{"id":70124,"date":"2024-04-07T17:08:26","date_gmt":"2024-04-07T21:08:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/?p=70124"},"modified":"2024-04-07T17:08:26","modified_gmt":"2024-04-07T21:08:26","slug":"veteran-reliever-merryweather-il-shoulder","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2024\/04\/07\/veteran-reliever-merryweather-il-shoulder\/","title":{"rendered":"Cubs Veteran Reliever Placed on the IL"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Before their series finale against the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Chicago Cubs announced that veteran reliever <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/m\/merryju01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=www.baseball-reference.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-04-07_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Julian Merryweather <\/a>would be placed in the IL. It\u2019s a right shoulder strain for the second-year Cub, who has already made four appearances this season. In 4 2\/3 innings pitched, Merryweather has struck out six batters while only walking two. The 32-year-old has a 1.93 ERA and a 1.286 WHIP to show for his work in the early going in 2024. This is a hit for the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2024\/01\/29\/cubs-spring-training-bullpen\/\" target=\"_self\">Cubs bullpen<\/a> that hasn&#8217;t seen an injury affect them so far to begin the season.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Julian Merryweather placed on 15-day IL with right shoulder strain (retroactive to 4\/6).<\/p>\n<p>RHP Daniel Palencia recalled.<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Andy Mart\u00ednez (@amartinez_11) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/amartinez_11\/status\/1777034094917849168?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">April 7, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h2>Veteran Reliever Merryweather Heads to IL<\/h2>\n<h3><b>Revitalization for Merryweather\u00a0<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">2023 was a big year in Merryweather\u2019s career. The former Toronto Blue Jay came to Chicago on a minor league deal in spring training. He quickly received a big role out of the bullpen when the regular season began thanks to his impressive camp showing.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Merryweather appeared in 69 games for the Cubs in 2023. In 72 innings, he recorded a 3.38 ERA with a 1.306 WHIP. The right-hander also finished second in FIP amongst Cubs relievers at 3.52, behind only <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/a\/alzolad01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=www.baseball-reference.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-04-07_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Adbert Alzolay<\/a> (3.02). Merryweather\u2019s heavy heater immediately impacted a bullpen that didn\u2019t possess a ton of velocity. His statistical production along with his solid pitch mix made it an easy decision for the Cubs to bring him back in 2024.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">JULIAN MERRYWEATHER GETS SHOHEI OHTANI TO FLY OUT TO CENTER FIELD! INNING OVER.<\/p>\n<p>(\ud83d\udcf8: <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/WatchMarquee?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@WatchMarquee<\/a>) <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/OOiX4L2089\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/OOiX4L2089<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Cubs Zone (@CubsZone) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/CubsZone\/status\/1776354386580537593?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">April 5, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h3><b>New Arm Added to the \u2018Pen\u00a0<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In the corresponding move, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/p\/palenda01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=www.baseball-reference.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-04-07_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Daniel Palencia<\/a> will get the call from Triple-A Iowa to join the club. Palencia made his big league debut last summer for the Cubs and appeared in 27 games between a couple of stints. The San Carlos, Venezuela native threw 28 1\/3 innings for the Cubs a season ago. He posted a 4.45 ERA and a 1.271 WHIP while having a 2.4 strikeout-to-walk ratio.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/MFHyImuRBqk?si=Jod78o7SGje4b_xS\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Similar to Merryweather, Palencia brings high velocity to the table. However, command has been an issue in the young right-hander&#8217;s past, which could cause problems if it wasn&#8217;t resolved in the offseason. Palencia joins a bullpen with other right-handers that include <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2024\/02\/05\/what-cubs-need-to-accomplish\/\" target=\"_self\">first-year Cub<\/a>\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/n\/nerishe01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=www.baseball-reference.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-04-07_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Hector Neris<\/a>, Alzolay, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/l\/leitema02.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=www.baseball-reference.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-04-07_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Mark Leiter Jr<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Photo Credit: \u00a9 Matt Marton-USA TODAY Sports<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Before their series finale against the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Chicago Cubs announced that veteran reliever Julian Merryweather would be placed in the IL. It\u2019s a right shoulder strain for the second-year Cub, who has already made four appearances this season. In 4 2\/3 innings pitched, Merryweather has struck out six batters while only walking [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5007,"featured_media":70132,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[24,1071,35],"tags":[3430,68,2880,2619,69,645],"class_list":["post-70124","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cubs","category-mlb","category-news","tag-adbert-alzolay","tag-baseball","tag-hector-neris","tag-mark-leiter-jr","tag-mlb","tag-nl-central"],"modified_by":"Lewis Masella, Site Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70124","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5007"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=70124"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70124\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/70132"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=70124"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=70124"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=70124"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}