Roster Moves Galore: Little & Palencia Recalled, Morgan Placed on IL, Pearson to AAA

The Cubs made a series of roster moves before Tuesday’s game in San Diego, headlined by Matt Shaw being optioned to Triple-A Iowa as covered previously. Vidal Bruján was reinstated from the IL to fill the roster spot. Several other transactions took place on the pitching front.

As had been widely assumed, Eli Morgan has been placed on the injured list. Morgan allowed four runs in 0.2 innings Monday night, after which Craig Counsell revealed that the right-hander had been dealing with an elbow injury.

Nate Pearson has been optioned to Triple-A, an expected move after his poor start to the season. Pearson currently has a 10.38 ERA with a 14.9% walk rate that is among the worst in baseball. He has some of the best velocity in the Cubs’ bullpen, but the lack of command has resulted in little to no production.

In order to fill the bullpen void, Luke Little and Daniel Palencia have both been recalled from Triple-A Iowa. Little has thrown 4.2 innings for the Iowa Cubs this season, posting a 3.86 ERA with four strikeouts. Palencia has appeared in 4 innings, with an impressive 15.75 K/9 in his limited action.

The bullpen has been a major issue so far this season, with too many walks and too much contact resulting in several blown leads. Even with other arms available in the minors, including top pitching prospect Cade Horton, Jed Hoyer needs to remain aggressive in finding additional options to improve the staff.