Daniel Palencia Could Be Activated Friday

As Patrick Mooney tweeted prior to Wednesday’s game in San Diego, closer Daniel Palencia has made significant enough progress that he could be activated from the IL on Friday. Palencia was shelved on April 17, retroactive to April 14, with what was initially called a left oblique strain before being clarified as a left lat strain. He had been experiencing discomfort for a while, but the Cubs had been playing F the Closer following his appearance on April 12. When the issue flared up during a bullpen, he was shut down.

Palencia threw another pen on Tuesday in San Diego and got up to full intent with no ill effects, so it sounds like the Cubs are fine with him skipping any rehab outings. Having him back for the Diamondbacks series that starts a stretch of 10 games in 10 days will be huge for a bullpen that has become something of a mystery. Craig Counsell has had to press new arrivals into multi-inning action most nights just to get by, and they definitely don’t have a designated shutdown pitcher at this point.

Now we just have to hope this isn’t another situation in which the club is being outwardly optimistic about something that ends up being far from great. I don’t believe they’re blowing smoke with Palencia, though, so my expectation is that he’ll be activated this weekend. That said, I hope the Cubs make his presence academic by blowing Arizona away in every game.