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Shota Imanaga's Next Start Pushed Back To Wednesday

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Cubs left-hander Shota Imanaga was set to take the ball for a start against the Cardinals last night, but after rain caused the game to be postponed until July he’s seen his start pushed back until the club’s game against the Brewers on May 29. That scheduling change will give Imanaga a whopping ten days rest between his most recent start against the Pirates last week and his next, but Patrick Mooney of The Athletic writes that manager Craig Counsell made clear that Imanaga’s extended layoff wasn’t injury related, instead describing the decision as a “proactive” effort to manage his workload amid the 30-year-old lefty’s workload.

It’s not necessarily news that the Cubs are managing Imanaga’s workload, as he’s started just two games on regular rest so far this season. By inserting additional rest day’s into the lefty’s schedule, the club is hoping to soften Imanaga’s transition from the typical NPB schedule, where teams utilize six-man rotations with one day off a week allowing starters to pitch just once a week, to MLB’s five-man rotations with less frequent days off. It’s hard to argue with the results of Chicago’s plan, as Imanaga has been the best starting pitcher in the sport by the results this season and has authored a historic beginning to his big league career: his microscopic 0.84 ERA is both the lowest in baseball this year and the lowest of any rookie pitcher’s first nine starts in the modern era.

Imanaga’s peripheral numbers largely back up his stellar performance to this point, as well; his 27.8% is the 13th-best figure in all of baseball this year among qualified starters, while his 4.3% walk rate places him ninth. Only Chris Sale, Jack Flaherty, and Pablo Lopez have struck out more batters while walking fewer than Imanaga this year, leaving the 30-year-old’s complex $53MM guarantee with the Cubs appearing to be one of the biggest steals of the offseason a third of the way through the 2024 campaign.

Cubs’ Adbert Alzolay Shut Down For At Least Two More Weeks

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Cubs righty Adbert Alzolay has been on the injured list since May 13 due to a flexor strain, and it seems a return in the near future isn’t likely. Manager Craig Counsell told the team’s beat yesterday that Alzolay, who recently received a second opinion on the injury, will be shut down entirely for at least two more weeks (X link via Meaghan Montemurro of the Chicago Tribune). A lengthier shutdown is possible, but he’ll be reevaluated in 14 days to gauge any progress. For the time being, surgery is not a consideration.

The 29-year-old Alzolay was easily the Cubs’ top reliever in 2023, pacing the team with 22 saves and leading their qualified relievers with a 2.67 earned run average. The former top prospect punched out 26.5% of his opponents against a sharp 5.1% walk rate. Alzolay got out to a much rockier start in 2024, logging a 4.67 ERA in 17 1/3 innings as his strikeout and walk rates swung dramatically in the wrong direction (17.3% and 8%, respectively).

Given those struggles and what increasingly looks like a lengthy stay on the injured list, it’s fair to presume Alzolay wasn’t pitching at full strength prior to his IL placement. His sinker lost a full mile per hour from last year (95.3 mph to 94.3 mph), and his four-seamer is down just over a half mile as well, checking in at 94.7 mph in ’24 after sitting 95.3 mph in ’23, per Statcast.

It’s tough for any team to lose its top reliever, of course, but it’s particularly troublesome for a Cubs bullpen that has ranked in the bottom half of MLB in most categories. Chicago relievers are 20th in baseball with a 4.15 ERA, and fielding-independent metrics grade them similarly (17th in FIP at 3.92, 15th in SIERA at 3.63). The bullpen does collectively have the eighth-best strikeout rate of any relief corps in MLB (24.4%) … but also the eighth-highest walk rate (10.3%).

Further complicating matters is the fact that righty Julian Merryweather, one of the team’s top setup men and top strikeout arms last season, is already on the 60-day injured list due to a stress fracture in his ribcage. Counsell indicated this week that Merryweather has been cleared to resume throwing but also noted that his IL stint will exceed the 60-day minimum (X link via Ryan Herrera of CHGO Sports). That’ll push him into mid-June in a best-case scenario. However, with Merryweather only just starting a throwing program and needing to build toward facing live hitters before an eventual minor league rehab assignment, it’s feasible his IL stint could stretch to late June or even into July.

