Terrible Hitter is Back with the Cubs
UPDATE Oh thank god. Seiya Suzuki is fine and after missing the weekend in San Francisco, he’s back in the starting lineup. Instead, Miles Mastrobuoni has been called up as left-handed reliever Brandon Hughes has been placed on the 15-day injured list. Anyway, not really sure why Mastrobuoni is the choice other than that he’s […]
UPDATE
Oh thank god. Seiya Suzuki is fine and after missing the weekend in San Francisco, he’s back in the starting lineup. Instead, Miles Mastrobuoni has been called up as left-handed reliever Brandon Hughes has been placed on the 15-day injured list.
Anyway, not really sure why Mastrobuoni is the choice other than that he’s already on the 40-man roster. Whatever.
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I think there were a few days at the end of spring training and then maybe a week in May, when Cubs fans were actually hopeful about Miles Mastrobuoni being somewhat useful on this team, but really he’s been terrible in 2023. Unfortunately, it appears as though the 27-year-old utility man is back with the Cubs after he was demoted to Triple-A last week.
What sucks even more is that right fielder Seiya Suzuki is probably going on the injured list. This is just a guess for now, but Suzuki has not played since Friday night against the San Francisco Giants and the Cubs have been eerily quiet about what is actually wrong with him since then.
Mastrobuoni was seen arriving at Wrigley Field on Tuesday.
So far this season Mastrobuoni has played in 25 games with the Cubs and he’s posted a slash line of .167/.259/.194. He has 23 strikeouts to 9 walks, while going 12-for-72 at the plate with just a pair of extra base hits.
Mastrobuoni was on the Opening Day roster, as Suzuki began the year on the injured list, still recovering from his left oblique strain. When Suzuki returned, the Cubs sent Mastrobuoni down to Triple-A and then called him back up in May. During his second stint up in the majors, Mastrobuoni went 5-for-36 at the plate, but at least he was drawing some walks and wasn’t a complete black hole when he was in the starting lineup.
I know that the front office has a plan for their prospects and a lot more goes into these roster decisions, but it would be awesome if the Cubs would have brought up someone other than Mastrobuoni. Switch-hitter Yonathan Perlaza has been killing it at Triple-A, posting a .949 OPS in 44 games this season. And then there’s Nelson Velázquez, who has had some success in the majors. Why not give those guys a shot.
The big story here, though, is that someone is going on the injured list and it is most likely going to be Seiya Suzuki.
(love being wrong about this one)
BUT HOLY FUCK! WHY IS HE THE DH?!?!?!