A day after he was designated for assignment to make room on the 40-man roster for James Russell, Blake Parker was released by the Chicago Cubs, according to the team’s transactions page.
The release may be procedural – Parker has already been outrighted once off of the 40-man roster* before, which means if the Cubs outrighted him again this time (assuming he cleared waivers), he was going to have the right to elect free agency anyway.
A big part of the Cubs’ bullpen in 2013, Parker was shuffled up and down much more in 2014, and didn’t have quite as much big league success. Having dealt with a stress reaction in his elbow back in 2012 that cost him a big chunk of the season, it was concerning to learn that he was dealing with another elbow issue in the early going this year.
Parker hasn’t pitched since April 15, and this was the latest update we saw:
Bumped into I-#Cubs RHP Blake Parker. Said he got a cortisone shot. Wait and see. Very upbeat. #MiLB #PCL
— Tommy Birch (@TommyBirch) April 24, 2015
Hopefully whatever comes next for Parker sees him able to get back on the mound – be it with the Cubs or otherwise. He was very good at times when he was healthy, and, just shy of 30, there could still be some good years ahead. We’ll see what happens.
*(That’s a fancy way of saying removed from the 40-man roster, passed through waivers, and then retained in the organization at the minor league level. You can do that once with a player.)