Today the Chicago Cubs made a move to shore up the over-worked (and ineffective, yesterday) bullpen, calling up lefty Jeff Beliveau, and sending Rafael Dolis back to Iowa.
Beliveau, 25, was an offseason darling, having been the Cubs’ minor league pitcher of the year in 2011. His stuff really came together, and he posted a crazy 4.68 K/BB ratio over a couple minor league stops. The excitement for this year was justified, at least as far as bullpen arm excitement goes. But, alas, he had an exceptionally rough Spring Training, and wasn’t seriously entertained as an option out of camp.
So far at AAA, he’s still striking out a ton of guys, but he’s back to walking a few more than he’d like to, and thus his WHIP is an unattractive 1.475. He’ll probably serve as the Cubs’ first LOOGY (faces lefties only) on the year, and he could be a good one.
Dolis didn’t pitch too much in his second go around with the big team this year, and, when he did, he wasn’t exceptionally effective. Dolis has a future in the Cubs’ pen, but he’s going to have to work on his control, and he’s going to have to add a quality pitch besides his sinker.
The move is mostly tied to a taxed bullpen, rather than the impending (theoretical) avalanche of roster moves as the Cubs make trades over the next week. In other words, don’t really read into this move as anything other than standard roster shuffling.