Keegan Thompson admitted the information caught him somewhat bit abruptly.
When the right-hander arrived to Citizens Bank Park Friday afternoon, Thompson discovered the Chicago Cubs had been optioning him to Triple-A Iowa.
“I think everyone’s kind of caught off guard a little bit when they get that news,” Thompson mentioned. “But I’ve been inconsistent. … I’ve been struggling this year in the strike zone. I’ve been getting ahead of guys and then my offspeed stuff is just kind of not there.”
Sending Thompson to Iowa was a part of a busy day of transactions earlier than the Cubs’ 10-1 street win towards the Philadelphia Phillies ended a five-game dropping streak.
Cody Bellinger landed on the 10-day injured listing with a left knee bruise. First baseman Eric Hosmer was designated for task to open a spot for outfielder Mike Tauchman. Edwin Ríos was recalled from Iowa. Nico Hoerner got here off the IL to supply a spark, tallying three hits and 4 RBIs.
Bellinger and the Cubs are hopeful he’ll have the ability to return after a minimal stint on the IL, however it’s going to rely upon how his knee responds to elevated exercise. Bellinger is ready to do some actions, akin to weight-room work.
“The last three days I’ve already felt better for sure, the way I’m walking and the way I’m moving,” Bellinger mentioned. “The workout we did (Friday afternoon) was pain-free, so really just have to wait for it to calm down a little bit before you can really start pushing it.”
The Cubs (20-24) didn’t want to check the bullpen throughout their collection opener in Philadelphia. Marcus Stroman restricted the Phillies to 1 run and three hits in six innings regardless of a number of sloppy defensive performs behind him. Without Thompson obtainable for high-leverage spots, right-handers Julian Merryweather and Jeremiah Estrada might get extra appears.
The Cubs plan for Thompson to stretch out at Iowa to be a multi-inning reliever like how they used him final season.
The Cubs want a locked-in Thompson, and proper now they’ll’t rely on him to place away hitters. The transfer felt inevitable after Thompson couldn’t maintain the Cubs’ three-run lead within the ninth inning of their walk-off loss in Houston on Wednesday. The three-batter sequence was emblematic of Thompson’s struggles.
Too many noncompetitive pitches, reasonably than the standard of stuff, grew to become the tipping level for the Cubs to ship Thompson to Triple A and get again on observe.
“The stuff remains somewhat relatively the same, it’s just the inconsistencies of either the location of it — he may execute one perfect cutter down and away and the next one backs up and stays in,” Hottovy mentioned. “We wanted to see what we could do from a usage standpoint for him. Experimentation of things at times at the big league level can be difficult for guys that haven’t done it before.”
Moving away from combined utilization — one-inning and multi-inning appearances — of Thompson is a key issue within the choice. Hottovy believes Thompson will get higher when he has a chance to work by means of his inconsistencies inside an outing. When pitching in excessive leverage, one-inning stints, there isn’t a wiggle room to get a really feel for a way a pitch won’t be working. Eliminating one-inning outings received’t diminish Thompson’s worth as soon as he returns to the massive leagues. He’s proven how he may be an necessary weapon in massive moments at the same time as a multi-inning pressure who received’t be used every single day.
Thompson struggled to recuperate properly and bounce again on shorter relaxation. It’s an space he and the group will proceed to work by means of as they work out easy methods to finest optimize his restoration.
“Each guy’s built a little differently … you see plenty of guys in this league that can pitch one inning every single day,” Hottovy mentioned. “That’s just not how Keegan is built yet, he hasn’t learned to recover that way,” So placing him in conditions the place which are predicated on him recovering quick might be not the most effective energy for him.
“Some guys are just more resilient than others so they can do things that it doesn’t take them as much effort to come back.”
The timing of the choice to DFA Hosmer got here down loads of underlying causes, Ross mentioned, however the principle one he pointed to centered on the crew’s want for a real heart fielder on the roster. Although Christopher Morel — who hit his sixth house run in 9 video games, can play the place and began there Friday, the Cubs needed somebody they may frequently use on the place whereas Bellinger is on IL. That meant they wanted a 40-man spot for Tauchman.
“If Belli doesn’t go down Hosmer’s probably still here,” Ross mentioned.
Regardless of the roster numbers crunch, Hosmer, 33, wasn’t serving as a viable bench bat. He hit .234 with a .280 on-base share and 67 OPS+ in 100 plate appearances (31 video games). Even apart from the domino impact of Bellinger’s harm, the Cubs couldn’t have stored that degree of manufacturing from Hosmer for much longer.
Despite Hosmer’s on-field shortcomings, his veteran presence nonetheless resonated within the clubhouse.
“This game can definitely beat people down over time, and he has been criticized publicly a lot, but for him to never ever waver in how he treats people around him, like, he was as invested in this team’s success as anyone in this locker room and at a point in his career where he didn’t have to do that,” Hoerner mentioned. “But he just enjoyed being around the guys every single day and invested in winning, invested in people, continued to search for ways that he can improve his own game. … That’s really all you can ask from all of your teammates.”
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Source: www.bostonherald.com