Cubs roster move: Koji Uehara to DL, Justin Grimm recalled

Koji Uehara had been pretty effective out of the bullpen in the first half of the season. Since the All-Star break, though, he’s been worse: 10 appearances, 8⅓ innings, 6.48 ERA, four home runs allowed.

Tuesday night, he left the game against the Giants after two batters and neck problems were reported.

Now, Koji’s going to have 10 days to rest that neck:

Justin Grimm has had an odd season. He started out poorly: 6.61 ERA, six home runs allowed in 14 appearances covering 16⅓ innings. At that point he was sent to Triple-A Iowa. When he returned, in his next 14 outings covering 14⅓ innings he was lights-out: 0.63 ERA, 0.419 WHIP.

The calendar turned to July and suddenly he got bad again: nine appearances, 11⅓ innings, 7.94 ERA, 1.853 WHIP.

You figure it out, I can’t. He was sent back to Iowa when Justin Wilson was added to the roster.

Uehara has had a decent overall season: 3.55 ERA, 1.105 WHIP, numbers very similar to his 2016 season in Boston. His walk rate (2.6 per nine innings) and K rate (10.7 per nine innings) are good. Hopefully he can return in September, or before, and be effective again.