The Cubs’ pitching staff has been hammered by injuries early in the season, which has served to undercut what’s been an outstanding offense. Justin Steele’s season is already over thanks to UCL surgery, and right-hander Javier Assad has yet to pitch in 2025 due to an oblique strain. The hope had been that Assad would be able to return early next month after beginning a rehab assignment in mid-April, but he exited his most recent rehab start while clutching his side an experiencing obvious discomfort.
Cubs skipper Craig Counsell told the team’s beat last night that Assad was traveling back to Chicago to be reexamined in the wake of that apparent setback (via Jordan Bastian of MLB.com). There’s no further update at this time, but it seems fair to expect the renewed discomfort will push Assad’s 2025 debut back further than originally hoped.
The 27-year-old Assad pitched a career-high 147 innings in the majors last year, starting 29 games for the Cubs and logging a solid 3.73 ERA. He’s been a productive member of the staff both in a relief and rotation capacity since his 2022 debut. Metrics like FIP (4.49) and SIERA (4.66) are far more bearish than his 3.40 ERA, due primarily to middling strikeout and walk rates of 19.8% and 9.9%.
Even if there’s some likely regression in store, however, Assad is clearly a big league-caliber arm who could hold down an important spot in the middle or at the back of Chicago’s rotation. His setback likely extends right-hander Colin Rea’s run in the rotation. The veteran swingman has proven to be an important offseason pickup thus far, tossing 13 2/3 innings and holding opponents to a pair of runs on 14 hits and a walk with a dozen strikeouts. Rea has made two starts, lasting 3 2/3 innings his first time out and 4 2/3 innings in his second. He held potent Dodgers and D-backs lineups to one run in each of those starts and out to be stretched out enough to pitch five to six innings in his next appearance.
The rotation has generally fared well despite those injuries (3.50 ERA), but the Cubs’ bullpen has been a true weak point in 2025. Chicago relievers rank 27th in the majors with a 5.17 earned run average — a struggle that’s compounded by the fact that the Cubs’ bullpen also ranks fifth in MLB with 94 innings pitched. The Cubs will only lean on their bullpen all the more heavily in the wake of a season-ending injury to top starter Justin Steele, who averaged nearly six innings per start from 2023-24.
Part of the bullpen’s struggle has been a shaky performance from newly acquired closer Ryan Pressly. The longtime Astros hurler has a sharp-looking 2.45 ERA in his first 11 innings with the Cubs, but he’s sitting on a career-worst 10.6% strikeout rate that checks in lower than his 12.8% walk rate. That’s not a sustainable recipe for success.
Pressly has been pitching at less than 100% this season, however. Counsell revealed last night that Pressly had his right knee drained yesterday and was unavailable for a save situation that arose (link via Patrick Mooney of The Athletic). Sophomore reliever Porter Hodge stepped up and nailed down a victory over the Dodgers that pushed Chicago’s record to 16-10 and widened their division lead to 2.5 games.
Despite the ominous update on Pressly’s knee, Counsell added that the team hopes the 36-year-old veteran will be available beginning with this weekend’s series against the Phillies. Pressly was down yesterday, and the Cubs have an off-day today, so he’ll have a few days to rest that ailing knee. In addition to shaky command, Pressly is giving up hard-contact at career-worst rates and has shown a career-low 93.3 mph average velocity on his heater. His 6.4% swinging-strike rate is the eighth-worst among the 276 MLB pitchers with at least 10 innings pitched in 2025.
Pressly isn’t the only ailing Cubs reliever. Right-hander Eli Morgan, acquired from the Guardians over the winter, is already on the 15-day injured list after stumbling to a 12.27 ERA in his first seven appearances with his new team. He’d originally been diagnosed with an elbow impingement, but Counsell revealed last night (via Bastian) that Morgan won’t throw at all for two to three weeks due to an inflamed ulnar nerve in his right arm. There’s no indication right now that surgery is a consideration, but several players (e.g. Michael Fulmer, Steven Matz) have ultimately required an operation when dealing with ulnar neuritis in the past.
Morgan, 28, had a nice run with Cleveland from 2022-24, pitching 176 innings with a 3.27 ERA, a 25.1% strikeout rate and a 6.6% walk rate. His strikeout rate dipped considerably in 2024, however, and he spent time on the injured list due to both shoulder and elbow inflammation. He’ll be reevaluated after this shutdown period, but for the time being there’s no concrete timetable on when he might be able to return.
If Sandy Alcantara was pitching better i would say he would be a great player for the Cubs to go after but he’s not. The Cubs have prospects they could trade just not sure what pitchers are available.
Well he just came back from injury, of course he’s not pitching well right now…but you take the chance that he will pitch well soon.
@KoC
I’d think that might be the best time to get him if it means the expected prospect haul is less. Alcantara has earned his status as a high end starter, so a “buy low” strategy might be a good thing. The Cubs have paid a premium in prospects for subpar return, it’d be nice to get a trade win.
I am sure the Marlins want to win the deal as well.
Trade simulator had Alcantaras value at 53 million as of a week ago. That seemed high to me at the time and sounds worse now because he’s pitched poorly since then.
What’s the offer? The Marlins are willing to do trade early in the season they did so with Arraez.
A week shouldn’t move the needle very far in terms of changes to his evaluation. If we can move Caissie + low end prospects instead of (Kevin) Alcantara + Low/Mid level prospects, that’s more of the “buy low” concept I’m referring to. He’s still going to take a haul to get, but it’d be nice to offer less than we would if he was pitching lights out.
Something like Alcantara and Triantos could make sense. Cassie looks good i don’t think he’s the guy they should trade.
