Fox headed to DL; Ascanio to get call-up -

HOUSTON -- The Cubs' pitching carousel continued Monday night with the news that reliever Chad Fox will go on the disabled list today with irritation in his pitching elbow. Prospect Jose Ascanio will be called up from Class AAA Iowa to take his place.

Chad Fox's injury history continues. Ascanio is the better pitcher, anyway. Ascanio debuted with two scoreless innings in tonight's 4-2 loss to the Houston Astros.

Apparently Omar Infante was not meant to wear a Cubs' uniform after all. Off to Atlanta he goes, along with the out-of-favor Will Ohman. In exchange, the Cubs get 22-year-old right-handed relief pitcher Jose Ascanio. Ascanio had a 2.54 ERA in 78 innings in the double-A Southern League in 2007. He had an impressive 71 K's against just 18 BB's. He also pitched in 16 innings for the Braves, allowing 9 runs.

Ohman was set to make $1.6M in 2008 and Infante would have made something similar.

So Jim Hendry turned Jacque Jones into a young major-league ready fireballing reliever, giving up Ohman in the process but also dropping salary. Well done.

For their part, Braves blogs Talking Chop and Chop-N-Change both like the deal from their perspective as well, noting Ohman's excellent road ERA over the past three seasons.