Cubs to select Chris Flexen

The Cubs are selecting the contract of veteran righty Chris Flexen from Triple-A Iowa, reports ESPN’s Jesse Rogers. He’s been excellent through his first five starts in Des Moines and would’ve been able to opt out of his minor league contract tomorrow if not added to the 40-man roster. Chicago has a full 40-man roster, so a corresponding move will be necessary.

Flexen, 30, has turned in a pristine 1.16 ERA with a much-improved 22.3% strikeout rate against an 8.5% walk rate in 23 1/3 innings of Triple-A work. He hasn’t made any notable changes to his repertoire, and his velocity is right in line with previous levels (91.3 mph average four-seamer), but Rogers notes that Flexen did make a change to his arm slot that the team believes has contributed to his early success.

Flexen has followed an unusual career arc, originally debuting as a 22-year-old with the Mets in 2017 and struggling through parts of three seasons before heading overseas. Flexen reinvented himself with the Korea Baseball Organization’s Doosan Bears, parlaying one strong year there in 2020 into a two-year free agent deal with the Mariners. Upon coming back to North America, he quickly became a pivotal member of Seattle’s rotation, posting a 3.66 ERA in 317 2/3 innings from 2021-22.]

After his 2023 option was picked up, his production cratered and Flexen found himself designated for assignment. He struggled down the stretch after being scooped up by the Rockies, and then pitched the 2024 season on a one-year deal with the White Sox, for whom he worked as an innings-eating fifth starter (4.95 ERA, 160 innings, 30 starts).

Based on how his 2023-24 seasons played out, it wasn’t a big surprise that the free agent market produced only a minor league deal for Flexen. His terrific early performance amid some tangible changes to his delivery, however, has fast tracked him back to the big leagues.

The Cubs will be without ace Justin Steele for the remainder of the season due to elbow surgery, but even with Steele out of the picture, the rotation has generally been solid. Shota Imanaga, Jameson Taillon and Matthew Boyd have all delivered strong results (albeit in spite of some more concerning underlying numbers for Imanaga in particular). Veteran swingman Colin Rea has stepped into Steele’s rotation spot and been brilliant in three turns (13 1/3 innings, 1.35 ERA, 17-to-3 K/BB ratio).

The Chicago rotation isn’t without flaws, though. Twenty-five-year-old Ben Brown has been inconsistent. He’s shown a promising ability to miss bats but has yet to top five innings in an outing and has scarcely kept his ERA in the rotation under 6.00. All three of Imanaga, Boyd and Taillon have strikeout rates around 19% — about three percentage points shy of the league average. Imanaga and Boyd have roughly average walk rates. Neither seems likely to sustain a sub-3.00 ERA without improvements in one or both areas.

Regardless, the Cubs don’t necessarily have a glaring rotation need. Brown seems likely to get a bit more leash. There are no injuries of any note among the existing quintet. Imanaga exited his most recent start due to some cramping in his legs, but Rogers adds in a second report that Flexen’s promotion is not related to that early exit.

For now, it seems Flexen will just provide some length, perhaps in a similar swingman role to the one previously held by Rea. If Imanaga’s legs ultimately require an IL stint and/or if Brown’s struggles continue, perhaps there’ll be a more notable change to the pitching staff’s composition.

It’s not yet clear how the Cubs will make room on the 40-man roster, though one straightforward option would be to transfer righty Javier Assad from the 15-day IL to the 60-day IL. Assad has been out all season due to an oblique strain, and while he was progressing through a rehab stint last week, he exited his most recent rehab appearance due to renewed discomfort in his side. That was eight days ago, the Cubs have since announced that he’s been diagnosed with a Grade 2 oblique strain. He’s not going to be ready to return at any point in the near future, making a 60-day transfer the clearest path to open a roster spot without sacrificing any depth.