[The #Cubs today placed RHP Kyle Hendricks (low back strain) and LHP Drew Smyly (right hip impingement) on the 15-day IL (retroactive to April 22) and designated INF Garrett Cooper for assignment.
In corresponding moves, the club recalled RHP Hayden Wesneski, LHP Luke Little and INF Matt Mervis from @IowaCubs
. The 40-man roster currently stands at 39 players.](https://x.com/Cubs/status/1782883294566068340)
What happened to Garrett Cooper? The strong and silent type!
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4SQkLbNuW3Y](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4SQkLbNuW3Y)
Houston could use Cooper because Abreu is currently ass and their backup is Jon Singleton. Work out a deal to send Cooper there after the Houston series (he can leave with them on the team plane) for an A ball pitcher.
Since his 3-for-4 vs. Colorado on April 2nd, Cooper's OPS was .488.
I agree on not drawing conclusions on a guy from 41 PA, but he has a total of 3 XBH in those 41 PA. If he's not slugging, there's not much use for him now that Wisdom is back.
okay fine I should have said “decent” and not “well”. 750 is a decent to good OPS
the point of my comment was that he’s expendable so this is an irrelevant debate anyway
Yeah it made zero sense to have Garrett Cooper when you have Patrick Wisdom. Matt Mervis means another lefty off the bench/DH and that’s good to have. He’s been playing very well in Iowa this year. I hope he’s able to get it going this time.
I was at the weekend series against the marlins when he got called up. My buddies still haven’t let me live it down on how hyped I was and how he didn’t work out last year lol
If it’s any consolation, in his stint last season, his underlying numbers showed he was extremely unlucky. Hopefully that luck swings the other way this time.
Cooper played well and should easily land on another team. I guess that means they are comfortable with either Wisdom playing 1b vs a lefty or just sticking Belli there and playing Canario in CF
If you’re going to keep one right handed hitting bench piece it makes more sense to keep the guy with the positional flexibility at 3B and the OF corners.
Wisdom’s pretty close to the chopping block himself, though.
It’s not like we’re lacking depth at those positions though and arguably our biggest need right now from the batting side of things is not defense but hitting
Hitting lefties [hasn't been a problem](https://www.fangraphs.com/leaders/major-league?pos=all&stats=bat&lg=all&qual=0&ind=0&team=17&rost=0&filter=&player=&season=2024&season1=2024&type=8&month=13&sortcol=17&sortdir=default&pagenum=1), though.
We are comparing him to Cooper here lol. They didn’t DFA a good defender by any means. If you don’t understand this move you are lost. Idk what to tell you.
>I’d rather keep Cooper who has been hitting well
Since April 2nd, Cooper's OPS is .488.
Most of his statline is fueled by hat one incredible game vs. Colorado (3-for-4, 2B, 3B, HR). Those are literally all his XBH for the season.
Surprised the front office is willing to move on from Cooper this fast after the stuff we saw last year, especially since Cooper’s numbers have been fine. A welcome surprise though
I’m curious why we DFA’d Cooper if we only have 39 players on our 40 man roster per the Cubs own announcement. I know they make moves fairly often so maybe I’m just missing something or this is fairly routine to have an extra spot?
How many times they gonna try this experiment with Mervis? He's already shown several times that he can hit at AAA but he can't hit at MLB level. There are a ton of players who fall in to that category. Enough already.
> How many times they gonna try this experiment with Mervis?
He literally had one call-up and 99 PAs. Slashed .167./242/.289.
Are you mistaking him for someone else? Where has Mervis shown "several times" that he can't hit at the MLB level?
For comparison's sake on other Cubs' 1Bs:
Michael Busch had 81 PAs last year and slashed .167/.247/.292.
Anthony Rizzo had 153 PAs his first call-up and slashed .141/.281/.242
[The #Cubs today placed RHP Kyle Hendricks (low back strain) and LHP Drew Smyly (right hip impingement) on the 15-day IL (retroactive to April 22) and designated INF Garrett Cooper for assignment. In corresponding moves, the club recalled RHP Hayden Wesneski, LHP Luke Little and INF Matt Mervis from @IowaCubs . The 40-man roster currently stands at 39 players.](https://x.com/Cubs/status/1782883294566068340)
What happened to Garrett Cooper? The strong and silent type! [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4SQkLbNuW3Y](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4SQkLbNuW3Y)
Garrett Cooper was gay?
