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Chicago Cubs injured ace Cade Horton got an update from the club’s general manager Monday.

Chicago Cubs ace right-hander Cade Horton was scheduled for an MRI exam on his injured elbow Monday, but the Cubs did not release any results on their former No. 2 prospect. Instead, general manager Carter Hawkins gave an update, and it did not sound good.

Horton left the mound on Saturday, just 17 pitches into his start on the road against the Cleveland Guardians, with what the team called “right forearm discomfort.” At the time, Horton sounded an optimistic note about the injury.

“I’m pretty hopeful,” the 24-year-old said after the game, as quoted by SB Nation reporter Al Yellon. “I’m erring on the cautious side so I feel like I made the right move, even though it sucks doing that and putting the bullpen and everybody else in that situation.”

Horton also described the injury, saying, “I had some tightness in my wrist and as the game went on, it went into my forearm. I wanted to err on the cautious side and not hurt anything else.”

But Horton’s own optimism did not prevent the Cubs from placing him on the 15-day injured list on Sunday, the day before the 2022 first-round draft pick out of Oklahoma was scheduled for the MRI, which would reveal the true severity of the injury.

Hawkins on Monday addressed how the Cubs saw the immediate future of their young ace.

General Manager Gives Vague Timeline For MRI Results

The Cubs faced the Tampa Bay Rays on Monday afternoon, ultimately losing 6-4. But Cubs fans were anticipating that an announcement about Horton’s MRI results would come in the run-up to the game.

But there was no announcement. Instead, in an interview on Chicago radio station 104.3 The Score shortly before the game, Hawkins said that Horton’s results could come soon, but he did not know exactly when.

“Usually these things, it depends on the conversations you’re having with the player, with the doctor, with the doctors,” Hawkins told interviewer Mark Grote. “I think it’s safe to say this week. But in terms of whether it’s hours from now or days from now, that’s kind of TBD.”

When that happens, the team would have a “prognosis” on Horton, according to Hawkins. The pitcher has already had Tommy John surgery in his freshman season with the Oklahoma Sooners.

According to a CBS Sports report, “forearm discomfort is a common symptom of UCL problems and often precedes Tommy John surgery, though not always.” When the MRI results finally come in, the Cubs will likely know whether Horton will require a second Tommy John procedure, or if the injury is less serious.

Was Horton’s Arm Injury Predictable?

With Horton’s history of injuries, including a shoulder injury in 2024 and ribcage issues last season, Grote asked Hawkins if the Cubs should have seen Horton’s injury coming.

“You always end up attributing anything that doesn’t go well to a lot of different variables as you kind of look backwards,” Hawkins replied. “The situation is no different, and we’ll try to figure out is there anything that kind of led to this moment for him that we can try to improve upon in the future.”

The bad news just kept coming for the Cubs on Monday. The team placed 2025 All-Star left-hander Matthew Boyd on the 15-day injured list with a biceps strain.

Jonathan Vankin JONATHAN VANKIN is an award-winning journalist and writer who now covers baseball and other sports for Heavy.com. He twice won New England Press Association awards for sports feature writing. He was a sports editor and writer at The Daily Yomiuri in Tokyo, Japan, covering Japan Pro Baseball, boxing, sumo and other sports. More about Jonathan Vankin