NEWSLETTER
Before I freak – before you freak – I will remind myself that the usage of the minor league injured list is MUCH more liberal than in the big leagues, with guys often going on the IL for relatively small stuff. It helps organizations optimize their rosters for development purposes, it gives opportunities for guys to rest and reset and get over small things, and so on and so forth. You don’t have the same COMPETITIVE considerations as you do in the big leagues when making IL decisions.
OK. So against that backdrop, I really still hate to see this today:
We don’t always hear a lot about the specifics on minor league injuries, though sometimes with guys on the 40-man roster there is a little more detail. So we’ll probably find out soon enough what’s going on with Brown. Hopefully it’s minor. He did make what looks like a relatively normal start on July 30, so it isn’t a situation where he took the mound for a game and then immediately left with the trainer or whatever.
The timing stinks no matter how minor the issue is (and obviously it REALLY stinks if it’s a major issue), as Brown was probably going to be in consideration for usage in the big leagues in the next couple months if the need arose. He’s a starting pitcher, but you could easily imagine him coming up as bullpen depth if the Cubs needed it – he’s already on the 40-man roster, he’s got the kind of pitch mix and velocity you can see working against big league hitters, and that kind of introduction can actually be good for a pitcher’s long-term development as a starter. Or if there was a need for a spot start and the days of rest lined up, that probably would’ve been Brown.
Again, you just hope it’s a minor physical issue, and the worst of it is the timing disruption.
UPDATE: I think we might be getting our wish. From Sahadev Sharma, who writes, “(Brown) is on the IL with a lat issue that’s not believed to be serious and could even help the bullpen at some point this season.”
HELLO! That’s a double-whammy of great news. First, there’s the injury update, which seems to mean that the Cubs are just being very careful with some lat discomfort – no reason to push a young prospect TOO aggressively as he approaches last season’s innings total. Second, there’s the confirmation that the Cubs do think there’s a chance Brown could come up this year and contribute out of the bullpen (which, by the way, would be another reason to be overly cautious about the lat and manage his innings right now).
Heck, the Cubs could use this IL stint to get him some experience getting up and down like a reliever. With Brown already on the 40-man and likely to throw meaningful big league innings in one role or another next year, you’d love to see him get some big league experience this season. And as we’ve seen with Justin Steele and Hayden Wesneski, the Cubs aren’t afraid to get their young “starting” pitchers a first taste of big league action as a reliever. It can be a good thing for development *AND* it can get you some valuable innings down the stretch.
