Although the pair were re-evaluated last Wednesday, we haven’t yet heard what the rehab plan is for long-lost pitchers Randy Wells and Andrew Cashner. Given that their absences have introduced to the James Russell/Casey Coleman nightmare, any kind of update on Wells’ and Cashner’s statuses is a welcome one.
To that end, today both Wells and Cashner threw off the mound for the first time since going down after their first starts of the season (Wells with a forearm strain, Cashner with a rotator cuff strain). Wells threw 15 pitches while Cashner managed 20.
Cashner, who will throw again on Wednesday before heading to extended Spring Training to face live batters, says he feels great.
“I threw really well today and had a lot better command than I thought I would. I threw great, everything’s good and threw fastball, changeup and I’m looking forward to getting back up there. For me, it’s just getting back in the groove of things and getting back off the mound. I’ve been stretching it out and it’s been feeling good.”
All good to hear. As for Wells, he’ll also throw again on Wednesday, but there’s no word yet on what the plan is for him thereafter. The logical part of my brain says that’s no reason to be concerned, nor is the fact that he threw five fewer pitches than Cashner. But I’m a Cubs fan, so the logical part of my brain is very, very small.
For what it’s worth, Paul Sullivan says Jim Hendry told him we’re looking at another two to three weeks on the duo. The original projections were about a month for Wells and a month and a half for Cashner. If this current timeline holds, the Cubs were pretty close on Cashner, and just a little optimistic on Wells.