Ryan Dempster may still be traded before the deadline, but it won't be real soon. The Cubs placed the right-hander on the disabled list with a strained right lat muscle, the team announced on Monday.
The Cubs have the game's worst record at 22-44 and Dempster, 35, is a free agent after the season -- the math is obvious.
Now, though, Dempster will miss the rest of this month and have less time to show other teams how valuable of an addition he could be. Although he has a track record that shows his value, teams may question his health and that could hurt his value as a rental player for the rest of the season. However, MLB.com's Carrie Muskat tweets the team doesn't believe the injury is serious, but he'll still have to show that to any team trading for him.
"We're going to play it conservatively," team president Theo Epstein said (via the Chicago Sun-Times). "As well as he’s throwing, we want to nip this in the bud to make sure it doesn’t turn into a strain or anything like that."
Epstein said the team has no timetable for Dempster's return.
Dempster's absence will also be felt in the short-term by the Cubs, who have won just four games this month -- three of those were Dempster's starts. The right-hander is 3-3 with a 2.11 ERA in 12 starts this season.
Randy Wells will start in Dempster's place in the rotation on Wednesday against the White Sox.
The team also activated catcher Geovany Soto from the disabled list, sending catcher Welington Castillo to Triple-A Iowa. Left-hander Scott Maine was called up to take Dempster's spot on the roster.
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