September 1: Chicago has officially announced the activation of Wicks. Infielder Nick Madrigal was placed on the 60-day injured list due to a left pinkie fracture in a corresponding move. Madrigal was optioned to the minors back in June and suffered the fracture during his first game back at Triple-A. He’s been on the minor league IL ever since but has now been transferred to the big league IL in order to clear his spot on the 40-man roster.
August 31: The Cubs are set to activate left-hander Jordan Wicks from the 60-day IL tomorrow, manager Craig Counsell told reporters (including Megan Montemurro of the Chicago Tribune) earlier this evening. Wicks is scheduled to take the ball for tomorrow’s start against the Nationals in D.C. in a move that will push back the next start of right-hander Jameson Taillon. An active roster move won’t be necessary to make room for Wicks due to tomorrow’s scheduled roster expansion, but Chicago will still need to clear a spot on their 40-man roster in order to activate Wicks.
The lefty’s return to the majors is something of a birthday present for him, as he’ll turn 25 tomorrow. The youngster was the Cubs’ first-round pick back in 2021 and made his big league debut late last season. Since then, he’s pitched to roughly league average results with solid peripherals. His 4.31 ERA is almost exactly league average (99 ERA+), but his 3.98 FIP paints a somewhat rosier picture. Wicks was off to a strong start in 28 innings of work this year with a 25% strikeout rate against a 7.8% walk rate that left him with an impressive 3.10 FIP and 3.80 SIERA, but the southpaw has struggled to stay healthy this year.
After an elbow scare that proved to be insignificant cost him the month of May, Wicks has now missed two and a half months due to an oblique strain he suffered in mid June. Now that he’s healthy again, the youngster figures to slot back into the club’s rotation on a regular basis down the stretch. While the Cubs still sit on the periphery of the playoff race with a 70-66 record that leaves them four games back of a Wild Card spot, with playoff odds of just 5.4% per Fangraphs it seems likely that the focus for Wicks down the stretch will be establishing himself as a healthy and effective rotation option for the Cubs headed into next season.
Justin Steele and Shota Imanaga are poised to return next season as a strong top-of-the-rotation duo, while Jameson Taillon and Javier Assad figure to continue holding down the middle of the club’s rotation after solid seasons of their own. Franchise icon and 11-year MLB veteran Kyle Hendricks appears all but certain not to return in 2025, however, as the pending free agent has struggled to a ghastly 6.75 ERA in 102 2/3 innings of work this year. That leaves regular starts available in the club’s rotation next year that a number of young arms could look to capitalize on, including Wicks, right-hander Ben Brown, and top pitching prospect Cade Horton.
In the short term, however, the Cubs will have to decide how they want to set up their rotation for the stretch run this September. With Wicks back and Steele, Imanaga, Taillon, Assad, and Hendricks all healthy, they club could opt for a six man rotation or once again demote Hendricks to the bullpen. While the former would offer the club the opportunity to manage Imanaga’s innings as he continues his transition from NPB play to the majors, the latter is the route they took when they faced a rotation crunch back in May, when Hendricks was sporting a brutal 10.57 ERA through seven starts.
The soft-tossing righty’s 5.62 ERA in 12 starts since returning to the rotation has been an improvement over that aforementioned eye-popping figure, it’s still well below average, and given that reality it would hardly be a surprise if the Cubs moved him back to the multi-inning relief role that saw him post a solid 3.08 ERA and 4.18 FIP in 14 1/3 innings earlier this year. That’s particularly true given the fact that Imanaga has thrown just 146 2/3 innings so far this year, a figure that’s a good bit lower than the 170 frames that represents his career high during his time in Japan.
Cardinals get Matz back Cubs say hold my beer.
What does this even mean? Do you eat paste?
After Further Review:
Jordan Wicks needs to:
1. Get Lasik( Preferred)
2. Get contacts
3. Get Cooler glasses.
He looks like Poindexter. Nobody wants to see Poindexter trot out to the mound to pitch for your team! C’mon
If Wicks stays healthy and turns into a reliable mid or back end stater for the next few years who cares about what a person looks like.
