The Chicago Cubs received terrible news that one of their top left-handers, Justin Steele, will miss the rest of this season due to an elbow injury and require surgery.
The Cubs are playing great baseball, and not having Steele be an anchor in their rotation will hurt dearly, as the Cubs will have to find production elsewhere.
Thankfully the Cubs have a few internal options they can turn to, which should hold them over if they decide to trade for another starter at the trade deadline.
The most immediate option for the Chicago Cubs’ starting rotation
The Cubs have at least three options to choose to replace Steele in the rotation, even though the guys replacing Steele won’t provide the same level of production Steele would bring.
The first and most immediate option the Cubs have is right-hander Colin Rea. Rea was signed this off-season for something like this and could slide into the rotation for a few starts.
Rea has appeared in three games this season and has not allowed a run in any of his outings. His longest outing came against the Athletics in Sacramento, throwing 3.0 innings in a mop-up role.
For his career, Rea has made 76 career starts and a career ERA of 4.52. Rea will take the mound tonight for the Cubs when they play the Los Angeles Dodgers for the last game of the series.
A sign of one of the Cub’s top pitching prospects could get the call
Another option the Cubs have is promoting their top pitching prospect, Cade Horton.
Horton was a non-roster invite to spring training and pitched in three innings, with a 3.00 ERA in two games.
Horton is the Cub’s second-ranked prospect and is off to a hot start at Iowa, where he has a 1.23 ERA in 7.1 innings.
The 23-year-old Horton would’ve debuted last season if it hadn’t been for an injury that caused him to miss his whole season. The injury to Steele could provide an opening for Horton to get a chance to make his big league debut, as the Cubs could use another right-hander in their rotation.
One right-hander is working his way back
The last and most likely option to fill in for Steele will be right-hander Javier Assad.
Assad has been dealing with an oblique strain since the start of spring training and has been slowly progressing back to throwing in game situations.
The latest injury update on Assad is he pitched three innings out in Arizona on April 9th and will begin his rehab assignment with the Iowa Cubs on April 15th.
Assad beginning a rehab assignment is good news for the Cubs as it will give them another pitcher for their depth, but an experienced right-hander to plug into the rotation.
Assad made 29 starts for the Cubs last season, pitching to a 7-6 record and a 3.73 ERA in 147.0 innings.
The need for innings
Steele going down means one less arm to tackle taking down innings for this season, and will have to be found elsewhere from other guys.
These three provide good internal options, but the Cubs may not hesitate to make a move to get a high-level arm as the trade deadline gets closer.
Given they’re trying to make the playoffs for the first time in five seasons, that could be a possibility.