After serving his purpose last night in mop-up duty, the Chicago Cubs shuffled lefty Brooks Raley back down to AAA Iowa today. In his place, they’re bringing up – no, not a position player yet – reliever Michael Bowden, who is, perhaps, even more well-travelled than Raley.
At the end of May, the Cubs outrighted Bowden to Iowa, so they’ll have to add him to the 40-man roster once again today, which will, I believe, bring it back up to 39.
Combining his stops at Iowa this year, Bowden has been ridiculous: 2.41 ERA over 18.2 innings with 28 strikeouts and just 3 walks. As I said: ridiculous.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Bowden manages to stay up for a while this time, especially if the Cubs wind up dealing a reliever or two over the coming few weeks.