The Cubs announced that they have activated right-hander Hayden Wesneski from the 15-day injured list, with fellow righty Shawn Armstrong designated for assignment in a corresponding move. Sahadev Sharma of The Athletic was among those to relay the moves on X.
Armstrong, 34, only joined the club three weeks ago. His results in a small sample of appearances since then have been fine and this move says more about the club than about him. He was claimed off waivers from the Cardinals at the end of August when the Cubs were within five games of a playoff spot with a month left to go. Now they’re seven games back with just over a week remaining on the schedule.
The veteran righty is an impending free agent, so the Cubs have little use for him now as they play out the string on this season. They will put him on waivers in the coming days. He wouldn’t be postseason eligible with any claiming club, so there’s little incentive for one still in contention to put in a claim as they would have to take on the remainder of his $2.05MM salary. That would be less than $100K by the time the waiver process plays out but the club would also only receive about a week of Armstrong’s services in exchange.
Armstrong has already pitched for three teams this year, tossing 66 2/3 innings between the Rays, Cardinals and Cubs. His 4.86 earned run average isn’t terribly impressive but his other numbers paint a nicer picture. His 22.4% strikeout rate and 8.5% walk rate are both fairly close to league average. His .362 batting average on balls in play seems to be hurting him, which is why his 3.58 FIP and 3.95 SIERA are significantly better than his ERA.
The Rays got good results out of Armstrong in the previous two seasons. He tossed 55 innings for them in 2022 with a 3.60 ERA. Last year, he gave the Rays 52 innings with a tiny ERA of 1.38. That number is surely a little misleading, as his .250 BABIP and 80.9% strand rate helped him out, but he did post a 26.1% strikeout rate and 5.3% walk rate.
This year, as mentioned, his ERA hasn’t been as strong. But the Cardinals evidently believed in the under-the-hood numbers, as they sent two-plus years of Dylan Carlson to the Rays in order to get Armstrong prior to the deadline. Just a few weeks into August, they had slid enough in the standings that they put Armstrong on waivers and saved a bit of money by having the Cubs claim him.
If Armstrong goes unclaimed in the coming days, he has enough service time to reject an outright assignment and keep what’s left of this year’s salary, so perhaps he will get his offseason started a few days ahead of schedule. That is unless some team in a tight playoff race will be interested in snagging him off the wire for the final week of the season.
Clofreesz
An amazing 2023 turns to a terrible 2024.
gbs42
Bad ERA for the Rays, good for the Cardinals, bad for the Cubs. You never know what might happen in small sample sizes.
drasco036
That’s the thing about single inning guys, if you give up 3 runs in a game you have to turn around and toss zeros your next ten to get your ERA respectable again.
Unclemike1525
With the Cubs even if he put up zeroes it wasn’t exactly a walk in the park. More like a walk, Hit, Then a rocket right at somebody. Cubs have enough quality arms that they don’t really need him. He’s not really a difference maker.
mike127
Uncle, slow yourself down—-you’re setting yourself up—again. Agree that “they don’t really need him.”
But disagree that the “have enough quality arms.”
Rewind exactly one year when they had: Leiter Jr, Alzolay, Merryweather, Assad, Wicks, Wesneski, Thompson, Palencia, Little…….
All you are doing is pulling some out and putting in guys like Miller, Lopez, and Hodge.
The “quality” really hasn’t changed much at all–just the names have.
And those guys that are supposed to be coming like Brown and Horton are still coming.
The bullpen this year had “quality” arms but took and immediate nosedive with Merryweather’s injury, Alzolay’s early season inablility, Neris’ role change and much much more.
There is never such a thing as enough quality arms. I just don’t want you to be typing the same stuff next September (or June). I got your back.