With Alzolay and Merryweather shelved, Hector Neris and Mark Leiter Jr. are the only two members of the Cubs’ bullpen with any late-inning experience of note in the majors. Neris signed a one-year, $9MM deal over the winter and currently sports a 2.50 ERA but also a career-worst 17% walk rate. Leiter has been excellent, continuing to make good on the jackpot the Cubs hit in minor league free agency a few years back. Beyond that pairing, things get far murkier.

The only other member of the Cubs’ bullpen with even two years of MLB service is Kyle Hendricks, who was just dropped to a relief role after struggling immensely in the rotation. Righties Hayden Wesneski and Jose Cuas are the next-most “senior” members of the unit. Each entered the season with just over a year of service time, and both have been optioned at least once this season. The Cubs are hopeful that recently reacquired Tyson Miller can fill a late-inning role, and they’re giving looks to homegrown rookies like Porter Hodge and Luke Little as well. But the bullpen as a whole is quite light on established arms, exacerbating the impact of losing two of last year’s top relievers.

The Cubs still find themselves just 1.5 games back of the Brewers from the division lead. They’re 3.5 games up on a surging Cardinals club, with Pittsburgh only a half-game behind St. Louis. The Reds sit eight games back of the division lead — a notable but also hardly insurmountable deficit with so much of the season yet to play out. Given Chicago’s active offseason — bringing in Shota Imanaga, re-signing Cody Bellinger, signing Neris, trading for Michael Busch — the front office will likely be looking to add to the roster so long as the team remains within striking distance in what’s currently a wide-open division. Every postseason hopeful tends to be on the lookout for relief pitching come deadline season, but the Cubs’ need is shaping up to be more acute than most contenders.

MLBTR Podcast: The Likelihood Of A Juan Soto Extension, What’s In Store For Pete Alonso, And Corbin Carroll’s Struggles

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The latest episode of the MLB Trade Rumors Podcast is now live on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts! Make sure you subscribe as well! You can also use the player at this link to listen, if you don’t use Spotify or Apple for podcasts.

This week, host Darragh McDonald is joined by Anthony Franco of MLB Trade Rumors to discuss…

Plus, we answer your questions, including…

  • What do you think about a trade between the Tigers, who are desperate for hitting, and the Orioles, whose bullpen hasn’t been great? Detroit has a surplus of good relief pitchers, could they be trade partners? (21:05)
  • If Mason Miller were to be traded from the Athletics to another American League team and go on to win A.L. Rookie of the Year, would that team get an incentive draft pick? (26:30)
  • Say Shota Imanaga and Yoshinobu Yamamoto finish at the top of Rookie of the Year voting in the National League, will the Cubs and Dodgers get the draft compensation for having them in the majors the whole season? Considering they both signed MLB contracts, that seems antithetical to the new draft compensation for well performing rookies rule. (28:05)
  • Corbin Carroll? That’s pretty much the question: Corbin Carroll? Is there hope this season? How long can the Diamondbacks keep running him out there with no improvement in sight? I love the guy, I have as a keeper, and he was a big part of my plans for this season. Needless to say, it’s not going so well. (31:00)

Check out our past episodes!

The podcast intro and outro song “So Long” is provided courtesy of the band Showoff.  Check out their Facebook page here!

Cubs Moving Kyle Hendricks To Bullpen

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The Cubs are moving Kyle Hendricks to the bullpen for the time being, manager Craig Counsell told the team’s beat (X link via Patrick Mooney of the Athletic). Counsell indicated the team is hopeful that the veteran right-hander will be able to move back to the rotation in the future, but he’ll first need to improve his results.

Hendricks has been a starting pitcher for his entire career. For the first seven years of his MLB tenure, he was an unconventional top-of-the-rotation arm. Hendricks’ pristine command and ability to keep the ball on the ground more than overcame middling velocity and strikeout totals. He won the ERA title during Chicago’s curse-breaking 2016 season and picked up a pair of top 10 finishes in Cy Young balloting.

Things haven’t gone as smoothly over the last three and a half years. Hendricks posted a near-5.00 ERA in both 2021 and ’22. He returned from a capsule tear in his shoulder to turn in a 3.74 ERA over 24 starts a year ago. That convinced the Cubs to trigger a $16.5MM option for this season. While it wasn’t a particularly surprising move at the time, that’s a decision the front office surely wishes it could have back.

