Chicago Cubs: Which pitchers might we see once rosters expand?

Chicago Cubs: Another right-handed option in the pen

If you haven’t been paying close attention, you might have lumped Anthony Bass in with Cory Mazzoni‘s, Luke Farrell‘s and Randy Rosario‘s that the Cubs have been shuttling back and forth between Chicago and Triple-A Iowa this season. But Bass is at least a step above them.

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The pitchers in that group have gotten some good results and have some good traditional statistics (earned run average, wins, etc.). But there are indications in some of their peripheral statistics (hard and  soft contact rates, flyball rate, strikeout rate, BABIP, etc.) that indicate that they have been getting at least partially lucky.

When Bass has pitched for the Cubs, he has been getting solid results that are supported by peripherals.For one thing Bass is a great ground ball pitcher – something that bodes well on the North Side.

The Cubs passed Bass through waivers after his most recent injury. That enabled the team to assign him to Iowa and remove him from the 40-man. Any team could have claimed him, but surprisingly no one did. Since Bass is clearly better than at least a few pitchers already on the 40-man roster, the Cubs will waive one of them to add Bass on Sept. 1.