You really wanted to see Keegan Thompson come back and lock down a spot in the bullpen, but the right-hander just could not repeat his stellar 2022 season this year. After allowing a two-run homer during Thursday night’s 6-2 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks, the Cubs sent Thompson back to Triple-A Iowa.
Veteran reliever Brad Boxberger has been activated to the Cubs’ 28-man roster, coming back off the 60-day injured list. Boxberger has been out since mid-May, when he was sidelined with a forearm strain.
At this point, I’m not sure how much more fans are going to trust Boxberger over Thompson, but because he still has minor league options and hasn’t been as sharp, Thompson ends up being the odd-man out.
Thompson returned to the Cubs at the end of August after a long stint at Triple-A for a few months. The righty tossed two scoreless innings in a 10-1 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Aug. 27, and then pitched two more innings against the Cincinnati Reds on Aug. 31.
In his last two relief appearances, Thompson walked five batters in 3.1 innings. That’s what plagued him in the first half of the season, when his command was off and he was either walking guys or putting the ball over the middle of the plate and getting crushed.
That’s what happened Thursday night, when Tommy Pham hit his second homer of the game following a leadoff walk in the eighth inning, when the Cubs were still within striking distance at 3-1.
Thompson allowed five earned runs in his last 5.1 innings. It’s a sad development to see because Thompson was so effective as a multi-inning reliever last year, but now he’s looking like another example of how volatile relievers can be year-to-year.
In 2022, Thompson made 12 relief appearances. He posted a 1.47 ERA in 36.2 innings. In 19 appearances this season, Thompson recorded a 4.71 ERA in 28.2 innings.
As for Boxberger, you hope that his struggles through the first seven weeks of the season were because of his arm injury. He certainly wasn’t effective in his first 17 appearances with the Cubs, allowing 9 earned runs in 14.2 innings. The veteran righty had 13 strikeouts and 9 walks. Before the Cubs placed Boxberger on the injured list, he allowed runs in three of his last five outings.
However, hopefully Boxberger is fully healthy after being out for several months because of his forearm strain. He does have a solid track record leading up to 2023, posting a 3.13 ERA in 146.2 innings, while striking out close to 11 hitters per nine innings between his time with the Miami Marlins and Milwaukee Brewers from 2020-22.
Overall, Boxberger has posted a 3.51 ERA in 501 games that have all been as a reliever since making his MLB debut in 2012. Although he hasn’t been a full-time closer in consecutive years, Boxberger does have 84 career saves and has pitched on multiple playoff teams.
The good news is that the Cubs do have a solid group that should be handling most of the bullpen work down the stretch and maybe Boxberger won’t be heavily counted on anyway if he does struggle.
Besides Adbert Alzolay, Julian Merryweather and Mark Leiter Jr., José Cuas and Daniel Palencia have stepped up in middle relief, while Luke Little may also earn himself a bigger role after being called up earlier this week. Plus, the Cubs are still expecting the return of Michael Fulmer, who was great for a few months before a forearm strain sidelined him.
