When the Cubs placed righty Ben Brown on the 15-day injured list earlier this week, the injury was initially announced as a “neck strain.” The team didn’t provide a concrete timetable for his return. Manager Craig Counsell offered more specifics last night in an appearance on 104.3 FM The Score, stating that follow-up testing has revealed a stress reaction in Brown’s neck (audio link). Brown is seeking additional opinions, but Counsell said the right-hander is “looking at, basically, limited activity for about a month here.” Brown will be reevaluated at that point.
It’s not at all the update Cubs fans were hoping to hear on the breakout righty. Brown has been dominant this season. After a strong run of 12 relief appearances, he’s stepped seamlessly into the rotation. The 26-year-old has pitched 68 innings and notched a masterful 1.85 earned run average. Brown has set down 24.5% of his opponents on strikes, limited walks at a 7.2% clip and induced grounders at a solid 44.6% clip. He’s only surrendered two home runs on the year. Brown has done everything well, and done so in whatever role the Cubs have asked.
A month of limited activity followed by reevaluation points to a fairly lengthy absence, however. Even if he’s cleared for full baseball activity in late July, he’d surely need to build back up. Presumably, that’d entail starting with bullpen sessions, then live batting practice, and then at least one — probably multiple — minor league rehab starts. A mid-August return is probably something of a best-case scenario, based on this latest update from Counsell.
The Cubs already made one move to help stop the bleeding in a depleted rotation this week, acquiring southpaw David Peterson in a rare June swap with the Mets. Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer tells The Athletic’s Will Sammon that he plans to continue searching for rotation help but acknowledged that it’s difficult at a time when few teams are willing to sell off veteran pieces due to the tightly packed Wild Card scene in each league. Trades of more consequence — for any team — don’t feel likely until much closer to the Aug. 3 deadline, Hoyer suggested.
Brown joined Justin Steele, Cade Horton, Edward Cabrera and Jameson Taillon on the injured list when he was placed there earlier in the week. Horton’s season is over after he underwent UCL surgery two months ago. Steele isn’t likely to return any time soon; if he’s back at all this season, Hoyer conceded recently that it’d likely be as a reliever. Cabrera only landed on the shelf three days ago. Taillon has been out since early June with a hamstring strain and is expected to be out beyond the All-Star break.
All those injuries leave the Cubs with a rotation comprised of Shota Imanaga, Matthew Boyd (who just returned from his own IL stay yesterday), Colin Rea, Javier Assad and the newly acquired Peterson. Chicago also recently claimed swingman Bryse Wilson off waivers from the Phillies and has another journeyman swing option, Vince Velasquez, in the bullpen at the moment after selecting his contract from Triple-A earlier this week.
Even with the rotation in shambles, the Cubs currently sit 44-37. That puts them six and a half games behind the NL Central-leading Brewers but in possession of the second Wild Card spot in the National League. They’re a half-game up on the Cardinals, who currently hold the third spot. The Padres, Marlins, D-backs and Nationals are all within three games of a Wild Card spot and within three and a half games of the Cubs in the standings. The Cubs’ next nine games will be pivotal, as they’re set for three games in Milwaukee followed by six games against their two closest pursuers in the Wild Card hunt: the Cardinals and Padres.
