*** Official 2025 Chicago Cubs Thread***

[CYdTracked]

Morgan evidently has been dealing with an elbow issue and Counsell expects a roster move to be made today.

Why, again, this staff opts to drag guys out instead of swallow the 10 day IL pill is just mind blowing to me.

This is why I would not be shocked if Suzuki's injury turns into an IL stint or becomes a lingering thing because they tried the day-to-day thing and it never healed up right. Hoerner and Swanson both played through stuff last year that affected their production because they were too stubborn to place them on the IL. Nico's injury especially they should have shut him down and got his surgery done sooner when it was apparent they were not going to make the playoffs. Fortunately, he was able to get ready for the season and only missed the 2 Japan games but having another month of rehab would have been more ideal. The injury management the past few years is really becoming suspect after we constantly watch guys struggle then they finally come out "oh he's been battling with an injury for awhile now" which then explains it but by then it turns into longer IL stints or costs us games because we played guys that probably should have gone on the IL to heal up.

 

[ISUCubswin]

Assad, Brasier, Thompson, Palencia, Horton, Hollowell, Kriske, Littl, Neely.

Bullpen will eventually be fixed. And my guess is Eli hits the IL and Nate is sent to Iowa today.

 

[CycloneErik]

This is why I would not be shocked if Suzuki's injury turns into an IL stint or becomes a lingering thing because they tried the day-to-day thing and it never healed up right. Hoerner and Swanson both played through stuff last year that affected their production because they were too stubborn to place them on the IL. Nico's injury especially they should have shut him down and got his surgery done sooner when it was apparent they were not going to make the playoffs. Fortunately, he was able to get ready for the season and only missed the 2 Japan games but having another month of rehab would have been more ideal. The injury management the past few years is really becoming suspect after we constantly watch guys struggle then they finally come out "oh he's been battling with an injury for awhile now" which then explains it but by then it turns into longer IL stints or costs us games because we played guys that probably should have gone on the IL to heal up.

It's this leadership group's tradition.

 

[CYdTracked]

Assad, Brasier, Thompson, Palencia, Horton, Hollowell, Kriske, Littl, Neely.

Bullpen will eventually be fixed. And my guess is Eli hits the IL and Nate is sent to Iowa today.

Of that group a healthy Assad and possibly Brasier give me confidence over the alternatives. Thompson is not on the 40 man and has been terribly inconsistent so I don't expect him up unless he's lights out for a good stretch in Iowa and even then he'll have to replicate that in Chicago else will be DFA again. Kriske is not on the 40 man and has a career MLB ERA of 11.22 in just over 21 innings of work so things probably will be pretty dire if he gets a call up. I love the potential of Palencia and that hard fastball, just needs to consistently locate it to stick in Chicago. Horton will likely be given a chance in the rotation before they put him in the pen is my guess. Little has looked good at times but he has had issues staying healthy. Hollowell and Neely don't have much MLB experience.

 

[1UNI2ISU]

Palencia has been lights out so far at Iowa, I expect him to be in San Diego tonight.

Pearson goes down. Morgan to the IL and Neely probably takes the other spot at this point.

 

[GP4ISU]

Assad, Brasier, Thompson, Palencia, Horton, Hollowell, Kriske, Littl, Neely.

Bullpen will eventually be fixed. And my guess is Eli hits the IL and Nate is sent to Iowa today.

Agree. Bullpens sometimes take a bit to find guys roles as well as those who just don’t have it. Unfortunately late losses are how you identify the latter. Bullpen will be fine.

 

[BigJCy]

Shaw and Pearson going to the minors:

 

[cyfanatic13]

I've been a fairly active poster in the Cubs threads over the years and accidentally found this thread the other night. For some weird reason I have to search "cubs" in the search bar to be able to find it, otherwise it doesn't show up in my main forum feed or even when I go to the Pro Sports forum. Maybe posting in it will let me see it regularly to expound all my Cubs wisdom on you guys

 

[cyfanatic13]

Figured it out. Apparently had CyForce on ignore lol

 

[BigJCy]

 

[CYdTracked]

Pretty sure Bryant never got sent back to Iowa once he got called up other than maybe an injury rehab stint at some point. The stink with him was he was ready to go out of spring training his rookie year but the Cubs kept him at Iowa to start the season for like 10 days so they would get another year of team control out of him which caused a bit of a riff with Boras. Rizzo originally debuted with San Diego and had a rough go before the Cubs traded for him. He started in Iowa then was called up and never went down again after that his 1st year with the Cubs. Schwarber, Baez, and Happ all got sent down after some struggles so he is right there but he's way off comparing the situation to KB and Rizzo's. Another example of why I think Jed is in over his head sometimes as most of those guys he mentioned had more minor league run to develop than Shaw did. KB and Schwarber were fast tracked a bit but they were way more ready development wise for the moment than Shaw was.

