NEW YORK – Just when you thought it couldn’t get any worse for the Cubs’ banged-up pitching staff, it got worse.
Righty starter Edward Cabrera left Tuesday night’s game against the Mets on a cart after suffering a left hamstring/adductor strain while covering first base on a ground out that ended the fifth inning.
Cabrera did the splits at first base while receiving a throw from second baseman Nico Hoerner. Immediately after the out, he grabbed the inside of his left thigh in pain and sat down on the infield grass. After he was propped up by team staff, the cart was called to bring him off the field.
It’s more bad news for the Cubs, who currently have three members of their Opening Day starting rotation on the injured list in lefty Matthew Boyd and right-handers Cade Horton and Jameson Taillon. Boyd figures to make his long-awaited return from the IL in the coming days, but Horton is out for the season and Taillon’s comeback is still weeks away.
Team president Jed Hoyer said in a Tuesday radio interview that it’s “unrealistic” to expect lefty Justin Steele, out since the early days of last season, to make starts for the team this year.
Righties Ben Brown and Javier Assad have been something of saviors as rotation fill-ins, but righty Colin Rea hasn’t been nearly as good as he was in substitute duty last season.
Cubs starters came into Tuesday with a 4.62 ERA that was the seventh highest in baseball.
“We’ve had a lot of injuries, and we’ve had to have guys step up,” Hoyer said last week at Wrigley Field. “Yes, external rotation additions are a possibility, not as much now as they are later. But that part of our team struggling, honestly, is kind of logical given what we’re missing.
“There are some guys that have stepped up, but we’re going to need more of that. Even if the offense starts clicking, we’re going to need more consistency out of that group.”
Cabrera was one of the pitchers who needed to step up, the Cubs still waiting to see the best version of the righty who they spent top-rated prospect Owen Caissie on last winter to bring what they hoped would be a top-of-the-rotation type to the North Side.
It was the kind of trade Hoyer’s front office didn’t make at last year’s trade deadline, when the team president opted to keep his future pieces rather than supplement a banged-up staff. The move in the offseason was part of setting championship-level expectations for this year’s Cubs team.
But through his first 14 starts in a Cubs uniform, Cabrera has a 5.10 ERA, much higher than the 3.53 number he posted last season with the Marlins. Those 2025 results were attractive enough to convince Hoyer & Co. to make Cabrera a pivotal part of the organization’s pitching plans moving forward.
The results so far this season? Rather unattractive.
June has been especially rough. Cabrera returned from the injured list and surrendered eight runs against the Giants. He made an early exit with a hand cramp in last week’s start against the Rockies, in which he gave up five runs.
Before leaving Tuesday against the Mets, Cabrera was handed a big lead after a five-run top of the second inning but couldn’t answer with a shutdown bottom half, loading the bases with two outs and surrendering a two-run single as part of a three-walk, two-hit frame.
The results need to be better, but the wonder now is what sort of opportunity Cabrera will have after suffering the injury Tuesday, another bout of bad news for a pitching staff that’s been hammered by injuries.
“We went into the season thinking we had real numbers. The modern game takes care of that real quickly, and it’s really tested our depth,” Hoyer said. “Injuries are part of the game, they’re part of the challenge. Some seasons you maybe skate through a little bit, and some seasons you don’t. And we haven’t.”