Todd Wellemeyer toils in another extended spring- training game, taking another big stride from that damned hip injury, and hears in the back of his mind the same thing Cubs officials have been saying the last three weeks.
The big right-hander was a key to their pitching depth. The veteran starter could’ve been making his fourth start of the year for the Cubs tonight against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Instead, the former 13-game winner tries not to think too hard about the lousy timing of that mid-March injury as he prepares to move from extended spring to his first start for Class AAA Iowa on Thursday.
‘‘It is what it is,’’ said Wellemeyer, the non-roster winter free agent who could be in the mix, possibly with recently signed veteran Doug Davis, when the Cubs next need to fill the fifth-starter slot vacated by the injured Andrew Cashner in about two weeks.
