The Chicago Cubs will be without star reliever Hunter Harvey.
Chicago is looking to avoid being swept by the Pittsburgh Pirates on Sunday, and just hours before first pitch, the team announced Harvey would be placed on IL.
Harvey is placed on the 15-day IL retroactive to April 9 with right triceps inflammation. The right-hander last pitched April 8 as he’s been dealing with the injury, and has now been placed on the IL.
The former first-round pick is 0-1 with a 6.75 ERA in 4 games this season, as Harvey, like most players on the Cubs, is off to a slow start. Chicago signed Harvey to a one-year, $6 million contract this offseason after he spent last year with the Kansas City Royals.
The corresponding move for the Cubs was recalling left-hander Charlie Barnes. The 30-year-old spent the last four seasons playing with the Lotte Giants and signed a minor-league deal with the Cubs this offseason. He’s 0-3 with a 5.92 ERA in 9 career games, including 8 starts in his MLB career, as all 9 games happened in 2021 with the Minnesota Twins.
Barnes will provide some length out of the Cubs’ bullpen.
Cubs Fans React to Harvey Injury
Harvey’s injury comes as Chicago is off to a slow start.
Although Harvey has struggled to begin the season, he was expected to be an impactful reliever for the team. Following the injury, many Cubs fans took aim at the team’s medical staff.
“Major market team with minor market budget, aspirations, training staff, and talent evaluation. We piss away an entire budget on a manager with nothing to manage,” one fan wrote.
“Fire the entire medical staff,” another fan added.
“Do you guys even have a rehab facility?,” a fan wrote.
It’s clear Cubs fans aren’t happy with the start, but some fans also call Harvey injury prone.
“‘We gotta keep Hunter healthy’ proceeds to go on the IL 14 games into 2026. Bruh’s injury prone,” a fan wrote.
“Yearly Hunter Harvey IL announcement,” a fan added.
“There might not be a bullpen by May 1,” another fan wrote.
The Cubs currently have seven pitchers on the injured list.
Chicago Off to Slow Start
The Cubs entered this season with expectations of competing for a World Series, but so far, it’s been a tough few weeks for Chicago.
The Cubs are 6-8 and have dropped the first two games of the series to the Pittsburgh Pirates, but the team is confident that they are better than they have played.
“Look, it’s going to turn,” manager Craig Counsell said. “It’s going to happen.”
Star third baseman Alex Bregman echoed those words as he’s confident in the group.
“It’ll turn,” Bregman said. “We’ve just got to keep fighting the fight.”
Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer, meanwhile, believes the team will get better, especially on the offensive side.
“We have really good players that haven’t gotten going yet,” Hoyer said on Friday. “And at the end of the day, they’ll get to where their baseball card says they should be, or better. That’s a positive thing. We have a lot of positive regression coming to us on the offensive side. Hopefully it happens soon.”
The Cubs will go on the road for a three-game series against the Philadelphia Phillies.
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