Justin Steele makes first comments on setback, vows to return better than ever

If news of Justin Steele's flexor strain felt like a gut punch to all of us as fans, just imagine how the left-hander feels after spending more than a year rehabbing from elbow surgery last spring.

In his first public comments since the news broke earlier this week, Steele took to social media to express his thoughts. While he didn't get into specifics on the emotional and mental impact the injury has had on him, he did showcase the aggressive bulldog mentality that's made him a favorite among Chicago Cubs fans.

Steele said he's one of the best pitchers on the planet and plans not only on regaining that form but, saying he 'will get back to that and even better.' That's the end goal for both player and team, the latter in desperate need of impact pitching as the staff weathers injury after injury in the early-going.

He also thanked everyone who has reached out or supported him and I think that was just a nice reminder that, as a fan, our knee-jerk reaction might be something along the lines of 'wow, this sucks for the team' and thinking through the immediate impact to the Cubs' postseason hopes, etc., at the end of the day, this is a human being who is going through something incredibly challenging and supporting him is the least any of us can do.

Cubs will have to make do with what they have for next two-plus months

For the time being, you're looking at the options to fill out the rotation. Matthew Boyd, who hasn't looked anything like the ace he was for the team last year, Jameson Taillon, Edward Cabrera, Colin Rea, Javier Assad and Shota Imanaga. Cabrera and Imanaga have been the bright spots in the mix, but there's no one in this group that doesn't come with some sort of question.

All we can hope for now is that Steele hits that mid-July target date and doesn't have any more bumps in the road. That should give him time to ramp up to the point to at least be a factor in the closing weeks of the regular season and, hopefully, be ready to do what he does best under the bright lights of Wrigley Field come October.

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