NEWSLETTER
When your starting pitchers aren’t going deep and much of your bullpen is getting blown up, you’re gonna have to start rotating arms in and out with some considerable pace. Well, unless you want Frank Schwindel to keep pitching.
So unfortunately that means Chicago-area lefty Eric Stout is right back out the door after a few short days on the big league club, swapped out for Adrian Sampson. And, since Sampson was not on the 40-man roster, he needed a spot – which means, in turn, that Stout was designated for assignment, not just optioned to Iowa.
Given his dramatically improved strikeout rate with the Iowa Cubs, you’ve gotta believe the organization hopes Stout clears waivers and can be outrighted to Iowa. It’s possible another club believes they can tinker further to get the control in line – Stout is only 29 – but I tentatively don’t see another club using a 40-man spot on Stout at the moment. We’ll see.
In the meantime, Sampson returns for yet another fill-in stint as a bulk arm to pick up innings where needed.
