The Cubs are placing starter Edward Cabrera on the 15-day injured list, skipper Craig Counsell told reporters after tonight’s win over the Mets (relayed by Bob Nightengale of USA Today). He’ll go for imaging tomorrow after leaving today’s game with a left hamstring strain.
Cabrera suffered the injury while covering first base on a ground-ball to the right side of the infield. Nico Hoerner made a diving stop but threw a little to the left of the bag. Cabrera stretched to keep his foot on the base and went into a full split. He grabbed at his hamstring/groin area and was carted off the field.
It’s the second injured list stint of the season for the 28-year-old righty. He missed a couple weeks between late May and the beginning of this month with a blister. This seems a bigger concern but won’t fully be known until the team gets the MRI results.
Cabrera has a lengthy injury history that surely played into the Marlins’ willingness to trade him last offseason. He reached 137 2/3 innings a year ago but had never previously topped 100 frames in an MLB season. Cabrera’s previous injuries had mostly been arm related, including an elbow sprain late last summer. He pitched at an upper mid-rotation level when healthy, though, and the Cubs took a flier on that upside in sending Owen Caissie and two other prospects to Miami in January.
This year hasn’t gone as smoothly. Cabrera has a career-worst strikeout rate and has had home run issues. He’s carrying an ERA above 5.00 across 14 starts. The Cubs were already planning to target starting pitching at the deadline, ideally bringing in a playoff-caliber starter. That kind of pitcher isn’t likely to move until late July.
The Cubs plan to activate Matthew Boyd from the injured list to start one of the next two games against New York. He has been out for the last six weeks after undergoing meniscus surgery on his left knee. Boyd can replace Cabrera in the short term rotation. They’ll now need to keep both Colin Rea and Javier Assad at the back end rather than pushing one of them to the bullpen.
