Justin Steele was supposed to be back pitching for the Cubs by now.
Those plans obviously changed when a flexor-strain setback threw a monkey wrench in the left-hander’s comeback from last season’s elbow surgery, one of the increasing number of issues to befall what’s become an injury-plagued Cubs pitching staff.
But the 2023 All-Star hurler is hoping to still be able to make an impact this season.
“The objective’s still the same,” Steele said Tuesday. “I want to pitch in games this year. I want to pitch in meaningful games. I just want to pitch, honestly.”
Steele has plenty of company on the injured list, where righties Cade Horton and Jameson Taillon and lefty Matthew Boyd all currently sit, straining the team’s pitching depth amid the team’s early-summer stumble.
The next step in Steele’s recovery will start next week, and he’ll be around the team for the next few weeks so they can evaluate his progress up close, giving them a better idea of his ability to pitch this season. But it’s been a long time off since he hit the roadblock in April.
Certainly, the Cubs could use Steele as a reinforcement. Their depth has been tested through all the injuries and has not always passed with flying colors; Cubs starters came into Wednesday with a 5.98 ERA since May 9, the second highest in baseball during that span.
As the Cubs hope to welcome Boyd back from injury soon – he’s set for a minor league rehab start Saturday – and eye Taillon’s return sometime after the All-Star break, what’s their level of optimism that Steele will factor into their pitching plans and make an impact before the end of the campaign?
“I’d say [we’re] hopeful. ‘Optimism’ might be strong,” team president Jed Hoyer said Tuesday. “He’s had some setbacks. The hope is he can avoid [further] setbacks and help us later in the season.”
“He’s got [enough] runway,” manager Craig Counsell said. “We can’t afford setbacks. But I think he’s got time.”
Suzuki in the outfield?
Right fielder Seiya Suzuki made his third consecutive start as the Cubs’ designated hitter Wednesday as the team looks to put the knee discomfort that knocked him out of Saturday’s game in San Francisco behind him.
The plan is to keep Suzuki as the DH through the upcoming weekend series against the Blue Jays, with the hope that he can return to the outfield next week, when the Cubs travel to New York for a four-game series with the Mets.
In his stead, utility man Matt Shaw had a huge series as the right fielder in the three games against the Rockies, picking up three hits – including a triple – drawing Monday’s walk-off walk, driving in two runs and scoring two more Monday and Tuesday before starting the scoring Wednesday with a two-run triple.
Cramping Cabrera
Righty starter Edward Cabrera gave the Cubs another injury scare Tuesday night, when a hand cramp forced him to make an early departure in the fifth inning.
But a day later, it seems the Cubs won’t have to add another starting-pitcher injury to the growing list.
“Everything is good,” Counsell said. “Right now, from our feedback, it was a cramp. It’s resolved itself. He kind of had a normal Day 1 post-start. We’ll obviously monitor it and see what happens after bullpen day and things like that.
“Right now, we appear to be in good shape.”