in 2024. He has five home runs in 82 plate appearances this year and is drawing walks at a 14.6% clip, leading to a line of .288/.402/.606 and a 151 wRC+.
Perhaps the club couldn’t ignore that performance any longer, but handedness may have also played a role. The Cubs as a team are hitting .284/.361/.506 against lefties for a 140 wRC+, second only to the Guardians. But against righties, their collective batting line is .236/.317/.381, which leads to a 97 wRC+ that’s 17th in the league.
Cooper hits from the right side and has been better against lefties in his career, but only modestly. He’s hit .285/.337/.475 against southpaws and .263/.337/.420 otherwise, leading to respective wRC+ counts of 119 and 108. Swapping in Mervis could perhaps give them a bump against right-handed pitchers since he hits from the left side.
The Cubs could have perhaps bumped someone else off the roster in favor of Mervis, such as Patrick Wisdom or Nick Madrigal, but those two offer a bit more defensively. Cooper is only really viable at first base, since his brief time in the outfield corners has yielded poor results. Madrigal and Wisdom can each play third while the latter has some outfield ability as well.
There will now be a week for the Cubs to line up a trade for Cooper or pass him through waivers. It seems fair to expect that there will be interest, based both on his performance so far this year and his track record. He hit .274/.350/.444 for the Marlins from 2019 to 2022, leading to a wRC+ of 117 in that stretch. He struggled to stay healthy in that time and then slumped last year, but he seems to be in good form so far this season.
The Red Sox are going to be without their primary first baseman for a while, as Triston Casas has been diagnosed with a fractured rib. The Astros are getting dismal production from José Abreu thus far. The same goes for the White Sox and Andrew Vaughn, the Twins and Carlos Santana and others. Given all of those different situations, the Cubs will likely be fielding calls about Cooper in the coming days.
NL Central Notes: Montas, Alzolay, Cardinals
The Reds‘ 3-0 shutout of the Angels today saw five relievers combine for 8 1/3 innings of work, after a forearm bruise forced starter Frankie Montas out of the game in the first inning. Montas was struck by a Taylor Ward line drive and was still able to throw Ward out at first base, though he then left the mound after an examination from the team trainer. X-rays revealed no fractures, though Montas told reporters (including Charlie Goldsmith of the Cincinnati Enquirer) after the game that there is enough soreness and swelling that it seems unlikely that he’ll make his next start.
That next start is set for Friday against the Rangers, and since the Reds don’t have another off-day until May 2, another start would have to be covered if Montas needs more recovery time than just the one turn through the rotation. It seems like the injured list might therefore be a possibility for Montas just so the Reds aren’t left short-handed, though the team figures to evaluate Montas over the next few days before making a decision. Montas has a 4.19 ERA over 19 1/3 innings for Cincinnati this season, as he followed up two strong opening starts with much shakier performances in his two outings prior to today’s abbreviated appearance.
More from around the NL Central…
- Adbert Alzolay pitched a perfect eighth inning in the Cubs‘ 6-3 loss to the Marlins today, as manager Craig Counsell indicated before the game that Alzolay wouldn’t be used in a save situation. After emerging as Chicago’s closer last season, Alzolay has blown four of seven save opportunities in the early going this year, prompting Counsell to tell reporters (including Steve Greenberg of the Chicago Sun-Times) that “we’ve got to get Adbert some confidence.” For his part, Alzolay said mechanical problems were more to blame than any lack of self-belief. As to who will handle closer duties until Alzolay works his way back into the mix, Counsell said it’s “kind of like a day-to-day thing,” though Hector Neris and Mark Leiter Jr. seem like the most natural candidates.
- The Cardinals called up catcher Pedro Pages and right-hander Nick Robertson from Triple-A Memphis prior to today’s game, while optioning righty Andre Pallante and outfielder Victor Scott II. Pallante has worked as a reliever over the last two seasons but will start in Triple-A as a way of getting more work in on his scuffling two-seam fastball, Cards manager Oliver Marmol told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch’s Daniel Guerrero and other reporters. Scott will be getting his first taste of Triple-A baseball, as the Cardinals included him on their Opening Day roster due to some outfield injuries, and as a nod to the impressive 2023 numbers that got Scott some recognition on top-100 prospect lists. Unfortunately, Scott has looked overwhelmed by Major League pitching, with only an .085/.139/.136 slash line to show for his first 65 plate appearances in the Show. Pages’ presence will allow the Cards some flexibility in using fellow backstops Willson Contreras and Ivan Herrera in the same lineup at catcher and DH, as Contreras and Herrera are two of the few productive bats within the struggling St. Louis offense.
