Chicago Cubs: Daniel Palencia injury update actually sounds like good news

The Chicago Cubs are still, apparently, going through a rash of pitching injuries that can’t possibly get any worse—until they do.

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Just yesterday, manager Craig Counsell revealed that ace Justin Steele, who has been rehabbing from a “revision repair” elbow surgery in April of last year, suffered a flexor strain in a bullpen session and is being temporarily shut down while that heals. The setback scraps the original plans to have the lefty starter back by late-May or June and pushes that back to the more nebulous ‘sometime in the second half.’

But at least there’s a bit of good injury recovery news that can be shared with a fretting fandom.

Closer Daniel Palencia threw a bullpen session on Tuesday and things seems to be going well.

Daniel Palencia and his bullpen session

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Taylor McGregor of the Marquee Sports Network gave the Palencia update during yesterday’s game in San Diego versus the Padres:

“Daniel Palencia was throwing a bullpen here today. Really good news, considering that he’s about a week away from potentially returning. So, assuming everything checks out tomorrow—the high-intensity was built up—you could see him back in the major leagues very, very soon.”

Jordan Bastian of MLB.com confirmed the update and added to it:

“Closer Daniel Palencia (15-day IL, left lat) threw a bullpen session and then did some aggressive running and agility work on Tuesday, per Counsell. The manager said the pregame workout went well and noted that Palencia might be activated soon, if he recovers well into Wednesday.

‘It went very well,’ Counsell said. ‘We have to see what tomorrow looks like in terms of how does he feel? And then we’ll be able to determine the next step.’”

If all goes according to plan, the hard-throwing righty could be back in the bullpen as soon as next week. His return date was certainly helped by the fact that the original diagnosis of an oblique strain was later changed to a more mild lat strain on his non-throwing side.

Help!

Needless to say, the Cubs could definitely use another of their high-leverage arms coming back from the injured list.

Just about a month into this 2026 season, Chicago has already suffered through a bevy of pitching injuries that have the team reeling to dig up replacements.

They lost emerging ace Cade Horton, who had season-ending elbow surgery earlier this month. Opening Day starter Matthew Boyd lost three starts due to a left biceps strain. Then came Phil Maton (right knee tendonitis), Hunter Harvey (right triceps inflammation), Ethan Roberts (finger laceration), Palencia (lat strain), Caleb Thielbar (hamstring), and Riley Martin (elbow inflammation). Down in Triple-A Iowa, reliever Porter Hodge was lost for the season after UCL surgery. Jordan Wicks and Gavin Hollowell were lost for a bit. Even top pitching prospect Jaxon Wiggins had to be placed on the IL with right elbow inflammation.

As stopgap fill-ins, the Cubs have had to call up offseason minor league acquisitions Corbin Martin, Ryan Rolison, Charlie Barnes, Vince Velasquez, and Yacksel Rios.

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Source: https://www.chicitysports.com/chicago-cubs-daniel-palencia-injury-update-good-news/