Cubs roster move: Hayden Wesneski called up, Justin Steele to injured list

None of this has officially been announced by the Cubs as of today, but the following transactions appeared on the Cubs website late Monday:

• The Cubs placed Justin Steele on the 15-day injured list retroactive to September 2. He left his last start, August 26 in Milwaukee, with back issues.
• To replace Steele on the 28-man active roster, righthander Hayden Wesneski was added from Triple-A Iowa.
• To make room for Wesneski on the 40-man roster, righthander Kervin Castro was designated for assignment.

Wesneski was acquired from the Yankees August 1 in a trade for reliever Scott Effross. The 24-year-old Wesneski, who was the Yankees’ sixth-round pick in 2019 out of Sam Houston State, has made five appearances (four starts) for Iowa with a 5.66 ERA and 1.210 WHIP. That doesn’t sound great, but that’s two bad outings and the last three have been really good: 0.60 ERA, 0.600 WHIP, .087 opponents BA, 15 strikeouts in 15 innings.

Steele’s placement on the IL retroactive to last Friday means he won’t be eligible to return until September 17, and having thrown 119 innings this year — a career high — it might just be best to shut him down for the rest of the year.

Kervin Castro had talent and had some good outings for the Giants last year, but the results just weren’t there in eight appearances for the Cubs in which he posted a 7.59 ERA and 1.500 WHIP. I assume if he clears waivers he’ll be sent back outright to Iowa.

I’m not quite sure what the Cubs intend to do with Wesneski. He could be slotted in to start, but the starters for the Reds series (Wade Miley, Javier Assad, Adrian Sampson) were noted in this tweet Sunday:

Subject to change, of course. Wesneski could piggyback with Miley, I suppose, or that list could change before the Reds series begins.

“As always, we await developments.”