I'm not down on Shaw but he obviously was not quite ready based on the slow start. He's only had 152 plate appearances at AAA so hopefully they can work on some adjustments and get him swinging a hot bat and call him back up when he's ready. My guess is they send a pitcher down when Brujan is ready and that buys some more time for Workman too. Guess 3B will be a platoon for now, hopefully they get Workman some regular starts there to see what they have so they don't have to rely so much on Berti and Turner to cover 3B duties too.

 

[CYdTracked]

A bit of an off topic on here, Matt Mervis is on a bit of a heater for the Marlins so far to start the season. 5 HR and 11 RBI, had 3 games in a row with a HR until tonight.

HR in each of his last 3 games. Hope a change of scenery does him well. He looked frustrated and lacking confidence after struggling in Chicago. I'm happy with Busch, he has much more of a ceiling than Mervis.

 

[GP4ISU]

Pretty sure Bryant never got sent back to Iowa once he got called up other than maybe an injury rehab stint at some point. The stink with him was he was ready to go out of spring training his rookie year but the Cubs kept him at Iowa to start the season for like 10 days so they would get another year of team control out of him which caused a bit of a riff with Boras. Rizzo originally debuted with San Diego and had a rough go before the Cubs traded for him. He started in Iowa then was called up and never went down again after that his 1st year with the Cubs. Schwarber, Baez, and Happ all got sent down after some struggles so he is right there but he's way off comparing the situation to KB and Rizzo's. Another example of why I think Jed is in over his head sometimes as most of those guys he mentioned had more minor league run to develop than Shaw did. KB and Schwarber were fast tracked a bit but they were way more ready development wise for the moment than Shaw was.

I'm not down on Shaw but he obviously was not quite ready based on the slow start. He's only had 152 plate appearances at AAA so hopefully they can work on some adjustments and get him swinging a hot bat and call him back up when he's ready. My guess is they send a pitcher down when Brujan is ready and that buys some more time for Workman too. Guess 3B will be a platoon for now, hopefully they get Workman some regular starts there to see what they have so they don't have to rely so much on Berti and Turner to cover 3B duties too.

Workman is excellent defensively. Shaw did fine on D, but this gives the Cubs the best team defense in baseball, not even close.

After the Spring Training that Workman had, the Cubs will run him out there on pretty much an every day basis. Time to see if he can handle pitching at this level. Hate to see Shaw struggle and go down but I’m excited to see what Workman does.

 

[isucy86]

So my assumption is they were facing a deadline for calling up Brujan after his IL stint. IMO it's a good time to send Shaw down. With 60 MLB at bats, Shaws eyes should be open regarding what he needs to work on. Will be interesting if they address his leg kick.

I like the call-up of Luke Little. Thought he was solid last year before injury.

I am skeptical on the Pearson & Palencia swap. Hopefully Palencia's pitching is better. But up to this point, I viewed Palencia & Pearson as 2 sides of the same coin. Both throw hard with not much command AND their blazing fastballs are pretty straight, so hittable.

 

[GP4ISU]

Agree on Brian. I also could see the frustration in Shaws body language. He wasn’t hitting Atem balls, it was a bunch of strikeouts and weak grounders. No shame. Go work it out in AAA and come back w confidence.

I take back what I said about how good the defense is.

 

[BigJCy]

Defense crapping the bed this series.

 

[BigJCy]

Freaking knew that would burn us.

 

[CYdTracked]

So my assumption is they were facing a deadline for calling up Brujan after his IL stint. IMO it's a good time to send Shaw down. With 60 MLB at bats, Shaws eyes should be open regarding what he needs to work on. Will be interesting if they address his leg kick.

I like the call-up of Luke Little. Thought he was solid last year before injury.

I am skeptical on the Pearson & Palencia swap. Hopefully Palencia's pitching is better. But up to this point, I viewed Palencia & Pearson as 2 sides of the same coin. Both throw hard with not much command AND their blazing fastballs are pretty straight, so hittable.

Little could be a dominate lefty out of the pen if he could just stay healthy. He's had some flashes of being great but he has just not stayed healthy enough to get a long run in Chicago. Palencia is 3 years younger than Pearson with less MLB experience so there is more upside with his development and potential.

 

[HoustonClone]

Freaking knew that would burn us.

Wasted opportunities in April still count in September, unfortunately. Can't give up runs when they should have been outs.

 

[BigJCy]

Freaking knew that would burn us.