Things have not gone smoothly for the Chicago Cubs and their pitching staff so far this year.

There are certainly bright spots, highlighted by the great play of rookies Shota Imanaga and Luke Little, plus the promising outings of Ben Brown and Javier Assad.

However, the lows are also low as their ace Justin Steele is on the injured list alongside fellow starter Jameson Taillon, and their bullpen sits with a staff ERA of 5.43, which puts them 26th in the MLB.

Because of how their relievers have performed so far, the Cubs decided to change things up and optioned Jose Cuas to their Triple-A affiliate according to their transactions page.

The 29-year-old was acquired in late July 2023 from the Kansas City Royals in exchange for Nelson Velasquez, who has really flashed his talent, putting up 16 homers and 34 RBI with an OPS+ of 140, since being shipped out of Chicago.

Cuas showed well for the Cubs last season with a 3.04 ERA across 27 games and 23 2/3 innings pitched, but that has not translated to this year as he’s given up eight earned runs in his five appearances.

There has been no replacement announced for who will take the right-hander’s place in the bullpen.

Ideally for Chicago, this demotion will allow Cuas to work on a couple things and find his form again so he can return to being the 149 ERA+ pitcher that he was for them in the second half of 2023.

The good thing for the Cubs and their fans is that this team currently sits at 7-5 and are one-and-a-half games back for the NL Central lead even with all their pitching issues.

If things get stabilized on that front, they should make a real push for the playoffs.