Matt Garza Injury: Cubs Ace Returns To Rotation Monday Night

Matt Garza of the Cubs, who has been on the 15-day disabled list with elbow trouble, will be activated Monday night to pitch against the Reds in Cincinnati. Unusually for a disabled pitcher these days, Garza has not had a rehab assignment during his DL stint, and in fact, had resisted going on the DL in the first place, saying that if this type of discomfort had occurred during a pennant push or the playoffs, he would have pitched through it.

Due to the vagaries of the schedule, Garza is going to wind up with consecutive starts against the Reds; the Cubs were in Cincinnati less than three weeks ago and Garza started against them on May 17, his last start before going on the DL. In that game, his own throwing error helped lead to three unearned runs and the Cubs lost.

The Cubs have in the past underestimated the amount of time injured pitchers will be out, and this appears to be no exception. The injury to Garza, though minor, has forced Cubs GM Jim Hendry to scull through waiver lists to fill his rotation. This news likely means more starts for Doug Davis, who faces the Astros on Wednesday, and Rodrigo Lopez, who faced them on Monday.

The trouble for the Cubs is that their next trip goes through contending teams in the Cardinals, Reds and Phillies. Nine different Cubs have already had significant DL time this year. Only Carlos Zambrano and Ryan Dempster from the team’s Opening Day rotation have not missed a start so far in 2011.