Cubs place Righthander Blake Parker on 60-day D.L.
The Chicago Cubs today placed right-handed pitcher Blake Parker on the 60-day disabled list with a right elbow stress reaction and selected the contract of right-handed pitcher Manuel Corpas from Triple-A Iowa.
Corpas, who joins a big league roster for the first time since the 2010 campaign, will wear uniform number 60 and be available for the Cubs tonight in Milwaukee.
Corpas, 29, went 12-16 with 34 saves, 51 holds and a 3.93 ERA (125 ER/286.0 IP) in all or part of five major league seasons with the Colorado Rockies (2006-10). He missed the 2011 campaign due to Tommy John ligament replacement surgery in September 2010. Corpas has 206 strikeouts and only 80 walks in 286.0 innings pitched, an average of only 2.5 walks per nine innings. Corpas spent the 2011 campaign in the Rangers organization but did not pitch. He signed a split-contract with the Cubs last December and was an invitee to 2012 major league spring training.
The 6-foot-3, 210-pound Corpas broke into the big leagues in 2006 at the age of 24 and became Colorado’s closer midway through the 2007 campaign, helping the Rockies to the World Series by going 4-2 with 19 saves and a 2.08 ERA (18 ER/78.0 IP) in 78 relief appearances. His 2.08 ERA was the lowest relief mark in franchise history. In his last big league campaign in 2010, he was 3-5 with 10 saves and a 4.62 ERA (32 ER/62.1 IP) in 56 relief appearances before suffering the right elbow injury.
Corpas has no record, a 2.21 ERA (5 ER/20.1 IP) and has limited foes to a .171 batting average (12-for-70) in his last 11 relief outings with Triple-A Iowa since the start of May after going 0-2 with a 6.75 ERA (10 ER/13.1 IP) in eight outings in April. Overall, Corpas is 0-2 with a 4.01 ERA (15 ER/33.2 IP) in 19 relief appearances with Iowa this season, limiting right-handed batters to a .161 average (10-for-62).
Parker hasn’t allowed an earned run in four relief outings, covering 4.1 innings pitched, since his contract was selected from Triple-A Iowa on May 17. Parker did not pitch from May 20-26 while nursing a right hamstring strain.