If Wicks stays healthy and Hendricks doesn’t pitch anymore I can live with the glasses.
And Hoyer should be fired just for bringing up Mastrobuoni as the 14th Hitter. Of all the exciting choices he could have made he picks the stooge.
Wicks, Brown or Horton will join the rotation in ’25. Assad is best suited to a late inning/closer role, along with Hodge. Hoyer needs a solid SP option, as well as convincing Happ to give up his no-trade.
Makes total sense, Assad only has a career 3.12 ERA as a starter
We should totally trade the player on the team with the highest WAR. It’s too bad Tom Ricketts doesn’t follow this site, trade the position player with the highest WAR, move the pitcher with the highest WAR to the bullpen. Genius!
Assad is really good, but he’s a 4-5 inning starting pitcher. He can be a lights-out anchor in the bullpen. As for Happ, he’s also a really good player, with value. But he’s not a $20m a year player. That money can be spent on other parts of the roster, not to mention that the Cubs are loaded with young controllable outfielders. Happs extension was another Hoyer mistake.
Assad is a good trade chip.
Brown most likely ends up as the closer as his two pitch arsenal is not enough to last as a starter.
Jed should revamp the rotation.
Trade Taillon and let Hendricks walk.
Sign Burns as a real ace. Then run Steele and Shota back to back, Bring up Horton to follow and Wicks to anchor.
The middle innings tend to be influx so that is where Jed needs to add depth. Vet arms that have started. Keep 1-2 in Iowa for emergency and 1-2 that can pick up innings as needed after a poor start.
Assad has a future as a MLB starter. My issue is he gets himself into trouble too much. That makes him a bad choice in a play off series when the pressure is peaking and mistakes explode.
So he is too valuable to push into a reserve role. I would trade him to deepen the system depth.
You’re right, Happ isn’t worth 20 million. According to FanGraphs that has his WAR ranked lower than baseball reference, he’s been worth 26.5 million. It’s a quality extension, buying out a couple years of a guys prime, short term and below market value. Yep, another Hoyer mistake.
For all the posters who say we are loaded with controllable outfielders, how many home runs have they hit this season against minor league pitching? How many rbis have they driven in? They are producing less against inferior pitching than Happ. It’s a joke. Not a single promising outfield prospect is major league ready.
You have absolutely no idea what Assad can be in the bullpen because, surprise surprise, bullpen arms have to go on “short rest”. You don’t know if Assad has the ability to pitch on back to back days or not. And for the “he’s good for 4-5 innings” comment… yeah like the rest of the league? Pay attention, the analytics depart is determining how long a pitcher can pitch. The exact same bs argument was being made about Steele. If when Horton comes up, he will also be a 4-5 inning guy. How many innings is Brown averaging again? Wicks?
I vaguely remember a two pitch pitcher dominating hitters…. Who was that… oh yeah, Spencer Strider. You can pitch with two pitches if you can pitch.
I’m not really sure who Burns is but I would love it if the Cubs signed Corbin Burnes. I don’t like running Steele and Imanaga back to back, lefties with similar styles.
Horton has missed a ton of this season. He likely wouldn’t be considered until the later part of next season as he will need to build his innings up.
The proof is in the results, Assad is producing better than Wicks.
Trading Taillon is an option if you sign Burnes but the rotation would include Assad regardless (unless he is in fact traded). Let’s not forget, Steele never went deep, always lost hitters and got himself into trouble until he didn’t. Steele was never considered a great prospect, back of the rotation guy.
Brown likely will also start in AAA since he’s missed most of this season. Could be in a bullpen role early but he’s a starter.
Would love to add Corbin Burnes—and cannot just or expect anything from Brown or Horton.
Brown got hurt months ago and still isn’t throwing.
As for Taillon–best scenario is to keep him and get to the spot where he is the #4 or #5. The Cubs were so good in 2016 that nobody ever mentions how much they were better in baseball than every other team at #4/5 in the rotation with Lackey and Hammel. Get Taillon in that role and he would be really beneficial.
