As expected (and discussed earlier this morning), Cubs starting pitcher Jon Lester will indeed hit the disabled list today with “general shoulder fatigue,” per multiple reports on Twitter.
But, unexpectedly, reliever Justin Grimm is joining him. Here’s the news from The Athletic’s Sahadev Sharma:
Grimm also heads to DL with right index infection. Felix Peña and Rob Zastryzny recalled from Iowa.
— Sahadev Sharma (@sahadevsharma) August 18, 2017
Grimm threw one inning Thursday, allowing two runs to score on a hit and two walks. He’ll now head to the 10-day disabled list as we await further word on how severe his injury is. In their place, each of Felix Pena and Rob Zastryzny will come up from Triple-A Iowa, while Mike Montgomery will presumably handle the starting duties in Lester’s absence.
And speaking of Lester’s absence, I think you can call the results of his exams an enormous win for the Cubs:
Lester saw doc last night. Everything structurally sound. He has tightness in lat & general shoulder fatigue. Cubs don't expect long DL stay
— Sahadev Sharma (@sahadevsharma) August 18, 2017
Cubs have potentially dodged a major injury here with Lester. They sound very optimistic and visit with doc was very positive.
— Sahadev Sharma (@sahadevsharma) August 18, 2017
With no structural damage, Lester can simply rest up his shoulder, miss 1-2 starts (as predicted), and come back in September when rosters expand anyway (which means Zastryzny and Pena might be up with the Cubs for good this season).
You never want to deal with injuries, but in terms of potential blows to the Cubs’ chances, losing a starter for 1-2 games and a middle reliever for a couple of weeks isn’t as bad as it gets.