The Chicago Cubs have placed Ryan Brasier on the 15-day injured list with a left groin strain. The team placed him on the IL retroactive to March 25, meaning they will be without the newly-acquired right-hander until at least April 8. The Cubs traded for Brasier in an offseason deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers that sent a player to be named later and cash considerations to the defending World Series champions.
The two-time World Series champion Brazier became a luxury to the Dodgers in the offseason after they added Kirby Yates and Tanner Scott to their bullpen. With a cramped 40-man roster, they opted to send him to the Chicago Cubs where he could play with another contender. Brasier, 37, is expected to pick up the same role in Chicago that he had in Los Angeles and be a high-leverage set-up reliever this season and his absence will force other pitchers into pressurized action early in the season. Brasier is expected to be ready to join the bullpen when his 15-day IL stint is over.
Ryan Brasier Out with Groin Injury
Ryan Brasier will miss the opening weeks of the 2025 regular season with a left groin injury. The Chicago Cubs announced that their new right-handed reliever sustained the injury late in spring training and was unfit to join the team to start the season. Brasier, 37, was brought in from the Los Angeles Dodgers in an offseason trade and is expected to be a vital contributor to the Chicago Cubs bullpen this season.
Brasier will be asked to be a set-up late-inning reliever when he is healthy enough to return to the active roster. In his absence, other relievers already in the bullpen will be required to step up into more high-leverage roles. Julian Merryweather, Porter Hodge, and Elijah Morgan are the most likely candidates to step up for Craig Counsell in the situations that will usually be handled by Brasier.
In his career, Brasier has gone 10-8 with a 3.87 ERA, 1.16 WHIP, 282 strikeouts, 63 holds and ten saves in 286.1 innings of action across nine seasons with four different teams. The veteran arm also has a standout postseason pitching career, making him all the more enticing for the Chicago Cubs who are trying to reach and thrive in the postseason. In four postseasons, Brazier is 1-1 with a 4.13 ERA, 1.33 WHIP, 22 strikeouts, and nine holds in 24 innings. The Chicago Cubs are hoping that when he returns runs from this left groin injury, Ryan Brazier can help the bullpen with his clutch pitching and valuable veteran presence.
Final Thoughts
The injury to Ryan Brazier is undoubtedly an inconvenience to Craig Counsell and the Chicago Cubs this early in the season. For a team trying to establish some continuity in their bullpen after overhauling so many of their options in the offseason, this will put a dent in that plan. Having said that, this opens up some opportunities for other relievers to show what they can do in late-inning situations and perhaps prep them for bigger roles later in the season if necessary.
If Brazier is on the actual timeline that the team has laid out for him, then the Chicago Cubs should be able to withstand his absence even if it is a rocky road for the next week. For a reliever that is expected to be relied upon for some quality, high-leverage production, missing Brazier for an extended period of time would be worrying. But as long as he is back in the bullpen in relatively short order, this injury is a footnote for the Chicago Cubs 2025 season as they try to get back to the postseason for the first time in five years.
