Cubs roster move: Ryan Tepera activated from injured list, Cory Abbott optioned, Brad Wieck to IL

Ryan Tepera was having himself quite the season before three bad outings in his four most recent appearances (seven runs, 21.00 ERA, .385 opponents BA) helped send him to the injured list with what was announced as a left calf strain.

Tepera has been activated from the injured list for Friday’s game at Wrigley Field and righthander Cory Abbott, who threw 65 pitches in Thursday’s game, has been optioned to Triple-A Iowa.

In 37 appearances for the Cubs so far this year, Tepera has posted a 3.35 ERA and 0.823 WHIP, with a good walk rate of 2.9 per nine innings. He’s struck out 41 in 37⅔ innings.

Abbott, who was the Cubs’ second-round pick in 2017 out of Loyola Marymount, made his major-league debut June 5 and has pitched in five games for the big-league Cubs this year, posting a 6.35 ERA and 1.765 WHIP in 11⅓ innings. He’s made eight starts for Iowa in 2021 and it would seem likely he’s going to be stretched out to start there.

I did want to take this opportunity to note that it seems as if we have one of these Cubs roster moves almost every day, someone to the IL, someone up or down from Iowa. The 10-day injured list is one of the reasons. That was supposed to be extended to 15 days for pitchers this year, but remained at 10 as part of MLB’s COVID-19 protocols. If it’s extended to 15 days in 2022, I’d expect a lot fewer of these sorts of moves.

One more move made Friday:

Brad Wieck had heart issues during spring training and here's hoping he is okay.