Wade Miley Being Activated from 60-Day IL for Tuesday’s Start

Wade Miley missed spring training and the first several weeks dealing with a balky shoulder that has limited him to just four starts. He hasn’t pitched for the Cubs since June 10 in New York and was recently transferred to the 60-day IL to create a 40-man spot for Jeremiah Estrada, who was then recalled to Chicago when rosters expanded for September. That means the Cubs are going to have to either DFA someone or make another procedural move.

Steven Brault was placed on the 15-day IL with a shoulder strain in late August and could be moved to the 60-day if the Cubs don’t feel he’ll be able to make it back this season. Sean Newcomb, who has had a pair of really rough outings of late, is a candidate to be removed from the roster via designation.

Miley appeared in a rehab game for High-A South Bend toward the end of July before making three starts for Triple-A Iowa through mid-August, but he had a setback and was down for two weeks. His last rehab start came back at South Bend and saw him go 3.2 innings with two earned runs allowed on five hits. The numbers aren’t really important because games like that are solely about building back up.

When you’ve been around the bigs for more than a decade, there’s not a whole lot to figure out when it comes to how to pitch. So as long as Miley has his cutter working, he should be fine. The question is whether the lefty can give the Cubs enough length to avoid burning up the bullpen in the first game of the series. It’s just the Reds, but still.