CHICAGO — Searching for ideas, the Chicago Cubs placed Edward Cabrera back on the injured list with a recurring blister problem and signaled that the enigmatic pitcher will work out of the bullpen whenever he returns.

Cubs manager Craig Counsell explained the rationale ahead of Monday night’s game against the Chicago White Sox at Wrigley Field, a contest with the kind of electric atmosphere the club once believed would bring out the best of Cabrera as a potential top-of-the-rotation starter.

Cabrera’s raw talent intrigued Jed Hoyer’s front office for years. Through multiple trading cycles, the Cubs discussed Cabrera and other pitching options in ongoing conversations with the Miami Marlins. When a deal finally came together last winter — the Marlins received left-handed hitter Owen Caissie and two minor-league infielders — the Cubs understood the risks.

Cabrera, now 28, has never completed a full major-league season, maxing out at 26 starts and 137 ⅔ innings last year. The trade-off with Cabrera was his pure swing-and-miss stuff, and the Cubs hoped that other organizational advantages would help him succeed — pitchers consistently rave about the team’s defense, the communication with coaches and the overall working environment.

While the organization can point to many examples of its pitching infrastructure working — the Cubs (72-53) entered Monday 19 games above .500 and in a strong playoff position amid an onslaught of injuries — Cabrera has a 5.68 ERA, a negative WAR rating (-1.2, per Baseball Reference) and a nagging injury concern.

“It hasn’t clicked,” Counsell said. “You spend a lot of time figuring those out. I wish every story was a success story. This one, right now, is not. We’re certainly going to keep working on trying to find answers there and trying to find solutions.

“I know it’s something that’s very important. I wish I could tell you every story is a success story. But we haven’t done it here.”

A blister on Cabrera’s right middle finger led to a short stint on the injured list from late May into early June. Cabrera then missed almost two months while dealing with a strained left hamstring. When Cabrera was activated to start Sunday’s game against the St. Louis Cardinals, Counsell said, “It’s go time.”

After giving up seven runs in an 11-4 loss at Wrigley Field, Cabrera described a flare-up that worsened over his 3 ⅔ innings, but he mostly downplayed the severity of the condition.

“I don’t think Edward’s issue is serious, but I also don’t know when he’s going to pitch next,” Counsell said. “If that makes sense.

“In other words, I don’t know if we go four days and he’s ready to pitch on the fourth day. Big picture, in general, we’ve got to come up with some better answers on the blisters thing. The nail, the blister, we keep having some issues there.

“Frankly, one thing we’re going to talk about is: Is it happening the longer your outings are? And is that causing this? That may be something we consider for the rest of the year.”

While it seems unlikely that Cabrera would be trusted in high-leverage situations, the Cubs are curious to see how his stuff would play in shorter bursts out of the bullpen.

“That’s the working plan right now,” Counsell said. “We’re hoping we can have the blister behind us. He’s dealt with this and pitched with this (before). One of the things we’re thinking is it doesn’t necessarily pop up in bullpens when the volume is lower, so maybe we can make some progress there, and that can be a fix at least for the last six weeks here.”

The Cubs also have to consider the long-range outlook with Cabrera, who is under club control through the 2028 season. To squeeze Cabrera into the rotation on Sunday, the Cubs bumped David Peterson to the bullpen for the time being and optioned Javier Assad to Triple-A Iowa.

After Cabrera’s one start, which had the feel of a tryout, the Cubs promptly recalled Assad. Putting Peterson back in the rotation seems like the logical move, but Counsell wants to see how the rest of this White Sox series unfolds before making an announcement.

Cabrera sounded open to the idea of working as a reliever, but he has very limited experience in that role. Of his 104 career appearances in the majors, 102 have been starts, meaning he would have to develop an almost entirely new routine.

“A hundred percent I would go to the bullpen,” Cabrera said via an interpreter. “The important thing is to be here, and to be able to help the team.”

Perhaps better health and shorter assignments will help Cabrera harness his high-end velocity and create greater separation between his fastball and a unique changeup. Turning him into a max-effort reliever for the stretch run is an interesting concept, but that was certainly not the plan when the Cubs made him a signature offseason addition to a playoff contender.

“It’s frustrating,” Cabrera said. “When things are going well, you’re not really worried about anything else. But whenever you start thinking that things aren’t necessarily going as well, it’s a time where you just have to keep working.”