Chicago Cubs recall Javier Assad as starting rotation experiences full-on collapse

The Chicago Cubs now hold the dubious distinction of having four of five starting pitchers in their rotation posting an ERA of 4.59 or above.

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On Friday, Edward Cabrera—returning from a 15-day stint on the IL due to a blister—got absolutely shellacked against the San Francisco Giants in an ugly 18-3 beating at Wrigley Field. The hard-throwing right-hander allowed eight earned runs on eight hits—including three home runs—in 3.2 innings.

Juxtaposed against the Cubs’ heroic come-from-behind walkoff win the prior evening, which many had hoped would motor a turnaround in the team’s dismal play over the last month or so, the drubbing hit especially hard. The jarringly poor performance brought out the rare boo birds at Wrigley, especially as Cabrera was removed from the game.

“It bothers me,” Cabrera said through an interpreter, referring to the booing. “Because I’m a competitive person that doesn’t like to lose.”

And as the team kept taking its lumps against the 25-38 Giants, reality set in that this is the team with which the Cubs will have to ride or die. With two months to go before the trade deadline and nobody of real note available for a minor league call-up, there would be no cavalry riding in to help turn around things around.

Javier Assad recalled from Iowa

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The best Chicago could do was make the decision Saturday morning to recall Javier Assad from Triple-A Iowa.

The 28-year-old swingman had posted a 5.88 ERA through eight games on the major league squad before being sent to Iowa to stretch out for a potential return to the bigs in a starting pitching role. In the minors, however, he’s been more stretchered than stretched out, working to a 7.88 ERA over five games.

But Assad is all the Cubs got right now and that makes him the only hand they can play. That is absolutely not reassuring for a fan base looking at a long, potentially miserable four months ahead for a team that was all but guaranteed to make a deep playoff run at the start of the season.

To make room for Assad, the Cubs optioned reliever Ethan Roberts to Iowa.

Ugly times

Matthew Boyd is due to make one more start in his rehab assignment in Iowa before returning to Chicago, but that doesn’t necessarily offer much solace. The veteran lefty had posted a 6.00 ERA over five starts before going down to a freak meniscus injury that required surgery.

The Cubs are now entering into desperation when it comes to their pitching and, specifically, to their starting rotation. Through sixty-four games, the team has allowed 95 home runs, with 62 of them coming from starters—by far the most in baseball.

Excuses could be made and fingers could be pointed at the season-ending injury to Cade Horton and to the subsequent injuries affecting Boyd and Cabrera. But, ultimately, the rotation has not pitched well as a group—with the exception of Ben Brown, so far.

And time is running out to fix things up.

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Source: https://www.chicitysports.com/chicago-cubs-javier-assad-ethan-roberts-starting-rotation-cabrera/