The Cubs have placed lefty reliever Scott Eyre on the 15-day disabled list with a left groin strain. Eyre has pitched in 18 games (0 starts) for the Cubs this season and he is 2-0 with a 4.91 ERA and a 1.45 WHIP. The Cubs have recalled 23-year old righthander Jose Ascanio to replace Eyre in the bullpen. Ascanio has pitched in 24 games (0 starts) in AAA ball this season and he is 1-0 with 11 saves, a 3.86 ERA and a 1.16 WHIP. He has also pitched in 5 games for the Cubs and he is 0-0 with a 1.80 ERA and a 1.40 WHIP.

The Cubs have placed outfielder Reed Johnson on the 15-day disabled list with a strained right hamstring. Johnson has played in 56 games for the Cubs this season and he is 49 for 181 (.271 avg, .730 OPS) with 31 runs scored, 3 homers, 31 RBIs and 4 stolen bases. The Cubs have activated OF/1B Daryle Ward from the D.L. Ward has played in 31 games for the Cubs this season and he is 5 for 25 (.200 avg, .829 OPS) with 2 runs scored, 1 homer and 6 RBIs. Matt Murton will likely see a bump in playing time while Johnson is out.

The Cubs have placed righty starting pitcher Carlos Zambrano on the 15-day disabled list with a mild strain of his right shoulder. Zambrano has started 16 games this season for the Cubs and he is 8-3 with a 3.13 ERA and a 1.33 WHIP. The Cubs better get on the horn with teams regarding starting pitching as Zambrano will be very hard to replace.

I was looking at the Cubs roster the other day looking for a weakness but they didn’t appear to have one until Carlos Zambrano hurt himself a couple of nights ago in Tampa. It might cost too much in prospects to get C.C. Sabathia from the Indians but instead of going for a pitcher like Greg Maddux why not still aim high and try to stick the new GM of the Mariners for Erik Bedard? The Mariners would probably jump at an offer of Rich Hill, Matt Murton and Felix Pie as they are looking to tear their roster up and go young. 29-year old lefty Erik Bedard has pitched in 12 games (all starts) for the Mariners this year and he is 4-4 with a 4.14 ERA and a 1.35 WHIP. He has whiffed 62 batters in 67.1 innings which means he still has his good stuff. He has now pitched in 126 games (123 starts) in his major league career and he is 44-38 with a 3.86 ERA and a 1.34 WHIP. His career record is pretty impressive when you consider how awful some of the Orioles’ teams he pitched on were.

The Cubs had high hopes for 28-year old lefty starting pitcher Rich Hill but he failed to come through and was demoted to AAA ball after a rough start to the 2008 season. He started 5 games for the Cubs this season and he was 1-0 with a 4.12 ERA and a 1.58 WHIP. He walked 18 batters but only allowed 13 hits in 19.2 innings which indicates that he still had good stuff but he just couldn’t control it. The Cubs sent him to AAA to tighten his control and they were prepared to bring him up quickly but it hasn’t worked out. Hill has started in 6 games in AAA this season and he is 2-3 with a 3.91 ERA and a 1.70 WHIP. He has only allowed 19 hits and he’s whiffed 31 batters in only 25.1 innings in AAA but he has walked 24 batters and that won’t be tolerated by the Cubs’ brass. Hill could be included in a trade soon as another team might be willing to roll the dice to try to get the best out of him. But, the Cubs won’t recall him until he starts throwing strikes consistently.