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The view was already pretty bleak, and this certainly won’t help. Javier Assad is the latest Cub with an injury.
The spot newly-signed reliever Vinny Nattoli is taking belongs to Assad:
We’ll find out more on the prognosis soon enough, I expect, but anything with the forearm makes you nervous.
As for the rotation in the interim, I would guess this means the Cubs will … just leave Hayden Wesneski in until Ben Brown returns? If he returns as a starter? Or will let Drew Smyly resume starting? Or will just do a different bullpen day every week? Or bring up a veteran depth guy like Dan Straily or Thomas Pannone or Kyle McGowin from Iowa to make starts?
Whatever the plan, this is not ideal. I mean, it was already not ideal.
The Cubs have been bad this year for a whole host of reasons, but good lord the injuries are part of that story. Every single member of the starting rotation except Shōta Imanaga has missed time with injury, and that’s guys one through seven, not just one through five. All in the first half of the season. Suffice to say, that’s not common. And it doesn’t even mention the myriad bullpen injuries!