NEWSLETTER
After a few days of evaluation, the Cubs decided Ian Happ just wasn’t going to be able to contribute any time soon. So he’s hitting the 10-day IL, with a flurry of other moves accompanying it.
Here’s the rundown:
Cubs make pregame moves:
Ian Happ goes 10-day IL with a left rib contusion.
OF Nick Martini selected from Triple A.
RHP Jason Adam recalled and LHP Kyle Ryan has been DFA’d.
— Meghan Montemurro (@M_Montemurro) May 7, 2021
To replace Happ, the Cubs are bringing up outfielder Nick Martini, a minor league signing this offseason, who had brief (mostly successful) tastes of the big leagues in 2018 and 2019. He’s a high-contact guy who takes his walks, and so far in his career has hit righties very well (while being unplayable against lefties).
For Happ, obviously he’ll get the IL period to rest up, but when he’s ready to game again, I wonder if he’ll see some time at Triple-A Iowa as a rehab stint, but one that also could maybe help him get his timing back in order. We’ll always wonder if he was already getting right on Sunday before the collision (a few hits including the game-tying homer just before the injury), but a little comeback time at Iowa might not be the worst thing in the world, particularly given how the Cubs have been coordinating starts in his absence.
To make room on the 40-man roster for Martini, the Cubs DFA’d lefty Kyle Ryan, the latest in a line of moves to shift out a reliever after a disastrous outing (which, in turn, had followed some unsettling data points – Jason Adam, Brandon Workman, and now Ryan). Ryan seems unlikely to be claimed off of waivers, so it’s possible he could wind up outrighted to Triple-A Iowa.
Incidentally, it’s Adam who comes back up to take Ryan’s vacated spot in the bullpen. Who knows if he got himself right over that short period of time – he was extremely wild with his breaking pitches out of the zone, and extremely poorly-commanded with his fastball in the zone – but I guess we’ll find out quickly. Last year, when right, he looked like one of the top setup options the Cubs had available.