The Cubs should absolutely not trade Caissie unless they extend or re-sign Tucker. And even then I don’t think he should be traded
20 other teams are just as interested in Alcantara. Good luck to any one of them.
If they can extend PCA, maybe Alcantara is expendable. If they can extend Tucker, so is Cassie.
Opinions differ, but I’m personally more bullish on Alcantara over Cassie.
@Cubs25 the problem is you have the Braves and Baltimore trying to find pitching as well. In a few months that list could grow even wider. Mets? Tigers? Yanks? I don’t think a buy low option exists with that much competition.
Yes, I understand. All TOR starting pitchers to be made available will always have multiple suitors. Nothing new here.
The “buy low” (notice the quotes) reference was made to point out that he’s not fresh off of a Cy Young award, but is in fact, struggling so far this year. So his price tag, accounting for the fact that multiple teams may be in on him, is low (in relative terms) to what it would be if he was pitching lights out.
If Alcantara doesn’t start pitching better that list of teams won’t matter because nobody will want him.
No time like the present to finally give old friend David Robertson a call, one that should have been much sooner.
Honestly, yes please. The bullpen needs help, and that’s what killed this team last season…
And you can even reach him directly. No agent.
Dude’s probably in better shape than all these young guys too I bet.
Assad at his best is fair at best. We can say all we want to that he is a credible major-league starting pitcher, and cherry-pick stats to back that up, but those of us who follow the team day-by-day know it just ain’t so. Mediocre stuff and mediocre command equals a mediocre, and often worse than mediocre, pitcher. I’m sorry he’s hurt and hope he gets better, but the Cubs are better off without him. They have–or should get–better alternatives.
The problem isnt Assad being hurt it’s Steele being out for the year. He’s the guy the Cubs need to replace.
It’s not time yet to conclude that Pressly is this year’s Neris–but I’m afraid it might be soon. It’s pathetic to see a washed-up pitcher trying to succeed with stuff that isn’t good enough anymore. They put in the same effort, but don’t get the same results….As for Morgan, he seems to have been another Hoyer-Hawkins fantasy; at least we won’t have to look at him strut and fret his hour upon the big-league stage again.
Probably makes sense to stick with Hodge. His ERA might not look great but his underlying metrics like FIP (2.87) & SIERA (2.94) say he’s doing better than his baseball card numbers show.
The ERA looks bad only from really one outing. This early in the season, one bad outing can kill the number.
Gotta love all that $$ Rickity crickets saved with belly. Not a penny spent like they said. Even better when Tucker walks in FA
The Cubs won again last night and are in first place in the NL Central.
Manfred has it right.
The standings are the owner and POBO’s performance review. Too early to judge successes or failure.
Carson Kelly has offset what Shaw has not done. In a couple months, that script will flip. Real opportunity for Berti and Hodge though.
If reports are to be believed, they did make offers to Scott and Yates.
I just don’t think the offense can continue like this to bail out a bad bullpen though.
136 games remain with this pitching AND Jed now has to think. Awesome!
The Cubs won again last night and are in first place in the NL Central.
First in the NL central is like winning a spelling bee at a Kentucky grade school. It’s fun but I wouldn’t go bragging about it…..
I wouldn’t expect you to. You are a troll and a Cardinals fan. I hope you feel better putting down grade schools in Kentucky. Good day.
Look at the schedule we have played so far, buddy.
I hope you feel better pretending to care about Kentucky grade schools just so you can act offended about something I said because I am a Cardinals fan.
That’s weird
I am not your buddy pal
Argue with the schedule, buddy. I am not your pal.
Their play so far is promising, but they will have to be better against their own division this season if they are going to win it. I’ll be looking especially at their games against the Brewers and Reds.
Weird things happen in division games, I understand that, but the divisional play should theoretically be a walk in the park compared to the schedule they have played so far… especially if they tighten up pitching.
Why does nobody want David Robertson?
Well, speaking at least in terms of Jed, he is extremely cheap.
While I understand that early-season trades are not typical, my problem with the Cubs is for the last couple of years is we have massive holes (has typically been the bullpen the past few seasons) that we do not address. Then, time plays out, our offense begins to go back to normal (still good, but normal), and boom we are around .500 at the all star break. Remember we were 17-10 last April? We make second place offers to guys like Scott to say “WE TRIED,” and then by the all-star break everyone forgets how good a team we really could have been if we had capitalized on our hot streaks without massive holes in our team. We have already DISTINCTLY lost 3 games because of our bullpen, games we were up substantially and the lead crumbled. I am sick of these subpar bullpen pitchers for a team going only 500k over the luxury tax in 2024. We were top 5 in the MLB last year in blown saves, and would have easily been 10 games above .500 if we didn’t have a 50 year old as our closer…. what was our answer? Get another 50 year old closer who was 8th in blown saves last year. It makes zero sense, and honestly, every Cubs fan should be upset we have to pay for Marquee to watch games and we cannot even buy a closer. If we are even going to be a serious playoff contender, we need like 3 more bullpen arms to do so. Hodge and Merryweather are the only two who are objectively good, the whole rest of the BP sucks. Not to mention, we have 2 guys (1 who is a top 10 player in the MLB) Tucker, and another (a superstar in the making, a 5-tool player) PCA, that we are just stalling making contracts with as the price probably continues to go up. Kyle Tucker should have been extended the second he was traded for.
much to the surprise of absolutely no one, Jed once again putting together a sloppy seconds bullpen is not working out.
Jed’s Cubs are in first place and won 2 against the World Series champs this week.