NEWSLETTER
As discussed this morning, Adbert Alzolay had a start wrecked by a blister last night, and the Cubs don’t want to see that happen again any time soon. So he’s hitting the Injured List to get some recovery time for the blister, which might see him miss only one start (which, well, resting him for the long haul isn’t the worst thing in the world anyway). He says he feels fine other than the blister, and it’s not like he was gonna be able to throw 180+ innings this year anyway, so this isn’t necessarily a big deal.
In Alzolay’s place, the Cubs are recalling Kohl Stewart, who WAS sent down yesterday when Jake Marisnick returned, but who can just stay in the rotation now for another start. When Stewart was sent down, I expect the thinking was the either Trevor Williams or Alec Mills would be activated later this week to take that next start. But now with Alzolay missing a start, too, Stewart gets a brief reprieve.
(If you were wondering: when a guy is sent down, usually he can’t come back for at least 10 days. But the exception is if he’s replacing a player who is going on the Injured List.)
UPDATE: The Cubs also just announced pre-game that Alec Mills has been activated off the IL, and Cory Abbott has been optioned back to Iowa. Mills has been coming back from a lower-back issue, and will be available out of the bullpen immediately (ditto Stewart, though someone’s going to have to make a start later in the week). Abbott will presumably resume starting in the Triple-A rotation. His future is still bright, but there’s plenty of time to see how he looks at Iowa this year, coming up to backfill as necessary.
