Cubs manager confirms bad news on top prospect

Cubs outfielder Owen Caissie has been shut down, per manager Craig Counsell, as relayed by Maddie Lee of the Chicago Sun-Times. The outfield prospect is battling left groin tightness. Lee mentions that Caissie underwent offseason core muscle surgery, but it’s unclear if his current issue is related to that procedure.

Caissie, 22, is on the 40-man roster but was unlikely to earn an Opening Day roster spot. That’s more to do with the overall roster picture than anything about Caissie in a vacuum. He’s a top-100 prospect who hit .278/.375/.472 for a 121 wRC+ in 127 Triple-A games last year. He was added to the 40-man in November to keep him out of the Rule 5 draft.

The Cubs’ big league outfield is slated to be crowded, with Ian Happ, Pete Crow-Armstrong and Kyle Tucker in three spots. Seiya Suzuki will likely be in the designated hitter spot with regularity but could tag in for those others on occasion. Alexander Canario was designated for assignment earlier today, but Jon Berti and Vidal Bruján are likely to be on the bench in utility roles.

Tucker is slated for free agency after this season and both Happ and Suzuki will hit the open market the following winter. That should open more long-term playing time but Caissie and fellow outfield prospect Kevin Alcántara appear slated for more Triple-A work in 2025, at least to start the year. Alcántara has just one option year remaining, perhaps giving him a slight edge in terms of earning a major league chance if an injury opens up some big league playing time. For as long as Caissie is shut down, the Cubs will have a bit less outfield depth but shouldn’t be in trouble unless a few more injuries pop up in the outfield mix.

Turning to the pitching staff, it was revealed last week that right-hander Javier Assad was out with some oblique soreness. That was later diagnosed as a mild strain, per Lee last week. Counsell relayed today that Assad has resumed playing catch.

That hopefully indicates that Assad is more or less on schedule, as he projects to be in the Opening Day rotation as long as he avoids the injured list. He will slot in at the back of a starting mix that includes Shota Imanaga, Justin Steele, Matthew Boyd and Jameson Taillon. If Assad were out of action, then perhaps swingman Colin Rea would step up. But that may not be necessary, allowing Rea to serve as a long reliever out of the bullpen. Assad has a 3.40 earned run average in 294 innings for the Cubs over the past three years, mostly as a starter.

On the infield, Counsell says Matt Shaw has been hitting in the cage and throwing. Like Assad, he had been slowed by an oblique issue but it appears both are making progress. Assuming Shaw stays healthy for the next few weeks, he’s the favorite to earn the third base job out of camp. However, the Cubs have been clear that he will have to earn the job and it won’t just be handed to him.

He will therefore have to be healthy enough to get on the field in the next few weeks and show the Cubs he’s worthy of the gig. The timeline is a little tighter than some other teams, as the Dodgers and Cubs are heading to Japan soon for the Tokyo Series. Those two clubs will be playing exhibition games against Japanese clubs on March 15 and 16t before playing regular-season contests against each other on March 18 and 19.

Shaw slashed .284/.379/.488 for a wRC+ of 146 between Double-A and Triple-A last year. If he doesn’t secure the job out of camp, then some combination of Berti, Bruján, Justin Turner and Rule 5 pick Gage Workman would likely be the fallback options. Nicky Lopez and Dixon Machado are non-roster invitees with some big league experience in camp.