Keegan Thompson is back! The Cubs righty got something like R&R over the past month while he recovered from a mild lower-back issue. I have no doubt there was some real discomfort there and risk mitigation, but there was also likely some effort to limit his total innings this year since he was already over his career high. He’ll pitch out of the bullpen.
Jeremiah Estrada is optioned back to Iowa, which may not make sense at first blush, but consider: the Cubs have other arms they may more closely want to evaluate in these final two weeks. They already know Estrada is sticking around on the 40-man roster no matter what. He’s also getting up there in innings after missing so much of the last three years with injuries and the pandemic.
So, while it won’t be fun to not see him in the big leagues in the near term, it’s hardly any kind of black mark on Estrada.