Brian Schlitter promoted

[italianocubsfan7]

UPDATE (3:30 p.m.) Cubs have called up Schlitter per multiple news outlets. Jeff Stevens sent down w/ a 2.81 era and 14 K in 16 inn. this season.

 

Word of a possible promotion of the right-hander comes via TalkChiBaseball's Twitter feed.

 

Schlitter, a Park Ridge native, is 1-1 with a 4.09 ERA and 12 saves at Iowa.

Edited June 26, 2010 by italianocubsfan7

[Guest]

There are far better candidates already on the 40-man roster in Iowa - Blake Parker and John Gaub come to mind (along with Atkins, Berg, Gray, Russell and Samardzija also on the 40-man).

[Clem Fandango]

I remember watching him pitch at a Double-A game last year. He's a power arm, IIRC. Throws hard, upper 90's, but no real movement on the fastball. His numbers dson't exactly scream "pick me!" in terms of a callup though.

[Backtobanks]

Who gets sent down?

[NCCubFan]

The only pitcher who there'd really be any justification to send down is Zambrano, since he's responsible for this mess and therefore should bear all of the consequences. It would be a shame for someone else to be in effect punished for Z's antics by being sent down for a fresh arm. But unfortunately that's baseball sometimes.

 

One thought just crossed my mind as I was typing this. Put A on the 15-day DL with a phantom injury. He's in absolutely NO position to contest such a move; his only choice would be to STFU and take it.

[jb10194]

CarrieMuskat:

#Cubs call up Brian Schlitter and send Jeff Stevens to Iowa. They need fresh arm

[RedFlash]

So we know have a Fukudome and a Schlitter on the roster. An angry Brenly and Schitter has a lot of possibilities.

[Little Slide Rooter]

Brian Schlitter of all people? did they just pull a [expletive] name out of a hat?

[italianocubsfan7]

Brian Schlitter of all people? did they just pull a [expletive] name out of a hat?

 

My thoughts exactly. I don't overly oppose this move, but I figured any combination of Samardzija, Atkins, Parker, or Berg would have been called up first. Maybe even test the waters with a Jay Jackson promotion, but Schlitter certainly didn't come to mind.

[NCCubFan]

Confirmed on cubs.com, even though it isn't on the transactions list yet.

 

The ONLY way this is a justifiable move is if they plan to place somebody (Schlitter or, better still, Zambrano himself) on the DL with a phantom injury and bring back Stevens after he's rested a couple of days. They CANNOT justify punishing Stevens by sending him down because Zambrano chose to tax an already worked bullpen. Zambrano, and nobody else, must bear the consequences of his actions.

[Bruno7481]

Stevens won't be down for long. He just gets moved out because of the innings he put in yesterday. He would be unavailable for the next couple of games most likely, os he makes the most sense. I would imagine he will be back soon.

[NCCubFan]

Unless somebody goes on the DL before then he must spend at least 10 days in the minors before he gets called back up. If the plan is to put someone on the DL to create a spot once he's rested he might not actually report to Iowa (players have 72 hours to report after being sent down).

[CubColtPacer]

I'm not surprised Schlitter is the guy. Every time they have mentioned pitchers throwing well he's been mentioned. I'm not sure exactly why they like him so much, but they definitely do.

 

I don't believe Z could be DL'd at this point like NCCubfan suggests. MLB would come down hard on that after the suspension. Stevens will probably be recalled shortly after the 10 days is up.

[NCCubFan]

I don't believe Z could be DL'd at this point like NCCubfan suggests. MLB would come down hard on that after the suspension.

Simple solution: Hire Jeff Gilooly to ensure that Zambrano truly is injured. :D

 

It's really not that big of a deal, but just as a matter of principle to me it just seems wrong for anybody other than Z himself to have to bear consequences of his actions. But as I said in another post, unfortunately that's baseball sometimes.

[dew1679666265]

I don't believe Z could be DL'd at this point like NCCubfan suggests. MLB would come down hard on that after the suspension.

Simple solution: Hire Jeff Gilooly to ensure that Zambrano truly is injured. :D

 

It's really not that big of a deal, but just as a matter of principle to me it just seems wrong for anybody other than Z himself to have to bear consequences of his actions. But as I said in another post, unfortunately that's baseball sometimes.

 

I may just be an idiot, but couldn't he just refuse the assignment and we'd either have to release him or keep him on the roster? I just don't see sending Z to Iowa as a realistic option.

[imb]

lol zambrano is not going to be sent to AAA and he's not going to be put on the disabled list, this isnt a video game.

[Banedon]

lol zambrano is not going to be sent to AAA and he's not going to be put on the disabled list, this isnt a video game.

 

How about the bullpen? Nah...that'd be nuts.

[Guest]

I'm not surprised Schlitter is the guy. Every time they have mentioned pitchers throwing well he's been mentioned. I'm not sure exactly why they like him so much, but they definitely do.

 

I don't believe Z could be DL'd at this point like NCCubfan suggests. MLB would come down hard on that after the suspension. Stevens will probably be recalled shortly after the 10 days is up.

 

They like him because he throws a hard, sinking fastball. But he doesn't have great control and his secondary pitches are a bit weak.

 

I wish they'd have called up Gaub even if he's a lefty.

[lumafia]

I got to see the Iowa team in all 3 games here in Nashville around the middle of last month. The Schlitt appeared in 2 of those games, and he looked great. He made one bad pitch in his 2 appearances, and it got hit about 400 feet. I think he gave up a few hits, but other than the homerun, none of them were hit hard. One was an infield single, and a couple of bloops if memory serves. They let him pitch the 8th and 9th in the first game, and he pitched the 9th 2 days later. He was throwing absolute cheddar the whole time, and I made the comment to my wife that the Cubs would call him up at some point to give him a shot because of his fastball. Even the guys who got hits looked silly, other than the homerun of course. He hit 99 on the stadium gun 3 or 4 times. He is far less than a polished prospect, but my guess that he could be used in spot situations against slow bats. At this point, why not call everybody up and see what they can do?

[Pushfrog98]

Maybe I don't know as much as I thought I knew about baseball, but they brought this guy up to save the bullpen arms and sent Stevens down... yet there were a few games he was up early on where we were being either beat soundly, or winning soundly and Piniella still put in Marmol and Marshall. If you're trying to save arms, why go with the most worked arms in those situations?

[CubColtPacer]

Maybe I don't know as much as I thought I knew about baseball, but they brought this guy up to save the bullpen arms and sent Stevens down... yet there were a few games he was up early on where we were being either beat soundly, or winning soundly and Piniella still put in Marmol and Marshall. If you're trying to save arms, why go with the most worked arms in those situations?

 

I think the main worry was Saturday if Silva had a short outing. It was a tie game so they had Cashner go 2 innings on Saturday. He was the only bullpen pitcher that pitched on Saturday. Since they hadn't pitched Saturday (and Marmol hadn't pitched since Thursday), Marshall and Marmol were ready to go 1 inning on Sunday to secure the win.

 

Maybe Marshall shouldn't have been used Sunday but I don't think it was a big concern. And that's the only non tied game the Cubs have played in the 3 that Schlitter has been up with the club (not to mention that he pitched last night). After the Cubs only had to use 1 pitcher out of the bullpen Saturday the worry was pretty much over and only using two different pitchers Sunday made everyone available by last night.

[Pushfrog98]

ah ok, that makes sense.