In addition to the *takes deep breath* unnerving but expected update on Yu Darvish’s triceps issue, the Cubs updated folks on a few other injured players’ progress today.
Carl Edwards Jr. (shoulder) will make rehab appearance tonight for Triple A Iowa. Eddie Butler (groin) is also traveling from Arizona to Iowa to begin a rehab stint.
Bryant (shoulder) taking swings and grounders. Eligible to come off DL Tuesday.
— Tony Andracki (@TonyAndracki23) June 29, 2018
Edwards is coming back from shoulder inflammation, something he’s dealt with before, but also something that keeps a pitcher down for a long time. He’s been out for a little over a month at this point, but hopefully he won’t need more than one rehab outing to rejoin the Cubs early next week.
It’s good to know that Bryant is taking swings again, given that taking too many swings is what he says exacerbated an earlier issue with his shoulder, and ultimately put him on the DL. I think it’s fair to be hopeful that he’ll come off the DL right when he’s eligible next week.
The big news here, though, clearly is that EDDIE BUTLER IS STILL A THING.
Butler went on the DL with a groin strain on April 20, and I am not exaggerating when I say we have heard NOTHING about him since. More than two months have gone by with nary an update, other than the procedural move of switching him to the 60-day DL since he’d been out so long.
But as you can see from the update, he as *NOT* vanished from the face of the Earth in some kind of multiverse-bending, cosmic catastrophe that only the you in this universe could perceive, leaving you to wonder if you’d somehow lost your grip on reality.
Instead, Butler has been rehabbing in Arizona, apparently, and will now start pitching for the Iowa Cubs as he gets back into gear. What will happen when he’s ready to rejoin the big league team remains to be seen, and I presume is still a ways off. Remember, Butler was pitching reasonably well out of the bullpen early this year, but part of the reason he made the bullpen in the first place was because he – unlike many other relievers working in and out of AAA – does not have any minor league options left. So when his rehab stint is up at Iowa, the Cubs will have a decision to make if things haven’t organically sorted themselves out by then.