Things haven’t seemed right with Julian Merryweather for a while now, and after his latest disastrous outing, it seemed to be time to give him a breather to try to get right for the final few weeks of the season.
So it is:
Hopefully Merryweather can get right physically, and then return for a bit so the Cubs have a little more information from which to make a tender decision on Merryweather in November (he has two years in arbitration available after this season if the Cubs want to keep him).
In his place, Keegan Thompson returns – incidentally, he was originally on the IL with a rib fracture, like Merryweather’s injury earlier this year (what are the odds?) – after spending the last month pitching extremely well at Triple-A Iowa (1.38 ERA in that time, 37.5% K, 6.3% BB). Thompson, 29, is currently using his final minor league option year, so it’s important for the Cubs to get as much information on him, too, before the offseason. Presuming the Cubs keep him all offseason, they will then be faced with a make-the-team-or-waivers situation in the spring. Another question for another day.
In the meantime, Thompson returns to the big leagues, where he looked to be rebounding this season until the rib injury. He has a 3.50 ERA over 18.0 big league innings, a 33.8% K rate and 13.0% BB rate.
The Cubs have a lot of arms that need attention right now, eh? We have wanted to see Thompson come back up, but also Daniel Palencia, and, until he was called up recently, Jack Neely. Also, I would still kinda like to see Caleb Kilian get big league innings. None of that is to mention recent waiver claims in Trey Wingenter and Gavin Hollowell, or rehabbing righties Hayden Wesneski and Colten Brewer. Throw in Jordan Wicks returning soon, and it’s a crowded situation that will be alleviated only slightly by September roster expansion (you can call up one additional pitcher and one additional position player).