Moisés Ballesteros is Being Called Up; Ian Happ to IL

[CaliforniaRaisin]

 

[UMFan83]

This is a record amount of time for the Cubs to put someone on IL. I figured they’d play a man down at least another 2-3 days before making a move. I guess Ballestarous forced the issue. 

Hes not on the 40 right?  Wonder what move they will make

Edited May 13, 2025 by UMFan83

[CaliforniaRaisin]

29 minutes ago, UMFan83 said:

This is a record amount of time for the Cubs to put someone on IL. I figured they’d play a man down at least another 2-3 days before making a move. I guess Ballestarous forced the issue. 

Hes not on the 40 right?  Wonder what move they will make

My guess is Tyson Miller gets DFA’d.

[Hot Sauce]

The Cubs carrying three catchers just feels right. 

[Jason Ross]

6 hours ago, CaliforniaRaisin said:

My guess is Tyson Miller gets DFA’d.

Miller seems possible. Could also be Nate Pearson, who's just been bad, seemingly, wherever he's pitched this year. I'd guess it's between those two.

[Andy]

7 hours ago, UMFan83 said:

This is a record amount of time for the Cubs to put someone on IL. I figured they’d play a man down at least another 2-3 days before making a move. I guess Ballestarous forced the issue. 

Hes not on the 40 right?  Wonder what move they will make

The move should be Turner, if he sucks too much to just play him instead of Happ, then he shouldn't be on the team

[Wilson A2000]

Busch to 3B, Ballesteros to 1B

[gflore34]

5 minutes ago, Wilson A2000 said:

Busch to 3B, Ballesteros to 1B

I'm thinking DH for Ballesteros, I believe it makes the most sense.

[Jason Ross]

22 minutes ago, Andy said:

The move should be Turner, if he sucks too much to just play him instead of Happ, then he shouldn't be on the team

Well, to be fair to Turner, Turner and Happ are not interchangeable. Turner's really here to be a 1b platoon (primarily against LHP) and some deep 3b coverage. Happ neither needs a platoon hitter nor is 1b/3b option. Turner's primary role doesn't really change sans-Happ. 

I agree that Turner's probably trending in a direction where the Cubs will have to make a decision on him at some juncture. He's still in a sample size where if you want to believe it's a combination of slump/sporadic playing time you can believe it as he's still sitting at 70 PA's over 1.5 months. I know the eye test looks like something else, but people were flipping out over 92 PA's of bad Swanson (30 wRC+), it's not like 70 is some impossible tailspin. 

As of now, the Cubs still have a vested interest in figuring out what they have in Turner and hoping it's a slump versus being toasted. Especially because I'm not sure there's going to be an easy trade target for a bit. Until then, it's either Turner or like a rookie such as Jonathon Long. 

[Jason Ross]

1 minute ago, gflore34 said:

I'm thinking DH for Ballesteros, I believe it makes the most sense.

This. Michael Busch isn't a 3b. 

[squally1313]

But what if you move Busch to second and Hoerner to short and Dansby to third and Happ also to the infield to help with them all playing out of position and let PCA cover left and center at the same time what could possibly go wrong 

[Bertz]

This is fun!  I would hope he could get a game or two at catcher while he's up too.  Maybe have him catch Horton's starts?

Also while not 1 for 1 substitutions for each other, I would add this to the growing list of signals that the team doesn't think Turner's going to pull out of it.

[Bertz]

7 hours ago, CaliforniaRaisin said:

My guess is Tyson Miller gets DFA’d.

Yeah he's coming up on a month of rehab at Iowa, which is longer than he was initially injured.  And it's not like there hasn't been movement in the bullpen to free up a spot for him.  The team clearly doesn't like what they're seeing and Brasier is probably another outing or two from being ready himself.

[Derwood]

37 minutes ago, Jason Ross said:

This. Michael Busch isn't a 3b. 

The fun thing is, NO ONE on this team is a 3B

[mul21]

2 minutes ago, Derwood said:

The fun thing is, NO ONE on this team is a 3B

I mean, there are at least 3, unfortunately none of them can hit their way out of a wet paper bag. They mostly aren't kicking the ball over the infield anymore at this point.

[We Got The Whole 9]

Miller was too damn good in MLB last year to give up after 8 appearances. They need strike throwers and he had a minuscule 5% BB rate in the majors last year. Plus a decent HR rate. Pearson would give up twice the homer rate. 

