Cubs fans received some positive news regarding left-hander Justin Steele yesterday. The 27-year-old hurler was pulled from his start on Wednesday after just three innings of work due to forearm tightess and underwent an MRI on Thursday to determine the severity of the issue. As noted by MLB.com’s Jordan Bastian on Twitter, Steele described the result of the MRI as “good news” and said that the plan is for him to play catch today before determining the path forward. With that being said, WSCR-AM’s Bruce Levine notes that a source considers Steele “likely” to miss his next start, which he would otherwise be on schedule take Tuesday against the Angels.
After securing a spot in the starting rotation to open the 2022 campaign, Steele ended last season looking like an above-average, mid-rotation or better starter over 24 starts, posting a 3.18 ERA, 3.20 FIP, 24.6% strikeout rate, 9.8% walk rate, and 51.2% groundball rate in 119 innings of work. Only budding Rays ace Shane McClanahan managed to post a higher strikeout rate while maintaining a groundball rate over 50% last year. What’s more, Steele has managed to build on his strong first season as a regular starter for the this season, with a 2.65 ERA that’s only bested by rotation-mate Marcus Stroman and Braves youngster Bryce Elder in the National League.
The news that his forearm strain isn’t anything serious and he’s unlikely to miss significant time is surely a relief for a Cubs team that has relied on the young lefty to carry their pitching staff alongside Stroman, with the duo representing 18 of the club’s 25 quality starts in 2023. With that said, it seems likely that right-hander Hayden Wesneski will fill in for Steele in the event the injured left-hander does miss a start. Wesneski struggled to a 4.81 ERA and 5.65 FIP this season after earning the fifth spot in the club’s rotation with a dominant performance in spring training, leaving the Cubs to remove him from the rotation when Kyle Hendricks returned to the mound from injury.
More from around the NL Central:
- According to MLB.com, Brewers shortstop Willy Adames has resumed baseball activities for the first time since he was struck by a foul ball in last week’s game against the Giants, landing him on the 7-day concussion IL. Adames is currently working out with the the club’s High-A affiliate rather than joining the club on their flight to Cincinnati in order to avoid the wear-and-tear of air travel, according to manager Craig Counsell. The club plans to decide whether or not Adames, who has struggled to a 84 wRC+ in 51 games this season, needs a minor league rehab assignment before he can return to big league action later this weekend. In the meantime, they figure to continue going with a combination of Brice Turang, Owen Miller, and Andruw Monasterio up the middle.
- Sticking with the Brewers, MLB.com’s Adam McCalvy notes that left-hander Wade Miley is making good progress on his rehab from a posterior serratus strain. While he was initially expected to be shelved for six to eight weeks, McCalvy reports that if Miley is able to avoid any setbacks he’s currently set to return from the IL after just four weeks after throwing a bullpen session on Thursday. Miley posted eight solid starts for the Brewers prior to his injury as the veteran lefty threw 41 2/3 innings of 3.67 ERA baseball.
- Reds first baseman and future Hall of Famer Joey Votto is set to begin a rehab assignment with the club’s Triple-A affiliate in Louisville today, per MLB.com’s Mark Sheldon. Votto has been on the shelf since he underwent surgery on his rotator cuff back in August, and posted a wRC+ of just 92 in 91 games prior to the surgery. Still, he figures to share first base and DH duties with Spencer Steer upon his return to big league action.
- Right-hander Vince Velasquez was activated from the injured list and returned to the Pirates’ rotation just last week, but immediately felt discomfort in his right elbow and returned to the injured list. According to Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, his current IL-stay will not be a short one, as the veteran is expected to be transferred to the 60-day IL in the near future. Velasquez had pitched well for the Pirates across eight starts this season prior to his injury, with a 3.86 ERA in 37 1/3 innings. Velasquez’s return to the IL leaves the club with a rotation of Mitch Keller, Roansy Contreras, Johan Oviedo, Rich Hill, and Luis Ortiz.
Looking forward to some Joey action. The man is a class act, fun personality, and a Hall of Famer.
I suspect he will DH more than anything else, at least at first, but agree totally. It might be a farewell tour, but that will depend on how he performs after this surgery and rehab. We all know what a perfectionist Joey is, especially when it comes to his own performance.
I just looked at active career hits leaders and saw that Votto was second. Although he was over 1000 behind Miggy at 2093. Which means we may not see another 3000 hit guy for many years, if ever. Looking at the list, Freddie Freeman and Jose Altuve (currently #6 and #7) seem like the next best realistic shots and they still have over 1000 to go. Both are 33, so that’s not really a given they will make it. If they don’t make it, it might be 10-15 years before we see the next 3000 hit guy.
