The Cubs are sending Justin Steele for a second opinion on his elbow, manager Craig Counsell told reporters (including Alden González of ESPN and Maddie Lee of The Chicago Sun-Times). The southpaw landed on the 15-day injured list on Wednesday with elbow tendinitis, a surprising move that came two days after Steele fired seven shutout innings against Texas.
Steele told ESPN’s Jesse Rogers on Wednesday that he expected it to be a minimal 15-day stint. The Cubs sent him for an MRI on Thursday. Counsell did not specify the results of that imaging. To this point, there’s no indication it’s any more serious than the initial tendinitis diagnosis. It’s nevertheless of some concern any time a pitcher goes for multiple evaluations on an elbow problem.
Elbow tendinitis also sent Steele to the injured list for a couple weeks last September. Counsell indicated the recurring nature of the injury contributed to the decision to go for multiple opinions. “We want to make sure we know why it has happened again so Justin’s got all the information and then we can go from there,” the manager said.
Monday’s start was easily Steele’s best of the season. He’d allowed at least three runs in each of his first three appearances. Steele punched out eight against three hits and two walks against the Rangers. However, his fastball averaged a season-low 90.2 MPH in that start after sitting in the 91-92 range during his first three appearances. It clearly didn’t sap his effectiveness, but it was seemingly a sign that he wasn’t operating at full strength.
Shota Imanaga, Matthew Boyd, Jameson Taillon and Ben Brown are operating as Chicago’s rotation. They haven’t named a probable starter for what would have been Steele’s spot agains the Dodgers on Sunday. A scheduled off day yesterday could allow them to turn back to Brown on standard rest and delay the need for a fifth starter into next week’s series in San Diego.
Nooooooo
It’s only TJS. Done all the time. He’ll be back in time for…2027!
This is the first TJ of the year from a top starter. Unless I missed something. TJ for Steele. Weather on the Marlins I am 1005 he needs a TJ. That guy always hurt as well. Except he stinks anyway. We should have a TJ watch on MLB rumors.
Cole
Could see this coming – he’s had forearm issues each of the last two seasons.
If it’s something season-ending, this could be a blessing in disguise: it might force Hoyer to trade for a TOR pitcher…I know some fans have complained that Hoyer trades top prospects too much, but Ferris and Hope for Busch is really the only egregious example. In fact, he hoards prospects too much and too long. Caissie and Ballesteros would get him Sandy Alcantara, and be worth it. This could force his hand….Or they might flush the season away by giving starts to Wicks, Assad, and other mediocrities.
Ferris and Hope weren’t top prospects. They turned into a couple in the Dodgers org.
Wrong. Both were sought after. Dodgers knew what they were getting back for Busch.
Wrong. Busch has turned out to be a full fledged ML hitter and defender. The others are still “prospects”.
@rondon
Try for reading comprehension.
sound out the words perhaps,
Where did anyone say otherwise about the players involved?
Oh, you ‘know’ they were sought after? BS. Whether they “knew” or not, they were not top prospects before that trade regardless of how you want to rationalize it, genius.
Enjoy your beknighted self.
Ferris was a top prospect in my book. I knew nothing about Hope prior to the trade.
Ferris was the Cubs #8 prospect at the time of the trade.
Yes, eighth on one list, sixth on another. He was even on a few lists as one of the top overall LHP prospects. I thought the Cubs should have kept Ferris because free agent 1B are cheap and Busch showed no chops for 3B. I also did not like Herz for Candalario though Herz is now injured for the year.
I hope it works out for both teams.
Ferris and Hope haven’t made the show yet. Can’t say that trade is egregious until Ferris wins a Cy Young and Hope wins ROTY.
Caissie still needs to be on the untouchable list. In case Tucker walks. Caissie will be Tucker’s replacement
Yeah, I would NOT say egregious, just would not have done it. Busch is decent for 1B and pitchers are high injury risks. But the the Cubs could have spent cash for a FA 1B and kept Ferris.
Agree that extending Tucker is unlikely so Cubs need to keep both Caissie and Alcantara to ensure one is good enough to take over for Tucker in 2026. Ballesteros is the likely successor to Suzuki at DH in 2027.
Zyhir Hope is a stud too.
That deal is going to be disgustingly one sided.
Not sure about Cassie. The dude has a gazillion Ks and some split issues.
Alcantara would be Tucker’s replacement. Or moving Suzuki off DH.
Nah it would be Caissie because he has that raw lefty power. Alcantara would be the 4th OT
They only reason you get a second opinion—-the first opinion is bad.
Obviously, NOT made of STEELE.
That’s a wrap
All over but the crying……..and the rehab.
Uh-Oh.
Strategically, the Cubs might consider leveraging their bullpen to mitigate the impact of Steele’s absence. Investing in a 2-WAR reliever, typically valued at $15 million, could offset the potential loss in rotation strength. Given the bullpen’s 4.97 ERA (4.35 SIERA) this year, enhancing relief pitching could be pivotal in maintaining competitive performance, especially in close games.
