Luke Little's latest stint in Chicago is already over as the Cubs have sent him back to Iowa after one brutal outing and recalled Jordan Wicks. 
The swap of lefties points to a sense of urgency by the Cubs, who clearly were not pleased with Little's performance against the San Diego Padres on Wednesday (like everyone else). The Cubs were only trailing by a run when Little took the mound in the eighth inning, and he was tasked with keeping the Cubs within striking distance.
But despite having the advantage of facing multiple left-handed batters in the inning, Little surrendered four walks and a vital insurance run to the Friars. The outing continued a frustrating feast or famine pattern for Little's relief appearances in the majors. The 24-year-old has excellent stuff and a blistering fastball that can touch 100 mph, but his command can be completely nonexistent at times.
If Little is not injured, sending him back to Triple-A so quickly means the Cubs are clearly not willing to be patient right now. The team is in a 'win now' mode, and they can't afford to be developing a bullpen arm at the big-league level. Little is a guy who is supposed to be a high-leverage reliever, but he walked in a run in the eighth inning, one of multiple free passes he issued, including three to the bottom of the Padres' batting order.
The Cubs' struggling bullpen has already issued a disturbing 41 walks in 71.1 innings pitched this season. As of Thursday, the Cubs' relief corps is also fourth to last in the league in ERA (4.92) and BB/9 (5.17). Since Little was called up partially due to the struggles of Nate Pearson, Manager Craig Counsell is seemingly not interested in having another ineffective arm in his bullpen.
Wicks has made three appearances for the Iowa Cubs this year with mostly favorable results. The 25-year-old has a 3.55 ERA in 12.2 innings pitched, with 11 strikeouts. Wicks' latest appearance was a three-inning outing out of the bullpen, where he struck out five batters and collected a save.
This is likely a sign of things to come as Colin Rea is set to start the Cubs' first game against the Arizona Diamondbacks on Friday afternoon. Shota Imanaga, Jameson Taillon, Ben Brown, and Matthew Boyd comprise the rest of the rotation, so Wicks will almost certainly be utilized out of the bullpen in a long-relief style role.
That job was expected to go to Javier Assad when he returns from injury, who is scheduled to throw his second rehab start on Sunday. But the Cubs are eager to get more quality innings out of their bullpen, and Wicks is the answer right now.
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