PHILADELPHIA — Ethan Roberts wryly glanced at his bandaged finger and rued his bad luck.
A freak accident, as the 28-year-old reliever went through his typical pregame routine before Monday’s series opener against the Philadelphia Phillies, resulted in a laceration on the pad of his right middle finger. The Chicago Cubs, already dealing with a depleted pitching staff, put Roberts on the 15-day injured list Tuesday.
Left-handers Ryan Rolison and Luke Little — the Cubs’ only healthy arms in the minors on their 40-man roster — were recalled from Triple-A Iowa. Left-hander Charlie Barnes was optioned to Iowa after throwing three innings in Monday’s loss to the Phillies.
Roberts was on the ninth of his 10 reps when the medicine ball knocked the exhaust vent off the wall behind him in the hallway outside the visiting clubhouse’s weight room. As the vent started to fall toward his leg, Roberts reached back to try to stop it, and the metal cut a chunk of his skin from his finger pad. Roberts put Dermabond adhesive over the wound so he could throw to test his finger. Within eight pitches on flat ground, the baseball had completely ripped away the Dermabond, causing the cut to bleed again.
Roberts tried to talk the Cubs into letting him put more adhesive on his finger and try again. But they shut down Roberts from another attempt and ultimately determined he needed to go on the IL.
“Of course it happens to us because everything is happening to us right now,” Roberts said. “Personally it stinks for me because I want to throw, but I also want to throw because I know that these guys need help — my job is to take the load off of them, and it stinks because now I can’t.
“What a mess, just my luck right? … It’s bad timing for the team because they need innings out of guys to take heat off of their leverage guys, so that’s what’s frustrating.”
Roberts likely wouldn’t need the full 15 days for his finger to heal, manager Craig Counsell said Tuesday, but with a taxed pitching staff, the Cubs couldn’t afford to be down a reliever the next few days, forcing the IL move. With the additions of Rolison and Little, the Cubs now have five left-handers in the bullpen and just three right-handers (Daniel Palencia, Ben Brown and Jacob Webb).
“At this point, we just get reinforcements, it’s happening at a rate which is not good, it’s happening to all right-handed pitchers and so that’s why we’re with a lot of lefties right now,” Counsell said. “And we’ve had some stuff happen in Triple A with some expected reinforcements, too. So that’s kind of how you get to this bullpen constitution. This is not a strategy against the Phillies or anything like that. This is where we’re at with able bodies right now.”
The injuries to right-handers Hunter Harvey (biceps strain) and Phil Maton (right knee tendinitis) were already a blow to the Cubs’ high-leverage options. Right-hander Gavin Hollowell, also on the 40-man roster, went on the minor-league IL Sunday. Among the Cubs’ non-40-man reliever options, right-hander Corbin Martin just came off Iowa’s IL and right-hander Collin Snider is dealing with arm fatigue.
“A lot of these injuries are short-term, so that’s the good news,” Counsell said. “This is just who we have available. This is what we’re going to have to do for the next week or 10 days, there’s going to be a lot of lefties pitching. That’s just the way it is. Matchups are going to be a little bit out the door. We’re just going to go with our best guys in the big spots.”
For Roberts, it’s particularly unfortunate timing because he felt his stuff was as good as it’s been since he first debuted in 2022. He’s embraced his role being whatever Counsell needs of him out of the bullpen and hasn’t allowed a run through three appearances this season. Counsell has spoken highly of Roberts and his ability to step up in tough spots that might not be the most favorable matchups for the right-hander.
“This is my ninth season (in the organization) so this place means a lot to me, this team means a lot to me, this logo means a lot, this is all I know,” Roberts said. “And for my manager to say things like that is awesome. I know that my role is to come up and take heat off the guys at this moment in my career. That’s my role, and that’s what I’ve tried to do to the best of my ability.”