Cubs Designate Drew Pomeranz For Assignment

The Cubs announced that right-hander Jameson Taillon has been reinstated from the 15-day injured list. The club also activated righty Aaron Civale, who was recently acquired from the Athletics. In corresponding moves, they have placed righty Phil Maton on the 15-day injured list due to right knee tendinitis and designated left-hander Drew Pomeranz for assignment.

Pomeranz was added to the roster earlier this month. The Cubs were able to scoop him up on a minor league deal after the Angels had released him. Since joining the Cubs, the lefty has made six appearances but allowed five earned runs in 5 2/3 innings while issuing four walks and only striking out one opponent.

It was with the Cubs that Pomeranz had a huge bounceback season last year. He missed three entire seasons, from 2022 to 2024, due to various injuries related to his throwing arm. He got back to the big leagues with the Cubs last year and fired off 49 2/3 innings with a 2.17 earned run average, 28.1% strikeout rate and 7.4% walk rate. He parlayed that into a $4MM deal with the Halos but hasn’t been able to keep it going. Between the Angels and Cubs, he now has a 5.59 ERA, 12.6% strikeout rate and 11.9% walk rate over 29 innings this year.

Given the poor results, Pomeranz will almost certainly be a free agent again in a few days. He won’t garner much interest on the waiver wire. He has more than enough service time to reject an outright assignment. The Cubs might skip that formality and release him. He could probably find another minor league offer at that point based on his track record. He was one of the best relievers in baseball for parts of the 2019 to 2021 window. He has mostly been hurt since then but looked good as recently as last year.

If he ends up on another roster at some point, he would be cheap. The Angels are on the hook for the remainder of his salary since they released him. Another club could sign him and only pay him the prorated league minimum for whatever time he spends on the roster, as the Cubs just did.

The return of Taillon, who missed over a month with a hamstring strain, will hopefully help to stabilize a rotation that has been severely impacted by injuries this year. Cade Horton is out for the year due to Tommy John surgery. Justin Steele is trying to return from his own UCL surgery but has hit some setbacks. If he does make it back this year, it will be as a reliever. Ben Brown and Edward Cabrera are also currently on the IL.

The Cubs have recently been giving the ball to Matthew Boyd, Shota Imanaga and Colin Rea. They acquired David Peterson from the Mets late last month and plugged him into the mix. The Civale deal gave them an extra arm as well. That group will hold things down for now. The Cubs will surely look to make additional moves ahead of the August 3 deadline. Despite all the injuries, the Cubs are 56-43, holding a Wild Card spot and in position to buy in the next two weeks.

The Maton injury has apparently been ongoing all year. This is his third IL stint of the season due to that same knee issue. Even when he has been on the field, he hasn’t been effective. He has a 6.18 ERA over 31 appearances. That’s a far cry from the 2.79 ERA he posted with the Cardinals and Rangers last year. That performance was why the Cubs gave him a two-year deal worth $14.5MM.

Maton’s injuries have been part of a larger team-wide issue, much like in the rotation. Hunter Harvey, Porter Hodge, Riley Martin, Shelby Miller, Hoby Milner, Daniel Palencia and Ethan Roberts are all on the IL and now Maton is once again joining them. In addition to their rotation pursuits, the Cubs should be on the lookout for relief arms in the coming weeks.