NEWSLETTER
It’s official: Cubs catching prospect Miguel Amaya is getting called up to the big leagues. I cannot wait to see him make his debut. Bryan wrote a lot of great stuff on Amaya earlier today. Highly recommend.
Interestingly, Amaya is *NOT* replacing Yan Gomes on the roster, at least not yet:
So, lefty reliever Ryan Borucki gets sent back out before he has a chance to appear. The Cubs do so by way of the DFA, which takes him off the 26-man roster – to open a spot for Amaya – but also takes him off the 40-man roster. So the Cubs have an opening there again, which may well be used for a fill-in starter (Nick Neidert?) on Thursday. There is no expectation that it’ll be used for Matt Mervis any time soon.
The Cubs will have a week to waive, trade, or release Borucki.
As for Gomes, the Cubs are still evaluating, rather than placing him on the 7-day concussion IL. They would be able to backdate up to three days, so they would only have to play short-handed for a game or two or three before making a decision. The implication here is that the Cubs might believe Gomes is going to miss only a couple days, so they don’t want to IL him. This way, they could bring up Amaya as a third catcher, and then option him back down on Thursday when the fifth starter is required (and, in theory, Gomes is back to full health).
As much as I’d like to see Amaya get some run here in the big leagues, that’s not really what this is. He’s just an emergency back-up for now, and the best hope is that Gomes – who is critical to the pitching infrastructure – is good to go in a couple days. Maybe Amaya gets optioned down to Triple-A Iowa, instead of Double-A Tennessee, so this winds up being a promotion for him anyway?
