Cubs Activate Porter Hodge, Option Ben Brown to AAA

The Cubs have activated reliever Porter Hodge from the IL after a little over a month spent recovering from a left oblique strain. Hodge’s numbers were pretty ugly during a rehab stint with Triple-A Iowa, but that was mainly due to one bad game. The experience is more important than the numbers anyway. In order to make room on the active roster, Ben Brown has been optioned to Iowa.

That move was nigh inevitable after Monday night, when Brown allowed four two-run homers to the Cardinals in St. Louis. The righty has struggled to add a third pitch, though he was getting decent results after incorporating a kick-change earlier this season. Pitching at Triple-A should give him a chance to stay stretched out as a starter while continuing to hone his change and perhaps a fourth offering.

Depending on what the Cubs do ahead of the trade deadline, Brown’s quickest path back to Chicago may be as a reliever. While I believe they still want to keep working with him as a starter, they should have enough in the rotation to use him out of the bullpen for at least a few weeks.