Marcus Stroman may need already thrown his final pitch of the season for the Chicago Cubs. Or the right-hander might throw necessary innings down the stretch as they vie for a postseason spot.
The Cubs aren’t ruling something out amid the vary of outcomes and uncertainty surrounding the rarity of a brand new damage Stroman sustained earlier this week.
The Cubs introduced Wednesday that Stroman suffered a proper rib cartilage fracture and can stay on the 15-day injured checklist, a transfer that initially was prompted due to proper hip irritation.
There are so many unknowns about his short- and long-term Cubs future, whose participant opt-out appeared on the midpoint of the season.
President of baseball operations Jed Hoyer didn’t need to attempt to estimate when — or if — Stroman, 32, could be again on the mound for the Cubs this season.
“I mean, I have no idea, that’s the honest truth,” Hoyer mentioned Wednesday earlier than the Cubs’ dramatic walk-off 4-3 win over the White Sox. “We don’t actually know at this level. I feel we’ll clearly get an actual relaxation interval and see how he feels, however I imply, once more, it’s not an actual frequent pitching damage. I’ve by no means seen that earlier than so for me to invest could be simply false.
“At this point, he’ll just rest and hopefully he feels better and hopefully he comes back and pitches really well.”
The Cubs didn’t present a lot readability on the specifics surrounding Stroman’s damage.
Stroman’s bullpen went properly Sunday in Toronto and the Cubs assumed he was going to make his begin Wednesday, the primary day he was eligible to return off the injured checklist, Hoyer mentioned earlier than the sequence finale in opposition to the Sox.
The Cubs discovered Sunday Stroman was having some points, with Hoyer explaining, “We didn’t know if it was muscular, if it was skeletal, if it was indigestion. We didn’t know what it was, we had no idea.”
The group returned from Toronto Sunday night time and Stroman noticed a physician Monday. An MRI revealed the fitting rib cartilage fracture.
“It’s not your usual pitching injury,” Hoyer mentioned. “After the bullpen Sunday, we assumed he was making the beginning so, yeah, we had been stunned.”
Hoyer couldn’t reply whether or not the damage occurred whereas Stroman was throwing throughout Sunday’s bullpen, which was speculated to be a lighter session forward of Wednesday’s would-be begin: “We don’t really know.”
Hoyer at present feels fairly snug with the Cubs’ in-house choices to bolster the pitching workers as wanted in the course of the closing six weeks of the common season. Javier Assad, coming off one other high quality begin Wednesday, is predicted to proceed to fill a starter position whereas supervisor David Ross is leaning “pretty heavily” to having left-hander Drew Smyly slot again into the rotation. Right-hander Hayden Wesneski can be an possibility.
“This time of year, you just sort of roll with things like that and move forward and we have depth,” Hoyer mentioned. “We’ve obviously been using that depth for a while and performing, so we have to keep doing that. But this time of year, you don’t stop and wallow too much. You say it’s too bad, we’d love to have him pitching for us, but he’s not and we’ll keep playing well.”
The Cubs can use certainly one of their two expanded roster spots on Sept. 1 on a pitcher. Right-hander Ben Brown could be a flexible selection, particularly since he’s already on the 40-man roster. However, Brown is on the IL at Triple-A Iowa and hasn’t pitched since July 30 due to a left indirect/lat damage. He’s at present rehabbing on the group’s advanced in Mesa, Ariz.
Left-hander Jordan Wicks, their 2021 first-round choose, is one other attention-grabbing possibility. He owns a 3.81 ERA in six begins with Iowa and hasn’t allowed greater than a run in his final three outings. But he’s not on the 40-man roster. The Cubs haven’t been afraid to make a daring late-season promotion earlier than, notably calling up Nico Hoerner from Double-A Tennessee in September 2019 to assist a banged-up infield.
“We’ve been creative when we feel like it’s the right thing to do for the organization, but we’re not in that position right now,” Hoyer mentioned. “But certainly when you have a chance to go to playoffs and you have a chance to win you’re a lot more aggressive with those kinds of decisions.”
Hoyer additionally didn’t absolutely rule out carry up high prospect Pete Crow-Armstrong, although he cautioned “it’s way too early to talk about that” with simply 12 video games at Iowa. Crow-Armstrong’s elite outfield protection and baserunning abilities might be an asset off the bench. He’s hit properly since his promotion to Triple A, proudly owning a .306/.424/.612 slash line in 59 plate appearances.
“Right now we’re just focused on his development and it’s been fun to watch,” Hoyer mentioned.
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Source: www.bostonherald.com