I think Freddie, Altuve and Machado get there. I could be wrong, but I’d bet money on it.
I agree with those three, although any of them are no doubters. All three have a long way to go and late career injuries have stopped many similar players in the past. I think at least one of that trio will, Freeman would be my bet, but those three will probably be the next best chances.
Anybody an ESPN insider?
google.com/amp/s/www.espn.com/mlb/insider/insider/…
This would have a recent milestone chance. Also, the Bill James annual handbook usually has the Favorite Toy charts in the back of the book.
Well that’s good news about Steele as far as it goes. They would be smart to at least sit him down for 15 days and let it calm down completely before trying again. Let’s hope it doesn’t lead to bigger problems. That symptom can’t be ignored like it’s nothing.
I wouldn’t be mad seeing Brown make a couple starts If Steele went to the 15 day IL.
He was kind of brutal yesterday but has been solid otherwise. With Wesneski and Asad already there, They could bring him up in the bullpen to get his feet wet anyway. The way Ross is managing the pitching staff I’m not sure that’s a great idea either. He almost blew that game last night with his bullpen by dartboard approach.
Hey Nick, go back & finish the paragraph about Adames. “who has struggled to a…” Thanks.
Is Votto really a future HOF’er?
Outside of his injury history, Votto has been a very productive player.
He has a good chance of being elected to the Hall of Fame
What’s more amazing, he’s played all of his career for one team, a feat unheard of in the era of free agency
Uncommon, yes. Unheard of? No.
100% yes. Look up his numbers. Hes the poster child for the analytical era
Unheard of? Tony Gwynn says hi… and playing for one team sure helped Lou Whitaker, huh? (He’s much more deserving of enshrinement than Votto, btw.)
Don’t forget Todd Helton, who is likely going in this year.
And, eventually, Kershaw… (probably)
Some silly insignificant trivia:
Votto has 0 Silver Slugger awards. I’m surprised! Are there any 1980 onwards hitters in the HOF with zero?
According to my unofficial research, all HOF elected hitters who have played their entire careers starting in at least 1980 have at least one silver slugger. Votto would be the first with zero, assuming that none get elected between now and when he is eligible, and that he actually does get elected.
1980 is when the Silver Slugger was first awarded, by the way.
I was going to guess Ozzie Smith, but he won it in the juiced ball 1987 season. I counted 4 HOF players that won only one. Ozzie, Scott Rolen, Tim Raines, and the really shocking one, Jim Thome.
I was surprised by Jim Thome only having won only one Silver Slugger (SS), too.
1980 is an arbitrary beginning to base a mini-analysis like this on. There were some good players whose careers spanned the 60s, 70s, and a few years in the 80s that did not win a SS. Those players almost certainly would’ve won one earlier in their careers if the SS had been given out but the last few years of their careers in the 80s were not their best.
Tony Perez and Rod Carew, for example.
Yes, expect him to be inducted in the HOF by 2035.
I don’t understand why it shocks so many people that Joey Votto is a future HOF’er. The man was one of the two best hitters in the game for a decade. It’s almost as if most of these people never watched Votto enough to understand how good he really was. The is (insert player) a HOF’er question has lost a lot of appeal to me though when they put Harold Baines in the HOF. Maybe this is a case where I didn’t watch Harold Baines play enough but looking at the back of the baseball card, it didn’t scream HOF’er.
Well Joe, just like you can’t believe Harold is a HOFer some people just don’t believe Joey is. It’s all subjective. Comparing Joey to Lou, I’d vote for Lou first… but I’d probably vote for both in due time.
Joey needs more counting stats imho; 2,000 hits screams Hall of Very Good but his career OPS+ is better than very good. Tough call, but eventually I could see myself voting “yea” on Votto, but not until Lou (and others) got my votes first.
Votto isn’t close to being a Hall of Famer. Less than 2100 hits, less than 500 doubles, less than 350 homers. He never a batting title or a silver slugger. Only one gold glove. Bill Mattlock and Dave Parker are both much better than Votto and neither are in the Hall.
His peak WAR is 7 wins less than the average HOF first baseman. Only 1 of 4 Hall of Fame metrics has him as a hall of famer per Baseball Reference. He’s not even close on two of them.
Surprising that Parker isn’t in the HOF. The problem with the HOF is that the media voters think they HAVE to elect someone every year. Some times it’s OK not to vote someone in if they’re not worthy of it. I can think of just one year when no one got in. Some of these recent picks are laughable compared to the ones that actually deserve to be there.
