Chicago Cubs: Another pitcher on the IL, another obstacle to deal with

The Chicago Cubs, at this point, probably can’t help but shrug their shoulders and brace for the next pitching injury to pop up.

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Early Saturday morning, reliever Hoby Milner had an emergency appendectomy that will keep him out of commission for four to six weeks, according to the team.

“He woke up in the middle of the night and had major stomach pain,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell informed reporters prior to Saturday’s game against the Milwaukee Brewers at American Family Field. “Actually Uber-ed himself to the emergency room and then had surgery this morning.”

The sidearm southpaw has been one of the more reliable relief arms in a banged up bullpen since coming to the team on a one-year, $3.75 million contract this past offseason. On the season, he’s posted a 3.53 ERA through 35.2 innings pitched, although six of the fourteen earned runs he’s allowed this year came from one horrible outing against the San Francisco on June 5.

Hoby Milner joins the legion of Cubs injured

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Milner now joins closer Daniel Palencia, Phil Maton, Hunter Harvey, and Riley Martin as an on-the-shelf bullpen arm. Among starting pitchers, Cade Horton, Edward Cabrera, Ben Brown, Jameson Taillon, and Justin Steele are all on the IL as well, with Matthew Boyd just recently returning to the mound after meniscus surgery.

The massive wave of injury—which has essentially wiped out nine of the projected thirteen pitchers on the 26-man roster heading into the season—has forced the Cubs to scour the waiver wire for emergency fill-ins cut loose from other organizations.

The most recent pickups were Bryse Wilson from the Phillies and former Cub Drew Pomeranz from the Angels. But the list of on-the-fly acquisitions expected to contribute has been extremely long.

Chicago also pulled off a trade with the New York Mets on Thursday, acquiring veteran starting pitcher David Peterson for their no. 13 prospect 1B/DH Cole Mathis.

Running out of fill-ins

“The cumulative effect is you just start running out of pitchers in your organization that are ready to go,” Counsell told media. “We have, obviously, bodies. But the quality has to go down. We don’t have that big of a stockpile. I don’t think anybody does. So we’re going to have to get through it. We’ll keep looking for guys that can do the job.”

Needless to say, chances are slim of a team making a championship run with a starting rotation missing 60% of its starters and a bullpen missing almost all of its high-leverage arms.

The Peterson addition was a definite plus—In his debut, he delivered 5.2 innings and allowed two earned runs in an 8-2 Cubs win over the Milwaukee Brewers. But there will have to be more and the team will also have to lean heavily into the hope of at least some of their injured pitchers coming back in top form sooner rather than later.

With the August 3 trade deadline still over a month away, the team will probably have to keep on the lookout for more pitching castoffs and hope for a lot of good fortune.

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