The Cubs designated left-hander Richard Lovelady for assignment Tuesday, per a team announcement. His spot on the 40-man roster will go to righty Tyson Miller, whose previously reported trade from Seattle to Chicago is now official.
Lovelady, 28, signed a minor league pact with the Cubs back in January and was selected to the big league roster in late April. He’s tossed 5 2/3 innings out of Craig Counsell’s bullpen and been tagged for five runs on nine hits and a pair of walks with six strikeouts. That marks the fifth big league season in which the southpaw has appeared; Lovelady made his MLB debut with the 2019 Royals and pitched in K.C. from 2019-21, and he logged 23 1/3 innings with the A’s last season. Overall, in 70 2/3 big league innings, he carries a 5.48 ERA but with a far more encouraging 22.7% strikeout rate, 8.8% walk rate and 49.8% ground-ball rate.
That blend of strikeouts, walks and grounders, coupled with a strong Triple-A track record, has made Lovelady appealing to MLB teams over the past year despite a history of success in the majors. The Cubs are his fourth organization since Opening Day 2023. Lovelady has been picked up by the Braves in a small trade, claimed off waivers by the A’s, and quickly selected to the big leagues with the Cubs.
In parts of six Triple-A seasons, Lovelady has a 2.95 ERA with a sharp strikeout, walk and ground-ball rates of 26.6%, 6.8% and 50.7%, respectively. He’s not a power arm, but he has added more than a mile per hour to both his four-seamer and sinker since last year’s showing with Oakland. He sat at 91 mph with both pitches last year but averaged 92.8 mph on the four-seam and 92.5Â mph on his two-seam during his brief showing with Chicago.
Lovelady does have a minor league option remaining, so any club that picks him up via trade or waiver claim could send him to Triple-A without first passing him through waivers themselves. He’ll be traded, claimed off waivers or assigned outright to Triple-A Iowa within the next week (if he clears waivers). He’s been outrighted previously in his career, so Lovelady would have the right to reject a minor league assignment from the Cubs if he does go unclaimed.
No real surprise here with Little being able to be recalled and the Cubs needing a roster spot.
Little has definite long-term potential, but so far he lacks the control necessary to be a reliever on a contending club.I would also argue that I’d rather have Lovelady than Milller, given Miller’ propensity for the fly ball. As the weather gets warmer, that fly ball tendency isn’t going to “fly” at Wrigley Field.
Baseball has changed, teams want guys to give up fly balls.
It’s pretty simple, fly balls have a BABIP well south of .200 where balls put on the ground now have a BABIP over 100 points higher and teams are more willing to give up the occasional solo home run vs the higher batting average.
Badeball has changed, implying what- that I don’t know that? Look, teams don’t want pitchers to give up fly balls when they have a strong defensive middle infield like the Cubs do (normally, when Dansby isn’t on the IL and is playing better than he has so far in 2024). And especially during hot summer days at Wrigley when the wind is blowing out ( and yes, I know the wind blows in as much or more than out).
Look it’s really just this simple. The Cubs are in a terrible stretch thanks to a crap schedule. They have 6 more games in a row and have a tired bullpen. They sacrificed a piece to get a guy who has been on the DFA list for a couple of days so he’s rested. If he makes it through the Pirate series and can get somebody out until some other pieces come back, Awesome. Either way I suspect he’ll be gone by Monday. He’s a fresh arm. Not a solution. Unless he’s a Hoyer pet, Which I doubt because they let him walk in the first place. Hoyer keeps his pets forever, Like luggage.
The bullpen issues started Day 1 of the season, and have been a nightmare ever since. It certainly hasn’t been a just a thing that recently started.
The front office thought Neris, who had a FIP like two runs higher than his ERA, was a solution for this pen. Sure, he could have been fine, if they added two other backend arms. I hate how much this front office gets stuck on developing bullpen arms from within.
