The Cubs remain in good position in the NL Central, in no small part due to the recent heroics of recently acquired pitcher Cole Hamels. The veteran just wrapped up a complete-game performance tonight and has allowed less than one earned run per nine innings in his first five starts in a Cubs uniform. Of course, he would likely not have ended up in Chicago were it not for the difficulties experienced by a few of the team’s recently signed, high-priced starters.
- Yu Darvish, Hamels’s former rotation mate in Texas, has already been declared out for the rest of the 2018 season. He addressed that fact with reporters today, with MLB.com’s Carrie Muskat among those on hand. The veteran righty says he felt all along “there was something else other than the tightness” he was experiencing in his pitching arm, so much so that the diagnosis of a stress reaction came as something of a relief. Darvish indicated that he’s not even thinking about the season to come so much as he is trying to care for his ailing arm. Still, he expressed confidence that he’ll bounce back and be “stronger going forward.” That’ll obviously be the hope of the Cubs organization, which still has $101MM invested in Darvish after the present season.
- The club also announced today that righty Tyler Chatwood is headed to the DL with hip soreness, as Mark Gonzales of the Chicago Tribune covers. He’ll be replaced on the roster by Dillon Maples, for the time being, with Alec Mills set to come up to start tomorrow. Chatwood has been plagued by walks all year long, racking up 93 to go with his 85 strikeouts over 101 2/3 innings. That’s simply not a manageable rate of free passes, as his 5.22 ERA reflects. Details of the new malady remain scant, but it certainly seems there are good reasons for the club to find cause to give Chatwood a breather regardless.
- Another major recent open-market signee, Brandon Morrow, has performed as hoped when he has been available. But the closer has been sidelined for over a month with a balky elbow and still lacks a clear timeline. He went in for a checkup today, says Muskat. That examination evidently did not reveal anything of particular note, though it was not arranged due to any fear of a setback. It seems the hope remains that Morrow will return at some point in the final month of the regular season.
- In other Chicago reliever news, Brian Duensing — yet another hurler who signed with the Cubs in free agency last winter — is headed for a rehab assignment. The 35-year-old southpaw, who carries an ugly 7.34 ERA on the year, has been on the shelf for the past several weeks with a shoulder ailment.
Gobbysteiner
Cubs are paying 53 million this year to Hayward and darvish. Ouch.
nmendoza7
Chatwood playing darts would be a world threat with how horrendous he is at simply throwing stuff straight.
Cubbie991
Theo also signed Lester, Rizzo, Zobrist and just found Hamels.
cjbay
And he only put together a World Championship in 16.
cubsfan2489
He didn’t sign Rizzo, he traded for him.
ThatBallwasBryzzoed
He extended Rizzo to a very team friendly contract. Rizzo is due a pay raise soon. 7/165 extension on top of his current deal. Which doesn’t end til 2020 I think.
jeg629
Actually he did sign Rizzo… to a very team friendly contract that continues for the next few years…. and moves like that give him the wiggle room to potentially miss on free agents while still having the flexibility to keep a contender on the field each year
CardsNation5
But he traded for him. He wasn’t a free agent
JKB 2
Actually he did not sign Rizzo. He traded Cashner to the Padres for him. Then they extended him. To say the “signed” him is to say he was a free agent coming from another team.
KranzwithaK
Have you heard of signing someone to an extension? That is a thing. Hence, signed.
jeg629
And a damn good extension signing it was
cards81
I know the cubs are in first still…but do they really “remain in a good position in the NL Central”? They had a what 7-9 game lead that has dwindled down to a 3 game lead…and they have to play the cardinals three games and the end of the year
raef715
still hard to believe Phils were afraid to bump Eflin or Pivetta from rotation for a couple months to accomodate Hamels to have a veteran lefty in rotation, give you a Nola/Arrietta/Hamels, 1-2-3, plus put a bunch of people in the seats.
simschifan
I was thinking about the Cubs payroll and how much Darvish and Chatwood are getting paid and then I realized it’s not my money and the Cubs are literally rolling in money so I went about my day like some of you others should probably do.
CardsNation5
It looks like Morrow and Jansen are victims of over use. Jansen seems to have lost 6 mph off of his fastball. He only touched 93 mph in the series against the Cardinals. This philosophy of letting your starters go 4 innings and go to the bullpen is starting to bite teams in the butt now and will continue to as long as teams use that philosophy.
simschifan
Jansen’s head is probably all messed up now. Hopefully I wrong but he may not be the same this year. The way the dodgers are playing it may not matter
kingtopher
Last year is the only year Morrow has been healthy in a long time. I think that was just an outlier.
simschifan
All this hate for the Cubs signings, isn’t someone still paying Carl Crawford or did that contract finally end? As far as luxury tax yes it puts them in a bind but they can afford it so quit the crying. Same as the Res Sox yankees and Dodgers
Gobbysteiner
Oh boy. Carl Crawford? You sure you want to go there? You do know theo Epstein gave him that contract right? LMFAO, someone doesn’t know their GM’s history.
CardsNation5
Unfortunately Cubs fans are blinded by facts