I agree on Parker. It probably has to do with the cocaine scandal in the 80s. But like Pete Rose, that is a separate issue from what they did on the field. There are a whole lot of Hall of Famers that were not perfect citizens.
Keith Hernandez was also part of that and it probably dinged him as well, but I don’t think it is considered THAT bad a stain today.
It probably also contributed to Tim Raines taking so long to get in.
Baseball players are human being and not perfect, but so are HOF voters. It would be ideal if only baseball achievements were looked at, but no matter how hard you try, you cannot just forget off the field incidents.
Bill Madlock was criminally underrated. I think his problems are twofold. First was his longevity. He just fell off into a part time player at 34 and out of the league at 36. Second was his journeyman perception. He stayed a while in Pittsburgh, but none of his other 5 teams lasted longer than 3 years. Hall voters are writers that cover teams and that means he never stayed long enough for anyone to really fall in love with him as a voter.
OBP is probably the #1 offensive stat correlated with winning. Votto led the league seven times and is 33rd career with over 8500 PAs lifetime. He also had excellent power and a good glove. He’s a Hall of Famer.
And yet he didn’t win a WS, so how do you come to that conclusion?
Neither did Ernie Banks, Ted Williams, and a whole lot of other guys.
I’m not saying Votto was bad, I was just questioning how he thinks OBP is the #1 stat for winning if Votto led all those times and didn’t win
The objective of the batter is to not make an out. The less outs made, the more runs scored. The more runs scored, the more games won. Unfortunately, Joey sealed his fate when he signed long term with Cincinnati. He didn’t have a lot of help winning.
“The less outs made, the more runs scored”
I disagree with that statement. You could get three walks an inning for nine innings and score zero runs. You could no hit for 26 batters, hit a homer on the 27th batter and win a game.
That is an extreme example obviously, but it just shows how simply getting on base is meaningless unless you have a teammate drive you in.
Yes, those are black and white examples, but the game is gray much more often than not.
At the time he signed that contract, they had a solid ball club. They have had two periods of those kind of clubs actually. But the game is such now that small markets have small 3-4 year periods to get it done before they have to get value for guys in their fifth year before they leave for the big markets’ big money.
Guys like Votto who stay with the same club their whole career are rare and becoming rarer. It’s easier for someone like Kerchaw with the Dodgers resources.
Despite what the stats boys think, Votto is a Hall of Famer and the writers will vote him in. As Rolen’s election proved to a lot of the stat geniuses, there is more to it than stats. I’m sure you can cherry pick any to death to say yay or nay to anyone.
Scott Rolen won 8 gold gloves compared to Votto’s 1. Made one more All-Star team and won a silver slugger. He has over 500 doubles and has 300 more RBIs than Votto. Votto won an MVP, only thing he has over Rolen. Dale Murphy won two and he’s not in.
I think Votto will get in as well. It’ll probably be a lot like Bagwell and Helton on the 6th or 7th try, but I have no doubt he will get in. I don’t know if he deserves the label “future Hall of Famer” right now though because I feel that label should apply to no doubt first ballot guys like Miguel Cabrera or Justin Verlander. I guess Votto is right in that next tier, but for me he just doesn’t seem like it.
The AL and NL Central should not be represented in the playoffs this year. Absolute dumpster fires.
So basically you are saying small market teams are dumpster fires because they can’t keep up with the large market explosion of salaries. Nice to know.
I personally think the large market teams in each league should be in their own division so we each have our ideas.
Really? The Brewers have the fourth best W-L percentage in the NL and the Pirates the fifth (by .001). Do you just post to be provocative?
…and both have a better W-L percentage than the ballyhooed Padres and Mets who bought a lot of players.
Just saying.
Votto is not a HOFer.
FACT CHECK:
TRUE
He should be in some sort if HOF for this comeback he gave to a heckler once though.
Heckler – I remember when you used to be good!
Votto – I remember when you used to be thin.
Votto Future Hall of Famer? I think there is still some doubt on that.
When most voters start researching, the first thing they will look at is WAR. Votto does very well there.
Hope grandpa voto and Myers don’t take atbats fron the kids they have had there time move on
Flat-out stating that Votto is a future HOFer is pretty bold for a writer, especially one hired to be unbiased. He might indeed make Cooperstown, but his case is hardly ironclad.
Writers can actually have opinions. They have all the way back through history, including a very opinionated guy named Samuel Clemens.
Yes, but this is not an opinion piece.