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Shota Imanaga appears to be knocking on the door of returning to the Chicago Cubs. After making a couple of starts in the Arizona Complex League, the Cubs announced that Imanaga will continue his minor league rehab assignment with a start for the Iowa Cubs on Friday.
Considering the handful of appearances Imanaga already had in Arizona, chances are he will only need one start with the Iowa Cubs before being ready to be activated from the IL. Assuming there are no setbacks, it would seem that Imanaga would be in line to start for the Cubs against the St. Louis Cardinals next week.
It seems clear that once Imanaga does return to the Cubs' rotation, Ben Brown will be moved to the bullpen. However, Craig Counsell may choose to deploy some form of a six-man rotation. Doing so would allow the Cubs to be cautious with how they use Brown and limit the innings workload for Cade Horton. It wouldn't be a plan that would be in place for the remainder of the season, but something the Cubs could consider in the immediate aftermath of Imanaga's return.
Cubs Injury Update: Porter Hodge makes another appearance for the Iowa Cubs
It would seem likely that Porter Hodge is activated from the IL by the end of the week. Hodge made another appearance for the I-Cubs on Tuesday, tossing a scoreless inning while issuing one walk and tallying one strikeout.
Hodge's return will lead to a roster crunch for the bullpen. As was made evident when the Cubs designated Tyson Miller for assignment two weeks ago, the Cubs don't have many pitchers in their bullpen with minor-league options remaining. It would seem that Génesis Cabrera would be the candidate to be designated for assignment once Hodge returns, but the Cubs may prefer to keep his experiment going. If that's the case, Chris Flexen would likely be the odd man out, but he, too, has been excellent.
Cubs Injury Update: Eli Morgan struggles in rehab appearance
Eli Morgan is also on a rehab assignment with the Iowa Cubs and did not look great in his outing on Tuesday night. Morgan was tagged for 4 runs on 2 hits while issuing 2 walks in less than an inning of work. Morgan does have minor-league options, so chances are that once his rehab assignment is over, he will be assigned to Triple-A.