Craig Counsell announced Saturday that Javier Assad will miss the start of the season dealing with an oblique strain suffered early in spring training.

“With Assad, we’re doing great. We have not thrown bullpens yet, bullpens (will be) end of next week,” Craig Counsell said, “Obviously this means he’s gonna miss the start of the season.”

Assad has been a key member of the Cubs’ staring rotation and the bullpen throughout his tenure with the team. He notched a 3.45 ERA and 1.37 WHIP in 237.1 IP as a starter for the Cubs, and a 3.18 ERA and 1.24 WHIP as a reliever in 2022-2023, very solid numbers for the righty.

Assad initially began to feel soreness in his oblique very early in spring training. On February 10th, MRI imaging revealed the minor strain, leading to Assad being shut down from throwing. Though initially concerning, Craig Counsell was optimistic that Assad would make a quick recovery and would throw again soon.

“It’s mild, so you give out some time to see if it just went away and kind of persisted over the week so that’s when we decided to get the imaging done,” Craig Counsell said at the time.

With Assad’s first bullpens being scheduled for next week, the pitcher appears to be making progress despite missing the start of the season.

“We want to give him a proper buildup, and that means a couple bullpens, a couple lives, and then starting a ramp-up as a starter,” Craig Counsell said, “That puts some days on the calendar and gets you into the season.”

The Cubs head to Tokyo, Japan next week to play 2 exhibition games against the Hanshin Tigers and the Yomiuri Giants, and kick off the regular season on March 18th and 19th against the Los Angeles Dodgers.

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