Matt Garza wants to try to come back before the end of the season, but the calendar is working against the veteran Cubs right-hander.
“It’s going to be unlikely, but it would probably take a lot of hard work and things to happen in the healing process,” manager Dale Sveum said Tuesday. “You run out of time for rehab starts [in the minors]. it would be tough, but some guys heal faster than others.”
But the nature of Garza’s injury–a stress reaction in the back of his right elbow–is troublesome enough that he has been shut down from throwing since Aug. 10. Sveum said he is more than a week from possibly resuming any throwing.
And he hasn’t been in a game since July 21 when he left his start after three innings feeling cramping in his triceps.
Garza has said he wants to come back this season, but with fewer than 50 games left, he could only hope to get one or two starts in the most optimistic outlook.
“We don’t know if we’ll risk it,” Sveum said. “You’d never risk something for at most two starts.
“I think he wants to come back. He’s trying to do whatever he can to get that [elbow] healed. In his mind he wants to come back and pitch.”
He is scheduled to undergo another MRI on Sept. 1, which would leave little time to resume a throwing program or minor league rehab, since the season in the minors ends around Labor Day.
