‘Succession’ was a tremendous show. I am very sad that it is now over. It has certainly been a nice distraction each Sunday night this season since the Cubs have been absolutely brutal on the weekends …
Swept at home by the former last place team, falling to the worst record in the National League, things spiraling; sounds like the perfect time to face … the best team in baseball. Cubs-Rays begins this afternoon. COOL.
The Cubs’ bullpen ERA is 8.05 over their last 14 games (Cubs.com). David Ross kinda sounds at a loss for what to do at this point to get better performances out of his guys: “I don’t think anyone’s actually kind of defined their roles …. Whoever’s pitching best, we’re trying to give them the leverage innings. We tried to leverage those things early, and we lost on the backside. Right now, fifth, sixth inning, we’re trying to kind of get some arms in there.” It’s a mess. This is the worst the bullpen situation has looked in a decade, which is particularly concerning given that it’s the area the Cubs were trying so hard to develop internally.
Don’t look for an immediate bullpen boost from Codi Heuer. Via The Athletic:
Codi Heuer, the hard-throwing reliever acquired from the White Sox in the Craig Kimbrel trade, is eligible to be activated from the injured list Monday, though he will likely need more time at Triple A as he continues his rehab program following Tommy John surgery. Though it’s tempting to anoint Heuer as the next closer — Ross bluntly said, “We need his arm” — it’s also important to remember he hasn’t appeared in a major-league game since Sept. 29, 2021.
“I think he still feels like he’s just a tick off and wants to kind of lock in his mechanics,” Ross said. “He wants to feel like he can contribute consistently up here and pound the zone. That’s gotten better every single time out. The stuff’s there, but he wants to be able to command it. That’s probably the next step.”
Heuer, 26, is coming back from a more involved version of Tommy John surgery last spring, so a longer rehab stint is not necessarily surprising or concerning, especially when it comes locking down the command. His velocity is definitely back, and the results have shown up his last few appearances at Iowa. Of note, though, he’s exclusively pitched on a full two days’ rest each time. No back-to-backs, or even twice in three days.
Also, don’t look for Keegan Thompson to be ready to return to the big leagues any time soon. He got really knocked around again at Iowa, and he is CLEARLY working through some STUFF.
Apparently the Cubs are hoping Cody Bellinger could be back in a couple weeks from here, which would mean his absence extends to or past the one month mark. I must have missed it, myself, but I’ve been told they said on a broadcast a week or so ago that Bellinger’s injury is a bone bruise in the knee (as opposed to just a bruised knee). If so, that would explain why there is so much uncertainty about when he’ll return – the variability in the extent and duration of a bone bruise injury is vast. A month is a rough guess, but it can be shorter or longer depending on healing time in the bone and then how much discomforting the injury produces as you start running again (which Bellinger is not doing yet).
That is all to say, continue to get used to Mike Tauchman manning center field for a while. At least he’s a capable defender in center field (albeit not Bellinger), and he can kinda hit righties. His early numbers are funky but good .333/.467/.375/146 wRC+ (16.7% BB, 20.0% K, .042 ISO, .444 BABIP).
“It’s just a matter of keeping that confidence up,” Ian Happ said, per The Athletic, “continuing to play the game hard and play the game the right way. It’s not always going to be bad.” New marketing slogan? The Chicago Cubs: It’s Not Always Going to Be Bad.
Patrick Wisdom had been in a long, ice cold slump before yesterday’s two-homer effort:
This is PCA in a nutshell – can go anywhere and do anything, is intensely competitive:
Yonathan Perlaza is probably a corner outfielder only, but I do love how his breakout from last year has just carried right on forward to Triple-A Iowa: .309/.415/.527/140 wRC+. Now, the .408 BABIP is inflated and pushes everything in his slash line north, but he currently has a 29.9%(!!!) line drive rate. So, yeah, you’re going to have a huge BABIP when you’re doing that. I hope he gets regular playing time the rest of the way at Iowa so that the Cubs have a good baseline for a Rule 5 rostering decision after the season. That 40-man is potentially going to become overly crowded with outfielders who can’t quite contribute yet, or who aren’t definitely big leaguers (Perlaza, if he were added, Brennen Davis, Kevin Alcántara, Alexander Canario, Nelson Velazquez).
12 MLB players have died while in service, which is appropriate to honor on this Memorial Day:
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