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Chicago Cubs reliever Porter Hodge to undergo season-ending UCL surgery, another injury blow to pitching staff
PHILADELPHIA — The Chicago Cubs have lost another pitcher for the season.
Right-hander Porter Hodge, who had been dealing with a flexor strain since early in the spring training, suffered a setback in his rehab and will undergo season-ending ulnar collateral ligament (UCL) surgery Monday. Right-hander Cade Horton is scheduled to have his elbow surgery Thursday. Dr. Keith Meister will perform both procedures.
The extent of Horton’s and Hodge’s surgeries and potential timeline for their return won’t be known until Meister goes in and determines the level of damage to their UCLs.
“My process is probably very similar for both guys where you just immediately feel sorry for the player, but then you process, OK, who’s up next, and you kind of have to move on quickly mentally,” president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer said Wednesday. “It kind of sounds coldhearted, but that’s the nature of the job that we’ve had a lot of injuries early on. The season goes on, the games go on, you have to find replacements. And sometimes I look at it as an opportunity that maybe a guy steps up we didn’t expect and then when everyone gets healthy, all of a sudden you have another reliever you weren’t counting on.
“But it’s certainly been a trying time for us from an injury standpoint, and we just have to fight through it and try to get healthy.”
The Cubs hoped Hodge, 25, would be an important part of the bullpen following a disappointing 2025 when he had a 6.27 ERA in 36 appearances and missed time with injuries. Hodge showed his potential during his 2024 rookie season, posting a 1.88 ERA and nine saves in 39 games.
“He’s super talented, he’s physical, has a great fastball and great slider when he’s right and he hasn’t quite been right really since I guess last May, and so maybe that’s a big part of it,” Hoyer said. “And some guys come back even better from this. So unfortunately we won’t have him for a while, but hopefully he bounces back strong.”
The Cubs are trying to survive this challenging stretch as they have been decimated by pitching injuries. The organization will evaluate if there is anything they can identify to explain the volume of injuries so early in the season, but, as Hoyer noted, a lot of pitchers get hurt these days.
“We’ll do a deep dive and see if there’s a commonality to the injuries,” Hoyer said. “I feel like the last couple years coming out spring training we haven’t had these issues and then all of a sudden this year, we’re 17 games in, and we have this many injuries. So I certainly hope the pace slows — and hopefully we can get some of these guys back and start the process of kind of rebuilding that.”
They have 10 pitchers from their 40-man roster on the injured list. That group does not include top prospect Jaxon Wiggins, who went on the IL at Triple-A Iowa on Wednesday with right elbow inflammation. Manager Craig Counsell said the Cubs believe Wiggins should be OK after giving his arm a little down time. The Cubs don’t want Wiggins to throw until he’s asymptomatic, whenever he gets to that point.
“With everyone early in the year, you need to be conservative,” Hoyer said. “I mean, I think that’s with a lot of these guys, there’s zero benefit of pushing guys early in the season when we have hopefully six-plus months to play.”
Counsell provided multiple injury updates on sidelined pitchers before Wednesday’s series finale against the Philadelphia Phillies.
RHP Hunter Harvey
Harvey (right biceps inflammation) hasn’t been doing much activity since landing on the IL last week. Counsell said he will need more than the minimum 15 days, adding there’s “no bad news, we’re still in the same place, but probably more in the strengthening mode right now.”
RHP Phil Maton
Maton (right knee tendinitis) continues to improve each day and is in a good place with his knee. The plan is for Maton to throw off a mound during the upcoming homestand and see where that leads. Maton hasn’t stopped throwing since being placed on the IL a week ago. “It’s really a matter of how long does it take to get the arm back to game condition, essentially recovery condition, where he can recover enough to be a member of the bullpen,” Counsell said.
LHP Jordan Wicks
Wicks (left elbow inflammation) is at Iowa and scheduled to pitch Saturday. He has been sidelined since early in spring training and has been in buildup mode the last few weeks. Wicks’ return would give the Cubs much-needed starting pitching depth at Iowa.
LHP Matthew Boyd
Boyd (left biceps strain) will join Iowa for a rehab start Thursday in Columbus, Ohio, putting him on track to come off the IL to rejoin the rotation. Counsell said that lines up Boyd to start “probably Wednesday-ish” against the Phillies at Wrigley Field.
RHP Trent Thornton
Thornton (Achilles tear), who signed a minor-league deal with the Cubs in the offseason that brought him to camp as a nonroster invitee, is heading to Iowa, where he will throw a few more simulated games. Counsell estimated Thornton, 32, is about a week away from getting into Triple-A games. Thornton had a 4.68 ERA in 33 games for the Seattle Mariners before suffering a torn left Achilles at the end of July.
RHP Kyle Wright
Wright (right shoulder strain) came into spring training as another potential bounce-back arm after dealing with injuries the last couple of years, including a right shoulder issue and oblique injury last year. Wright remains in Arizona throwing in sim games, which means he is still in the early stage of his throwing-program buildup.
For the next seven to 10 days, Counsell won’t be able to fully go with the best matchups out of the bullpen with five lefties and just three right-handers available. Triple-A depth is starting to get healthy, too, with right-hander Corbin Martin coming off the IL on Sunday after dealing with back spasms and getting into Tuesday’s game, while right-hander Collin Snider (arm fatigue) is expected to pitch for Iowa in the next day or two.
“There’s being opportunities created for other guys, and through this process, we’re going to find some guys that are going to help us this year and so that’s how you’ve got to look at it, that’s what’s going on,” Counsell said. “There’s some guys that have already made you take notice a little bit, and that’s a great thing, that’s a positive out of all this.”
