The Cubs received bad news when they got back Marcus Stroman’s diagnosis – they just aren’t sure how bad.
Imaging done Monday showed that Stroman fractured the cartilage on the right side of his ribs. He won’t resume baseball activities until he’s symptom free.
“How long that takes, nobody really knows,” manager David Ross said. “So it’s kind of just up in the air.”
Could Stroman be out for the season?
“I have no idea,” president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer said. “That’s the honest truth. We don’t really know at this point. … It’s not a real common pitching injury. I’ve never seen that before, so for me to speculate would be just false at this point. We’ll just rest and hopefully he feels better and hopefully comes back and pitches really well.”
As recently as Stroman’s bullpen Sunday, he was expected to start against the White Sox on Wednesday. Instead, right-hander Javier Assad will start for a third turn in the rotation.
The Cubs temporarily went to a four-man rotation with three off days in the span of eight days, but they’ll need a fifth starter moving forward. Ross said he was leaning “pretty heavily” toward bringing Drew Smyly back from the bullpen to reclaim his starting role.
Stroman first reported the discomfort around his ribs later in the day Sunday, according to the Cubs.
“We didn’t know if it was muscular, if it was skeletal, if it was indigestion,” Hoyer said. “We didn’t know what it was. We had no idea at that point.”
He underwent an MRI after the team got back from Toronto.
“Bad news,” Ross said, “But, Assad’s been pitching good, somebody will step up and pitch well, and we’ll keep this train rolling. And I know he’ll work his way back and try to help us out.”