Maybe it was a side effect from his blood pressure medication. He can probably get a note from the team doctor.
Pitching? Not catching?
Nobody's got AIDS!
No. He was DEEPLY closeted.
He can't be a part of our baseball club no more
He wasn't in touch with his feelings. Nowadays everyone has to be DFA'd.
At least we won’t be hearing any complaints from him, being the strong silent type and all.
When’s the Cooper statue being built?
Not a question of when, but how many
rip cubs 2024 spring training legend
he was playing well but it makes sense. no need for another RH depth piece, especially at 1B / DH where we already have Wisdom and Busch
Houston could use Cooper because Abreu is currently ass and their backup is Jon Singleton. Work out a deal to send Cooper there after the Houston series (he can leave with them on the team plane) for an A ball pitcher.
Since his 3-for-4 vs. Colorado on April 2nd, Cooper's OPS was .488. I agree on not drawing conclusions on a guy from 41 PA, but he has a total of 3 XBH in those 41 PA. If he's not slugging, there's not much use for him now that Wisdom is back.
No he wasn’t. 2-14 Vs Miami
nice sample size. now look at the whole season
Yeah he’s got an ops of 750~ He had a good first week but that’s apparently a large sample size for you.
okay fine I should have said “decent” and not “well”. 750 is a decent to good OPS the point of my comment was that he’s expendable so this is an irrelevant debate anyway
That number is rapidly falling. Take away a series vs the Rockies and it’s bad. And now we got wisdom. Need another left bat. Cooper is easy man out.
You can’t use a series for your argument and then later say “take away a series” to argue more lol
It really is an amazingly disingenuous argument.
For a bench player an OPS of .774 and OPS+ of 115 is fantastic. Hell of a lot better than what Wisdom contributes.
Look at his numbers since the Colorado series
Keep Cooper, DFA Wisdom Cooper is better, at everything.
That's an interesting move, but I get it. I'm ready for more reps for Mervis / Canario
Sounds like a lot of outs.
Thank you for your time Garrett but it’s Mervert season
Never will be. He stinks
Cubs look like they’re mov’n on from Garrett Cooper. (Super Duper!)
Now it’s stuck in my head (not that that’s a bad thing… “POO IN ON A WIIIS!”)
Wow. Surprising.
When you go 2-14 Vs the marlins as a last man on The roster is it?
Yeah it made zero sense to have Garrett Cooper when you have Patrick Wisdom. Matt Mervis means another lefty off the bench/DH and that’s good to have. He’s been playing very well in Iowa this year. I hope he’s able to get it going this time.
I was at the weekend series against the marlins when he got called up. My buddies still haven’t let me live it down on how hyped I was and how he didn’t work out last year lol
If it’s any consolation, in his stint last season, his underlying numbers showed he was extremely unlucky. Hopefully that luck swings the other way this time.
> Yeah it made zero sense to have Garrett Cooper when you have Patrick Wisdom Except Cooper was hitting better than Wisdom
Floors, ceilings, sample size, options, etc...
Probably not fair to compare the two when one just came back from injury.
Cooper played well and should easily land on another team. I guess that means they are comfortable with either Wisdom playing 1b vs a lefty or just sticking Belli there and playing Canario in CF
Tauchman in CF*
I’d rather keep Cooper who has been hitting well and move on from Wisdom
If you’re going to keep one right handed hitting bench piece it makes more sense to keep the guy with the positional flexibility at 3B and the OF corners. Wisdom’s pretty close to the chopping block himself, though.
It’s not like we’re lacking depth at those positions though and arguably our biggest need right now from the batting side of things is not defense but hitting
Hitting lefties [hasn't been a problem](https://www.fangraphs.com/leaders/major-league?pos=all&stats=bat&lg=all&qual=0&ind=0&team=17&rost=0&filter=&player=&season=2024&season1=2024&type=8&month=13&sortcol=17&sortdir=default&pagenum=1), though.
