The Chicago Cubs are dealing with mounting pitching concerns early in the 2026 season.
The Cubs lost left-handers Matthew Boyd on Monday with biceps soreness and Jordan Wicks at the end of March with radial nerve irritation in his throwing arm. Right-hander Porter Hodge started the season on the shelf, and Cade Horton was pulled from Friday's game with right forearm discomfort.
Horton was subsequently placed on the 15-day injured list after exiting his start against the Cleveland Guardians with an issue that began in his wrist before moving up his arm.
“I had some tightness in my wrist and as the game went on, it went into my forearm,” Horton said. “I wanted to err on the cautious side and not hurt anything else. I just wanted to be smart about it and make a smart decision.”
Following further evaluation, according to ESPN’s Jesse Rogers—per ESPN's "Kap+JHood" host David Kaplan—the latest update on Horton's status coming out of Chicago isn't looking good.
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"Per @JesseRogersESPN on Kap and JHood on @Espn1000 Cubs star Cade Horton will visit Dr. Keith Meister in Texas today after his MRI was not clean and not good," Kaplan wrote. "Trending down a bad path."
According to Sports Illustrated's Michael Brauner's transcription of Rogers' appearance on ESPN Radio Chicago, the latter revealed that Horton will now visit Dr. Keith as the Cubs determine what's next.
"The news to this point is not good," Rogers said, per Brauner. "I want to make sure I report it carefully here because no decision has been made. The MRI via multiple sources, not good, not clean, and so he is going to see Dr. Keith Meister today. That's the Tommy John guy, that's the guy that Justin Steele saw.
"We're headed down that path. Now, Dr. Meister might look at the MRI and say look, no surgery required. We'll do something else, rest him up and try some other things. But this is kind of the path the Cubs are on. So the news is really the MRI is not clean and he's going to see Dr. Keith Meister today to determine next actions. But you can kind of connect the dots here. I went back to my notes on Justin Steele, this is kind of how my reporting went on Justin Steele."
The right-hander was expected to be a key piece of Chicago’s rotation after a strong rookie season in 2025, when he posted an 11-4 record with a 2.67 ERA and 97 strikeouts in 118 innings.
Horton opened 2026 with just two earned runs allowed across his first 7.1 innings before the injury, striking out four batters.
The Cubs next face the Tampa Bay Rays on the road on Tuesday, with the first pitch scheduled for 6:40 p.m. ET.
