David Ross plans to lean on Drew Smyly amid Marcus Stroman injury
David Ross plans to lean on Drew Smyly amid Marcus Stroman injury originally appeared on NBC Sports Chicago
The Cubs announced Wednesday that Marcus Stroman is out with a right rib cartilage fracture. The team does not have a timeline for his recovery, leaving his return and the starting rotation in flux.
With one of their top starters out of the rotation, how will the Cubs make up for his indefinite absence?
"It'll be (Drew) Smyly or Hayden (Wesneski) that'll slide into that," Ross said. "(I'm) probably leaning toward Smyly pretty heavily right now to make those starts. We'll get through the off day tomorrow and kind of reassess some things."
Earlier in August, Smyly was recently relegated to the bullpen after several disappointing starts on the mound.
He struggled badly over the last two months, making 11 appearances and giving up a total of 42 earned runs. His ERA has ballooned from 3.27 to 5.05 during that time, and he was roughed up by the New York Mets in his last start, giving up seven earned runs.
Smyly has not won a start since June 19.
Though, in a time of dire need for starting arms, Smyly gets a chance at redemption with Stroman's injury. The rotation now looks to be Justin Steele-Jameson Taillon-Kyle Hendricks-Javier Assad-Smyly as the crew awaits a hopeful return from Stroman.
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