Assad might be better suited to a 1970s style reliever role where he pitches 2-3 innings once per series as well as some spot starts, and ends up with 120-130 innings. But I think he starts next season as the #4 because Horton didn’t really get a chance to build up his innings this year. This year’s rash of injuries is an example of why the Cubs should deal NONE of their young pitchers.
Amazing….read an article this week with a statistical breakdown to analyze most underrated players in baseball.
Number one on the list…..Ian Happ.
So, he leads the team in WAR (by a lot), home runs (by a lot), is a back to back gold glove winner, great baserunner and we should get rid of him. Really?
I can be OK with moving Happ, but please tell me what $20M outfielder is available and can replace him and what he does?
I understand that the Cubs have a ton of outfielders in the minors—but there is a much better chance than any of those players turn into the next Nelson Velazquez, Alexander Canario, or Brennan Davis before they turn into the next Ian Happ.
I’m excited about Alcantara and Caissie, Triantos as well but none of those guys are close to being a finished product or close to being ML ready. They need to harness their raw power where it will actually translate to game power. I know home runs are not the end all be all but this team desperately needs power in the line up. Taking away Happ and replacing him with a teens home run bat would be epically stupid.
Even if the Cubs got a wild hare and signed Soto, it’s Suzuki who should be moved, not Happ. It blows my mind how under appreciated Happ is by this fan base (Suzuki also).
People who say Happ was a bad extension needs their head examined. My only complaint about Happs extension (and Nico’s) is that Happ, Suzuki and Nico are all free agents at the same time.
Spot on Dras…and add Taillon to that list of contracts ending a the same time.
Appreciate your ability to stay steady and not get caught up in heat of the moment happening or single stat focused notions.
Two things about today, if you have seen… (I haven’t seen yet)
What is the roster move to get Wicks back on 40 man? Can Brennan Davis be moved to 60 day IL (not sure of minor league rule)?
Is the offensive player coming back Mastrobuoni? Or does Caissie or Alcantara get the shot? (Shaw would require another roster move)
Just saw that it is Mastrobuoni back up as extra player—still waiting on move to make room for Wicks.
Never denied Happ is worth what he’s being paid just that they gave him all the power as far as making moves go. Bellinger, Happ, Suzuki, Power to the…..Player. That’s the way to run the team.
I think Cassie deserves a shot as the #4 OF next year, but I think there’s an equal chance that they trade him for controllable pitching if Bellinger doesn’t opt out. With Paredes able to play 1B, they don’t need a guy like Wisdom as a backup.
Drascco-If you want to know why the Cubs won’t sign your lover Soto, Just look to Suzuki, Bellinger and Happ. With the positions and money committed there they will never sign him or anyone like him. If you want to sign a guy like that you have to have a GM who knows how to manage payroll. We don’t.
My “lover” Soto? That is a pathetic response from you especially considering I’ve never shown any fandom for Soto. When I mention a player it’s typically in terms of “like Soto” as in the need for a middle of the order bat.
Also feel free to stfu about Hoyers spending since you’re a “spread the money out” guy vs me who’s a “pay a couple key super star players and fill the roster” guy.
Oh give me a break. Your Man Crush on the guy is more than obvious. Every time you mention somebody they should sign next year he is #1 on your hit parade. Do you send the guy fan letters? President of his fan club?. For what he thinks he’s worth I’m glad the Cubs won’t sign him because it would be a tremendous waste of money and you’d probably be charged with stalking.
You are delusional. If your memory was working properly at your advanced age, when the Cubs were rumored to be in on Soto via trade I said I’d rather try to deal for Tatis.
Soto doesn’t make any sense for the Cubs unless they dealt Suzuki and then it still wouldn’t make a lot of sense because his defense in the outfield is subpar already, it would be magnified in Chicago.
Happ has been pretty solid, although he does lack consistency at times. I don’t think he’s going anywhere else anytime soon. Switch hitting gold glove caliber outfielder are expensive to replace these days.