Looks Like Spencer Patton is Headed Back to Iowa to Accommodate Mike Montgomery

According to the Chicago Cubs’ transactions page at MLB.com, righty reliever Spencer Patton has been optioned to AAA Iowa.

As we discussed yesterday, with newly-acquired lefty Mike Montgomery arriving today, the Cubs were very likely to move someone out of the bullpen to accommodate him, and that person was very likely to be Patton.

Patton, 28, was acquired by the Cubs early in the offseason, and proceeded to put up silly – even for AAA – numbers out of the Iowa bullpen. He’s gotten a couple brief cracks at breaking in with the big league team, but the command hasn’t been the same, and the ridiculous AAA strikeout rate has not carried over. Patton may yet get another shot with the big league pen this year, depending on injuries ahead of him (and perhaps in September, in any case, when rosters expand to include the full 40-man). For now, he’ll return to Iowa and keep working.

Having not appeared in a game since July 9, it was a pretty easy guess that Patton would be the one going down, for now, as Montgomery arrives.

But, as you know, that’s not the end of the roster moves in the short-term. Dexter Fowler could be arriving as soon as today, and Joe Nathan should be joining the bullpen soon.