Cubs Don't Expect Daniel Palencia To Return Soon
A stalling recovery for the high-leverage right-hander leaves Chicago's bullpen shorthanded, potentially forcing the front office to aggressively hunt for ninth-inning reinforcements at the trade deadline.
Video Transcript
What is up, Cubs fans?
And welcome back to Cubs Roundtable.
I'm Joey Polizzi, talking about all things Cubs.
And the expectation was that Daniel Palencia would return shortly after the All-Star break.
He went down on the injury list back on June 16th due to some right elbow inflammation that was eventually diagnosed as a mild flexor strain.
But Palencia was making good progress before the All-Star break, began a throwing program in late June, which included some plyo work, which is a good first step in getting Palencia back up and ramping back up.
But unfortunately, Palencia will not be back for quite some time, as the Cubs don't expect Palencia to be back for at least another month, and the earliest that he can return, the Cubs are saying, is in mid-August.
Obviously, Palencia hasn't really moved forward and has had to repeat some steps according to manager Craig Counsell.
That's obviously not a great sign for Palencia, who the Cubs were hoping to have back here within the next two weeks.
But we're looking at another month plus maybe absence for Palencia, and that obviously should give the Cubs more incentive to go after a ninth inning arm at this year's trade deadline.
The Cubs need some more high leverage arms, and with Palencia sidelined at least through mid-August, the Cubs should go after a high quality potential ninth inning closer at this year's trade deadline.
And now you might be saying, "Yeah, but when Palencia comes back, where's he gonna fit in?"
Well, if you remember last year when Palencia got hurt later in the year, he came back and he was not the Cubs closer.
In the playoffs, the Cubs used him in the fourth inning, the fifth inning, the sixth inning, in those high leverage spots, and Palencia looked really good in those appearances, throwing a scoreless appearance in six of his seven outings in the postseason.
So there's obviously room for Palencia to still thrive in this Cubs bullpen.
But most importantly, it's getting him healthy for the stretch run.
So hopefully he has no more setbacks here moving forward, and he can continue to ramp up and hopefully return by mid-August.
But let me know what you guys think about Palencia's recent injury.
Who should the Cubs target at the closer position?
Let me know down below.
And as always, guys, go Cubs, go.
