Cubs' Javier Assad makes Chicago pit stop as he advances in rehab assignment
Cubs right-hander Javier Assad has been sidelined all season, but he said he has watched the broadcast of every game.
“Now that I’m going to have a chance to watch the game from the dugout, it’s going to be great,” Assad said.
On his way to a rehab assignment with Triple-A Iowa, Assad swung by Chicago to touch base with the team.
The other injuries to Cubs starters — Justin Steele (season-ending elbow surgery), Shota Imanaga (strained left hamstring) and Jameson Taillon (strained right calf) — have overshadowed Assad’s.
His absence, however, with a strained left oblique before spring training and an aggravation of the same injury during a rehab start in his first buildup, has significantly hamstrung the Cubs’ starting-pitching depth.
“You see what we’re going through right now,” manager Craig Counsell said. “And you want to have options for both performance and injuries, frankly. And then after July 31, this is your organization, and you’ve got to rely on the guys in your organization. So from that perspective, we’re turning in a good direction. And we’re going to need all those guys, and probably more — a name that we haven’t seen yet or talked about yet — to help us get through the season.”
Assad and Taillon, who is scheduled to throw live batting practice in Milwaukee this week before starting his minor-league rehab assignment, are on track to return sometime around mid-August. And the Cubs are exploring trade options to add outside pitching before the deadline Thursday.
The last time Assad was healthy, he was a major contributor. In a swingman role last year, Assad had a 3.05 ERA.
“It’s been difficult,” Assad said. “It’s the first time that I haven’t been healthy for this long in the season. Right now, just focused on trying to get healthy and working on coming back. But everything happens for a reason.”
The Cubs plan to build up Assad as a starter, but they could use him in either role down the stretch and in the playoffs.
“The thing to remember is that we have important baseball left, and he can be a contributor,” Counsell said. “So he’s on a good track right now.”
Evaluating Imanaga’s night
After the Cubs evaluated Imanaga’s recovery from his worst start of the season, in which he allowed seven runs in three-plus innings against the White Sox on Friday, Counsell reiterated Saturday that there was no injury concern.
“He didn’t pitch well,” Counsell said. “And sometimes that’s a real thing that just happens. It was very similar to the start against the Mets last year at Wrigley. The best pitchers have them.”
When Imanaga gave up 10 runs in three-plus innings to the Mets last year, he bounced back his next start to hold the Giants to three runs in six innings.
Crosstown fun
A sellout crowd, the second of the year, packed Rate Field for the first game of the series.
“You get kind of a split camp in the stadium, which is very rare, and that makes the stadium fun, and that makes the games fun,” Counsell said of the crosstown series. “And so players feed off that energy and emotion.”