Yeah? Is that why they signed Imanaga? Neris? Taillon? Traded for Almonte? Unhappy with Justin Steele? Assad?
Glad to see you STILL don’t know what you are talking about because the Cubs are signing, teaching and encouraging guys to pitch up in the zone. Soooo apparently you do, in fact, not know that.
I hate to break it to all the “should-a signed more” but Chapman, Hader, Moore, Robertson all the :”back end arms” that were available in free agency haven’t been exactly good.
So had the Cubs signed any of those guys, they would be in same position with less available money at the trade deadline.
BTW, complain about Neris but he’s been better than anyone of those guys.
Complain complain complain but it’s not the Cubs fault that Alzolay has tanked this season. He looked like a solid back end piece. They did the right thing by bring in Neris, a veteran insurance policy. Merryweather getting hurt is again, not on the Cubs. And who were you going to take off the 40 man roster to accommodate these two guys? By all means I would love for the complainers to elaborate on their insight.
It’s the other way around, Ryan—they have 5 or 6 guys that can help at the major league level in the minors that cannot come out without the risk of losing the guys above them.
They are extremely deep down to 40 men—it’s just a little more difficult when 14 of them have been on the inured list.
They would be nowhere near where they are now without the depth they have. Hopefully at some stretch they will be closer to 85-90% healthy as a team and then they can start moving guys like they really want.
You think Heart Attack Neris (name given by his teammates) has been good? He’s averaging nearly two baserunners per inning!
The Alzolay concerns started last year with his forearm strain. Pitchers that return from forearm strains without undergoing Tommy John Surgery have an ERA north of 6 in the 12 months following the injury (dating back to 2018). The Cubs should have been prepared for that.
Why do the Brewers have a solid bullpen despite losing their stud closer? Why do many other good teams not have a trainwreck of a bullpen? This isn’t a 2024 thing. This happened last year too. The Cubs clearly needed back end help, but instead they decided to pitch Leiter and Alzolay 15/30 days in August, and then can’t figure out why they both got hurt.
Cade Horton should be in the bullpen right now IMO. They can limit his innings, he would have the best stuff of anyone down there and it would give them a huge boost that they need right now.
Cuas, Little, Lovelady, Thompson and Brewer aren’t going to get the Cubs to 90-95 wins. So where’s the calvary? How does the pen get fixed before it blows another 8 games?
Not more but better use of the money he had. For instance next year let’s speculate.
Gone Bellinger-? 30 million he has the opt out
Gone Hendricks -16 million
Gone Smyly- 11 million
Gone Bote-5 million
Gone Mancini,Barnhart 10 million off the books
Miscellaneous-?
Needs-
Starting P- Totally set
Positions- PCA takes over for Belli so None
Bullpen- Fine some needs
Available- Close to 80 million Dollars minus some arbitration raises
What will the fans clamor for? Spend all 80 million
Smart? No F-in way.
Even if Belli opts in fine. That’s 50 million for a couple or bullpen arms. Be smart.
Without Bellinger, the Cubs would need 2 middle of the lineup bats. That’s one thing that kills this team – there’s not a big time hitter in the lineup. Even when Bellinger is in there, they need a BIG bat in addition to him. They have a deep lineup and deep farm system, but where’s the guy that makes the opposition worried when the lineup rolls over?
The Cubs have 7-8 players on their active roster that could be DFA’d or sent down tomorrow and it wouldn’t be a big loss. That’s not a recipe for success. They legitimately need 2-3 reliable bullpen arms. When they don’t make the playoffs by 1 or 2 games, people will look at games they could have won in September, but why not focus on the 8 games they blew in April and May?
