Cubs Get Ian Happ Back, but Lose Porter Hodge to an Oblique Strain of His Own

[Matthew Trueblood]

Image courtesy of © Matt Marton-Imagn Images

You had to figure something was up. Porter Hodge hadn't pitched Sunday, and in fact, he'd only gone once since last Wednesday. If he were fully healthy, Daniel Palencia would not have been on the mound for the ninth inning Monday night in Miami, when the Cuibs had a chance to secure a one-run win. On Tuesday afternoon, we found out what had been going on. Ian Happ is back with the team, after being down for 10 days with one of history's mildest oblique strains. Hodge, however, takes his place on the shelf, with the same injury.

It's unlikely that the Cubs will be as lucky with Hodge as with Happ. All else being equal, pitchers will often miss more time with this type of injury, simply because an oblique strain requires rest until there's no longer any pain when throwing. That means that, even once Hodge gets past the injury itself, he'll need some time to ramp up on a rehab assignment—and as Javier Assad has already reminded us this year, there's no guarantee that the injury won't be reaggravated, even with a cautious and steady return schedule in place.

For Hodge, the Cubs will swap in fungible righty sweeper specialist Ethan Roberts. It's a long way from being an even trade, and the team's scramble for bullpen help is likely to get more dire before it gets better. Meanwhile, Happ's return on the positional side means the end of the first big-league stint for Moisés Ballesteros. It wasn't the impressive or exciting first week Ballesteros might have hoped for, but he does look like a hitter with a chance to be good in the big leagues. Now that he's gotten a taste of big-league stuff, he'll need to go back to Triple-A Iowa and demonstrate a greater ability to consistently elevate the ball.

Reinstalling Happ into the lineup is a relief. It slides several players back into places where they seem to fit more comfortably, and takes Seiya Suzuki off the field. Suzuki passed his first extended test as a left fielder, for the most part, but since he's prone to oblique strains and that malady seems to be spreading like wildfire, some workload management is in order for him. 

The Cubs are still right in the heart of a very friendly stretch of the schedule, and they've begun that stretch 5-2. As frustrating as all losses to bad teams are, there are lots of bad teams left on the slate in May, and the Cubs just need to continue winning series against them. It's increasingly clear that external pitching additions will be needed, but too soon to guess what they might look like. For now, Hodge's loss is a worrisome development, but Brad Keller had already stepped forward into a role similar to the one in which Hodge started the season, and Ryan Pressly has looked better lately. If the Cubs can convince Palencia that having a third pitch only helps if you throw it; if they continue to get yeoman's work from superannuated southpaws Drew Pomeranz and Caleb Thielbar; and if they can find just one of their rotating cast of low-leverage arms to stick and stabilize them a bit in the middle innings, they should be ok. A division title (or more) is very much within the reach of this team. It's just looking more expensive than the Ricketts family would probably prefer.

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