NL Central Notes: Hall, Happ, Reds
Left-hander DL Hall was a key piece of the return that the Brewers landed in the Corbin Burnes trade, and the club made clear upon acquiring him that Hall would be used as a member of the starting rotation despite the 25-year-old having been used almost exclusively out of the bullpen during his time in Baltimore. That experiment hasn’t gone well through Hall’s first four starts, however. Not only does Hall currently sport a 7.71 ERA with a walk rate (11.9%) that nearly matches his deflated strikeout rate (15.4%), but he’s also failed to record an out in the fifth inning in three of his four starts with the club.
Given those considerable struggles, it’s not necessarily surprising that Brewers manager Pat Murphy indicated after Hall’s start Saturday that the club might look to shift gears if Hall can’t get things on track. In conversation with reporters (including MLB.com’s Adam McCalvy) that evening, Murphy admitted that “there’s got to be adjustments made” for Hall to remain a member of the rotation, adding that the club “can’t keep letting him throw 3 1/3 and say ‘that’s fine.'”
Hall is currently joined in the rotation by Freddy Peralta, Wade Miley, Colin Rea, and Joe Ross. Should the young southpaw find himself moved to the bullpen at some point, left-hander Aaron Ashby is one candidate to step into a rotation role, though he’s dealt with struggles of his own to this point in the season. Ashby was blown up in his lone big league start this year, allowing eight runs (four earned) in 3 2/3 frames. His time in the minors hasn’t gone much better, with a 9.28 ERA in three starts. If Ashby continues to be unable to get results, the Brewers may be best served simply waiting for right-hander Jakob Junis to return from the injured list after being sidelined by a shoulder impingement for the last two weeks before considering a change in Hall’s usage.
More from the NL Central…
- Cubs left fielder Ian Happ was removed from Friday’s game against the Marlins in the seventh inning due to what manager Craig Counsell described to reporters (including Andy Martinez of Marquee Sports Network) as left hamstring tightness. Counsell described the move as “precautionary” at the time, though Happ was noticeably absent from both games in the club’s doubleheader on Saturday. It’s not yet clear if Happ will ultimately require a trip to the injured list for the issue, though it makes sense for the Cubs to be cautious regarding their left fielder after he suffered a mild strain of the same hamstring during Spring Training last month. Alexander Canario filled in for Happ yesterday in left field, while Mike Tauchman and Patrick Wisdom have combined to handle right field in the aftermath of Seiya Suzuki‘s oblique injury.
- Reds right-hander Ian Gibaut has missed the entire 2024 season to this point due to discomfort in his right forearm, and the club announced yesterday that he had been returned from his rehab assignment following “renewed” discomfort in the area. Per MLB.com’s injury tracker, manager David Bell recently indicated that Gibaut could resume his rehab assignment at some point this week. Even so, it’s unwelcome news for a Reds club that leaned heavily on the right-hander last year as he pitched to a strong 3.33 ERA in 75 2/3 innings of work. With Gibaut out of commission, the Reds have relied on Fernando Cruz and Emilio Pagan to set up for closer Alexis Diaz.
Kyle Hendricks’ Tough Start
Few players have had a more difficult start to 2024 than Kyle Hendricks. The Cubs righty has been rocked for 24 runs over his first 17 innings. He has surrendered an MLB-high seven home runs. Hendricks has allowed more than a run per inning in each of his first four appearances, only completing five innings once.
That’s a far cry from his resurgent showing last season. After consecutive seasons with an ERA near 5.00 in 2021-22, the veteran sinkerballer rebounded with a strong 3.74 mark. Aside from a six-week stint on the injured list, Hendricks had a strong year. It was a fairly easy call for the Cubs to exercise a $16.5MM team option for 2024. While it didn’t always seem as if things were trending in that direction, Hendricks’ platform showing was impressive enough that the option was a straightforward decision by the time it was up for consideration.
There’s still plenty of time for him to turn things around, but this clearly isn’t the opening the former ERA champ and the Cubs were expecting. Hendricks’ starts have come against the Rangers, Dodgers, Padres and Diamondbacks. They’re all above-average to excellent offensive teams, so it isn’t as if the Cubs have faced an easy set of opponents. Still, this is the worst four-start stretch of Hendricks’ 11-year MLB career in terms of run prevention. He has typically been a slow starter — his career ERA in March/April is more than a run and a half higher than in any other month — but this is an especially rough few weeks.
