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Oscar De La Cruz

Cubs Reinstate Oscar De La Cruz, Transfer Tony Barnette To 60-Day IL

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The Cubs announced Friday that they’ve reinstated minor league right-hander Oscar De La Cruz from the restricted list now that his 80-game suspension has been completed. In order to open a spot for De La Cruz on the 40-man roster, Chicago transferred Tony Barnette from the 10-day injured list to the 60-day injured list.

De La Cruz, 24, received an 80-game suspension last July after testing positive for the banned substance furosemide. He’d been working through his first season at the Double-A level and struggling a bit, having pitched to a 5.24 ERA with diminished control through 16 starts.

De La Cruz was the Cubs’ top-ranked prospect by some outlets back in 2017 but has seen his stock dip in recent years — even before being hit with this suspension. He’s made three starts with Class-A Advanced Myrtle Beach this season, as the league’s drug policy allows players to make unpaid rehab appearances to get up to speed at the tail end of suspensions. He’ll head to Double-A Tennessee.

As for Barnette, the former Rangers reliever was signed to a big league contract this winter but hit the injured list late in Spring Training due to inflammation in his shoulder. The 35-year-old had been pitching on a rehab assignment in Triple-A Iowa, but the Cubs’ press release indicates that Barnette was pulled back from that assignment. Jordan Bastian of MLB.com tweets that Barnette is still experiencing tightness in his problematic shoulder, so it seems as though he won’t be an option for the Cubs anytime in the near future.

Roster Notes: Padres, Paddack, Rangers, Cubs, Scahill

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The Padres #5 ranked prospect per MLB.com (#34 overall) is angling to get the nod on Opening Day, per MLB.com’s AJ Cassavell. Chris Paddack threw four scoreless innings, which included a stretch in which he struck out five consecutive Oakland A’s batters in his most recent spring start. Last season, Paddack made seven starts in Double-A after cruising through High-A, where he notched an eye-popping 14.3 K/9 versus 0.7 BB/9 in 52 1/3 innings. Double-A didn’t slow him much, going 3-2 with a 1.91 ERA in 7 starts, 8.8 K/9 to 1.0 BB/9. Still, from Double-A to an Opening Day start would be quite the jump for the 23-year-old, just a year removed from missing all of 2017 to Tommy John surgery. The competition is fairly wide open, however, as the Padres, by design, brought very little in the way of established talent to camp. Since the offseason departures of veterans Clayton Richard (traded to Blue Jays) and Tyson Ross (signed with Tigers), Robbie Erlin boasts the most experience in the group, and he’s not even a lock to make the rotation. Fellow southpaws Joey Lucchesi and Eric Lauer each have a shot to get the Opening Day nod, as well. Let’s check in on the Rangers’ and Cubs’ camps as teams begin to whittle their spring rosters…

  • The Rangers culled their number of players in camp to 60. Pitchers Taylor Guerrieri, Michael Tonkin, Miguel Del Pozo and Brady Feigl were all assigned to minor league camp, per the Rangers’ executive VP of communications John Blake (via Twitter). Guerrieri, 26, joined the Rangers after making his major league debut last season with the Blue Jays. A former first round pick of the Rays, he was a starter in the minor leagues until missing most of the 2017 season due to injury. Toronto claimed him off waivers before last season, where started 7 games in Triple-A before appearing 9 times out of the Blue Jays pen, pitching to a 5.02 FIP in a small-sample 9 2/3 big league innings. Tonkin, 29, appeared in parts of five seasons for the Twins from 2013 to 2017 with a 4.57 FIP across 141 games. Del Pozo, 26, reached as far as Double-A in the Marlins system before joining the Rangers as a non-roster invitee. While Feigl, 28, is back in the Rangers system where he has pitched for the past two seasons.
  • The Cubs made a number of roster moves today, with promising righties Adbert Alzolay and Jen-Ho Tseng being optioned to Triple-A, while Justin Steele and Oscar De La Cruz were sent to Double-A, per the Athletic’s Patrick Mooney (Twitter links). Also on the move, Duncan Robinson, Ian Clarkin, Colin Rea, Ian Rice, Charcer Burks and Jacob Hannemann are being moved to minor league camp (Twitter link). Mark Gonzales of the Chicago Tribune (via Twitter) adds Craig Brooks, Alberto Baldonado and Evan Marzilli to the list of players headed to minor league camp. The Cubs spring roster has now been cut to 54.
  • Rob Scahill, meanwhile, was released outright by the Cubs, per Mooney (via Twitter). Scahill has pitched at the big league level for parts of seven seasons running, topping out at 31 appearances in 2016 spread between Milwaukee and Pittsburgh. In total, the 32-year-old boasts a career 3.95 ERA (4.67 FIP) in 124 games for Rockies, Pirates, Brewers and White Sox.

Cubs Prospect Oscar De La Cruz Receives 80-Game Suspension

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Cubs prospect Oscar De La Cruz has been hit with an eighty-game suspension, per a league announcement. He tested positive for the same banned masking agent/diuretic, furosemide, that led to the recent suspension of Robinson Cano.

Entering the season, De La Cruz was seen as a prospect to watch, with an intriguing combination of size, stuff, and command. MLB.com rated him third among Cubs farmhands, in fact, after seeing him turn in a dozen solid starts at the High-A level in 2017. Though he didn’t carry forward the gaudy strikeout numbers he showed in the prior season, and missed a lot of time with arm issues, De La Cruz had worked to a strong 3.46 ERA in 54 2/3 innings with 7.7 K/9 against 2.1 BB/9.

Now 23, De La Cruz opened the 2018 campaign at the Double-A level after being added to the 40-man roster in the fall to protect him from the Rule 5 draft. He hasn’t really generated the results that might have been hoped for over his first 16 starts in the upper minors, though. Over 77 1/3 innings, he carries a 5.24 ERA while recording 73 strikeouts and giving out 31 walks.

It certainly seemed promising that De La Cruz was able to take the ball for the first half of the current campaign, even if he wasn’t exactly thriving. Now, though, he’ll face yet more questions about his future. In the near-term, De La Cruz will miss out on developmental opportunities for the rest of the 2018 season, though perhaps he’ll be a candidate to pitch in the Arizona Fall League. He’ll also again end up with a limited innings tally.

For a Cubs team that is no doubt considering possible mid-season acquisitions, the temporary loss of De La Cruz weakens the upper-level prospect base from which it may need to deal. That’s all the more worrying given that the organization already lost fellow hurler Adbert Alzolay for the season due to injury.

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