DENVER — So much for the Chicago Cubs rotation getting a needed boost this weekend with the return of left-hander Matthew Boyd.
Boyd is no longer scheduled to come off the injured list to start against the San Francisco Giants after experiencing shoulder soreness during his bullpen Tuesday at Coors Field. It represented Boyd’s last step in his return from a meniscectomy that had a six-to-eight-week timeframe to be back. Thursday marks five weeks since the surgery.
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Being ahead of schedule doesn’t lessen the disappointment for Boyd, but the 35-year-old knows he can’t risk further injury by pushing to be ready by the weekend. He made two rehab starts with Triple-A Iowa, most recently Saturday, as he worked to build back up his pitch count.
“You do this all the time, and we know how we feel, and we know what to work through, and we just had an increase in workload,” Boyd said Wednesday before the Cubs-Colorado Rockies game. “And as equal as the increase in workload is how you bounce back afterward, and just something to take note of and a few extra days.
“The last thing you want to do, especially with coming back from the knee and the mechanical adjustments that are coming from that, is just to push through something. It’s just trying to be proactive and smart and a few days now and not trying to let anything compound.”
Boyd initially experienced the shoulder soreness while warming up for his bullpen Tuesday, and it persisted through the session, though he noted he maintained his normal velocity. He anticipates throwing off the mound over the weekend in San Francisco. The Cubs currently have three starters from their opening-day rotation — Cade Horton, Jameson Taillon and Boyd — on the IL, while Justin Steele, originally on track to return in June from last April’s elbow surgery, is shut down following a flexor strain diagnosis.
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“It’s not ideal, you don’t want to go through it,” Boyd said of the Cubs’ rotation injuries. “But it doesn’t matter as much as what happens, what’s important is how you respond. The only thing that we have control over is our response. So I know what that response is for me, and it’s continuing to do everything I can, brick by brick, to get back out there on that mound.”
Right-hander Javier Assad is positioned to take Boyd’s start against the Giants. Following Boyd’s last start on May 3, the Cubs rotation has the second-worst ERA (6.08) in the majors.
“We think this is minor, that’s the hope, and then we can get back on a mound pretty quickly and not lose a lot of time here,” manager Craig Counsell said of Boyd. “We’re going to lose some days for sure, but that we don’t lose many.”