7 or 8? No that’s way high. They have guys who are being paid way more money than they should but you can’t just release them and eat that money. Hoyer has made his own bed and now he has to sleep in it. Giving Smyly a player option, Re-signing Hendricks, Giving Mancini and Barnhart 2 year deals and cutting them loose after 2 months, Bote’s deal. Just wastes of money they could of used but can’t because they want to stay under the Tax. If they want to play under the tax it’s fine by me. But playing up to the tax because everybody expects a big time club to do that, You need to figure out your budget and signings better. He should take a lesson from Poles. Poles always has a fund left going into the season for emergencies. In fact if Bote was a LH bat, He’d be a Cub right now and Mastrobuoni would be gone. But it’s still dumb use of funds IMO and he has to take ownership of it.
Madrigal
Gomes
Mastrobouni
Little
Cuas
Thompson
Brewer
Would you be surprised if any of them were not on this roster at the end of the year? Gomes is probably the only one that will for sure be, because he’s a veteran catcher, although his bat is dead.
Bote will never be called up bc as long as he’s off the 40-man roster, his salary doesn’t count against the CBT.
Most of those guys have uses. Cuas is a project that probably won’t work because sidearm pitchers are iffy anyway. Gomes bat is better than Amaya’s right now but Counsell is doing everything in his power to get Amaya to take the job. Little? That’s ridiculous. Thompson is so inconsistent it’s concerning but he still has options. If he’s still that way when he’s out of them- fine.Madrigal plays 2 position and is valuable but brittle is my only beef with him but nobody in the Minors has stepped up to replace him. Brewer will probably be DFA’d soon enough when somebody comes back but until that happens he’s an arm right now in 26 in 27 day stretch. So no you’re wrong.
I said 7 or 8 guys that could be sent down OR DFA’d..
So how am I wrong considering 5 of those guys have already been back and forth this year? Amaya could be added to the list as well.
Sent down for who? The ones to call up are still struggling in AAA. They’ve tried everyone.
I’m not saying there’s solutions in AAA. My point is that their bullpen is full of AAA type pitchers and even a lot of their bench.
Botes salary absolutely does count against the CBT.
And Mastrobuoni and Thompson are the only two who the Cubs could/should/possibly expose to waivers.
I’ve read bad takes before but designated Little is one of the worst. Madrigal is a valuable bench piece and defensive replacement. Caus would be fine if used properly.
Caus would be lights out if he worked exclusively up in the zone, he gets in trouble because he doesn’t have the ability to run his sinker out of the zone.
Miller and Caus should only throw four seam fastballs up in the zone and sinkers out of it. Little should run his four seam above the zone and pound the bottom. Pitchers need to utilize their leverage to their advantage. Big tall pitchers with traditional deliveries need to work down, sidearm pitchers need to work up, let physics work in your favor.
Madrigal, Gomes and Little aren’t going anywhere. Someone may be traded, but I doubt anyone on that list will be dfa’d
Ryan, that’s not how DFA works—DFA and you mostly likely lose them AND have to replace them.
If you DFA or demote Amaya AND Gomes–do me a favor–scour all the other teams and tell me which catchers are available to just snag?
Do the same for Mastrobuoni, please? Madrigal?
They all have purpose.
It’s 100% OK to be frustrated with the way the bullpen has performed this season—BUT I am 100% certain that you would not have come up with the name Tyson Miller as a replacement to Mr. Lovelady before today.
The fact remains (pitching well or not) is that a lot of teams would covet the Cubs depth on their 40 man roster and the second that Gomes or Amaya get DFAd (they don’t have options) they would get swooped up by probably 25 out of the other 29 teams.
Lemme explain the word OR to you.. it separates two scenarios and indicates the choice of one or another.. so in this case, guys like Gomes could be DFA’d by the end of the year if they don’t start playing better… OR!!!! in the case of Mastrobouni, Brewer, Thompson, Cuas or Little, they could be sent down.
Crazy how the word OR works.
I’m putting some of the bullpen struggles on Counsell.
Any fan that is more than just a casual observer knows that relief pitchers are relief pitchers for a reason, because they are not that good. Some exceptions of course but the reality is they all have flaws, major flaws and it’s the managers job to put them in the best spot to succeed. Some of this of course Counsell is learning on the go, other times Counsell has made obvious bad decisions.
