Cubs left-hander Matthew Boyd is going to undergo surgery to address an injury to the meniscus in his left knee. His current timetable is unknown. Manager Craig Counsell provided the update to reporters, including Jesse Rogers of ESPN. After Counsell spoke, the Cubs officially placed him on the 15-day injured list. Right-hander Trent Thornton was selected to take Boyd’s spot on the roster. Left-hander Charlie Barnes was designated for assignment to open a 40-man spot for Thornton. Jordan Bastian of MLB.com reported that Thornton would be coming up prior to the official announcement.
The Boyd injury comes out of nowhere. He started for the Cubs on Sunday and tossed six innings of two-run ball against the Diamondbacks. Apparently, Boyd first noticed the injury while getting up and down to play with his kids, per Patrick Mooney of The Athletic. That led to an MRI, which showed an issue with his meniscus. His timeline won’t be known until after the procedure takes place, per Mooney, but it will be longer than a minimum stint on the IL.
For however long Boyd is ultimately out, it will be a blow to the Cubs. They have already lost Cade Horton to Tommy John surgery, so he’s done for the year. Justin Steele is trying to come back from his own elbow surgery but a flexor strain recently pushed his timeline and he’s probably out beyond the All-Star break now.
The Cubs started the year with Horton, Boyd, Edward Cabrera, Jameson Taillon and Shota Imanaga in five spots. Boyd missed time earlier due to a bicep strain. Due to that ailment and Horton’s surgery, Colin Rea moved from the bullpen to the rotation and Javier Assad was called up from the minors. When Boyd returned from the bicep issue, Assad was bumped to the bullpen.
Boyd’s spot in the rotation is due up on Friday. Perhaps Assad will get another rotation gig but he’s not currently stretched out. His last start was April 19th, when he went 5 2/3. He then pitched one inning on April 23rd and 2 1/3 on April 25th, followed by a big gap. He tossed an inning and a third last night, his first game action in ten days.
Doug Nikhazy is on optional assignment and could be another option but he lasted only 2 2/3 innings in each of his two most recent Triple-A starts. Guys like Ty Blach, Connor Noland, Paul Campbell and Will Sanders have been starting in Triple-A but aren’t on the 40-man and no one in that trio has an ERA below 6.00.
More to come.
Absolutely ridiculous
This just keeps getting crazier and they’re only 5 weeks into the season. I guess Assad is the next man up.. for now..
Hoyer is going to have to start kicking the tires on rentals if the Cubs start falling apart and see what teams start waving that white flag early.
The blow to the Cubs are just insane.
The blow the Cubs are doing to win is just insane.
Receipts or it didn’t happen.
How do we keep winning I have no idea
Gutting out late inning wins and winning the coin flips. 8-2 in one run games, 3-1 in extras. Not a Cubs fan, but its fun to see teams fighting to get those close wins.
Cub fans starting to line up on Sears Tower to jump. White Sox fans especially ecstatic. And the rest of NL Central team wishing nothing but the worst to continue
Meh Sox fans more concerned bout their own club – dont wish another team in their city grievous bodily harm. The rest of the NL central tho…
Yet the meh Sox fans are here commenting on the Cubs within minutes of a story being posted.
Even took time away from today’s game with the Angels to jump on.
That’s a pretty decent burn of White Sox fans.
Get SF on the phone pronto
Sigh…
Isn’t it possible that he returns this year, depending on the severity of the injury?
A trim is 4-6 weeks, repair is 3-6 months. Add in time to get back to a full throwing regimen… Its about as late as it can be for this injury to play again this season, but maybe?
Can’t blame the training staff this time. It happened while playing with his kids at home.
Trevor Bauer, your table is ready.
He was playing with his kids, ouch.
Trent Thornton. Can’t wait.
Good morning to all the survivors of 9/11 ! Woooooo!
*Sigh*
Why is it everyone in baseball knows you can never have enough pitching except for the Cubs front office?
Everyone knew they should’ve signed Framber Valdez, but the Cubs had to be thinking Steele would be back in May and no one else would get hurt. Somehow Craig Counsell has them in first place in spite of the front office
Vince Velasquez, your long relief table is ready.
Still no word from Cubs owner or management as to how they’re going to deal with the situation. Isn’t there a sportswriter with enough guts to ask the question and get an answer? I mean you can forget about Bruce Levine but there has to be one who has a pair? Gotta think the Pixie Dust will wear off at some point.
It sucks to lose him, but this team is playing so well it doesn’t seem like it matters who they plug into the equation. We’ll see how long that lasts, but Assad is better than a lot of teams’ fifth starter.