Cubs Injury Updates: Hodge Returning Soon, Amaya Back Around ASG

Shōta Imanaga will be activated to start Thursday’s game, and there should be other reinforcements coming soon as well. Porter Hodge has made four relief appearances for Triple-A Iowa and is with the team in St. Louis, indicating he’ll be available out of the bullpen at some point over the next few days. His days between appearances decreased in each of those rehab outings, meaning he could be ready to go as early as Tuesday night.

The Cubs clearly aren’t worried about their former/future closer giving up eight runs (seven earned) over one total inning in his last two games, though they might need to ease him back into high-leverage action.

As for Eli Morgan, who has been out for over two months now with a right elbow impingement, the path is a little less clear. He last pitched on June 17 for the I-Cubs, and he gave up four earned runs over two-thirds of an inning. Going a full week between relief appearances is out of the ordinary, but there have been no updates since then.

Because Morgan is on the 60-day IL, activating him would mean parting ways with someone else. That could mean it’s not a setback, but just the team slow-playing it to figure out how to shuffle personnel. We’re similarly in the dark about Javier Assad, who was slowed by an oblique injury early in spring and then made only two rehab appearances in April before a recurrence put him back on the shelf. It’ll probably be at least another month before he’s ready to return.

Miguel Amaya‘s timeline is a little clearly, as Craig Counsell said Monday that the catcher should be back around the All-Star break. Amaya has resumed hitting and throwing, so now it’s a matter of ramping him up for game action and making sure he’s good to go at full intent.