The Cubs reinstated right-hander Caleb Kilian from the 60-day injured list and optioned him to Triple-A Iowa. The club had a couple of 40-man roster vacancies after their recent deadline dealings, so their count goes from 38 to 39 with this move. Additionally, catcher Tomás Nido had surgery on his right meniscus and will be out for four to six weeks. Both pieces of news were relayed on X by Meghan Montemurro of the Chicago Tribune.
Kilian, 27, was diagnosed with a teres major strain during Spring Training and was slated to miss several months. He landed on the 60-day injured list on Opening Day and has been there until today. He began a rehab assignment at the start of July and has made eight minor league appearances in recent weeks. Rehab assignments for pitchers come with a 30-day maximum, so Kilian was reaching the end of that window.
He’ll now provide the Chicago pitching staff with some depth. He has a 12.42 earned run average in his big league career, but in a small sample of 16 2/3 innings. He pitched 227 Triple-A innings over the previous two seasons with a 4.40 ERA, 22.2% strikeout rate and 9.6% walk rate.
He came into 2024 with 20 days of majors league service time and added roughly four months’ worth here on the IL, but is still shy of the 172 needed to get to a full year. He also came into 2024 with just one option season remaining and is now likely to be out of options next year. A player needs to spend at least 20 days on optional assignment in a season for that to count as one of his option years, so Kilian will use his final one here in 2024 if he’s not recalled again in the next 20 days.
Nido landed on the 10-day IL last week due to a right knee sprain. It appears it was determined that he needed to go under the knife to get the issue taken care of. The Cubs selected Christian Bethancourt to take Nido’s roster spot and share the catching duties with Miguel Amaya. Given Nido’s timeline, he could be back in the mix in September.
Those are the only three backstops on the 40-man roster at the moment, so the Cubs will have only non-roster depth if someone else gets hurt while Nido is out. Moisés Ballesteros might be next in line, despite his lack of major league experience, as he’s considered one of the top 100 prospects in the league and is currently in Triple-A.
Killian is one of those guys that every org has.. a ton of talent but frustratingly unable to put it all together from game to game. Probly end up in the BP.
I would consider bringing up Killian in 19 days just to save the option year. This year is a waste, let him get some experience and either keep or trade him as an optionable reliever.
12.42 in 17 ip yikes
He’s not going to be much help this year. He’s been rehabbing for 30 days now and really hasn’t even started to build innings. This is like ST for him now. Probably take him a month to ramp up because being a reliever really isn’t his thing as the ERA proves.
It’s a bad situation. Bring him up, that gives him another option year but he’s relegated to mopping up after Hendricks. Leave him in Iowa, he’s out of options and there’s no way he makes the major league roster and you have to hope you can outright him.
He’s not out of options. He has 2 options left. right now. He has one option year left after this season. They can call him up today and it won’t affect his options. He can be optioned 4 more times this season, and 5 times next season. Options are a non factor with him at all.
Based on what? Both innings?
Yeah I didn’t get that either. I mean if he’s out of options then it doesn’t really matter since to send him down you have to put him through waivers anyway and if somebody claims him they claim him and they have to keep him too or do the same thing. If they lose him they lose him, So be it. I’m pretty sure he’s still arbitration eligible so I kind of doubt he’s out of options anyway but I don’t know if he is or not in all honesty. Otherwise just shake hands and part company. If he’s out of options and nobody wants him sign him to a minor league deal with an invite for next year.