Opposing lineups have teed off on Hendricks through his first seven starts of 2024. He has allowed 37 runs over 30 2/3 innings. Hendricks has conceded 10 home runs and has a career-low 7.7% swinging strike rate. His 48.2% grounder percentage and 7.3% walk rate are each respectable, but opponents have put together a massive .362/.411/.638 slash line over 151 plate appearances.

A lower back issue sent Hendricks to the injured list at the end of April. Following a three-week absence, he returned to start a pair of games against the Pirates. Hendricks tossed five innings of one-run ball in his first outing back but was tagged for eight runs in 4 2/3 frames last week. Counsell acknowledged after the game that the Cubs needed better production from that rotation spot.

They’ll try to patch that together for the time being. The Cubs are planning a bullpen game on Thursday against the Braves in what would have been Hendricks’ spot. They’ll eventually need to settle on a fifth starter behind a strong front four of Shota Imanaga, Justin Steele, Jameson Taillon and Javier Assad. Righties Ben Brown and Hayden Wesneski are capable of logging multiple innings, and the Cubs could welcome back left-hander Jordan Wicks before too long.

A forearm strain sent Wicks to the injured list on April 28. Meghan Montemurro of the Chicago Tribune tweets that the former first-round pick will soon head on a rehab assignment after getting through a bullpen session this afternoon. While Wicks had a 4.70 ERA through his first five starts, a strong 25.9% strikeout rate offers reason for optimism that he can manage better results after being reinstated.

The injury news wasn’t all positive. Montemurro adds that reliever Adbert Alzolay is headed for a second opinion after being diagnosed with a flexor strain last week. Alzolay saved 22 games with a 2.67 ERA over 64 innings a year ago. He has had a much tougher start to the 2024 campaign, allowing 13 runs (nine earned) over 17 1/3 frames.

Cubs Promote Luis Vazquez

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May 21: The Cubs have now officially promoted Vazquez, with Maddie Lee of the Chicago Sun-Times among those to relay the full slate of moves on X. Swanson was also activated off the injured list while Mastrobuoni and Pete Crow-Armstrong were optioned in corresponding moves.

May 19: The Cubs are promoting infield prospect Luis Vazquez to the majors, according to ESPN’s Jorge Castillo (who also happens to be Vazquez’s cousin).  The 24-year-old Vazquez will be making his MLB debut whenever he appears in his first game.

Since the Cubs’ next game isn’t until Tuesday, Vazquez’s call-up seems tied to Nico Hoerner’s health status.  Hoerner hasn’t played since last Monday due to a balky hamstring, and while the Cubs were hopeful Hoerner would be able to play Tuesday, it could be that the team decided that an official injured list stint was necessary to get Hoerner fully recovered.  Dansby Swanson is also already on the IL recovering from a knee sprain and was expected to be activated on Tuesday, so it is possible Vazquez could be joining the Cubs if there has been some unknown setback in Swanson’s recovery.

Whatever the case, the door has been opened for Vazquez to get his first shot at the big leagues.  A 14th-round pick for the Cubs in the 2017 draft, Vazquez didn’t do much at the plate until last season, when he batted a combined .271/.361/.456 with 20 home runs over 528 plate appearances almost evenly split between Double-A and Triple-A.  The hot hitting has continued into this season, as Vazquez has slashed .270/.369/.409 with three homers across his 164 PA with Triple-A Iowa.

This breakout year led the Cubs to put Vazquez on their 40-man roster last November in advance of the Rule 5 Draft, and for some extra attention from the pundits — MLB Pipeline has Vazquez ranked as the 13th-best prospect in Chicago’s farm system, while Baseball America has him 14th.  As per Pipeline’s scouting report, Vazquez was able to straighten out his swing and make better contact after learning to lower his hands at the plate, thus unlocking some extra power potential.  Between these improvements and Vazquez’s highly-touted defense, both Pipeline and BA think Vazquez now has a path to a Major League role as a versatile bench player.

Vazquez’s glovework and throwing arm each merit 60s on the 20-80 scouting scale, and as Pipeline puts it, “he’s so good at short that Chicago rarely has deployed him at other positions.”  Vazquez does have some experience at second and third base and shouldn’t have much trouble at either position given his shortstop capability, making him an interesting utility option for the Cubs on at least a temporary basis.  Miles Mastrobuoni and Nick Madrigal have been filling the middle infield roles with Swanson and Hoerner out, and if both players are indeed back on Tuesday, Mastrobuoni could find himself relegated back to Triple-A to create room for Vazquez’s promotion.