Could work. But I like the idea of trading for an established major-league starting pitcher better. When was the last time the Cubs acquired a major-league starting pitcher in a trade, in-season or out? Part of what is so odd and frustrating about Hoyer is that there are certain, obvious things that he just never does. He thinks that he is smarter than everyone else, but the results say otherwise
@Alan53
Who knows. We’ll need to see how teams are playing out by end of May into June. We’ll know what options are out there for SP. If the Jays are out of it, they could ask the Jays for Chris Bassitt.
I think it was Carlos Quintana and he gave up WAY TOO MUCH in that trade for a mid controllable arm.
You like to comment as an expert. Just an observation. What do you think about calling Robertson and telling him after three weeks at Iowa he can be the closer? I can’t think about someone else as good that’s available today.
This sounds like TJ surgery is incoming, meaning Steele is out until early to mid ’27. The upside is, it removes the extension (and subsequently wasted dollars) for Steele. The downside is that Dumpster-Diving Jed will have an excuse to take another dip in the low-cost end of the starting pitcher pool.
The Cubs next president of baseball operations will have some fun decisions to make.
Cubs can call Getz for rental Martin Perez.
It doesn’t matter who the Cubs have on the mound, they have the greatest manager of all time!!! Benedict Counsell could put a little league pitcher out there and still win. After all that’s why the Cubs are paying him all those millions. Everyone knows it’s not players on the field that make the difference and put the Ws on the board….it’s the has been/never was that has the Manager title that makes the difference. Who needs Shohei when you have CC.
See you’re a CC fan. Funny as it might seem Old York might be onto something. Replacing an injured Steele with a real closer and rotating Assad, Brown, and Wicks in the last two spots might work. CC we’re stuck with. Unfortunately we’re also apparently without Steele for minimum 16 months. BTW Steele was overused by CC on a 34 degree night according to media in Chicago. Truth is probably was already injured.
How many strikeouts out of 27 out they get this weekend vs dodgers big 3 as they’re swept?
And by mid next week done with LA, SD, and AZ for the season. Cubs April schedule is the toughest of any month for any team the entire season.
“If” they can end the month at 15-16 or even 14-17 AND avoid being 5 or 6 behind a hot team they will be just fine.
By contrast, the Cub schedule for May is the easiest of any month of any team all season.
I understand the logic, but I fear we’ll find no team is easy for the Cubs. There is a strange lack of propulsion about the Cubs, a lack of oomph, it’s been that way for years. They are always as good as they are, never a little better than they should be. I admit I am talking in rather wooly, inexact, and not very useful terms–but tonight’s lackluster performance is a good example of the quality I am trying to get at. The Cubs do not have the ability to ever surprise.
Tommy John time. That’s good for the 2027 Cubs, But it blows for the 2025 Cubs.
Doc marten, report to podiatry.
Paging dr Andrews, Dr Andrews patient is Steele.
Trade for Taijuan Walker!
That’s the funniest comment I’ve read in a while.
Walker leaning more on his sinker this year and so far he looks like a new pitcher. I’m sure the Phillies would be happy to trade him to the cubs and eat a decent portion of his contract. But you guys have Assad coming back shortly. He was pretty good last year so I’m not sure I see the need for Walker.
Spaghetti, uo
Steele is turning into rust……
Don’t like the words “seeking a second opinion”. That usually turns out to be surgery or a long layoff of rest. Steele isn’t really as good as his 2024 and early 2025 numbers suggest. Meaning he’s not an ace is the strictest definition of the word. However, he’s about as solid of a #3 SP as you’ll find., and every team needs a pitcher like that. Here’s hoping that dreaded “second opinion” offers a forecast of sunshine instead of a hurricane.
Early season Rangers games are kryptonite to the man of Steele. This happened to him last year too, after dominating the Rangers in the opener. Hopefully he can return in a month like last time.
The Cubs season is unfolding in the usual fashion and there’s 5 more months of bad pitching going up and down to Iowa. Plus now Jed has to think. That’s always troublesome.
With Steele to be gone out and indefinitely and not to be replaced anytime too soon and Tucker gone, hoyer might as well bail out now. Look how the brew crew are doing lately with all the pieces they’re missing but still winning.
And how many runs will cubs score this weekend in la and then San Diego? Could they be coming back home with more losses than wins?
They probably will. An 0-6 trip is very possible.
Cubs have always put up good numbers against their opponents mediocre starting pitchers so is being no hit in the next couple days in the works?
Someone in another chat suggested that, because of the Steele injury, the Cubs ought to try to “lure Lance Lynn out of retirement.” No, the Cubs should not do that. Lynn, once a good pitcher, retired for a reason: he is washed up. But it got me thinking: some of the same people who rightly reject the idea of signing Lynn are comforted by the fact that Javier Assad will be back soon. Assad, who has neither good stuff nor control, is about as bad an option as Lynn would be. It is a mystery to me why so many of my fellow Cubs fans like him, have ever liked him.
I think that some of us–me included, I used to talk up Keegan Thompson–have a degree of homer-ism whether we realize it or not. We have to look at our own players realistically to have a good sense of where the Cubs will finish.
I was just wondering if any Cubs fans realize that they have the #5 record in baseball, and the best run differential by a fair margin?
The run diff is inflated by two blow-outs where position players pitched to them (and they scored quite a few runs off of those non-pitchers). Check back in a month.
Cubs have been great so far.