It’s difficult to know how much emphasis to place on any player’s first couple weeks of the season, especially ones at an extreme. The Cubs surely don’t want to overrate what amounts to a 17-inning sample. Hendricks is a particularly tough pitcher to evaluate because he’s an anomaly in the modern game. He had an excellent seven-year run to start his career behind top-of-the-scale command and an elite changeup to overcome well below-average velocity. Over the past three-plus years, his results have been less consistent.
The velocity and movement profile on Hendricks’ pitches this year isn’t much different than where it was in 2023. His changeup isn’t missing quite as many bats, but his game has never been built on swing-and-miss totals. The far bigger issue has been the damage Hendricks is allowing on contact. Beyond the homers, opponents are hitting almost .400 on balls in play — nearly .100 points higher than the league average.
Both the home runs and BABIP will come down to some extent. Hendricks certainly isn’t going to continue running an ERA above 12.00. Yet it also seems that last year’s sub-4.00 mark was probably anomalous. Hendricks surrendered just 0.85 home runs per nine last season but was in the 1.6 HR/9 range in both 2021 and ’22. Maintaining last year’s success keeping the ball in the yard was always going to be a tough task. Even if his home run rate settles back into the 2021-22 range, Hendricks would project for an ERA approaching 5.00.
That could eventually force the coaching staff to consider moving him out of the rotation. They’re not at that point yet. The Cubs list Hendricks as their probable starter for Sunday’s series finale with the Marlins. That’ll be by far the weakest lineup against which he’s gotten the ball this year. Manager Craig Counsell indicated yesterday the Cubs weren’t considering skipping that start.
“I think frankly, all of our pitching stuff is we’ve got to get through every day,” Counsell told reporters (link via Meghan Montemurro of the Chicago Tribune). “And then we’re in a tough enough spot, right? We’ve just got to get through the day and then reevaluate it and make an assessment going forward. We’re going to need Kyle’s innings in his next start.”
That could lead the Cubs to proceed with a six-man rotation for the time being. Jameson Taillon has been reinstated from his season-opening injured list stint and will take the ball Friday. He slots back into a starting staff that also includes Shota Imanaga and Jordan Wicks. If the Cubs wanted to go back to a five-man rotation, swingman Javier Assad and rookie Ben Brown would be the straightforward candidates for a move to the bullpen or (in Brown’s case) back to Triple-A Iowa. Yet they’ve each pitched well in the early going. Assad has allowed only four runs through 16 2/3 innings. Brown has allowed eight runs — six of them in a rocky first start — over his first 16 1/3 frames with a solid 23.4% strikeout rate.
The Cubs have been without ace Justin Steele since he left his Opening Day start with a hamstring strain. He’s coming off a recent 25-pitch bullpen session but won’t be back in an MLB game until sometime next month. That could buy the coaching staff time to stick with a six-man rotation or temporarily bump Brown out of the mix. If everyone else is healthy by the time Steele comes back, they might face a tougher decision on whether to continue giving Hendricks the ball every fifth day.
Chicago is midway through a stretch of 10 consecutive game days. They’re off next Monday, their only reprieve before they play 19 in a row through May 8. After his start against Miami, Hendricks would be in line for matchups against the Red Sox and Brewers if the Cubs stay on a six-man trajectory.
Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.
Injury Notes: Albies, Suzuki, Basabe, Gipson-Long
The Braves placed Ozzie Albies on the injured list yesterday after the star second baseman fractured a toe on a hit-by-pitch. The Athletic’s David O’Brien writes that the Braves expect Albies’ absence to be closer to one month as opposed to the three months he lost when he broke his foot during the 2022 season. While that’d be well beyond the 10-day minimum, it’s far from a worst case scenario.
Atlanta’s typically excellent offense has been the best in MLB over the season’s first few weeks. The Braves lead the majors in all three triple-slash stats and entered Wednesday third in runs (behind the Padres and Dodgers, each of whom have played more games). Albies has been a big part of that, hitting .317/.386/.492 with a pair of longballs over his first 70 plate appearances. The Braves selected David Fletcher’s contract after Albies’ injury to add a glove-first utility option. Luis Guillorme has gotten the start at the keystone in each of the last two days.
