MESA , Ariz. – Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer knows he risks boring people by talking about depth and redundancy — again.
“But starting today, that’s what it’s all about,” he said Sunday, the first day of Cubs spring training camp. “How do we try to shore up any areas that we think are weaknesses? How do we try to become as redundant as possible in different areas?”
The news Monday that right-hander Javier Assad and non-roster invitee Brandon Birsell were dealing with injuries drove home Hoyer’s point.
Assad is out with a sore left oblique, manager Craig Counsell announced. Assad was scheduled to undergo imaging on Monday, which will help the Cubs estimate a timeline for his recovery.
The issue cropped up after Assad threw a bullpen at the Cubs spring training complex and went through a workout, pitching coach Tommy Hottovy said.
“It wasn’t anything like an acute-throw injury type of thing,” Hottovy said. “It was more something that kind of came up after the fact. … I know we still have to find out what exactly we’re dealing with — but when that happens, and it happens in that fashion, it gives me a little bit more room for optimism.”
Assad was expected to compete for a spot at the back end of the rotation, along with Jordan Wicks, Ben Brown and Colin Rea. The 27-year-old also has proven he can make an impact as a multi-inning reliever.
“We’ve just got to figure out what we’re dealing with and put him on a good plan, knowing that we need him for the long haul, and not just to be ready for Opening Day or for that first series,” Hottovy said.
The Cubs are also juggling two separate “opening days,” with the Tokyo Series against the Dodgers on March 18-19 counting toward the regular season, before the Cubs play their first domestic regular season game on March 27.
Birdsell had yet to receive a firm diagnosis as of Monday afternoon, according to Counsell. But the issue seemed to be around the back of his shoulder or lat. The 24-year-old, in major-league camp for the first time, sustained the injury before spring training officially opened.
“Had this happened in camp, once camp’s going, you could easily say, ‘He’s trying to do too much. He’s around the big league team; he wants to have a good impression,’” Hottovy said. “And that didn’t happen in this sense – he was around us, but it wasn’t in the environment of camp.”
Regardless of how long the injury will sideline Birdsell, Hottovy still sees the camp invitation as valuable for the right-hander’s development.
“The goal for a guy like Brandon Birdsell,” Hottovy said, “ [when] we know what he could do for the future of this organization, is to get him in camp and get him around [major-league] players, and just get to know what the workload looks like, what a routine looks like.”
The Cubs have 34 pitchers in major-league camp. And they could still add in that category.
“I don’t think I’d ever rule out adding anything,” Hoyer said.