The Journeyman Outfielder Flourishing With The Cubs

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When the Cubs signed veteran outfielder Mike Tauchman to a minor league deal back in January of last year, the deal was barely a footnote in an offseason that saw Chicago splurge on stars such as Dansby Swanson and Cody Bellinger as they attempted to work their way back into the playoff conversation. Even the signings of veteran role players such as Trey Mancini and Eric Hosmer appeared to be more relevant to the Cubs’ chances as the season got underway, although injuries eventually forced the club to select Tauchman’s contract on May 19, 2023.

One year to the day later, the 33-year-old journeyman has emerged as one of the most important pieces in Chicago’s lineup as they renew their efforts to return to the postseason for the first time in a full season since 2018.

Tauchman is perhaps best known for his 2019 campaign, when he enjoyed a breakout season with the Yankees. The then-28-year-old had struggled through 69 plate appearances with the Rockies since making his big league debut back in 2017, hitting just .153/.265/.203 during that time, and was flipped to the Yankees in a minor trade during Spring Training 2019. Despite his lack of success at the big league level, Tauchman received an opportunity with the Yankees midseason when injuries to Aaron Hicks and Giancarlo Stanton left a hole in the Yankees outfield alongside Brett Gardner and Aaron Judge. He made the most of the opportunity and posted 3.1 fWAR in just 87 games as he slashed a whopping .277/.361/.504 with 13 home runs in just 296 trips to the plate.

While his incredible performance in 2019 offered some hope that he was emerging as a big league regular, Tauchman would fall back to Earth over the next two seasons. In 118 games with the Yankees and Giants across the 2020-21 seasons, his power production completely evaporated, leaving him with a paltry .203/.306/.291 slash line despite a still-strong 12.3% walk rate. Tauchman’s struggles ultimately led him to head overseas to play out the 2022 season with the Hanwha Eagles of the Korea Baseball Organization.

His 144-game stint in Korea went quite well, as he slashed a strong .289/.366/.430 in 648 trips to the plate as the club’s starting center fielder. On the heels of his strong performance, Tauchman tried his luck at returning to stateside ball in free agency during the 2022-23 offseason, although he ultimately was unable to find anything more than a minor league pact with Chicago. He held his own in 21 games with the Cubs during Spring Training, hitting a respectable .225/.354/.400 in 48 trips to the plate, but was ultimately unable to crack the club’s Opening Day roster even amid an injury to outfielder Seiya Suzuki as the Cubs instead opted to utilize Mancini and Miles Mastrobuoni in right field to open the season.

Tauchman’s chance would come later in the season, when an injury to Bellinger and the deep struggles of Hosmer led the club to place the former on the injured list and designate the latter for assignment. With a gaping hole in center field and only Ian Happ batting from the left side in the starting lineup, the Cubs selected Tauchman to the roster and installed him as a stopgap option in center field while Bellinger was on the shelf. Tauchman made the most of the opportunity, however, and by the time Bellinger was ready to return to the lineup in June, Tauchman was reaching base at a .415 clip and playing strong enough defense in center that the Cubs opted to temporarily move Bellinger to first base in order to keep Tauchman’s bat in the lineup.

Tauchman remained one of the club’s top on-base threats throughout the remainder of the season, and ended the 2023 campaign having eclipsed 100 games played and 400 trips to the plate in the majors for the first time in his career. His final slash line of .252/.363/.377 showed little power compared to his .227 ISO during his 2019 campaign with the Yankees, but his excellent 14% walk rate was second only to Ian Happ among Cubs hitters and he managed to reduce his strikeout rate to just 21.4%, a far cry from the 27% clip he had punched out at in the majors to that point in his career.

The showing was enough for Tauchman to not only be tendered an arbitration-level contract for the first time in his career but also enter Spring Training assured of a spot on the Opening Day roster. While the returning outfield trio of Happ, Bellinger, and Suzuki combined with the addition of Michael Busch at first base appeared likely to push Tauchman out of the Cubs’s starting lineup as the 2023 season began, a combination of early-season injuries to Suzuki and Bellinger and manager Craig Counsell’s willingness to play Christopher Morel at third base on a regular basis has opened up plenty of opportunities for Tauchman to continue to act as a regular in the club’s lineup this season.

