Cubs' Jed Hoyer Comments on Marcus Stroman Injury

Chicago Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer made his first comments about the new injury to pitcher Marcus Stroman, which kept him out of his scheduled start on Wednesday.

Hoyer’s comments were conveyed by the Chicago Tribune.

The Cubs announced on Wednesday that Stroman had a right rib cartilage fracture and the team has ruled him out indefinitely.

Hoyer backed up that assessment, especially after he was asked if Stroman’s injury could keep him out for the rest of the season.

“I have no idea,” he said. “That's the honest truth. We don't really know at this point. …It’s not a real common pitching injury. I've never seen that before so for me to speculate would be false.”

Stroman was trending toward a start against the Chicago White Sox on Wednesday after three bullpen sessions — two of which were in Toronto on Friday and Sunday. After that, the Cubs and manager David Ross were comfortable enough to designate Stroman as the tentative starter for Wednesday’s game. That meant no rehab start and that Stroman would be activated on schedule.

But the rib injury, disclosed on Tuesday, pushed him out of that spot. Javier Assad started in Stroman’s place.

He went on the injured list Aug. 1 with right hip inflammation.

Stroman has been one of the Cubs’ best pitchers this season, but his performance took a noticeable dip after the All-Star break, as the hip issue became more of a problem.
Stroman is 10-8 with a 3.85 ERA in 23 starts, with 111 strikeouts and 50 walks.

In his last five starts before going on the IL he gave up at least four runs in four of them, went 2-3 and didn’t finish four innings in his last three starts.

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