Well, there is some good and bad from the latest set of roster moves from the Chicago Cubs. Let's begin with the good.
Nico Hoerner is back from the 10-day injured list. He suffered a mild hamstring strain against the St. Louis Cardinals last Monday at Wrigley Field. So, he'll slide back into the leadoff spot and go back to starting every day at second base. Second, Eric Hosmer is finally gone. The Cubs have DFA'd the veteran left-handed hitter after a miserable 100 plate appearances with the team this season.
The Cubs are also optioning struggling reliever Keegan Thompson, who was part of the crushing blown game on Wednesday against the Houston Astros. The Cubs are calling up left-handed hitter Edwin Ríos, but the other surprising move is left-handed hitting Mike Tauchman also getting called up.
Unfortunately, Cubs starting center field Cody Bellinger is headed to the 10-day injured list. He came down awkwardly on Monday in Houston after making a great catch at the wall.
So, this definitely stinks.
Just some quick thoughts on some of these moves.
Keegan Thompson
He just hasn't been right all season, even going back to spring training there were red flags. It was mainly his velocity being low in March, but it did increase to begin the regular season. However, Thompson just hasn't been missing bats and was fortunate enough to have as good of results as he had early on. Hopefully he figures it out in Triple-A and when he's right again, the Cubs use him more as a multi-inning reliever with more days off in-between appearances because that's where he's mainly thrived in the majors.
Edwin Ríos
The Cubs signed the left-handed slugger to a deal later in the offseason and it seemed like a weird fit. The Cubs had already added Trey Mancini and Eric Hosmer, while we knew that Matt Mervis was going to be up at some point in 2023, too. This just goes back to the Hosmer signing, it never made sense and Ríos should have gotten that left-handed bench spot all along.
Ríos hits for power, takes walks and strikes out. You take the good with the bad and it's not like Hosmer was even hitting to even suggest he's a better option than Ríos at this point.
Mike Tauchman
I thought there was a real chance that Mike Tauchman was going to make the Opening Day roster, but the Cubs gave Luis Torrens and Miles Mastrobuoni a shot first. Torrens is now gone, while Mastrobuoni has made it back to the roster after he was sent down to Triple-A after Seiya Suzuki returned from the injured list in the middle of April.
The Cubs probably didn't want to call up Nelson Velázquez again because it's not like he was going to get much playing time with Bellinger out. It looks like the Cubs are going to keep using Christopher Morel in center field until Bellinger comes back and Tauchman might only get a couple of starts.
The left-handed hitter has put up good numbers with the Iowa Cubs, as Tauchman slashed .278/.427/.443. You at least hope that when Tauchman does get into the lineup that he'll continue to have solid plate appearances. The 32-year-old has walked 21 times in 103 plate appearances at Triple-A this season.
