He's made of glass apparently??? Cubs sometimes seem to be secretive about injuries for some reason. Just look at Darvish last year, never knew what was going on with him and seemed like just when he was getting ready to do a rehab assignment and get back he suffered a "setback." Probably wishful thinking that Morrow ever makes it back and if he does I wouldn't have high expectations of him being a shutdown reliever or pitching on back to back days any time soon as long as he's been hurt.
The pitching staff is nearing a crossroads and there isn't much for pitching in the minor leagues right now to fill it with so the front office will need to look to either sign or trade for quality pitching. I already hashed out the bullpen with Kimbrel and Chatwood being the only 2 with guaranteed contracts coming back next year with a few guys who could be tendered through arbitration too. Here's the rotation:
Lester: signed through 2021
Darvish: signed through 2023. Has a player opt-out after this season but no way he is getting anyone to play him close to what the Cubs signed him to
Hendricks: signed through 2023 with a vesting option for 2024
Quintana: Club option for 2020 at $10.5 mil that likely will be picked up then a free agent after next season
Hamels: free agent after this season
Lester and Hamels are both 35, Darvish is 32, Q 30 and Hendricks 29. Lester before long is going to be no more than a middle to back end of the rotation pitcher like Hamels is right now so at the very least they may have 1 rotation spot to fill after this year and next if they don't bring back Hamels or Q when their deals are up. If they didn't bring back Hamels and cleaned house with the bullpen they would free up nearly $50 mil in payroll but just how well could they stretch that to fill a rotation spot and nearly an entire new bullpen? For position players Zobrist $12.5, Maldonado $2.5 are the only ones you could clear outright but Bryant, Russell, Schwarber, Almora, and Javy are all up for arbitration and Bryant and Javy for sure are due some hefty pay hikes. They still have Duensing's contract on the payroll at $3.5 mil this year too that will clear as well and Chatwood will be in the last year of his contract at $13 mil in 2020.
Here's a breakdown of the contract situation:
https://www.spotrac.com/mlb/chicago-cubs/yearly/payroll/