Cubs Place Yan Gomes on IL, Recall Javier Assad
Well that’s a bummer, but you never mess with concussions. After being hit on the head with a backswing on Monday, Yan Gomes is indeed heading to the concussion IL this evening. As a reminder, the concussion IL lasts only 7-days and it’ll be retroactive to yesterday. So if he’s all better, Gomes can return as soon as May 9.
Nominally, that would mean missing eight games, but Barnhart was going to start at least yesterday and one of tonight/tomorrow with the day-night back-to-back. So the actual on-field impact might not be terrible.
And, of course, this means we’re likely to see the Cubs top catching prospect, Miguel Amaya, who was just called up straight from Double-A, get his first big league start tomorrow against a lefty.
Speaking of tomorrow’s game, we still don’t know who’ll be starting. Despite the initial reports to the contrary, Jameson Taillon is apparently still being considered.
However, with the recall of Javier Assad, I wonder if he’ll get the nod. Assad last pitched on Sunday, so he wouldn’t quite be on regular rest for a spot-start tomorrow. But maybe the Cubs are thinking about it as more of a bullpen game with Assad as a 2-3 inning opener. It wouldn’t be ideal, they were just stretching him out and this would certainly be an off-schedule appearance, but sometimes life happens.
In either case, let’s hope Marcus Stroman can give the Cubs a nice long appearance tonight, as he routinely has all season, to save as many possible options for the Cubs tomorrow.
