The Chicago Cubs are still going to be without right-handed starting pitcher Jameson Taillon this weekend against the Miami Marlins, as he continues to recover from a groin strain. Jed Hoyer broke the suspense earlier this week on 670 The Score, saying that right-handed pitcher Caleb Kilian was going to be the spot starter against the Marlins and David Ross confirmed it again on Friday.
Kilian has made three starts with the Iowa Cubs this season. He made three starts in his first stint in the big leagues with the Cubs last year.
Kilian, 25, has not pitched for the Iowa Cubs at Triple-A since April 19. This week’s starting pitchers for Iowa were Javier Assad on Tuesday, Roenis Elías on Wednesday and Kyle Hendricks made his first rehab start on Thursday. Assad filled in for Taillon last week, when the veteran pitcher was first placed on the 15-day injured list. Assad threw three innings against the Los Angeles Dodgers, giving up a pair of solo home runs in three innings.
Kilian made his MLB debut with the Cubs last year against the St. Louis Cardinals. He was OK in his first start at Wrigley Field, striking out six and allowing three runs on three hits and two walks in five innings.
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However, the wheels completely came off for the right-handed pitcher and he only made two more starts in the big leagues before the Cubs optioned Kilian back to the minors. In three starts, Kilian walked 12 batters and surrendered 13 earned runs in 11.1 innings.
Heading into the 2022 season, Kilian was being talked about the next big stud in the Cubs rotation. By the end of 2022, the Cubs were left trying to figure out why the right-handed pitcher suddenly lost the ability to throw strikes.
It was revealed that Kilian pitched through a knee injury last year that did mess up his mechanics.
Flash forward to this season and his very first start with the Iowa Cubs was a disaster. Kilian allowed four home runs in 2.1 innings on April 2, giving up eight earned runs on nine hits. However, he has rebounded nicely after the atrocious season debut.
Caleb Kilian’s Last 2 Starts
4 IP, 1 ER, 4 H, 1 K, 3 BB
5 IP, 0 ER, 3 H, 4 K, 0 BB
Kilian is still working back into form and although fans should be excited to see him start against the Marlins, the expectations for him have definitely changed. Regardless, it is going to be good to see Kilian back up in the majors after it looked like he could have completely fallen off the face of the earth after the end of his 2022 season.
So, the big question now heading into Saturday’s game is who are the Cubs going to remove from their roster to make room for Kilian?
There are really only two options, at least obvious ones right now. The first is rookie reliever Jeremiah Estrada, who was called up from Triple-A a week ago, but he’s only been used once, getting the final four outs after Drew Smyly pitched 7.2 innings against the Dodgers last Friday. Estrada, 24, might be the easy choice to send back down to Iowa because the right-hander still has minor league options.
However, we saw on Friday that the Cubs DFA’d Luis Torrens as Cody Bellinger returned from paternity leave. Nelson Velázquez has taken Torrens’ bench spot. Torrens impressed the Cubs enough in spring training to win an Opening Day roster spot and so did 31-year-old Julian Merryweather, but maybe the pitcher’s time on this team is running out, too.
It seems like he’ll eventually get the boot from the Cubs and I think Merryweather could be DFA’d as soon as Saturday for Kilian. Merryweather just has not been good and despite his ability to throw in the upper 90s, he’s still posting the same bad numbers he has throughout his time in the majors.
If Jed does want my opinion, I’d cut the chord now on Merryweather, stick with Estrada and then you know, on Sunday when Kilian is optioned back down to Triple-A, how about bringing up Matt Mervis. That’s just me, though. DMs are open, Jed, we can talk about it more.
