Cubs Injury Update: Matthew Boyd to make rehab start, Justin Steele gets positive update

If you had high hopes for Jordan Wicks' return to the Chicago Cubs' starting rotation, you were quickly put out of your misery on Tuesday night after the Pittsburgh Pirates shelled the left-hander, sending the team to a 10th straight loss.

Wicks was torched for eight earned runs - including five in the first inning alone - on nine hits over 4 1/3 innings of work in a disappointing showing for the former first-rounder. With that performance in the background, the updates on injured southpaws Matthew Boyd and Justin Steele feel more important than ever.

Prior to Tuesday's massacre at PNC Park, Craig Counsell told reporters that Boyd will start this weekend at Iowa in his first rehab start since undergoing a procedure to repair a torn meniscus in early May. If he can be anything close to what he was last year, he'd be a major boost to a rotation that ranks 24th in team ERA.

If you think it'll be a one-and-done for Boyd at Iowa, you're mistaken. The left-hander is expected to make at least two rehab starts with the I-Cubs before rejoining the big-league team.

Cubs get good news on Justin Steele - but it comes with a catch

If Steele is joing to re-join the Cubs this year, it won't be anytime soon. After experiencing a setback in his recovery from UCL surgery, we already knew it would be sometime in the second half before he had a chance to toe the rubber at Wrigley Field.

The latest update, which came Tuesday, was overall positive, with Counsell saying that Steele is starting to progress toward strength work in the coming weeks, followed by work with plyo balls. Even so, he's 'multiple' weeks away from throwing a baseball and there is no timetable for his return.

“We’re hopeful to get him back," Counsell told reporters. Obviously there comes a point which you run out of days but I don't think we're there yet & I know Justin wants to come back more than anything. …Our hope is that we can get him back by the end of the year and really help us.”

Just earlier in May, it was a foregone conclusion that Jed Hoyer would push his chips in at the deadline and add to the rotation. Before that can happen, the Cubs need to prove they can pull out of this tailspin and get back to playing winning baseball. Otherwise, the returns of Boyd and Steele may be the closest thing to reinforcements this staff will get this summer.

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Follow