Kyuji Fujikawa was placed on the disabled list earlier this week with a strained forearm and the Cubs just announced that the 32-year-old reliever will undergo Tommy John elbow surgery.
That means Fujikawa will miss the remainder of this season and likely be sidelined well into 2014 as well. After eight seasons as a dominant reliever in Japan, where he posted an incredible 1.26 ERA in 541 innings, Fujikawa signed a two-year, $9.5 million deal with the Cubs this offseason.
If healthy he likely would have been in line to replace Carlos Marmol as closer at some point, but Fujikawa has been dealing with arm problems all season and allowed seven runs in 11 innings in between disabled list stints.
