The Cubs continue to take flyers on injured pitchers.
First, Joe Nathan was signed to a contract even though he was not close from returning from TJ surgery. He is not even close to starting rehab assignment.
Second, the Cubs traded for Aaron Brooks who was on the DL at the time. Brooks now makes his way to Iowa after spending the first
half of the season on the disabled list. Brooks played for Nashville,
Oakland, Omaha and Kansas City last season after a mid-season trade. He
went 3-4 with a 6.67 ERA in 13 big league games and was 7-5 with a 3.72
ERA in 20 Triple-A appearances.
Now, the Cubs claimed A. J. Alvarez off waivers from Oakland. Alvarez is coming off March elbow surgery. Prior to that, he had a 9.00 ERA. He was activated by the Iowa Cubs to work in the bullpen.
The Iowa Cubs already had seven pitchers on the DL/restricted list. In addition, the Cubs have Zac Rosscup and Dallas Beeler on the 40 man 60-day DL.
Epstein-Hoyer have a habit of signing injured players in hope that they can fight lightning in a bottle, gold at the end of the rainbow, or high reward from a low risk move. But it does show how week the organization's pitching is throughout the minors. Five out the first six draft choices this year were right handed college pitchers - - - presumably more ready to contribute in the high minors or major leagues.
The Cubs bullpen, especially Richard and Grimm, is the weakest link on the roster. Rumors continue to spread that the Cubs have talked to the Yankees about one of their three power bullpen arms. We shall see.
In addition, the Cubs used 71 percent of their 2016 draft choices (27/38) on pitchers. Patrick Mooney of CSN Chicago reports that the Cubs used 80 draft picks on pitchers between 2012 and 2015 and
not one has thrown a single pitch for the major-league club yet.
The league average is about 50 percent of draft choices are pitchers. In the Epstein era to date, the Cubs have selected 53.5 percent pitchers in the draft.
The Cubs selected Oklahoma State
University right-hander Thomas Hatch with their first pick in the Third Round. Hatch missed the entire 2015 season with an elbow injury, but he’s
come back from that sprained ulnar collateral ligament to perform as a
redshirt sophomore (7-2 with a 2.16 ERA and 102 strikeouts against 28
walks through 112-plus innings). He’s listed at 6-foot-1, 190 pounds for
a Cowboys team trying to advance to the College World Series this
weekend.
“It’s something that certainly we have to be aware of,” said senior
vice president Jason McLeod, who oversees the scouting and player
development departments. “We know that it’s in his past, but we’re
confident in making the selection that he’s going to be healthy going
forward.
“We always know when you draft a player who’s had a medical
occurrence in his past it’s always a risk. But (it’s) weighing all the
factors, getting to know the player himself, the competitor that he is.
“I just saw him a couple weeks ago at the Big 12 tournament. The
stuff coming out of his hand, how he’s commanding everything, and more
so just how this guy competed every week and how he performed every
week, we felt very good to get him there.”
The Cubs also went with right-handed college pitchers in rounds four
through six: California Baptist’s Tyson Miller; Duke’s Bailey Clark; and
Cal State Fullerton’s Chad Hockin (a grandson of Hall of Famer Harmon
Killebrew). As well as rounds eight through 10: Haverford’s Stephen
Ridings; Dartmouth’s Duncan Robinson; and Michigan State’s Dakota
Mekkes.
