{"id":641741,"date":"2026-03-08T21:06:13","date_gmt":"2026-03-08T21:06:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/641741\/"},"modified":"2026-03-08T21:06:13","modified_gmt":"2026-03-08T21:06:13","slug":"porter-hodge-jordan-wicks-open-season-on-il","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/641741\/","title":{"rendered":"Porter Hodge, Jordan Wicks open season on IL"},"content":{"rendered":"

MESA, Ariz. \u2014 The Chicago Cubs envisioned a bounce-back season for reliever Porter Hodge.<\/p>\n

Hodge struggled with inconsistency and injuries in 2025<\/a> that limited his effectiveness following a stellar rookie season, but he had shown good stuff early this camp during his bullpens and live batting practice. Any impact Hodge might have in the Cubs\u2019 bullpen this year is now on pause.<\/p>\n

Hodge will start the season on the injured list because of a flexor tendon strain. He is shut down from throwing for a couple of weeks, is scheduled to be reevaluated in two weeks and then start plyos at the end of March.<\/p>\n

Hodge, 25, had not appeared in a Cactus League game since Feb. 27 due to experiencing elbow soreness in the aftermath of his outing. In his three spring appearances, Hodge\u2019s command was shaky, walking seven batters in two innings.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a setback and it\u2019s going to put him certainly behind and take him a while to get back up to be healthy and ready to contribute,\u201d manager Craig Counsell said Sunday. \u201cSo that part is unfortunate.\u201d<\/p>\n

Left-hander Jordan Wicks<\/a> will also begin the season on the IL due to radial nerve irritation. Wicks, who has been sidelined by the issue since Feb. 25, is expected to throw off a mound in mid-to-late March.<\/p>\n

\"CubsCubs pitcher Jordan Wicks poses for a portrait during photo day at spring training at Sloan Park on Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2026, in Mesa, Ariz. (Armando L. Sanchez\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n

\u201cThese are hard, physical jobs that are going to cause injuries, so they\u2019re going to happen, and putting the roster together, you have to look at it, unfortunately,\u201d Counsell said. \u201cYou don\u2019t want anybody to get hurt. Certainly weren\u2019t expecting those two guys to get hurt, but they\u2019re the two guys right now that are going to be dealing with something.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn both ends, we\u2019re fortunate they\u2019re not the long-term injuries right now, so that\u2019s a good thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Cubs received encouraging news on first baseman Jonathon Long<\/a>, who hasn\u2019t played since Feb. 21 because of a left elbow sprain. Long\u2019s testing came back fine, and he has started to turn the corner, Counsell said. He\u2019s getting reintroduced to full workouts, which included hitting in the lab and defensive work Sunday, with this upcoming weekend targeted for a return to Cactus League game action.<\/p>\n

The Cubs reduced their big-league camp roster from 62 to 53 players before Sunday\u2019s game.<\/p>\n

Left-hander Riley Martin, right-hander Jack Neely, and infielders Ben Cowles and James Triantos were optioned to Triple-A Iowa.\u00a0Infielder Pedro Ram\u00edrez was optioned to Double-A Knoxville. Right-handers Grant Kipp, Connor Noland, Connor Schultz and Jaxon Wiggins<\/a> were returned to minor-league camp.<\/p>\n

Wiggins showed encouraging stuff this spring and could become an asset to the Cubs\u2019 pitching staff by the end of the season.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe finishing touches can happen really fast, is how I would describe it, but they can also take a while,\u201d Counsell said. \u201cThat\u2019s Jackson\u2019s job right now to go complete that and just make himself a little bit more of a complete pitcher, but it\u2019s certainly very close.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ram\u00edrez, Triantos and Cowles all represent depth for the infield if any injuries pop up with the trio on the 40-man roster. Counsell said he had multiple players on the 26-man roster singing Ram\u00edrez\u2019s praises as a worker, which is a great sign for the 21-year-old. For Triantos, Counsell wants to see him continue to get better after a tough season offensively last year, but believes he\u2019s off to a good start following his spring performance.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you\u2019re on the 40-man roster, the message is always, look, whatever\u2019s going on, you\u2019re a day away from being a Chicago Cub,\u201d Counsell said. \u201cSo I always think that helps you through the season and understanding that if something happens, because you\u2019re on the roster you get the first shot. For (those three) that really applies, no matter what\u2019s going on outside all the things you can control.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MESA, Ariz. \u2014 The Chicago Cubs envisioned a bounce-back season for reliever Porter Hodge. Hodge struggled with inconsistency…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":641742,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5124],"tags":[268878,242651,960,1271,273101,127120,5386,1818,273102,129663,1822,273103,5441,170848],"class_list":["post-641741","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-chicago","tag-ben-cowles","tag-cactus-league","tag-chicago","tag-chicago-cubs","tag-cubs-40-man-roster","tag-cubs-bullpen","tag-il","tag-illinois","tag-james-triantos","tag-jordan-wicks","tag-mlb-baseball","tag-pedro-ramirez","tag-porter-hodge","tag-spring-training"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116195595774611915","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/641741","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=641741"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/641741\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/641742"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=641741"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=641741"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=641741"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}