CHICAGO – With less than a half-hour until the first pitch of their game against the Mets on Friday afternoon, the Cubs revealed the latest blow to their embattled bullpen.
Closer Daniel Palencia was placed on the 15-day injured list due to a left oblique strain, removing one of Chicago’s most crucial arms to the relief corps for an uncertain period of time. The news comes as the Cubs are already dealing with the absence of leverage relievers Phil Maton and Hunter Harvey.
Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer discussed the wave of injuries hitting his team during the trip to Philadelphia earlier this week.
“Immediately, you feel sorry for the player,” Hoyer said on Wednesday. “But then you just process like, ‘OK, who’s up next?’ You kind of have to move on quickly, mentally. It kind of sounds cold-hearted, but that’s the nature of the job. We’ve had a lot of injuries early on. The season goes on. The games go on. You have to find replacements.”
Maton landed on the 15-day IL on April 10 with a right knee issue, but is scheduled to throw off a mound in a “diagnostic” bullpen session on Saturday, per manager Craig Counsell. That will offer more clarity over Maton’s timetable for return. Harvey (right triceps strain) was shelved on April 12 and has not yet resumed throwing.
The Cubs are also without righty Ethan Roberts, who landed on the 15-day IL on Tuesday after a freak workout accident that lacerated the middle finger on his pitching hand. Reliever Porter Hodge has been on the IL since the start of the season and is slated for season-ending surgery on his right elbow on Monday.
Two other right-handed options – Colin Rea and Javier Assad – are currently in the rotation due to injuries to Cade Horton (season-ending right elbow surgery) and Matthew Boyd (right biceps strain). Another righty reliever on the 40-man roster, Gavin Hollowell, is on the Minor League IL with a right elbow setback.
“I just really hope the pace slows,” Hoyer said Wednesday. “The schedule’s not going to stop. We’ve got to find ways to come up with new guys and come up with real options, and hopefully, some of those guys can step up.”
With that rash of injuries and a lack of options on the 40-man roster, the Cubs have five lefties (Caleb Thielbar, Hoby Milner, Riley Martin, Ryan Rolison and Luke Little) in the bullpen. Right-handers Ben Brown and Jacob Webb are also in the bullpen. The Cubs have not yet announced a corresponding roster move for Palencia.
Palencia, 26, emerged as the Cubs’ closer last season, when he turned in a 2.91 ERA with 61 strikeouts in 52 2/3 innings and racked up 22 saves. The hard-throwing righty starred for Venezuela in the country’s run to the World Baseball Classic title this spring, and was off to a strong start to the season.
Counsell named Palencia the Cubs’ closer early in the spring, and the righty had five solid appearances prior to landing on the IL. Through five innings of work, Palencia had a 0.00 ERA with five strikeouts, two walks and three hits allowed.
Given the timing of the Cubs’ announcement about Palencia’s injury and move to the IL, the specifics of his setback and recovery timetable were not immediately shared.
In the meantime, the Cubs will continue to patch things together in the bullpen.
“This is just who we have available,” Counsell said earlier this week. “This is what we’re going to have to do for the next week or 10 days. There’s going to be a lot of lefties pitching. That’s just the way it is. Matchups are going to be a little bit out the door. We’re just going to go with our best guys in big spots, and that’s how it’s going to be.”