The Cubs’ astonishing run of injuries continues. Just one morning after manager Craig Counsell announced that a hamstring strain was sending righty Edward Cabrera to the injured list, Chicago has now placed Ben Brown on the 15-day IL due to a neck strain. The Cubs made both of those IL placements official via a press release. In a slate of corresponding moves, they’ve recalled right-hander Gavin Hollowell from Triple-A, selected the contract of veteran right-hander Vince Velasquez from Iowa (as already reported this morning) and designated righty Eduarniel Núñez for assignment. Chicago also appointed righty Tyler Ferguson as their 27th man for today’s doubleheader.
Brown and Cabrera join Matthew Boyd, Jameson Taillon, Cade Horton and Justin Steele as rotation options on Chicago’s injured list. Horton is out for the season, and Steele isn’t expected to return as a starter; president of baseball ops Jed Hoyer stated yesterday that if Steele returns at all, it’ll likely be as a reliever late in the year.
If there’s one silver lining, it’s that Boyd is expected to be activated to start tomorrow’s game, per Marquee’s Taylor McGregor. That’ll give Counsell a rotation mix including Boyd, Shota Imanaga, Colin Rea and Javier Assad.
Brown, 26, has been a savior for the Cubs amid their awful injury luck this season. He moved into the rotation in early May after a terrific six-week run in the bullpen and has rattled off eight starts with a 1.70 ERA. After making a pair of four-inning starts to begin that shift, Brown has pitched into the sixth inning in four his past five starts, completing six frames in three of them and topping out at seven innings. Along the way, he’s fanned a roughly average 22.5% of his opponents against a tidy 6.3% walk rate.
The Cubs haven’t provided a timetable for Brown’s potential return. His IL placement is retroactive to June 21, so it’s possibly he’ll “only” be sidelined another 12 days if the injury proves minor in nature, but that’s merely a best-case scenario and not based on anything the Cubs have stated to this point.
More to come.
