SAN DIEGO — With All-Star pitcher Justin Steele scheduled for season-ending surgery on his left elbow and forearm, the Chicago Cubs remain focused, for now, on internal solutions.
The Cubs still have 90 more games until the July 31 trade deadline. The Miami Marlins are already signaling that they will be patient before deciding what to do with Sandy Alcantara. Even if Cubs executives Jed Hoyer and Carter Hawkins wanted to immediately mortgage the farm system for a Cy Young Award winner, they would probably have to wait longer.
Hoyer’s front office made pitching depth a top offseason priority, constantly thinking about what could go wrong. Cubs manager Craig Counsell reacted to Steele’s bad news with his usual stoicism, viewing it as part of the life cycle of a major-league pitcher. Players always have to look forward.
“Justin Steele is one of a kind,” Cubs pitcher Matthew Boyd said. “You can’t replace Justin Steele because he’s one of one. He’s really talented. That being said, we have that next-man-up mentality.
“We have a very talented rotation. We have guys that can step up and perform in those roles. We’re excited for that. With championship teams, that’s what has to happen, so that’s what we’ll do.”
“You can’t replace Justin Steele (shown above) because he’s one of one,” Cubs pitcher Matthew Boyd said. “He’s really talented. That being said, we have that next-man-up mentality.” (Darren Yamashita / Imagn Images)
Cubs starter Jameson Taillon wasn’t the issue in Monday night’s 10-4 loss to the San Diego Padres at Petco Park, where the bullpen was charged with eight runs.
A roster move is anticipated for reliever Eli Morgan, who gave up home runs to Fernando Tatis Jr. and Luis Arraez and is dealing with a right elbow issue. Still, with an 11-8 start while playing baseball’s toughest opening schedule, the Cubs have created a cushion to avoid any sense of early-season panic.
The Cubs moved quickly to sign Boyd to a two-year, $29 million contract this past offseason, identifying him as an intelligent, experienced pitcher who had enough distance from his Tommy John surgery to build off his playoff run with the Cleveland Guardians.
The Boyd deal didn’t make a splash, but the Cubs have a strong track record with pitchers in the upper-middle class of free agents. The previous offseason, the Cubs signed Shota Imanaga when the rest of the baseball industry undervalued the Japanese pitcher, who became an All-Star and a Cy Young Award contender as a rookie.
So far, Boyd is putting up zeros, holding the opponent scoreless in 16-of-17 innings. Preserving health will be a concern; the lefty hasn’t pitched a full season since 2019. But in matching up against Eduardo Rodriguez, Nick Pivetta and Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Boyd has each time given the Cubs a chance to win.
Another encouraging development for the club is Ben Brown’s adjustments from one start to the next. Putting Brown, 25, in the rotation was a move for upside and more swing-and-miss stuff.
After a noncompetitive April 6 start against the Padres at Wrigley Field — seven hits, four walks and five runs allowed in four innings — Brown prepared for his next outing against Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts and the rest of the Los Angeles Dodgers. In front of a Saturday night sellout crowd at Dodger Stadium, Brown concentrated on his pitch-to-pitch execution, slowed the game down, and put together six scoreless innings to beat the defending World Series champs.
“What we’ve emphasized is when my stuff is there, we can get through lineups like that,” Brown said. “It definitely is a confidence boost. Honestly, for me, just filling up the zone is the biggest confidence boost. Because I know when I can do that, I can do a lot of really awesome things on the ballfield.”
Cubs pitcher Cade Horton, who’s been generating buzz at Triple-A Iowa, is shown pitching in spring training. (Rick Scuteri / Imagn Images)
The Cubs also believe Cade Horton has a similarly high ceiling. Otherwise, an organization with a successful history of selecting college hitters in the first round wouldn’t have taken Horton with the No. 7 pick in the 2022 draft.
Horton, a two-way baseball player who was also recruited to play college football at Oklahoma, underwent Tommy John surgery and wound up pitching only 53 2/3 innings for the Sooners. The stuff and the athleticism, though, wowed Cubs officials.
Staying healthy has been an issue for Horton in professional baseball, but the Cubs have been deliberate about giving him a better foundation for this season. He’s already at Triple-A Iowa and generating some buzz.
“Pitchers can put themselves on the radar pretty fast,” Counsell said. “It’s not just Cade Horton. There’s a lot of pitchers who can put their name on the radar fast. The best thing that’s happening with Cade right now is he’s taking the ball every six days.
“Keep developing. Keep improving. And we’ll see where that gets us sometime in the middle of the summer. Cade needs to pitch. There’s mound time that’s really important to him. He’s going out there and getting that right now. That’s super valuable.”
At the moment, Counsell is planning to take advantage of the four days off scheduled between Thursday and April 28. Though not as impactful as Steele, Colin Rea got a $5 million deal so that he could create flexibility for the pitching staff and step into this kind of situation.
Javier Assad, whose spring training was delayed by an oblique injury, appears to be on track to end his minor-league rehab assignment by late April or early May. Besides Horton, the Triple-A pitching depth chart includes another first-round pick, Jordan Wicks, as well as hitting prospects who could be used this summer to swing a blockbuster trade.
The Cubs have to be prepared for all possibilities.
“You never know what’s going to happen,” Cubs pitching coach Tommy Hottovy said. “You never know who you’re going to lose, or when you’re going to lose them. Now you just have to figure out the pieces and make this all come together.”
(Top photo of Jameson Taillon, who started Monday’s game against the Padres: David Frerker / Imagn Images)