The Chicago Cubs have reached a minor league contract agreement with right-handed pitcher Kenta Maeda, giving him a fresh opportunity to regain his form.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Cubs manager Craig Counsell confirmed the agreement before Friday’s game against the White Sox.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Maeda, 37, had an ERA of 7.88 in seven relief appearances for Detroit before being assigned on May 1. In his first year with the Tigers, after agreeing to a two-year, $24 million contract in November 2023, he went 3-7 with a 6.09 ERA in 17 starts and 12 relief appearances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I think he’s a player you have to have a constant conversation with, and see where we can make some adjustments and see where he’s at.<\/p>Craig Counsell<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
Maeda debuted in the Major Leagues with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2016, with a record of 16-11 and an ERA of 3.48 in 32 starts. In the 2020 season, shortened by the pandemic, he had a record of 6-1 with an ERA of 2.70 in 11 starts for Minnesota, finishing second in the voting for the American League Cy Young Award.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After missing the 2022 season due to Tommy John surgery, Maeda is 68-56 with a 4.20 ERA in 226 major league games, including 172 starts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Cubs, leaders of the National League Central Division, have three key starting pitchers on the injured list. Shota Imanaga is suffering from a slight strain in his left hamstring, and Javier Assad has an oblique issue. Justin Steele is out for the rest of the season due to an elbow injury.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Imanaga was injured during a 4-0 loss in Milwaukee on May 4. Counsell said the team wants to get through this weekend before mapping out a plan for Imanaga’s return.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For now, we keep pitching. He’s having a high day, a medium day, a low day pitching, but he keeps pitching every day in that kind of rotational cycle.<\/p>Craig Counsell<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
The Cubs are also playing without left fielder Ian Happ, who is on the 10-day injured list with a left oblique strain. The three-time Gold Glove winner was injured on a swing last week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“I think tomorrow is a more important day to see where we’re at with Ian, because obviously we have to progress towards hitting if we’re talking about activating him on Tuesday,” Counsell said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Chicago Cubs Bolster Rotation with Kenta Maeda The Chicago Cubs have reached a minor league contract agreement with right-handed pitcher Kenta Maeda, giving him a fresh opportunity to regain his form. Cubs manager Craig Counsell confirmed the agreement before Friday’s game against the White Sox. Maeda, 37, had an ERA of 7.88 in seven relief […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6554,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[85,2387,344,1214],"class_list":{"0":"post-6553","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mlb","8":"tag-chicago-cubs","9":"tag-kenta-maeda","10":"tag-mlb","11":"tag-pitcher"},"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6553","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6553"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6553\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6554"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6553"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6553"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6553"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}