CHICAGO (AP) — Javier Assad thinks he can help the Chicago Cubs in the last part of the season. So does manager Craig Counsell.
Assad is slated to make a rehab start for Triple-A Iowa on Wednesday. The right-hander is coming back from a troublesome left oblique injury.
“Just trying to get back to my 100 percent,” Assad said Saturday through a translator.
Assad, who turns 28 on Wednesday, got hurt during spring training. He re-aggravated the injury during a rehab start with Iowa in April.
He tossed three scoreless innings in a rehab appearance in the Arizona Complex League on Thursday.
“It’s been a tough season for Javy in terms of, you know, he was really injured most of spring training and his entirety of the season,” Counsell said. "But I think the thing to remember is that we have important baseball left and he can be a contributor.
“He’s on a good track right now, and I know it’s good to be around the team again and get you feeling like you’re close.”
Assad's return could provide a lift for a depleted Cubs rotation. Jameson Taillon also is on his way back after being sidelined by a right calf strain. Justin Steele made four starts before he had season-ending elbow surgery.
The Cubs improved to 61-43 with Saturday night's 6-1 victory against the White Sox at Rate Field. They are tied with Milwaukee for the NL Central lead.
Assad was a key member of the team's rotation in 2024, going 7-6 with a 3.73 ERA in a career-high 29 starts and 147 innings.
He is 14-11 with a 3.40 ERA in 70 games over three seasons, including 23 relief appearances. He could work out of Chicago's bullpen at some point if he stays healthy.
“I think we’re going to prepare him as a starter, but I think, yes, I think, you know, by mid-August ... you certainly have to consider everything when you get to mid-August,” Counsell said.
Assad said it was “really sad” when he re-aggravated the injury in April, but he is focused now on what he needs to do to return.
“Once I get back, just help in whatever capacity the team needs,” he said.
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FILE - Chicago Cubs' Javier Assad plays during a baseball game, Sept. 25, 2024, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum, File)
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A Liberian man who has been shuttled in and out of custody since immigration agents in Minnesota broke down his door with a battering ram was released again Friday, hours after a routine check-in with authorities led to his second arrest.
President Donald Trump, meanwhile, backed off a bit from his threat a day earlier to invoke an 1807 law, the Insurrection Act, to send troops to suppress protests in Minnesota during an unprecedented immigration sweep in the Twin Cities.
“I don’t think there’s any reason right now to use it, but if I needed it, I’d use it," Trump told reporters outside the White House.
The dramatic initial arrest of Garrison Gibson last weekend was captured on video. U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Bryan ruled the arrest unlawful Thursday and freed him, but Gibson was detained again Friday when he appeared at an immigration office.
A few hours later, Gibson was free again, attorney Marc Prokosch said.
“In the words of my client, he said that somebody at ICE said they bleeped up and so they re-released him this afternoon and so he’s out of custody,” Prokosch said, referring to Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Gibson’s arrest is one of more than 2,500 made during a weekslong immigration crackdown in Minneapolis and St. Paul, according to the Department of Homeland Security. The operation has intensified and become more confrontational since the fatal shooting of Renee Good on Jan. 7.
Gibson, 37, who fled the civil war in his West African home country as a child, had been ordered removed from the U.S., apparently because of a 2008 drug conviction that was later dismissed. He has remained in the country legally under what’s known as an order of supervision, Prokosch said, and complied with the requirement that he meet regularly with immigration authorities. =
In his Thursday order, the judge agreed that officials violated regulations by not giving Gibson enough notice that his supervision status had been revoked. Prokosch said he was told by ICE that they are “now going through their proper channels" to revoke the order.
Meanwhile, tribal leaders and Native American rights organizations are advising anyone with a tribal ID to carry it with them when out in public in case they are approached by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers.
Native Americans across the U.S. have reported being stopped or detained by ICE, and tribal leaders are asking members to report these contacts.
Ben Barnes, chief of the Shawnee Tribe in Oklahoma and chair of the United Indian Nations of Oklahoma, called the reports “deeply concerning”.
Organizers in Minneapolis have set up application booths in the city to assist people needing a tribal ID.
Democratic members of Congress held a local meeting Friday to hear from people who say they've had aggressive encounters with immigration agents. St. Paul Mayor Kaohly Her, who is Hmong American, said people are walking around with their passports in case they are challenged, and she has received reports of ICE agents going from door to door “asking where the Asian people live.” Thousands of Hmong people, largely from the Southeast Asian nation of Laos, have settled in the United States since the 1970s.
Minneapolis authorities released police and fire dispatch logs and transcripts of 911 calls, all related to the fatal shooting of Good. Firefighters found what appeared to be two gunshot wounds in her right chest, one in her left forearm and a possible gunshot wound on the left side of her head, records show.
“They shot her, like, cause she wouldn’t open her car door,” a caller said. “Point blank range in her car.”
Good, 37, was at the wheel of her Honda Pilot, which was partially blocking a street. Video showed an officer approached the SUV, demanded that she open the door and grabbed the handle.
Good began to pull forward and turned the vehicle's wheel to the right. Another ICE officer, Jonathan Ross, pulled his gun and fired at close range, jumping back as the SUV moved past him. DHS claims the agent shot Good in self-defense.
FBI Director Kash Patel said at least one person has been arrested for stealing property from an FBI vehicle in Minneapolis. The SUV was among government vehicles whose windows were broken Wednesday evening. Attorney General Pam Bondi said body armor and weapons were stolen.
The destruction occurred when agents were responding to a shooting during an immigration arrest. Trump subsequently said on social media that he would invoke the Insurrection Act if Minnesota officials don’t stop the “professional agitators and insurrectionists” there.
Minnesota’s attorney general responded by saying he would sue if the president acts.
Associated Press reporters Ed White and Corey Williams in Detroit; Graham Lee Brewer in Oklahoma City; Jesse Bedayn in Denver; Audrey McAvoy in Honolulu; and Ben Finley in Washington contributed.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, including one wearing a 'NOT ICE' face covering, walk near their vehicles, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, in Richfield, Minn. (AP Photo/Adam Gray)
A person looks out of their vehicle as Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents walk away, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, in Richfield, Minn. (AP Photo/Adam Gray)