A few more health situations of note:
- An approximate month-long absence also seems to be on the table for Cubs outfielder Seiya Suzuki, who went on the shelf on Monday with an oblique strain. Manager Craig Counsell told reporters last night that the injury is in the “four-week range,” although the team will have a clearer timetable once Suzuki’s symptoms subside (X link via Meghan Montemurro of the Chicago Tribune). One of Chicago’s hottest hitters, Suzuki was off to a .305/.368/.525 start to his third MLB campaign. Mike Tauchman has been pushed into right field action against right-handed pitching, with Alexander Canario recalled as a righty complement in the corner opposite Ian Happ.
- The Rays were dealt a hit to their infield depth this afternoon. Osleivis Basabe landed on the minor league injured list. Patrick Kinas, broadcaster for the team’s Triple-A affiliate, tweets that Basabe fractured his right wrist when he was by a pitch from Naoyuki Uwasawa in yesterday’s game. It’s not clear how long he’ll be out of action, although it stands to reason it’ll be a significant absence. Basabe has spent this year in Triple-A after being optioned during Spring Training. The righty-hitting shortstop got to the majors late last season, appearing in his first 31 MLB contests. He’s on the 40-man roster as a depth option for a middle infield that is already without Brandon Lowe and Taylor Walls.
- Sawyer Gipson-Long continues to weigh multiple opinions after experiencing forearm tightness, the Tigers informed reporters (including The Athletic’s Cody Stavenhagen). Detroit hasn’t specified whether surgery is on the table, yet it’s nevertheless worrisome any time a pitcher is dealing with somewhat nebulous forearm soreness. Gipson-Long began the season on the 15-day injured list after suffering a Spring Training groin strain. He had an impressive four-start MLB debut last September, fanning nearly 32% of opponents with a 2.70 ERA in 20 innings. Gipson-Long wasn’t likely to be in contention for an Opening Day rotation spot but projects as one of Detroit’s better depth starters if healthy.
Cubs Announce Several Roster Moves
The Cubs announced a series of roster moves to add some fresh arms to the bullpen after their recent pair of extra-inning games taxed the relief corps. Right-handers Hayden Wesneski and Colten Brewer are up from Triple-A Iowa — the latter of whom had his contract selected to the 40-man roster. Chicago optioned righty Daniel Palencia and lefty Luke Little to open a pair of spots on the active roster. Right-hander Julian Merryweather, already shelved with a stress fracture in his ribcage, was transferred from the 15-day IL to the 60-day IL to open a spot for Brewer on the 40-man roster. He’s been on the IL since April 6, meaning he’ll now be out until at least June 6.
The Cubs will be the fourth big league club for Brewer, 31. The right-hander tossed 8 1/3 innings with the Yankees in 2023 and has previously spent time with the Padres and Red Sox. He’s logged a combined 99 1/3 innings across parts of five MLB campaigns, pitching to a 4.98 ERA with a 19.7% strikeout rate, 13.1% walk rate and 51.3% grounder rate. Brewer also spent time with the Hanshin Tigers of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball last year, hurling 11 1/3 innings while allowing three runs on six hits and six walks (one intentional) with 14 strikeouts.
Brewer signed with Chicago on a minor league pact over the winter and had a strong spring training (seven innings, one run, eight strikeouts, no walks). He’s posted quite similar numbers in Des Moines so far: 7 2/3 innings pitched, three hits, one earned run, two walks, nine strikeouts. The 6’4″ righty is no stranger pitching to working in a long-relief role and could give the Cubs multiple innings if needed.
A protracted absence for Merryweather stings for the Cubs. The 32-year-old joined the organization as a waiver claim out of Toronto in January 2023 and quickly became one of their most important relievers. Since Opening Day ’23, Merryweather touts a 3.29 ERA (3.46 FIP, 3.41 SIERA) with a huge 32.1% strikeout rate. His 11.7% walk rate could rather obviously stand to improve, but Merryweather has done a nice job keeping the ball in the yard and frequently overpowering opponents with a heater that’s averaged 98.1 mph as a Cub. Among the 244 big league pitchers to toss at least 70 innings since Opening Day 2023, Merryweather’s 15.4% swinging-strike rate ranks 11th, placing him right between Mariners setup stud Matt Brash and reigning NL Cy Young winner Blake Snell.