Just a day after activating Wade Miley from the 15-day injured list, the Cubs are sending Miley back to the IL with another strain in his left shoulder. Right-hander Michael Rucker was called up from Triple-A in the corresponding move.
Miley tossed three scoreless innings in his start against the Yankees yesterday, but then had to leave the game while warming up prior to the fourth inning. The veteran left-hander will now return to the IL for what will likely be a longer absence, given the recurring nature of the injury.
Miley’s first shoulder strain cost him a month of action, and he also missed just over a month at the start of the season due to elbow inflammation during Spring Training. All these injuries have limited Miley to only four starts and 19 innings, though he has posted a 2.84 ERA when he has been able to take the field.
In the near term, the top priority is simply Miley’s health, as the hope is that his shoulder strain isn’t indicative of a bigger problem. Given the timing of his latest IL visit, there must now be uncertainty that Miley will be able to return at all prior to the August 2 trade deadline, let alone return and pitch well enough to attract the attention of a team in need of rotation help. The Cubs look like they’ll be sellers at the deadline, and since Miley is scheduled to be a free agent this winter, he stands out as an obvious rental piece if he is healthy.
Marcus Stroman and Drew Smyly are also on the 15-day IL, so the Cubs again find themselves particularly short-handed in the rotation. Mark Leiter Jr. is the likeliest candidate to fill Miley’s rotation spot, joining veteran Kyle Hendricks and then the less-experienced trio of Justin Steele, Keegan Thompson, and Matt Swarmer.
The Reds declining the $10m option is starting to make a little more sense.
Yup! Everyone was up in arms forgetting that he has a long injury history.
Yes but then they go and sign minor. I’m a reds fan I wasn’t upset by declining him but I was then confused when they signed another guy who’s had injury issues for about the same money then traded for another sp with an arm issue.
Exactly. Paying Minor $10 mil after declining Miley’s $10 mil is the biggest head scratcher and proves Krall has no clue what he’s doing. We cutting payroll or not?
yep, that 2.84 era is worth nowhere near 10 mil
It’s not if it’s for 40 innings as a starter.
Wrong. Still horrible. It’s value based at the time, hot stuff; not value based in June of 2022. They could have received anything if they held onto him until spring and then traded him for a body with organs.
The Reds don’t have a crystal ball. While it may look like they dodged a bullet now, it was still a cheap, bad baseball move by one of the worst front offices in baseball. I’m no Reds fan, but they definitely deserve better than that crappy ownership/front office that they have.
Yes we do..
They didn’t decline anything. He was waived but yeah they didn’t have to pay him 1 million million dollars declining his option so they saved that.
Put paid Minor that $ for same result…
Letter, Jr? More Kilian please.
Agreed. We’re in 4th place in a bad division. We don’t need to see what we have in Leiter Jr. I say run the kids out there. Kilian, Swarmer, Thompson, & Steele. While there will be definitely be some ugly starts mixed in by 4 young pitchers, the experience will be very good for all of them.
In the system the Cubs need to make moves. Killian has nothing left to prove in AAA and needs to be up. Wicks and Herz need to be at AA. Asad probably deserves a promotion to AAA.. Leiter and Liebrandt probably need to take the DFA train to get released. Pretty soon there will be a whole host of new draft picks to hit rookie ball so there are some guys there who need to hit A ball. Let’s keep the line moving, Triantos probably could be promoted to South Bend. There’s more guys who need to move but those jump into my head. So I agree with youDonny.
I agree… if I were the cubs I roll a six man rotation moving forward and manage innings by shuffling thompson, kilian, Steele, swarmer from starter to long relief.
Getting a much longer look at the young Pitchers in the system will be the benefit. Instead of just getting a 2 month look, they’ll be getting competitive innings. Actually this will be a good thing in the long run. They should just cut bait on Miley-Smyly as who is going to give you anything for them now? Just another reason I don’t understand the drama over Contreras as they were willing to gamble 15 million on these 2 guys but they’re arguing with Contreras over a million bucks? Total disrespect IMO. They better trade him now.
Cubs can’t run these prospect pitchers out every 5 days through September. Too much usage probably. Slow them down a little and wait a month and roll them.
Why not? Most of these guys missed all of 2020 and parts of 2021 so what they need is to pitch, Not watch Miley-Smyly in the training room. Pretty sure they can figure out how to sit in a whirlpool.
Disrespect? What is that supposed to mean? He’s getting traded in about a month so the Cubs aren’t to awfully concerned about feelings.
I can see why your handle is Clown Show. I’m a clown but you are Emmitt Kelly.
Sorry. I didn’t mean to give you to much to comprehend. My bad.
You didn’t say anything that needed to be comprehended. Ever probably.
No offense but every single arbitration case has lasting effects… that is why clubs and players are willing to go through the arbitration process… 200k now turns into 500k in five years and 1 million in 7.. all that adds up.
Truth be told, every single ml player eligible should go to arbitration… it’s best for the players association and preceding players.
That’s Ok because I’m sure the price of a ticket, a hot dog, a beer will all go up also to cover it. And way more. If that guy can’t see how signing Miley and Smyly for 15 million bucks for like 7 starts and they’re low balling their All Star catcher and best player probably over a stinking million bucks isn’t a slap in the face? I’m offended and somehow he says he still wants to stay. He could be posturing but I don’t think so. I mean, You might as well walk up and pretend to shake his hand and kick him in the nuts. There is gonna be hard feelings so that’s why it was stupid.
No player has hard feelings over arbitration. You (the player) have to be insanely weak minded if you do and if you are that weak in the head, you most likely would have never made it to the majors to begin with.
Also, again not to offend, but it’s ignorant to compare FREE AGENT DEALS to arbitration salaries.
Lastly, no player in his right mind would tell a large market team that he doesn’t want to stay, won’t come back etc. One you don’t want to cut your suitors down from 30 to 29, any mathematician will tell you that. Second, bad mouthing or making you negative feelings about your current team would turn off potential suitors as well. No one wants a guy with a bad attitude in their clubhouse, or a potential bad attitude. Contreras already screwed up once when he tweeted his bags packed and an airplane when the cubs signed Gomes, he isn’t making that same mistake
Cubs won’t get anything out of Miley this year.
Not true….Miley gave em 19 good innings!
I stand corrected. 19 legendary innings.
Miley came in like a wrecking ball
yep, that 2.84 era is worth n
Don’t know why they sent Caleb Kilan back down after his ML Debut. They should’ve called him up.