The Cubs have designated right-hander Michael Fulmer for assignment, per a team announcement. That move will clear space on the active roster for the reinstatement of lefty Shota Imanaga, who’ll return from the injured list to start today’s game.
Fulmer only joined the big league club last week. He’d been pitching well with Chicago’s Triple-A affiliate in Iowa, working to a 2.96 ERA with a 32% strikeout rate and 11% walk rate in 24 1/3 innings. His two appearances with the Cubs were strong. He totaled three innings and held opponents scoreless on just two hits and no walks with one strikeout.
This is the second DFA of the season for Fulmer, the 2016 American League Rookie of the Year winner with the Tigers. He opened the season as a member of the Red Sox, having signed a two-year minor league deal in the 2023-24 offseason as he rehabbed from Tommy John surgery. He made just one big league appearance with the Sox, allowing three runs in 2 2/3 innings, before being designated there as well.
Now 32 years old, Fulmer broke into the majors with 26 starts and 159 innings of 3.06 ERA ball for the ’16 Tigers, claiming Rookie of the Year honors in the process. He was a key member of Detroit’s rotation for the next couple seasons before injuries intervened. In addition to Tommy John surgery, Fulmer has also undergone an ulnar nerve transposition procedure in his right arm as well as surgery to repair a meniscus tear in his knee. Detroit moved him to the ’pen early in 2021, and he went on to pitch quite well as a closer and setup man between the Tigers, Twins and Cubs over the next two-plus seasons.
While he’s not the high-end starting pitcher he was early in his career or even the hard-throwing, high-leverage reliever he was from 2021-23, Fulmer has generally looked solid in his first full season back from that UCL replacement. He’s pitched 36 innings of 3.00 ERA ball in Triple-A, averaging 92.7 mph on his heater there — he sat 94.3 mph in his two major league outings with Chicago — and pitched well in his latest MLB look.
The Cubs will have up to five days to explore trades before Fulmer must be placed on waivers to ensure that his DFA is resolved within the one-week maximum. (Waivers take 48 hours to process.) He can be waived at any time prior, of course. If Fulmer passes through waivers unclaimed, he’ll have the right to reject an outright assignment to a minor league affiliate with the Cubs and instead explore opportunities with the league’s 29 other teams.