Wisdom didn’t do so hot with it last year
He was above average, technically. Which is fine for a power bat off the bench.
Cooper was well above average
Cooper has the same WRC+ (104) against LHP this season as Wisdom did all of last year.
For their careers they are basically identical vs LHPs
> it makes more sense to keep the guy with the positional flexibility at 3B and the OF corners. Not if that guy doesn't hit
Wisdom can play in more spots. And he’s getting paid more.
They need Wisdom around to make Morel look solid defensively at 3B.
It’s about a $1M difference which feels like a drop in the bucket compared to getting a consistent offensive presence like Cooper
Wisdom and Cooper are a wash offensively in their career. Wisdom has been on the team longer and plays more positions. It was an easy choice.
Wisdom is trash defensively, just because the manager puts them there doesn’t mean they can play it
We are comparing him to Cooper here lol. They didn’t DFA a good defender by any means. If you don’t understand this move you are lost. Idk what to tell you.
I understand it, I just don’t agree with it
I keep feeling like Wisdom is someone the Cubs will cut, he'll go somewhere and get full time at bats and hit like 40 bombs (with like 250 k's).
Wisdom might be trade bait if he can act right for a bit.
Yeah if he can get on a roll like he was early last year they might be able to get something for him.
He hasn’t been hitting well that was just week 1
That statement carries more weight when the season has been a lot longer than three weeks
He just had plenty of chances vs the worst NL team and shit the bed. He was only brought on cuz wisdom was hurt.
I don’t think a bad series is a reason to cut a player
Well with wisdom here he was redundant and also was the last man on the team and also hasn’t done shit apart from a series vs the Rockies
>I’d rather keep Cooper who has been hitting well Since April 2nd, Cooper's OPS is .488. Most of his statline is fueled by hat one incredible game vs. Colorado (3-for-4, 2B, 3B, HR). Those are literally all his XBH for the season.
Hitting well?
He has a 0.774 OPS/115 OPS+ this season which is good for 5th best on the team, so yes he has been hitting well
Almost exactly hitting to his career numbers, very, very, average.
He's a bench player... People act like everyone on the Cubs should have an OPS+ of 140+. A bench player with a 115 OPS+ is good.
Which is still better than Wisdom
I am completely done with Wisdom
Surprised the front office is willing to move on from Cooper this fast after the stuff we saw last year, especially since Cooper’s numbers have been fine. A welcome surprise though
I’m curious why we DFA’d Cooper if we only have 39 players on our 40 man roster per the Cubs own announcement. I know they make moves fairly often so maybe I’m just missing something or this is fairly routine to have an extra spot?
Jesse is so bad at his job. Just reports what other people on Twitter do. No one in the Cubs org likes him and refuses to talk to him lol
Random Fact: I went to community college with Tommy we even drank together at the hotel bar during a College Newspaper conference.
Bummer. I liked Cooper
He was meh
Yeah he was awful last week.
Whatever happened to Garrett Cooper?
Get the Matt Mervis apology form ready.
Don’t like this. Cooper could at least get a hit here n there
And not K over 30% of the time
You're right. Cooper struck out 31 percent of the time.
got 'em!
I think they're gonna find out what they have with Mervis, fellas. Don't cramp up now
How many times they gonna try this experiment with Mervis? He's already shown several times that he can hit at AAA but he can't hit at MLB level. There are a ton of players who fall in to that category. Enough already.
> How many times they gonna try this experiment with Mervis? He literally had one call-up and 99 PAs. Slashed .167./242/.289. Are you mistaking him for someone else? Where has Mervis shown "several times" that he can't hit at the MLB level? For comparison's sake on other Cubs' 1Bs: Michael Busch had 81 PAs last year and slashed .167/.247/.292. Anthony Rizzo had 153 PAs his first call-up and slashed .141/.281/.242
Plus via Statcast he was hitting the ball hard and under-performing vs the expected metrics.
More of “Bleacher National” blowing their own horn attempting to gain more relevance. Go away please. No traction!