Cubs Promote LHP Matt Dermody from South Bend to Bolster Bullpen

The Cubs have selected the contract of 30-year-old lefty Matt Dermody from their alternate site at South Bend and he’ll be available out of the bullpen Sunday night. In order to make room on the active roster, righties Adbert Alzolay — the 29th man for the doubleheader — and Tyson Miller were optioned back to South Bend.

Dermody was signed to minor league deal on August 6 after compiling a 3-0 record with a 0.52 ERA over 17.1 innings for the independent Sugar Land Skeeters earlier in the season. He has made 28 previous MLB appearances, all in relief and all with the Blue Jays in 2016 and ’17. Dermody’s 5.33 ERA was due in large part to giving up seven homers in 25.1 innings, but he walked only five batters to his 20 strikeouts.

Tommy John surgery in May of 2018 limited him over the last two years, though he appears to be fully recovered and was pitching well enough at South Bend to earn a spot on the roster. Not that there’s a very high bar to clear at this point for a team that’s swinging trades for injured dudes.

There aren’t any official stats on Dermody since 2017, but he was mostly a sinker/slider guy at the time and threw his four-seam far less than either. He was sitting around 93 with the hard stuff and his slider was a very firm 86, so I’m interested to see whether that’s still the case.

The Cubs’ 60-man player pool now stands at 58 and the 40-man roster is full.