{"id":676804,"date":"2026-03-23T21:03:12","date_gmt":"2026-03-23T21:03:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/676804\/"},"modified":"2026-03-23T21:03:12","modified_gmt":"2026-03-23T21:03:12","slug":"cubs-put-seiya-suzuki-on-10-day-il-option-javier-assad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/676804\/","title":{"rendered":"Cubs Put Seiya Suzuki On 10-Day IL, Option Javier Assad"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Cubs are placing outfielder Seiya Suzuki<\/a><\/strong> on the 10-day injured list to begin the season, manager Craig Counsell<\/a><\/strong> confirmed to reporters Monday (link via Patrick Mooney of The Athletic<\/a>). He\u2019s been slowed by a sprained posterior cruciate ligament in his right knee. The Cubs were already planning to select the contract<\/a> of non-roster Michael Conforto<\/a><\/strong> with Suzuki ailing, but it wasn\u2019t yet clear whether he\u2019d require a stint on the IL or just be unavailable for the first series of the season or so.<\/p>\n

On the pitching side of the roster, the Cubs optioned righty Javier Assad<\/a><\/strong> to Triple-A Iowa, where he\u2019ll continue to work as a starter. He\u2019d been in consideration for a bullpen role but will stay stretched out in Des Moines. Right-hander Ben Brown<\/a><\/strong> has nabbed the final bullpen spot behind Daniel Palencia<\/a><\/strong>, Phil Maton<\/a><\/strong>, Hunter Harvey<\/a><\/strong>, Hoby Milner<\/a><\/strong>, Jacob Webb<\/a><\/strong>, Caleb Thielbar<\/a><\/strong> and Colin Rea<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Suzuki, 31, played in a career-high 151 games last season and slashed .245\/.326\/.478 with a career-high 32 home runs in 651 plate appearances. It was the former NPB star\u2019s fourth above-average season at the plate in four years since coming over from Japan\u2019s Nippon Professional Baseball. He\u2019s entering the final season of a five-year, $85MM contract and will once again be a free agent following the 2026 season.<\/p>\n

With Suzuki shelved, the Cubs will turn to Conforto and perhaps a combination of non-roster invitee Dylan Carlson<\/a><\/strong> and\/or former top prospect Kevin Alcantara<\/a><\/strong>. Both are still in camp and are candidates for a bench mix that has yet to be finalized by the team. Conforto and Carlson signed minor league deals hoping to rebound from career-worst performances with the Dodgers and Orioles, respectively, in 2025. Alcantara has long ranked among the top prospects in Chicago\u2019s system, but his stock has slipped in recent years as he\u2019s shown a huge penchant for strikeouts in Triple-A.<\/p>\n

Assad, 27, missed more than half the 2025 season with a severe oblique strain. He pitched only 37 MLB frames and worked to a 3.65 ERA with a poor 15% strikeout rate but quality walk and ground-ball rates of 7.8% and 47.8%. Since making his MLB debut back in 2022, Assad has bounced between the rotation and the bullpen, combining for a 3.43 ERA. He\u2019s typically posted strikeout and walk rates a bit worse than league average. Assad is being paid a guaranteed $1.8MM this season and is controllable for two more years via arbitration. This is the second of the Cubs\u2019 three minor league option years on Assad.<\/p>\n

Brown, 26, was hit hard in 106 1\/3 innings last year, yielding a 5.92 ERA. Brown showed slightly better results as a reliever (4.99 ERA) than as a starter (6.30 ERA), but his rate stats out of the bullpen were vastly superior. Most notably, he fanned 23.8% of opponents as a starter but 30.5% as a reliever. He also allowed far fewer home runs working out of the bullpen. Brown has one minor league option remaining and is controllable for five more seasons.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Cubs are placing outfielder Seiya Suzuki on the 10-day injured list to begin the season, manager Craig…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":676805,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[10],"tags":[5438,63313,8753,62,67,132,68],"class_list":["post-676804","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-ben-brown","tag-javier-assad","tag-seiya-suzuki","tag-sports","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116280518632169794","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/676804","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=676804"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/676804\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/676805"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=676804"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=676804"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=676804"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}