It was a surprising move yesterday for a variety of reasons – not the least of which was the apparent COVID IL placement for Marcus Stroman – but it wasn’t necessarily a bad move: Frank Schwindel was optioned to Triple-A Iowa. (UPDATE: But see the discussion and update below.)
Here’s how David Ross explained the decision, per NBC:
“Get down there, work on some things, take a little bit of the pressure off and let him continue to get back to what we expect him to be and what he expects himself to be,” manager David Ross said.
“This is a league that you gotta produce and he’s working on some things. Just going to take a little bit of the bright lights off and let him work through some things.”
As we discussed yesterday – and as your eyes have told you if you’ve been watching – more or less every aspect of Schwindel’s game is way, way down from last year. Not nearly enough quality contact, way too many groundballs, fewer walks, more strikeouts, he’s swinging out of the zone more, he’s making more contact out of the zone and less contact in the zone, on and on. The slash line reflects the deep struggles, as he’s hitting just .209/.250/.308 with a 61 wRC+. You can’t have that from anyone who plays regularly, much less a bat-only first baseman.
It’s not at all a large sample, but when everything is telling you the same story after just about 100 plate appearances, then you know something is not quite right.
So, that is to say, the idea that the Cubs could want Schwindel to have an opportunity take a step back, correct whatever has his swing decisions/timing/mechanics off, and do it without the pressure of the big leagues (or the pitchers) – it all makes sense to me. It doesn’t necessarily mean this is the end of the Cubs having any hope for Schwindel to be a medium term piece (i.e., a useful contributor in 2023-24), but it probably does mean he would have to really get in a groove at Iowa and then return sometime this year looking much better. Otherwise, holding down that 40-man spot this offseason could be tough.
Note that there’s a gent on Twitter earlier this morning who says he spotted Frank Schwindel on a flight to San Diego today. If that is true, then Schwindel is clearing coming right back to join the big league team, and it must be that someone(s) is hitting the Injured List, and/or the COVID situation is getting worse.
The Cubs would have to make a 40-man move to bring up someone else instead (heck, maybe they are, and this is multiple guys coming), but it’s a little odd that the explanation for sending Schwindel down was specifically so that he could get work … and then he comes right back the next day without having taken a single at bat? I guess we’ll see if that eye witness is correct.
UPDATE: NBC confirms that Schwindel is indeed en route to San Diego, so clearly someone is hitting the Injured List. It wouldn’t have to be a position play necessarily, but you’d think the Cubs would go back on their plan to give Schwindel time in Iowa just so that he could be an extra bench bat, right? It makes me think Patrick Wisdom’s ankle got a little worse, someone else has COVID, or someone else has an injury we don’t know about yet.