Once again, Tauchman has made the most of his opportunities by delivering an even stronger start than he did in 2023. In 43 games with the Cubs this season, the 33-year-old is slashing an excellent .257/.375/.407 in 168 trips to the plate. He’s seen his walk rate tick up to a whopping 14.9% that’s good for seventh among all qualified regulars in MLB this year, while his strikeout rate has held steady at 21.4%. Most excitingly, Tauchman has even managed to show a bit more power than he did in his first season with Chicago; he’s already clubbed four homers and nine doubles after managing just eight homers and 18 doubles throughout the entire 2023 campaign.

All that adds up to an excellent 130 wRC+ that leaves Tauchman tied with Bellinger for 40th place among all MLB regulars and first among all Cubs hitters this season. It’s been a truly remarkable pair of seasons for Tauchman in Chicago, and if he can continue to produce at this sort of level the Cubs will have plenty of tough decisions on their hands with top outfield prospects such as Pete Crow-Armstrong and Owen Caissie knocking on the door of the majors. Regardless of the outcome of those decisions, Tauchman has done enough over the past calendar year to assure himself continued opportunities at the big league level even as he enters his mid-thirties in a remarkable turnaround for a player many had written off as a one-season wonder half a decade ago.

Cubs Notes: Swanson, Hoerner, Smyly, Wicks, Hendricks

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The Cubs are expecting to welcome shortstop Dansby Swanson back from the injured list prior to Tuesday’s series opener against the Braves, as noted by Kyle Williams of the Chicago Sun Times. Williams relayed that club manager Craig Counsell told reporters today that Swanson is “heading in a good direction” as he participates in baseball activities in preparation for his return.

Swanson has been on the injured list for just over a week due to a right knee sprain, although he had been playing through the issue since he first suffered the injury back on April 25. In the 13 contests he appeared in from April 25 onward before hitting the shelf, Swanson slashed an anemic .159/.229/.227 at the plate while committed two errors in the field. If those struggles were the result of the injury, the 30-year-old’s return to action figures to offer a huge boost to the Cubs as evidenced by a strong 2023 campaign where he slashed a respectable .244/.328/.416 (104 wRC+) while playing elite defense at shortstop.

The absence of Swanson has been exacerbated by a bout of hamstring tightness that has sidelined second baseman Nico Hoerner, who is an above-average defensive shortstop in his own right and had been handling the position in place of Swanson prior to his own injury. Hoerner, who has impressed with a solid .269/.361/.391 slash line (119 wRC+) to this point in the 2024 campaign, has not yet been placed on the injured list despite the fact that the Cubs aren’t certain when he’ll be able to return to action. Counsell indicated to reporters (including Williams) that if Hoerner isn’t ready to play tomorrow the club will likely wait until Tuesday to make an IL decision regarding Hoerner thanks to their day off on Monday.

The Cubs have missed their typical double play combo dearly, as they’ve been forced to rely on utility infielders Miles Mastrobuoni and Nick Madrigal as their fill-in options at shortstop and second base, respectively. The duo have managed wRC+ figures of just 35 and 62 respectively while offering nowhere near the Gold Glove award-winning skills of Swanson and Hoerner. Shortstop prospect Luis Vazquez has hit fairly well at the Triple-A level this season despite his glove-first reputation and is already on the club’s 40-man roster, making him a possible alternative should Hoerner require a trip to the shelf.

Looking toward the pitching staff, Counsell provided good news to reporters today as he noted that lefties Drew Smyly and Jordan Wicks both threw bullpen sessions on Friday and are nearing rehab assignments. Smyly appears to be slightly further along between the two, as Counsell indicated that he expected the lefty to begin his rehab assignment “early next week” without identifying a specific timeline regarding Wicks. The return of both southpaws figures to significantly bolster Chicago’s starting pitching depth; Wicks had a 4.70 ERA and a strong 3.26 FIP in five starts prior to hitting the shelf with a forearm strain, while Smyly began the season in the bullpen but has made at least 22 starts for the Cubs in each of the past two seasons.

