Updates on Andrew Cashner, Marlon Byrd, Geovany Soto, Randy Wells, and Jeff Baker

Instead of a normal bullets post, today you just get a rundown of the nearly-insane number of Chicago Cubs injury updates in the news.

  • Andrew Cashner’s visit with Dr. Lewis Yocum was successful, at least insofar as Dr. Yocum did not recommend surgery on the youngster’s strained rotator cuff. His opinion is the same as the Cubs’ original plan: Cashner should rest and then rehab. So, the kid will still be out for quite some time, but this is good news.
  • Randy Wells is back with the Cubs and officially will start on Saturday. With Matt Garza going to the disabled list, the Cubs can defer the fifth starter decision – i.e., Doug Davis or Casey Coleman – for another week. Wells will not be activated until he starts, so young relievers Scott Maine and Justin Berg will have a few more days to impress and hold onto their roster spot.
  • Geovany Soto is also on his way back. His 15 days on the DL due to a groin strain are up later this week, so he’s expected to play in an extended Spring Training game today, before heading to AA Tennessee and a couple rehab starts. He’ll be back either Saturday or Sunday, Welington Castillo will return to AAA Iowa, and Koyie Hill will return to driving us crazy but once a week instead of six times.
  • Marlon Byrd is going to do almost nothing for the next couple of weeks while his face and the attachment behind his left eye heal. “The bruising in the retina area is subsiding some, which is good,” Hendry said. “Because of the fractures and the bruising in that spot, it’s detrimental for him to do any more than walking around for one to two more weeks. That’s not surprising, and that’s good news because the healing process has started. We’ll have to play that by ear.” The Cubs aren’t setting any kind of timetable on Byrd’s return, which is for obvious reasons. The team will continue to go primarily with Reed Johnson in center field, spelled by Tony Campana and Lou Montanez. Because of his hand injury, we can only wonder what the Cubs might have decided to do with Brett Jackson, who is not expected to start playing again until later this week. He still might be called up later this year.
  • Jeff Baker was feeling much better yesterday (groin strain), but didn’t start. Most assume he’ll be available to play from here on out.
  • written by

    Brett Taylor is the Lead Cubs Writer at Bleacher Nation, and you can find him on Twitter at @BleacherNation and on LinkedIn here. Brett is also the founder of Bleacher Nation, which opened up shop in 2008 as an independent blog about the Chicago Cubs. Later growing to incorporate coverage of other Chicago sports, Bleacher Nation is now one of the largest regional sports blogs on the web.

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