Chicago Cubs Continue to Shuffle Bullpen By Adding Peralta

The Chicago Cubs continue to make tweaks to their shaky bullpen by adding a veteran arm to counter with the recent surge of rookies.

It’s no question that the Chicago Cubs bullpen has been problematic over the last few weeks. Clayton Richard hit the disabled list, Adam Warren was sent to Iowa to be stretched out as a starter and Justin Grimm has struggled mightily causing a slew of bullpen roster moves over the last week.

The Cubs called up Cuban lefty Gerardo Concepcion early this week to fill one of those bullpen voids. Concepcion was signed by the Cubs as an amateur free agent in 2012. Concepcion made three appearances for the Cubs, throwing 2 1/3 innings and allowing just one earned run.

Concepcion was impressive in his first three outings with the Cubs, but the Cubs decided they needed a more veteran presence in what has turned into a rather young and inexperienced bullpen.

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Today, the Cubs sent Gerardo Concepcion back to the minors and have called up veteran RHP Joel Peralta as reported by the Chicago Tribune. The Cubs signed Peralta to a minor league deal last month and stashed him in the minors until now.

Peralta, 40, has spent nine years in the big leagues with the Rays, Royals, Nationals, Dodgers, Angels, and Mariners. Peralta is 20-34 with a 4.00 ERA in his MLB career. With the Mariners this season, Peralta was 1-0 with a 5.40 ERA in 23 1/3 innings.

He struck out 28 and only walked seven but also allowed seven homer runs. Peralta had some great years with the Tampa Bay Rays under Joe Maddon, where he had a career 3.58 ERA in 269 1/3  innings.

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Peralta will provide a veteran presence in an otherwise young bullpen with the recent additions of Carl Edwards Jr. and Spencer Patton.

The Cubs bullpen struggles have been well documented and their search for left-handed bullpen help is one of the top priorities on their list, as the August 1st trade deadline approaches.

There is no doubt that Concepcion will be back in the big leagues at some point and the Cubs will have a lot of decisions to make coming up as a lot of players will be returning from the DL, forcing some of these young guys back to the minors.