That starting pitching depth figures to be particularly valuable to the Cubs given the deep struggles of veteran right-hander Kyle Hendricks. The 34-year-old soft-tosser was lit up to the tune of a 12.00 ERA and 7.70 FIP in five starts this season before he was sidelined by a low back strain in late April. He returned from the shelf last week and appeared to have potentially turned a corner after throwing five innings of one-run ball against the Pirates, but a start yesterday against those same Pirates proved to be disastrous as he surrendered eight runs (seven earned) on a whopping eleven hits in just 4 2/3 innings of work.

Asked about Hendricks’s deep struggles after yesterday’s game, Counsell made clear to reporters (including Patrick Mooney of The Athletic) that the Cubs need more from the right-hander going forward.

“We certainly need better,” Counsell said of Hendricks’s performance this year. “That’s not going to work. And that’s not going to be good enough.”

When asked if Hendricks will remain in the rotation going forward, Counsell noted that the club is dealing with a number of pitching injuries and is “going to need innings,” but also acknowledged that the club will need to “see what’s going on” regarding the veteran righty. Speculatively speaking, it’s easy to imagine the return of Wicks and Smyly offering the Cubs the sort of healthy pitching depth they’d need, alongside Hayden Wesneski and Ben Brown, to more seriously consider moving on from their longest-tenured player should Hendricks’s results not improve.

Rays Acquire Richard Lovelady From Cubs

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The Rays and Cubs have agreed to a swap of left-handers, as the Rays announced that Richard Lovelady has been acquired in exchange for minor leaguer Jeff Belge.  In a corresponding move, right-hander Jacob Waguespack was transferred to Tampa Bay’s 60-day injured list to create room on the 40-man roster.

Chicago designated Lovelady for assignment earlier this week, and today’s trade will officially end his Wrigleyville tenure after seven appearances.  Lovelady signed a minor league contract with the Cubs over the offseason, and the team’s spate of bullpen injuries created another opportunity for the southpaw in the Show, as his contract was selected to the 26-man roster at the end of April.  Unfortunately for Lovelady, he posted a 7.94 ERA over his 5 2/3 innings with Chicago, making him expendable when the Cubs needed a roster spot for the newly-acquired Tyson Miller.

Lovelady has pitched in five of the last six MLB seasons, with a 5.48 ERA across his 70 2/3 innings as a big leaguer.  The home run ball has presented some problems for Lovelady and he isn’t a particularly hard thrower, yet some elements to his game hint at the potential for more consistent effectiveness.  Lovelady has a 49.8% grounder rate at the Major League level, as well as solid strikeout (22.7%) and walk (8.8%) rates.

If any team can make Lovelady a late bloomer as he approaches his 29th birthday, it might be the Rays, given their history of turning unheralded pitchers into quality contributors.  Lovelady is in his final minor league option year, so Tampa Bay has some flexibility in moving him between the majors and minors as circumstances warrant.  Garrett Cleavinger is the only other southpaw in the Rays’ bullpen, so Lovelady will bring some more depth against lefty-swinging batters.

The 26-year-old Belge was an 18th-round pick for the Dodgers in the 2019 draft, and he came to Tampa in the December 2022 trade that sent J.P. Feyereisen to Los Angeles.  Working almost exclusively as a relief pitcher in his 165 1/3 minor league innings, Belge has a 3.81 ERA and an impressive 32.59% strikeout rate, though his 14.56% walk rate is also inflated.  Belge has pitched with Double-A Montgomery for the last two seasons and has yet to make his Triple-A debut.

Waguespack was placed on the 15-day IL on May 6 due to inflammation in his right rotator cuff.  The issue is serious enough that he’ll need at least a 60-day stint to fully recover, so he’ll be out of action until the second week of July at the earliest.  Waguespack has a 5.40 ERA across 10 innings and four appearances with Tampa Bay this season, which marked his first MLB action since 2020.  The interim three seasons were spent in the Blue Jays’ farm system and then with the Orix Buffaloes of Nippon Professional Baseball.

Cubs Recall Porter Hodge For MLB Debut

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The Cubs on Friday recalled right-hander Porter Hodge from Triple-A Iowa and placed fellow righty Colten Brewer on the 15-day injured list due to tightness in his lower back, tweets Meaghan Montemurro of the Chicago Tribune. Hodge will give the Cubs a fresh arm in the bullpen, and if he gets into a game, it’ll be his big league debut.

