Chicago Cubs Left-Hander Sent to AAA After Short MLB Stint
The Chicago Cubs have sent Tom Cosgrove down to AAA after a brief stint on the MLB roster. Cosgrove made one appearance with the major league squad before being sent down in favor of Chris Flexen. Cosgrove was acquired in a trade with the San Diego Padres last month and the Cubs had intentions of making him a permanent member of the bullpen, however, Flexen was approaching an option in his contract that would allow him to declare as a free agent if he wasn’t on Chicago’s active roster. Cosgrove will likely be back with the major league team shortly.
Chicago Cubs Demote Tom Cosgrove
After making his lone appearance in the Cubbie Blue, Tom Cosgrove will report to AAA Iowa, where he was originally assigned when the Chicago Cubs acquired him last month from San Diego. Cosgrove threw two scoreless innings in his appearance out of the bullpen but will now have to wait to take the mound in the majors again.
The Chicago Cubs demoted Cosgrove to make room on the active roster for Flexen. Flexen was coming up on an opt-out clause in his contract that would have made him eligible for free agency if he were not on the Cubs’ major league roster.
The demotion will likely not be permanent for Cosgrove, seeing as how the Cubs are in desperate need of left-handed pitching out of the bullpen. Caleb Thielbar has been the lone southpaw in the pen for much of the year, only recently having been joined by Drew Pomeranz, who Chicago traded for last month. Cosgrove will likely see the major league mound shortly, and when he does he will have the opportunity to get back to his 2023 form. He had a sparkling 1.75 ERA in 51.1 innings for San Diego as a rookie.
Cosgrove finds himself in Chicago after struggling in 2024 and getting off to a rocky start in 2025 with San Diego’s AAA affiliate. Chicago saw a chance to buy low on an asset and pounced, bringing in Cosgrove to help a righty-dominated bullpen. While contractual restrictions got in the way of Cosgrove staying in the majors this time around, if he can produce for Craig Counsell and this Chicago Cubs bullpen, he won’t be seeing much of Iowa for the rest of 2025.
Final Thoughts
I understand this move by the Chicago Cubs. While it’s unfortunate that the bullpen is down a lefty for the time being, they had to make this move to retain Flexen, who became more crucial when it was announced that Javier Assad suffered a setback in his rehabbing his oblique injury.
I’m confident that Cosgrove will be back and contribute to this team in 2025. Until he’s back in the majors, I am a little concerned about the state of the bullpen, but the Cubs can manage that for a while. What they would’ve had more trouble managing is another loss to their starting pitching depth by losing Flexen to free agency.
