{"id":825253,"date":"2026-05-27T09:47:29","date_gmt":"2026-05-27T09:47:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/825253\/"},"modified":"2026-05-27T09:47:29","modified_gmt":"2026-05-27T09:47:29","slug":"chicago-cubs-injuries-updates-on-justin-steele-matthew-boyd","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/825253\/","title":{"rendered":"Chicago Cubs injuries: Updates on Justin Steele, Matthew Boyd"},"content":{"rendered":"

PITTSBURGH \u2014 The Chicago Cubs remain hopeful left-hander Justin Steele<\/a> will pitch for them before the end of the season.<\/p>\n

Steele, though, still has a long way to go before he\u2019s ready to return.<\/p>\n

Steele received relatively good news Tuesday morning during his visit to Dr. Keith Meister, who performed his elbow surgery last April. The 30-year-old was shut down this April because of a left forearm strain that developed during his build-up process to return from the elbow surgery, just as he was on the verge of beginning his rehab assignment.<\/p>\n

Steele will begin a strengthening program and then progress to plyo balls, but he remains weeks away from throwing a baseball, manager Craig Counsell said Tuesday at PNC Park. There is no timeline for Steele to rejoin the Cubs.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re hopeful to get him back,\u201d president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer said Tuesday. \u201cObviously, there comes a point which you run out of days, but I don\u2019t think we\u2019re there yet, and I know Justin wants to come back more than anything. \u2026 Our hope is that we can get him back by the end of the year and really help us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Initially, Steele was on track to be part of the Cubs\u2019 rotation in early June when the new injury occurred. Typically when starting pitchers are shut down due to arm injuries, they need as many weeks as they have been down to build back up again through a throwing program. Depending on how many weeks Steele needs to progress through strengthening and plyo ball work, building up to a starter workload \u2014 catch play, multiple bullpens then a couple live batting practices and\/or simulated games, then finally a rehab assignment \u2014 would have him potentially ready well past the post-All-Star break timeline initially given when the forearm strain popped up. That, of course, would also require no further setbacks.<\/p>\n

The Cubs, though, aren\u2019t willing to put any specific dates on a Steele return yet.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re at the start of making progress in terms of moving forward,\u201d Counsell said. \u201cUntil he starts throwing, it\u2019s just hard to put that into an accurate timetable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Top pitching prospect Jaxon Wiggins is not progressing to next rehab phase
\n\"PitcherPitcher Jaxon Wiggins throws in the bullpen area during spring training at Sloan Park on Tuesday Feb. 17, 2026 in Mesa, Ariz. (Armando L. Sanchez\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n

The challenges to the Cubs\u2019 pitching depth have impacted the organization beyond the major-league level.<\/p>\n

Top pitching prospect Jaxon Wiggins<\/a> hasn\u2019t started at Triple-A Iowa since April 4 due to right elbow inflammation. He is scheduled to throw another bullpen in the next day or two at the team\u2019s complex in Mesa, Ariz. However, Hoyer said there is nothing beyond that to report.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s working his way back, he\u2019s doing a lot of work, he\u2019s throwing bullpens, and obviously that\u2019s a good sign,\u201d Hoyer said of Wiggins. \u201cBut he hasn\u2019t really ramped up to the game situations.\u201d<\/p>\n

Matthew Boyd to begin rehab assignment Sunday, Edward Cabrera is progressing<\/p>\n

Left-hander Matthew Boyd<\/a> (left meniscus surgery) is nearing a return to the rotation.<\/p>\n

Boyd threw live batting practice on Tuesday at PNC Park, tossing about 52 pitches. Boyd told the Tribune he felt great and was pleased his velocity was back to normal. He will make a rehab start Sunday for Triple-A Iowa, one of two expected outings before coming off the IL. It\u2019s been a largely smooth rehab process since undergoing a meniscectomy on May 7 that was expected to sideline him 4 to 6 weeks.<\/p>\n

Right-hander Edward Cabrera<\/a> threw plyo balls Tuesday as he continues to let the blister on his right middle finger heal.<\/p>\n

Counsell said \u201cnothing\u2019s changed\u201d with Cabrera\u2019s timeline to come off the 15-day IL after a minimum, or close to it, stint. He\u2019s eligible to be activated June 5. Cabrera has dealt with blisters on that finger every year of his career, including the minimum time on the IL to start last season with the Miami Marlins.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s not going to stop throwing, there\u2019s really not going to be any stop for him,\u201d Counsell said. \u201cWe\u2019re just trying to limit the seams on the finger for a couple days, and then covering it a couple. He\u2019s got ways to minimize picking at it, so to speak, with throwing.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PITTSBURGH \u2014 The Chicago Cubs remain hopeful left-hander Justin Steele will pitch for them before the end of…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":825254,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5124],"tags":[960,1271,1816,14853,5386,1818,76040,251076,21891,60047,5436,1822,338942],"class_list":["post-825253","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-chicago","tag-chicago","tag-chicago-cubs","tag-craig-counsell","tag-edward-cabrera","tag-il","tag-illinois","tag-injured-list","tag-jaxon-wiggins","tag-jed-hoyer","tag-justin-steele","tag-matthew-boyd","tag-mlb-baseball","tag-pitching-injuries"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116645911876717941","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/825253","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=825253"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/825253\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/825254"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=825253"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=825253"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=825253"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}