CHICAGO — Friday was a bit of a good news/bad news situation with the injury status of a few Cubs key players.

On the one hand, the team is expected to welcome back trade deadline addition Michael Soroka to the pitching staff in the coming days.

But the Cubs are still searching for clarity on two of their biggest players — outfielder Kyle Tucker and closer Daniel Palencia — while another top slugger (Seiya Suzuki) was held out of the lineup Friday due to illness.

Let’s break it down by each player:

Kyle Tucker

Tucker has been dealing with a left calf strain this month after leaving the game early on Sept. 2.

The team put him on the IL Tuesday (Sept. 9), backdating the stint to Sept. 6 as he struggled to move forward in his recovery.

That means that Tucker would be eligible to come off the IL as soon as Tuesday (Sept. 16) in Pittsburgh, but the Cubs aren’t anticipating to have their star right fielder ready by then.

“I would say Tuesday is unlikely right now,” manager Craig Counsell said Friday morning. “He is doing activity. The symptomatic stuff is the running right now. We’re on a bike, we’re hitting still, throwing.

“We’re hoping to have a weekend of no symptoms doing any of that and that will lead us back onto the field and to the running and then go from there.”

Before the injury, Tucker had just hit his rhythm after a slump that lasted more than a month.

In his last 11 games, Tucker is hitting .400 with a 1.289 OPS, four doubles, four homers and 11 RBI.

The Cubs have been rolling with a rotation of players in right field in Tucker’s absence, including Suzuki and Willi Castro (who drew the start in Friday’s game).

Daniel Palencia

The Cubs closer played catch Friday for the first time since walking off the mound in pain in Sunday’s game.

Palencia allowed five runs in a blown save to the Nationals on Sunday at Wrigley Field and was in obvious pain after throwing his final pitch of the afternoon. The Cubs placed him on the 15-day IL the next day with a right shoulder strain.

Friday’s catch session does not necessarily mean the Cubs will expect him back when he’s first eligible to return on Sept. 23. But the team did receive some very encouraging signs from Palencia.

“He had a good day,” Counsell said after Friday’s 6-4 victory. “It was a good day of catch. We will move forward tomorrow with more catch, maybe a little higher intensity. But he had a very good day.”

Saturday will be a big day for Palencia, as the Cubs monitor both how he recovers physically from Friday’s catch session and how he responds to throwing on back-to-back days.

Counsell categorized Friday as sort of an exploratory day as the Cubs determine exact next steps for Palencia.

“We played catch today to determine whether we should do that,” Counsell said before Friday’s game. “… It was like diagnostic catch, maybe is the way to say it. Let’s play catch to see how it feels. We’re hoping it feels good and then we’ll keep moving forward.”

When Palencia does return, will he still be the Cubs’ closer?

“[He will assume the role] of getting outs,” Counsell said. “We’re in the ‘getting outs’ mode.”

In Palencia’s absence, the Cubs bullpen has stepped up nicely, helping lead to a pair of wins in Atlanta.

Veteran Andrew Kittredge got the first save opportunity Wednesday, working a scoreless ninth inning.

Michael Soroka

Soroka was the main piece of the Cubs’ trade deadline haul, and the team expected him to make an impact in the rotation and possibly the bullpen down the stretch.

It didn’t pan out that way immediately, as Soroka left his first Cubs start after only two innings with a shoulder injury.

Things are looking up, however, as he is on the road to recovery. In his first rehab outing Thursday with Triple-A Iowa, Soroka threw 2.1 innings and struck out three batters. What’s more is his velocity was up to 95-96 mph after sitting at 89-90 mph in his first start with the Cubs on Aug. 4.

“He pitched well,” Counsell said. “Two and a third [innings], velocity was very good. Like, significantly up from his start with us.

“So he’s on his way back here right now and he’ll be activated with us for his next outing. We’ll see on the date right now.”

As with Palencia, Counsell did not want to confirm a specific role for Soroka upon return from injury.

But he will be stretched out to potentially fill a variety of roles. The Cubs currently have Shota Imanaga, Cade Horton and Matthew Boyd locked into the rotation and veteran Jameson Taillon returned from the IL Wednesday to take another spot. That pushed Javier Assad to the bullpen in a long-relief role.

Colin Rea will start Saturday against the Rays at Wrigley Field, but the Cubs had Rea work as the length option behind an opener (Drew Pomeranz) last time out.

Soroka has mostly worked as a starter in his career, but he found a lot of success as a reliever with the White Sox last season. In 16 bullpen appearances, the 28-year-old right-hander posted a 2.75 ERA and struck out 60 batters in 36 innings.

When Soroka returns, the Cubs could have a bunch of relievers capable of throwing multiple innings (Soroka/Rea, Assad, Ben Brown, Aaron Civale).

Seiya Suzuki

The 31-year-old DH/outfielder missed Friday’s game due to illness and his status for the rest of the weekend is unknown.

Suzuki has been in a slump lately after a torrid start to the year. He has only two homers and 14 RBI in the two months since the All-Star Game — and one of those homers (and three RBI) came in the first game of the second half.