(670 The Score) Cubs left-hander Justin Steele and manager Craig Counsell both expressed cautious optimism Tuesday after the initial imaging on Steele’s sore throwing elbow didn't reveal any serious damage.
Steele was scratched from his scheduled start against the Pirates on Tuesday evening at Wrigley Field due to elbow soreness. Steele called the initial imaging results “good news” because it showed inflammation but no severe damage, and he expects to pitch again this season.
Steele has been “managing” discomfort in his elbow and felt “a little something” after throwing a bullpen in Washington D.C. over the weekend, he said.
Steele has a 3.09 ERA and a 1.09 WHIP in 22 starts in 2024.
“We’re kind of in the middle of the evaluation process and the testing process,” Counsell said in an interview with Matt Spiegel and Dan Wiederer on 670 The Score on Tuesday afternoon. “The good news is that at this point, we don’t need to put him on the injured list and … think we can still buy some time and see how he feels and see how he progresses. So that’s the good news – and that’s good news. We’re skipping a start. And obviously, the position we’re in (chasing the final wild-card spot), we need guys like Justin to be out there as much as we can. But we’re going to kind of push this off and keep pushing days off and see how he feels moving forward and then we’ll have to make a decision on what’s next.”
The Cubs plan to take Steele’s health day-by-day. His plan is to play catch Wednesday and see how he feels.
“We have to get more information just for Justin, and Justin needs more information here,” Counsell said.
“It’s caused us to push the pause button for now.”