Truth be told, i would be trying to sign Edward’s and/or some other guys (Lovelady, Brewer) to split contracts. IMO, David and Mastrobuoni can be DFA and replaced with a couple relievers who can be optioned freely.
Jfc. It says COULD BE sent down or DFA’d, and wouldn’t be a big loss. It was a hypothetical statement. I’ve never had to explain such a simple sentence.
Amaya and Gomes would both be huge loses. Gomes is fantastic at game planning and is taking Amaya under his wing. Not sure if you noticed or not but the Cubs rotation happens to be fantastic and they were pretty good last season, a lot of that success is due to Yan Gomes.
Aliendo and Amaya should be the C’s next year. He’s blocked from AAA by Casali and Wyndham who’s not a real good C. Iowa has thrown out 3 of over 60 base stealers this year. If somebody comes calling for Casali when they need a C before either Gomes and Amaya get injured he’s gone or maybe he opts out. Sanchez isn’t even part of the equation. All Ryan is talking about is switching names at this point not solutions to the problem. If Miller gets some people out and becomes a bullpen piece I’ll be happy but very surprised. I think he’s a quick fix but would love to be wrong. Aliendo has proven all he needs to at AA to be promoted to AAA.
Luck be a Lovelady tonight
A+ tier name, D tier reliever, and F tier person. Somehow he’ll try to blame the Royals for getting cut from the A’s too.
Bum A- We’re giving your roster spot to Bum B. Sorry. Not!
“Congrats, Mr. and Mrs. Lovelady, it’s a boy. Do you have a name in mind?”
“Dick. Final answer.”
Darn, I was hoping for “Maurice.”
Who speaks of the pompitus of love
Next Bud Light spokesperson?
He just loved the lady too much! Focus on baseball bro!
Finally, Hoyer get the lights
-out reliever desperately needed since last year’s trade deadline! This is the move that puts us over the top, Cubs’ fans….. NOT!
The Cubs dicked him down
Look I’m not going to lose a whole bunch of sleep over this whole transaction. Slaughter was never going to be anything more than a decent utility player for the Cubs. He’s just blocked everywhere he plays. Lovelady was horrible, No big loss there. Miller will be DFA’d soon, Probably when Smyly comes back. The crap pitcher market revolves some more. It’s putting a Band Aid on a knife wound. Yeah it might slow the bleeding for a couple of minutes( At Best), But it’s really not solving anything at all. The real problem was the Cubs re-signed Hendricks in a year when they had hardly any room for error if they want to play the Luxury Tax game. The Bullpen was more of a need than a Starting P who can’t break glass. By the way that article on MLB.com that describes Hendricks 5 innings against the Pirates as a ” Gem”, Really didn’t watch the game.
I agree with you 100%
Somehow , I feel Getz on the Southside will be interested. He is a former Royal!!
I’m surprised none of his ancestors thought to change that last name and why did his parents add that unfortunate first name?
Because his parents are my age. We came home from class every day to watch Bart Simpson call Moe’s Tavern looking for Oliver Closehoff, Ben Dover, and Ivanna Mantekiss. We dreamed of the opportunity for clever and stupid names for the teacher to call out loud in class. We had to grow up with “Boy Named Sue” mentality, so did our future kids. Unfortunately, it backfired on us when our kids grew up softer and more sensitive, and now we have grandkids named Tyler, Skylar, Miler, Brayson, Grayson, and Maeve.
With a name like that, he was never cutout for Wrigley.
Talk about a Dick move from the Cubs.
I went straight to the comments and I am not disappointed.
Should have traded him to the White Sox for Danny Mendick, if for nothing else but the headlines in the sports page the next day.
Hey Jed, when re-arming the Bullpen, why not go all in and get some other former Cubs? Tyler Chatwood, Rod Beck and Fergie stand out as better options in their current form than this cheap crap we have now.
A name Bill Cosby would love