 

Pearson would be an obvious choice for me. 

[squally1313]

25 minutes ago, Bertz said:

Also while not 1 for 1 substitutions for each other, I would add this to the growing list of signals that the team doesn't think Turner's going to pull out of it.

The Marlins and White Sox don't have a single LHP in their current rotations may be a small part of it.

Also think it may be a situation where Turner certainly hasn't earned a daily starting spot, but they also think that for a role that requires maybe 5 PAs a week, the difference between Justin Turner, formerly-very-good-hitter-but-now-maybe-washed-hitter, and one of Ballesteros/Long/Caissie/Alcantara isn't significant enough to take those guys out of their development plans, of which getting four PAs daily is a key part of it. And that's before whatever soft skills Turner may or may not be providing in the clubhouse. 

[mul21]

7 minutes ago, We Got The Whole 9 said:

Miller was too damn good in MLB last year to give up after 8 appearances. They need strike throwers and he had a minuscule 5% BB rate in the majors last year. Plus a decent HR rate. Pearson would give up twice the homer rate. 

 

Pearson would be an obvious choice for me. 

I have to agree with this.  Miller may not have the upside that Pearson does but there's something to be said for the predictability he'll likely provide.

[Bertz]

7 minutes ago, squally1313 said:

The Marlins and White Sox don't have a single LHP in their current rotations may be a small part of it.

Also think it may be a situation where Turner certainly hasn't earned a daily starting spot, but they also think that for a role that requires maybe 5 PAs a week, the difference between Justin Turner, formerly-very-good-hitter-but-now-maybe-washed-hitter, and one of Ballesteros/Long/Caissie/Alcantara isn't significant enough to take those guys out of their development plans, of which getting four PAs daily is a key part of it. And that's before whatever soft skills Turner may or may not be providing in the clubhouse. 

Marlins are getting Ryan Weathers back tomorrow, though that doesn't change your overall point.  Looks like as things line up currently we'll only see approximately 5 lefty starters between now and the end of the month.  

But yeah I'm with you I'm not too antsy on Turner.  I'd probably give it to the end of the month to make sure there's not a hot streak coming and to feel a little more confident that whatever kid replaces him (probably Long) is ready.

[Bull]

1 hour ago, squally1313 said:

But what if you move Busch to second and Hoerner to short and Dansby to third and Happ also to the infield to help with them all playing out of position and let PCA cover left and center at the same time what could possibly go wrong 

This is not at all the same as suggesting Busch play 3B. Across all levels, Busch has twice as much time at 2B as at 1B, and half as much time at 3B as 1B. 

It is a perfectly reasonable suggestion. I don't agree with it, but it's not at all absurd like you make it out to be. 

[squally1313]

2 minutes ago, Bull said:

This is not at all the same as suggesting Busch play 3B. Across all levels, Busch has twice as much time at 2B as at 1B, and half as much time at 3B as 1B. 

It is a perfectly reasonable suggestion. I don't agree with it, but it's not at all absurd like you make it out to be. 

If it was a reasonable suggestion, they would have tried it by now. We've had negative production from third base since we traded for him and he's played 1/3rd of an inning there. We spent $6m on a hitter who can only play first base, sent our opening day third baseman back to Iowa, and opted for Nicky Lopez rather than moving Busch to third and trying any combination of Turner, Moises, Long.

And that's before considering that Moises Ballesteros, all 5'8" of him, has played first base one single time this year. He got called up to AAA last year on 6/15, played first base once in each of the first two series, and then just...didn't, the rest of the year, not once. Probably no reason!

[Post Count Padder]

I love it. My guess is he and Kelly take turns at DH (and Turner if he's not DFAd) with Seiya in LF. 

[Bertz]

Moises Ballesteros is 21 years and 6 months old.  If he was an American college kid he'd be two months out from being drafted.

So let's all agree to be chill if there are some rough edges to his game.

[imb]

3 minutes ago, Bertz said:

Moises Ballesteros is 21 years and 6 months old.  If he was an American college kid he'd be two months out from being drafted.

So let's all agree to be chill if there are some rough edges to his game.

as round as he is there shouldn't be a single rough edge

[CaliforniaRaisin]