The Chicago Cubs will have to rely on their pitching depth throughout the organization to fill in for Justin Steele. The lefty is scheduled to undergo season-ending elbow surgery on Friday. Colin Rea gave the team a solid spot start this past Sunday against the Los Angeles Dodgers, but there’s more help on the way.
Dependable Cubs pitcher Javier Assad made his first rehab start with the Iowa Cubs at Triple-A on Tuesday. The righty pitched 3.1 innings, allowed one earned run on four hits and walk, while striking out four batters. Assad threw 66 pitches in his first live-game action after missing spring training because of an oblique strain.
Javier Assad takes our PLAYER OF THE GAME! pic.twitter.com/YTSJLW09N1
— Iowa Cubs (@IowaCubs) April 16, 2025
It wasn’t likely that Assad was going to be ready by Opening Day once he was diagnosed with a left oblique strain a few days into spring training, so the Cubs planned out the pitcher’s ramp up in early March. Assad will most likely make a couple more starts at Triple-A before he’s activated from the injured list.
Assad made 29 starts and tossed 147 innings, ending 2024 with a 3.74 ERA. He was excellent in his first 15 starts of the year, posting a 2.75 ERA through June 17. The right-handed pitcher only allowed four earned runs or more twice during his first 15 starts, but Assad eventually regressed and had a three-week stint on the injured list because of a forearm strain.
Still, when healthy Assad has shown stability with the Cubs. He’s not flashy, doesn’t throw hard, but he’s able to avoid consistent hard contact against him and keeps the Cubs in games more often than not. Assad has also been good as a reliever, posting a 3.18 ERA in 23 career appearances out of the bullpen as a multi-inning guy.
Despite losing Steele in the rotation the Cubs won’t be too desperate to find another arm every fifth day for the next few weeks. Thanks to some additional off days the Cubs don’t necessarily need a fifth man in the rotation until early May.
Due to having each of the next two Thursdays and Mondays off, the Cubs won't need a 5th starter again until May 3 at Milwaukee. Each of their main 4 SPs will be on full rest at a minimum, with at each getting at least one additional day in there.
— Evan Altman (@DEvanAltman) April 16, 2025
For now, the Cubs do have Rea scheduled to start in the team’s first game against the Arizona Diamondbacks on Friday at Wrigley Field. He’ll be followed by Ben Brown and Jameson Taillon.
Bleacher Nation pointed out the following as the Cubs did shuffle up the starting rotation order for their upcoming series.
This flips Rea and Ben Brown in the order, which potentially accomplishes two things: (1) it gives Brown an extra day of rest, and (2) tweaks who is closer to being on the same-day schedule with the guys at Iowa.
That latter one may or may not matter if the Cubs decide they really like Rea continuing to start (or if someone else gets dinged in the weeks ahead), but with Javier Assad rehabbing and Jordan Wicks also a big-league-caliber starter, it’s possible the Cubs want those two lined up as closely as possible with guys who might have to swap out of the rotation at some point.
Speaking of Jordan Wicks, the lefty was recently scratched from making a start at Triple-A and instead pitched three innings out of the bullpen on Sunday. He was scheduled to start on Thursday, but was once again removed from the lineup at Iowa.
Jordan Wicks, who was originally listed in the pitching probables as today's starting pitcher, has been replaced again. This time it's Keegan Thompson getting the start.
— Tommy Birch (@TommyBirch) April 17, 2025
It’s possible that Wicks gets called up Friday and enters the game following Rea. In his start against the Dodgers Rea threw 68 pitches, so he’s not exactly stretched out yet to have the ability to go deep in games.