Hodge, 23, was the team’s 13th-round pick back in 2019. He entered the season ranked 19th among Cubs prospects at Baseball America and 24th at both FanGraphs and MLB.com. His season thus far has been a mixed bag. Hodge fired four shutout innings in Double-A, yielding only one hit and one walk with eight punchouts before being promoted to Triple-A Iowa. Since moving up to Des Moines, he’s struggled to a 6.55 ERA (eight earned runs in 11 innings) while surrendering a dozen hits and issuing a whopping 11 walks. He’s still fanned nearly one in three opponents, but he’s also walked more than one in five of them.

Command has long been an issue for Hodge. He’s walked 12.9% of his opponents dating back to the 2022 season. Scouting reports on the big 6’4″, 230-pound righty tout both his heater and his slider as potential plus offerings, but the effectiveness of both could be undercut by shaky command of each. There’s potential for the right-hander to play a long-term role in the Chicago bullpen, but he’ll likely need to trim a few points of his walk rate to reach his ceiling as a high-leverage reliever.

Brewer, 31, was a minor league signee whom the Cubs called to the big leagues last month. He’s pitched 11 2/3 innings for manager Craig Counsell and turned in a 3.09 ERA with a 12-to-4 K/BB ratio and a strong 48.4% ground-ball rate. The team has not yet provided a timetable for Brewer’s potential return to the roster.

Giants Sign Curt Casali To Major League Deal

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The Giants announced they’ve signed catcher Curt Casali to a big league contract. San Francisco optioned Jakson Reetz to Triple-A Sacramento in a corresponding move. To create a 40-man roster spot, they moved Tom Murphy from the 10-day to the 60-day injured list. Casali, a Beverly Hills Sports Council client, is guaranteed a $1MM base salary, reports Jon Heyman of the New York Post (on X).

It’s the second stint in San Francisco for the 35-year-old backstop. Casali signed a major league free agent deal back in 2021 after being non-tendered by the Reds. He spent a year and a half in the organization, combining for a .218/.317/.357 slash line over 357 plate appearances. San Francisco packaged him alongside Matthew Boyd to the Mariners at the 2022 deadline for a pair of minor leaguers.

Casali hasn’t produced much at the MLB level since that trade. He hit .125/.300/.225 in 16 games with Seattle. Cincinnati brought him back on a $3.25MM free agent deal that winter, but his return stint with the Reds didn’t go as hoped. Casali lost a good portion of the season to a foot injury. He played sparingly as the third catcher even when healthy, hitting .175/.290/.200 over 96 plate appearances.

The Reds made the easy call to decline their end of a $4MM mutual option last winter. Casali spent Spring Training with the Marlins after inking an offseason minor league contract. He didn’t hit at all during camp and was released before Opening Day. Casali has spent the past six weeks in Triple-A with the Cubs, where he was out to a fantastic start to the season.

In 23 games, he mashed at a .362/.489/.551 clip for Chicago’s top affiliate. He connected on a pair of homers and drew 15 walks against 16 strikeouts. While he’s certainly not going to continue hitting at that level in the majors, it was a strong enough showing to get back to Oracle Park. Casali’s familiarity with the San Francisco front office and much of the clubhouse no doubt helped matters.

That said, the Giants surely didn’t envision looking for MLB catching help this early in the season. San Francisco entered the year with a surplus behind the plate. Patrick Bailey had emerged as their clear #1 option. They inked Murphy to a two-year deal over the offseason to add a power-hitting backup. That pushed Blake Sabol to Triple-A and former #2 overall draftee Joey Bart, who is out of options, off the roster entirely. San Francisco traded Bart to the Pirates during the first week of the season.

They’ve been hit with a brutal stretch of injury luck at the position since then. Bailey landed on the seven-day concussion injured list on May 4. He was reinstated over the weekend but went back on the concussion list last night as he dealt with renewed virus-like symptoms. San Francisco lost Murphy to a significant left knee sprain one day after Bailey’s first IL placement. Today’s transfer rules him out of action into early July.

Casali and Sabol will work as the MLB catching duo for the time being. Reetz heads back to Triple-A as the top depth option. Sabol still has options remaining, so the Giants could send him back to Sacramento once Bailey returns from the IL.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

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