Chicago Cubs good pitching news: The cavalry will be coming!

The Chicago Cubs really shouldn’t be doing what they’re doing right now. They shouldn’t be winning—eight in a row as of this writing and fourteen in a row at home. They shouldn’t be atop the NL Central Division, tied for second best record in all of baseball.

More News: Chicago Cubs named as ideal landing spot for Met and former Brewer Freddy Peralta

They’ve lost one of their projected top two starters, Cade Horton, for the year after elbow surgery. They’re dealing with the second time Opening Day starter Matthew Boyd has been put on the shelf, this latest issue being a freak meniscus injury that requires surgery.

“We’re gonna have to fill in around him for sure,” manager Craig Counsell told reporters. “That’s going to be our task.

“There’s no benefit to doing that [dwelling on the run of pitching misfortune]” Counsell added. “This is an opportunity for somebody. Through those opportunities, good things can happen. That’s how you have to see it.”

A good chunk of their bullpen, by the way, has also gone down to injury with a couple of key arms still on the IL.

This team, though, has been leaning on an opportunistic grinding offense along with a remaining pitching corps that has been picking up the slack, plus, of course, a hefty dose of old school grit and gumption.

Good news!

More News: Chicago Cubs: Unlikely hero goes from two DFAs to a spot on a first place bullpen

But would it be too Pollyanna corny to say that there’s actually some good news to be found among all the pitching dreariness?

First, Boyd’s injury wasn’t as extensive as initially feared.

Per GM Carter Hawkins:

“It’s more than a month for sure, and then we’ll kind of figure it out from there. It was not a full repair. It was more of a trimming (of the meniscus).”

If all goes according to plan with rehab, that probably has his return coming sometime soon after the All-Star break.

Ace Justin Steele, by the way, is also having his return targeted for post-break after suffering a bit of a setback in his rehab from elbow surgery last year.

Back in the bullpen, Daniel Palencia and Phil Maton are already pitching. Caleb Thielbar and Hunter Harvey are throwing and set to amp up their rehab routines, with the lefty Thielbar likely to get back sooner. Gavin Hollowell, who is back from injury as well, has been activated and will be in Chicago for Thursday’s game. Ethan Roberts and Jordan Wicks are also active again, working things through at Triple-A.

Aces in the hole

Meanwhile, Cubs’ offseason pickup Kyle Wright, a former 21-game winner for the Atlanta Braves who saw his career sidelined for almost three years due to injury, is slowly inching his way back to a full-time return. The 30-year-old righty is set to join the Triple-A Iowa Cubs at some point this week and is reportedly reaching mid-90s in bullpen sessions.

The Cubs are also getting back some of the emergency callups they had to DFA due to roster considerations—such as Vince Velasquez and Yacksel Rios, who both posted a 0.00 ERA during their brief major league assignments—and returning them to Iowa, just in case.

Even top pitching prospect Jaxon Wiggins, who was shut down in Iowa for a month due to elbow inflammation, has resumed a throwing program.

So, the cavalry is on its way—even though the soldiers are holding down the fort just fine right now.

With Boyd and Steele back in the rotation for the pennant push and the bullpen back to being filled with quality arms and options, the Cubs are set up for postseason success. Unless, of course, their pitchers keep getting injured.

The post Chicago Cubs good pitching news: The cavalry will be coming! appeared first on ChiCitySports.

Source: https://www.chicitysports.com/chicago-cubs-good-news-pitching-boyd-steele-thielbar-harvey-wright/