NEW YORK — The Cubs’ series finale against the Mets on Wednesday was the last game in a stretch of 16 straight without an off day.
“Can’t wait,” Cubs pitching coach Tommy Hottovy said.
The Cubs have three days off over the next week, and they’re taking advantage of the opportunity to adjust the rotation. Right-hander Marcus Stroman is on the injured list but still on track to be activated next week. Rookie Javier Assad remains in the rotation for a second turn. And Drew Smyly is moving to the bullpen for the time being.
“Sometimes getting guys in the bullpen in short bursts to reset and get your mind back into attacking the strike zone and simplifying things is the corner that you need to turn to then realize, ‘OK, now I’m feeling that success, now I’m seeing all those things play out over time,’” Hottovy said.
That attacking mindset has been a focus for Smyly as he tries to correct his fastball command. He and the Cubs pitching coaches have seen progress in his side work and some underlying numbers, but the in-game results haven’t followed.
“Would I like to pitch better? Yeah,” Smyly said after his last start, when he gave up seven runs to the Mets in five innings Monday. “But I go out there expecting to pitch well every day. It hasn’t happened recently.”
After a strong first couple months, Smyly has posted a 7.22 ERA since May 28. The Cubs tried throwing a right-handed opener before him against the Cardinals in back-to-back outings in late July. His one-run performance in St. Louis seemed to be a promising sign. But he surrendered five home runs in his next two starts.
“To Drew’s credit he’s interested in doing whatever he can to help the team,” said Craig Breslow, senior vice president of pitching. “So, if it’s pitching out of the pen, he would do that. If it’s starting on short rest, long rest, with a bunch of weapons, with few, with 100 pitches, with 30, he would do that too.”
The challenge for Smyly and the pitching coaches, Breslow pointed out, will be making sure he stays stretched out while serving as a reliever. Manager David Ross said Smyly’s move to the bullpen will be for a “short amount of time.” The team will reassess after the schedule returns to normal following the three off days.
“There’s a lot of restructuring and things that we can do coming out of that,” Hottovy said. “A lot of that will be probably dependent on who’s throwing well.”
Assad, scheduled to start Friday in Toronto, will have another chance to make his case for a rotation spot. He was the choice to fill in for Stroman last weekend, after allowing just one run in the month of July (0.47 ERA) in a bullpen role that included high leverage and multi-inning outings.
As for Stroman, he’s on the mend. In his 40-pitch bullpen Tuesday, the Cubs saw promising signs in pitch shapes and mechanics.
“Just getting back to where I was in the beginning of the season now,” Stroman said.
He’s set to throw a heavier bullpen on Friday, simulating something like a start day, from his warmup to throwing to hitters.
“With anything, there’s probably going to be some bad habits we have to work through,” Hottovy said. “There’s things that happen just because you’re dealing with minor things, so you maybe make little adjustments that don’t seem like a big deal. But when you do them over three weeks, four weeks, they do become more of a big deal.”
Stroman’s IL stint gives him the time and reps to work through those things, without worrying about managing his work load for the next start.
After being one of the best pitchers in the league earlier in the season, Stroman posted a 9.11 ERA last month and was feeling “out of sync” mechanically.
“Using the wealth of data that we have in making observations and decisions, it does seem like the injury would lead to some of the delivery changes, which would lead to some of the performance changes that we’ve seen,” Breslow said.
That direct line was a promising sign for a team hoping to get back that earlier version of one of their rotation leaders.
