Cubs' Hoyer: 'We'll try to take it slow' with injured Hendricks
To hear Chicago Cubs general manager Jed Hoyer tell it, the team will not rush injured starting pitcher Kyle Hendricks back to the active list.
Hendricks went on the injured list this past Saturday with right-shoulder inflammation.
Tyler Chatwood will come out of the bullpen and start Thursday night's series opener against the New York Mets at Wrigley Field.
"All the tests confirmed sort of what we thought: He's kind of dealing with a little impingement," Hoyer said of Hendricks. "I feel we got ahead of it. We're not sure how much time he'll miss. But we'll try to take it slow and take the length of the season into account."
Hoyer said he wasn't sure if Hendricks would be out through the all-star break, which runs July 8-11.
"We're not there yet (on deciding)," he said. "There's no question we'll take the length of the season into account. We know how impactful he is when he's right. We want to get him right. If that means patience, then we'll exercise patience."
Hendricks is 7-5 with a 3.36 ERA.
As for Chatwood, he made a spot start on April 21 and tossed 6 scoreless innings. He has pitched out of the bullpen most of the season.
"We believe that he has earned this opportunity to pitch in this situation," said manager Joe Maddon.
Net gain:
The Cubs sounded supportive of the White Sox' plans to extend netting down the foul lines to the foul poles at Guaranteed Rate Field.
"I think it's obviously a positive step in the sport," said Cubs center fielder Albert Almora, whose foul ball that struck a child in Houston sparked discussion about additional netting in big-league parks. "I don't think anybody should go home with a bunch of bruises or even worse. Whatever we have to do to take of that, I'm glad they're taking procedures.
"I think the conversation was there already. Unfortunately my incident, I don't want to say was the reason behind it, but I think teams are obviously paying attention to incident that aren't even making headlines."
Kimbrel's Iowa debut:
Recently signed closer Craig Kimbrel pitched a scoreless inning Tuesday for Class AAA Iowa in his minor-league debut this season. The Cubs signed Kimbrel June 7. Because he had not pitched since last year's World Series with Boston, the Cubs are building his strength. He began working at the Cubs' spring facility in Arizona before being activated with Iowa.
Kimbrel worked the seventh inning for Iowa at Sacramento, throwing 8 pitches, 6 strikes. He walked none and struck out one.
"Looked good," said Jed Hoyer. "I think he threw four fastballs, four curveballs. I haven't seen the video yet, just going on reports. It's one of the challenges I think we have when guys go down on these rehab assignments, actually getting enough work in."