CHICAGO -- Cubs manager Craig Counsell did not like the body language of closer Daniel Palencia in the ninth inning Monday night. Knowing that the hard-throwing righty had dealt with some minor arm soreness just last week, the manager headed to the mound with a member of the team’s training staff.
Palencia made his case to stay in the game and then struck out the next three batters to help set up the Cubs’ 5-4 walk-off win over the Rockies at Wrigley Field. One day later, Palencia was placed on the 15-day injured list due to right elbow inflammation – the latest setback for a bullpen that has dealt with a pile of injuries this season.
“You’ve got to just take the feedback and make a decision,” Counsell said of the mound visit in the ninth. “Everybody wants to compete and Danny wants to compete. You try to read through that and you just make a decision.”
Palencia had walked Edouard Julien to open the ninth and Counsell headed to the hill during the closer’s battle with Colorado’s Brett Sullivan. After Palencia remained in the game, he still hit north of 99 mph regularly with his fastball as he set down Sullivan, Willi Castro and Tyler Freeman to finish the inning.
After the game, Palencia indicated that he was dealing with some right elbow soreness. Counsell added that the righty likely would have landed on the IL on Tuesday even if the manager had pulled him from the game after that quick chat in the ninth. Palencia reported a similar issue after his outing last Wednesday in Colorado and did not pitch again until Monday.
“We had four days off between outings,” Counsell said. “He recovered great, kind of felt good going into [Monday]. I was just concerned with the body language – kind of wasn’t normal. He said he was fine, but he had symptoms afterwards. The elbow didn’t feel great afterwards and didn’t feel good today.”
“Sort of out of an abundance of caution, it made sense to put him on the IL,” Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer said. “Certainly, I think when a manager goes out there for that reason, oftentimes he comes out. He was insistent that he felt great and kind of doubled down on that by pitching really well after that. But, given the conversations after the game, it made sense to IL him.”
Counsell said the current plan is to have the 26-year-old Palencia go through treatment for a few days while the Cubs’ medical and training staff continues to monitor his symptoms and progress. At this stage, the Cubs do not have any imaging scheduled for Palencia, which Hoyer said is determined on a case-to-case basis.
“It’s based on symptoms, based on what the trainers feel,” Hoyer said of the decision to delay getting imaging. “It depends on the context of the person and the injury and the symptoms.”
In 19 appearances this season, Palencia has turned in a 2.70 ERA with 19 strikeouts and six walks in 16 2/3 innings. He opened the year as Chicago’s closer after stepping into the spotlight for Team Venezuela during the World Baseball Classic and earning the championship-clinching save against Team USA.
The Cubs recalled righty Gavin Hollowell from Triple-A Iowa to fill Palencia’s spot in the bullpen, which has also had key relievers like Phil Maton, Caleb Thielbar, Hunter Harvey and Riley Martin, among others, miss time on the IL this year. This is the second IL stint for Palencia, who was out from April 13 until May 4 due to a left oblique injury.
Both in the case with the oblique setback and last September’s right shoulder strain, Palencia has a history of bouncing back faster than anticipated from injuries. Counsell pointed to that as a source of optimism that the right-hander can perhaps recover well from this latest situation.
“It gives you some confidence,” Counsell said. “He has bounced back from some things pretty well.”
Steele back with Cubs to continue rehab
Left-hander Justin Steele (60-day IL) was back in the Cubs’ clubhouse Tuesday afternoon and plans to stay with the team for the next three weeks as he builds back up to throwing. If everything goes to plan, Steele should resume playing catch next Monday.
Steele is returning from surgery on his left elbow in April of last year and then dealt with a flexor strain in late April that forced him to pause his throwing. This is an important stretch for the lefty, who remains hopeful about impacting the Cubs later this season.
“There’s obviously a ton of value in being smart in this situation,” Steele said. “But, there’s also just the simple fact that we’re working with a calendar here as well. I’m going to pitch in games. I’m going to come back and compete. That’s just the point-blank bottom line. That’s going to happen. Whatever I do to get there, we’re working on that process.”
Other injury notes:
- Lefty Matthew Boyd (15-day IL, left knee) threw a bullpen session Tuesday, simulating two innings without issues, per Counsell. Boyd will make a Minor League rehab appearance prior to coming off the IL for the Cubs.
- Righty Jaxon Wiggins (Minor League IL, right elbow) threw two innings for the Arizona League Cubs on Monday in his first game action since April 4 with Triple-A Iowa. Wiggins is Pipeline’s No. 3 Cubs prospect and ranked No. 85 on the Top 100 list.