Who knows, maybe the plan was to always return right-handed reliever Gavin Hollowell back to Triple-A, but he certainly didn’t help his chances of sticking around after his awful appearance in Thursday’s 8-3 win. The Chicago Cubs are slowly getting healthier in the bullpen, and that means they’re not messing around with anyone who can’t get outs.
A few days ago, the Cubs designated Corbin Martin for assignment following his atrocious appearance in the ninth inning, and now Hollowell is back in Triple-A after he couldn’t close out a seven-run lead against the Cincinnati Reds. The home run that he gave up in the eighth wasn’t even a big deal, but the four walks, including three in the ninth inning, pretty much sealed the deal for Hollowell.
Prior to Friday’s series opener against the Texas Rangers, the Cubs activated right-handed pitcher Ethan Roberts from the 15-day injured list. Hollowell, who threw 49 agonizing pitches over 1.2 innings, has been replaced, which again was probably going to happen anyway now that Roberts recovered from his freak accident.
In case you missed it, Roberts was sidelined because of a cut on his pitching hand that happened after he reached out to block a falling vent before it hit his legs during a workout.
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Roberts, 28, appeared in three games before the injury in mid-April. He didn’t give up a run in 2.2 innings, striking out three, walking none, and only allowing one hit.
As noted above, the depleted bullpen is getting back to some normalcy. Daniel Palencia has returned, while Phil Maton has turned it around since coming back from the injured list as well.
The bullpen will continue to change before it gets to its final form down the stretch, and even now, there’s another change: Ben Brown will get a chance to prove he can succeed in the starting rotation, filling in for Matthew Boyd.
Current Cubs Bullpen (5/8)
LHP Ryan Rolison
LHP Hoby Milner
RHP Javier Assad
RHP Trent Thornton
RHP Ethan Roberts
RHP Jacob Webb
RHP Phil Maton
RHP Daniel Palencia
Trent Thornton is the newest name to join the reliever group, and he’s already provided value. The righty tossed a scoreless inning on Thursday, which followed an impressive debut the night before. Thornton, who tore his Achilles tendon last July, was added to the active roster on Wednesday. He was brought in to pitch in the 10th inning with no outs and two runners on. Thornton induced a ground ball double play and another grounder to get out of the jam without giving up a run, eventually setting up the Cubs for their third straight walk-off win.
While the Cubs may be making calls around the league for bigger names in the trade market, it’s always tough to convince any team to sell in early May. However, the Cubs did make one trade this week, adding another relief pitcher. The Cubs sent cash considerations over to the Athletics in a deal for Tyler Ferguson.
So far, the Cubs have been able to survive without several of their top relievers, and while guys like Jacob Webb are beginning to make a difference, the team is definitely looking forward to the return of Caleb Thielbar and Hunter Harvey, who are both on the injured list.
