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The Cubs have placed left-handed starting pitcher Justin Steele on the 15-day injured list due to elbow tendonitis, the team announced Wednesday. As a corresponding move, righty Ethan Roberts has been recalled from the minors.
Heading into Wednesday's series finale against the Rangers, the Cubs sit at 9-5 and in first place in the NL Central. Steele hadn't been very good in his first three outings, but really settled in with seven scoreless innings on only three hits while striking out eight in Monday night's win. He's 3-1 with a 4.76 ERA right now. The 2023 All-Star is a frontline starter when he's going well, so this is very bad news for the Cubs.
Here in the short term, thanks to scheduled days off, the Cubs won't need a regular fifth starter. Shota Imanaga is going Wednesday with a day off Thursday before Matthew Boyd, Ben Brown and Jameson Taillon can take the three starts for the weekend series against the Dodgers (Taillon went Tuesday and was scheduled for next Monday, but he'll be on normal rest Sunday). Imanaga could then start Monday with a spot starter needed for Tuesday before Boyd is lined up for Wednesday. Then there's another day off Thursday with the following Monday (April 21) also empty. They also have days off on Thursday the 24th and Monday the 28th.
This is to say that if Steele's injury only requires a minimum stint on the IL, the Cubs will really only need to replace one start.
Some options:
- If it is, indeed, just one spot start, Colin Rea seems like the guy. He's been a starter as recently as last season and threw 40 and 23 pitches in his previous two relief outings, respectively, this season.
- Brad Keller has been a starter in the past and threw 46 pitches in his first outing this season, though he's only had three short relief appearances since.
- Javier Assad would be a logical choice, but he's still working his way back from an oblique injury.
- Chris Flexen, Jordan Wicks, Caleb Kilian, Cade Horton and Connor Noland are in the Triple-A rotation. Wicks and Kilian are on the 40-man roster.
The Cubs finish their series with the Rangers at 2:20 p.m. ET on Wednesday (TEX -115; CHI -105; over/under: 7.5, via DraftKings) and then travel to L.A. to face the Dodgers for three games starting on Friday.
