The Chicago Cubs traded for Mike Soroka, the only starting pitcher they acquired at the Trade Deadline, knowing that his velocity had dropped three MPH – a massive in-season drop – in the three starts before the trade. They did so because he’d been effective in spite of the drop, and because Soroka had an MRI before the trade that indicated he was healthy.
We may never know what could or couldn’t have fairly been predicted at the time of the trade, but we do know that the Cubs are immediately losing the one starter they acquired at the Trade Deadline because of a shoulder injury:
He tried to get a little more zip back with his new team in his debut, and his shoulder started hurting. Cool.
The Cubs knew immediately – before even doing any additional scans – that Mike Soroka was going to require an Injured List stint. Double cool.
I have more colorful commentary that I am going to holster for now. I think the situation sums itself up pretty well.
What Comes Next for Mike Soroka
The absolute most optimism I can muster:
With a shoulder, the Cubs were probably always going to be careful. And with a guy who was starting, you might know immediately, even if the injury isn’t severe, it’s not like he’s going to be able to throw 90 pitches in 5 days.
So you indicate it is an immediate IL situation for Mike Soroka, even if you hope he could be ready sooner than 15 days. This is a guy who has already topped his innings total from last year, which was itself more than he’d thrown in five years. Not that you’d trade for a guy just so that you could rest him, but if you were going to rest him, now would be the time and these would be the circumstances.
The Cubs also already had a “starter” pitching tonight in Ben Brown, so he can just stay on that schedule. And the Cubs also have a plethora of relievers they can bring up and down as necessary (or maybe they have a waiver target they already know they want). And, God willing, the Cubs have a couple starting pitchers in Jameson Taillon and Javier Assad who could plausibly be back in the next 10 to 15 days, too.
It all works together that, even if you thought Soroka’s shoulder injury was minor, you would IL him right away to get a fresh arm up.
But is the shoulder injury minor? We’ll have to wait and see. The tenor after the game seemed to be unknown, if not overly-terrified. Might be fine. Might not be.
There will likely be some scans performed this week, and then also monitoring to see how Mike Soroka recovers into next week. Best-case scenario is that it’s very minor irritation, he rests for two weeks, and then comes back healthy and effective (possibly in relief at that point).
