The Cubs acquired Clay Holmes from the Mets ahead of the deadline even though he is currently on the 60-day injured list. His health wasn’t really a question as he made three rehab appearances before the trade. His next start will be in the big leagues. Per Cubs manager Craig Counsell, Holmes will get the ball Saturday, per Taylor McGregor of the Marquee Sports Network.
The Cubs currently have a 40-man vacancy and won’t need to make a corresponding move to open a spot for Holmes unless they fill that opening in the next few days. They will have to open an active roster spot.
Prior to his injury, Holmes’ season was off to a great start. He posted a 2.39 earned run average in nine starts. In the final of those, a comebacker from Spencer Jones fractured his fibula, which led to this absence. But as mentioned, Holmes has already made three rehab starts and is ready to get back on a big league mound. He lasted 5 1/3 innings in his most recent rehab start, throwing 73 pitches.
As of a few days ago, the Cubs had a rotation of Matthew Boyd, Shota Imanaga, David Peterson, Javier Assad and Colin Rea. The addition of Kevin Gausman may have already pushed Rea to a long relief role. Counsell said Rea’s next start will be skipped and he’ll be in the bullpen for the next turn through the rotation, per Vinnie Duber of the Chicago Sun-Times. The activation of Holmes could push Assad to the bullpen or perhaps even Triple-A.
Edward Cabrera is on the IL with a hamstring strain but he began a rehab assignment a few days ago and could return in the near future. If everyone else stays healthy, that would put even further squeeze on the current group. That could lead to a six-man rotation but only temporarily. ‘‘I think we will go with six at certain times, yes,’’ Counsell said, per Duber. ‘‘Every time through? No, we can’t do that. It puts too much on the bullpen.’’
Holmes has plenty of experience as a reliever but it seems unlikely the Cubs would bump him there just after making him a key deadline pick-up. Gausman, Imanaga, Boyd and Cabrera are all strong rotation options. Perhaps there may come a point where Peterson gets bumped to the bullpen, even though he has turned his season around since coming over from the Mets in a June trade.
Peterson is a ground ball guy, similar to Holmes. With the Mets, he had a 6.09 ERA at the time of the trade, with a .350 batting average on balls in play contributing to that. Since coming to Wrigley and pitching in front of a strong Cub defense, he has a .227 BABIP and 4.36 ERA. That helped the Cubs gut through a period of the schedule where they had little rotation depth but the new reinforcements could lead him into a swing/long relief role.
On the position player side, Chicago’s only deadline pick-up was outfielder Tyrone Taylor. His profile is mostly that of a glove-first bench outfielder, though it seems the Cubs will use him in something like a short-side platoon role. Per Jordan Bastian of MLB.com, Counsell says it won’t be a pure platoon but left fielder Ian Happ will yield to Taylor against some lefties.
The switch-hitting Happ is having a bit of a swoon at the plate. His season-long numbers look fairly normal but he has been cold lately. He hit .230/.349/.469 through the end of May but has a .198/.304/.348 line since the start of June. That latter sample includes a .154/.228/.250 line against southpaws.
Taylor, as mentioned, is more of a defensive specialist but is having a good season with the bat. He has a .236/.285/.493 line overall with ten home runs. His line against lefties is .289/.299/.566, so it’s a logical plan for the Cubs to get him in there and shield Happ from a few southpaws.
Both players are impeding free agents. Taylor was going to get interest as a speed-and-defense guy but him having a nice bump at the plate just before hitting the open market could boost his earnings a bit. Happ will be trending in the other direction unless he can correct course and put this recent slide behind him.
Photo courtesy of D. Ross Cameron, Imagn Images
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