Cubs Make 'Brutal' Decision on Closer Daniel Palencia Injury

Like many players with the Cubs, closer Daniel Palencia has had a rough go of things here in the late summer. He welcomed August with a scoreless ninth inning on the first of the month, lowering his ERA to 1.36, and earning his 15th save of the season.

But since then, he has given up a run in seven of his 14 appearances, going 1-4 with an 8.74 ERA. Things unraveled altogether on Sunday in a loss to the Nationals, which saw Palencia come in with a 3-1 lead, give up two homers without getting an out and yield five runs total, in a 6-3 loss.

After the game, a Cubs team that has been grinding through injuries in recent month found it had another injury on its hands: Palencia hurt his shoulder during his implosion against Washington.

Given how good he has been this season, MLB Trade Rumors' Nick Deeds wrote of the injury: "However long Palencia ultimately ends up being sidelined, the news is a brutal blow to Chicago."

On Monday, manager Craig Counsell explained that the team was putting Palencia on the 15-day injured list and remaining hopeful that the issue can be fixed quickly with treatment that can get him back on the mound and back in midseason form. If he can't, it will go down as a brutal hit for the Cubs staff.

As of now, at least, Palencia will not be having surgery.

What Is Daniel Palencia's Injury?

Counsell described Palencia's injury as a "shoulder strain," and said that it occurred on Sunday--the injury, according to Counsell, isn't linked to his earlier struggles. The Cubs are in Atlanta, and the hope is that when the team returns to Chicago over the weekend, Palencia will be responding to treatment.

"I think what we’re gonna do is just treat the symptoms for this series here in Atlanta, see where that gets us, Wednesday night," Counsell said. "And then figure out the next move from there, with going back home and the day off and stuff. It’s a shoulder strain. We’re just going to give him treatment and see how it responds over the next couple of days and then go from there.

"We put him on the injured list. We’re gonna take these three days to treat him and then I think Friday in Chicago we’ll probably have a better idea what direction this is gonna go."