Which Reliever should be brought up?

With Genesis Cabrera being DFA’d, the Cubs had multiple options of who to promote to take his place. They chose Nate Pearson, but was he the right choice? There have been several pitchers in Iowa doing quite well.

Here are some of the relievers, sorted by WHIP.

Name	Age	ERA	G	IP	WHIP ▲	SO/W	On 40
Phil Bickford	29	2.70	19	26.2	0.788	5.67	N
Riley Martin*	27	1.17	22	30.2	0.848	2.50	N
Luke Little*	24	1.37	18	26.1	0.873	3.00	Y
Gavin Hollowell (IL)	27	3.77	12	14.1	1.047	5.50	Y
Brooks Kriske	31	3.91	18	25.1	1.224	4.10	N
Keegan Thompson (IL)	30	3.60	12	30.0	1.267	4.67	N
Ethan Roberts	27	2.00	15	18.0	1.278	2.55	Y
Michael Fulmer	32	3.13	14	23.0	1.304	2.73	N
Nate Pearson	28	2.22	19	24.1	1.315	1.93	Y
Jack Neely	25	5.27	23	27.1	1.390	1.64	Y
Tom Cosgrove*	29	3.20	16	19.2	1.424	2.67	Y
Jordan Wicks*	25	4.46	10	36.1	1.486	2.62	Y
Tyson Miller	13	2.57	13	14.0	1.57	1.44	N

So, There were 8 guys ahead of Pearson from a WHIP perspective, but 2 are on the IL, and 4 more are not on the 40-man roster. To provide more flexibility with future moves, the Cubs probably wanted to avoid filling the 40-man roster spot vacated by Cabrera right now.

That left 2 pitchers that had a case to be brought up over Pearson: Luke Little and Ethan Roberts. In addition to have better ERAs, they also have better WHIP and SO/BB ratios.

The key may be recent results. Pearson had a rough April, both in Chicago and in Iowa. But he has been lights out in May (0.73 ERA) and June (1.04 ERA). Little was amazing in May (0.59 ERA), but has not been quite so good in June with a 1.69 ERA, but a 1.5 WHIP and 4 walks over 5.1 innings. Robert was OK in May (3.48 ERA), but has walked 4 batters in 3.1 innings in June – in addition to giving up 2 walks and 3 hit batsmen in a game on May 31, somehow not surrendering a run.

The other factor might be that Pearson has shown more success in the majors than Little or Roberts, serving as one of the more trusted members of the bullpen after the trade from Toronto last season.

These factors might be splitting hairs a bit, but when all 3 pitchers are doing well, perhaps that went into the thinking of choosing Pearson at this time. Regardless, I think the Cubs will have a short leash of Pearson does not perform, and we might see Roberts or Little in the near future.