ARLINGTON, Texas — It’s going to be hard for fans to focus on anything other than Justin Steele’s injury and a tough one-run loss. The injury is the real concern, of course. It stings for multiple reasons. Steele was dominating a really good offensive club Thursday and looked primed to back up a breakout 2023 season. The Chicago Cubs don’t have another established “ace” on their roster, and criticism that team president Jed Hoyer didn’t go out and get another veteran starter — whether it’s signing Jordan Montgomery or trading for someone like Shane Bieber — feels valid.

But beyond that, the timing hurts. Jameson Taillon is already out and the pitching prospects in the minors haven’t even gotten a chance to settle in and show who deserves to get the call-up. An injury to a No. 1 starter is never good, but had this happened in June rather than the first game of the season, perhaps there would be a little more clarity and comfort in whom to pick.

Before Steele’s injury, Hoyer talked about the team’s pitching depth.

“There’s no question we’re going to rely on depth this year,” Hoyer said. “I think we have really good starters and bullpen guys, but I thought some young guys took steps forward in the offseason. They looked good in spring training. There’s no question we’ll need a lot of pitching. I think we’re in good shape that way organizationally. But that’s one of the daunting aspects of starting this marathon. This isn’t 20 years ago, we’re not going to rely on five starters and a couple bullpen guys. It’s going to take everyone.”

Hoyer probably hoped it didn’t happen like this and so quickly, but the Cubs’ pitching depth will be immediately tested. Hayden Wesneski, Ben Brown or even Drew Smyly will be getting starts very soon. The Cubs have two more with Texas, the Dodgers come into town next weekend and there’s a tough, nine-game West Coast trip that will bring them through the middle of April. They’re likely going to be down two starting pitchers that entire time. Getting out of this stretch and still hanging around .500 may be considered a win, all things considered.

GO DEEPER Cubs’ Justin Steele leaves Opening Day start as pitching depth gets early test

One game in and fans have reason to complain. Such is the life of following the 162-game season. Concerns about the lineup and bullpen decisions? Apparently, it doesn’t matter if you’re David Ross or Craig Counsell, fans will have reason to pick apart every move. A one-run loss makes it easier to do so.

But the second-guessing began before the game even started. Fans saw Christopher Morel as the DH with Nick Madrigal at third and batting eighth and were ready to riot. Why give Morel all that time in spring at third base and then immediately make a change on Opening Day?

“Chris is going to play a ton of third base,” Counsell said. “I think there’ll be times with certain pitcher matchups — a lot of right-handed hitters in the lineup, the nature of (where) Justin’s balls are going to be hit — we might choose to prioritize defense. This is a day that fits for that.”

Steele, a lefty, allowed a 49.4 percent ground-ball rate last season, the sixth highest among eligible starters. The Rangers had just two lefties in the lineup to start the game. So Counsell and the Cubs chose defense in this situation, knowing there would probably be quite a few groundballs headed to the left side of the infield.

It’s fair to worry about Madrigal and his offense. He puts the ball on the ground too much, and he just hasn’t produced enough to engender any trust from the fan base. Health has proved to be the main issue with Madrigal. There was a brief moment last season when he started hitting well and he looked 100 percent healthy. Then he tweaked his hamstring in early July, and all the positivity that was starting to build around him was gone.

But the Cubs believe Madrigal is a good defensive third baseman. His arm strength is a question and it leads to awkward-looking plays where he takes multiple steps to get the ball to first. He’s not going to play deep, and it’s going to be hard for him to make any diving stabs on the line and then fire a ball to first. The fact he couldn’t cleanly field Adolis García’s 106 mph grounder that led to the Rangers’ first run won’t help him gain supporters.

But this is how Counsell will go about business all season. He uses his entire bench and mixes and matches depending on what he feels is most important for that day. This means Garrett Cooper, Mike Tauchman, Miles Mastrobuoni and, yes, Madrigal will get starts. When Patrick Wisdom returns, he’s going to face lefties who don’t throw a ton of four-seamers up in the zone. When Alexander Canario gets called up at some point, Counsell will find ways to get him in the lineup.

Fans will love some of these things. Others will frustrate them to no end. If Counsell ends up winning enough to get this team to the playoffs, that’s all that matters.

There will be more space here devoted to the bullpen and whether Counsell has the horses he needs to thrive. It’s probably best to wait more than one game to sound the alarms — though Adbert Alzolay’s performance against lefties is going to be something to watch. But that can be saved for another day after more data has been gathered.

For now, despite Steele’s injury, we got a little idea of how Counsell may use his bullpen. Yency Almonte and Julian Merryweather were already warming up when Steele went down. The lefty was at 67 pitches, and the top of the lineup was coming up.

Counsell explained that Almonte was up in case the Rangers took the lead — it was a 1-1 game at the time — and Merryweather was ready to come into a tie game. Before the injury, Steele probably had two more batters — Marcus Semien and Corey Seager — before his day was over. Josh Jung, batting third, had reached twice against him and forced him to throw 17 pitches.

How different do things look if Merryweather comes into a clean sixth inning? Or maybe Steele gets Semien to end the fifth and starts the sixth against Seager before leaving for Merryweather? Those questions aren’t answerable. But perhaps just a couple of more outs from Steele may have been the difference between a close loss and eking out a win.

Counsell did show a little bit of his hand as far as how he’s going to use these relievers. If Counsell wanted Almonte in a situation where the team was trailing, then it appears Merryweather, Mark Leiter Jr., Héctor Neris and Alzolay are the go-to relievers when tied or ahead from the sixth inning and beyond.

This isn’t too surprising. The one question was what Almonte’s role would be, and Counsell has given an early preview. It’s unlikely these relievers will remain in these specific roles through September. That’s just the reality of bullpens in modern-day baseball. Roles evolve, some pitchers will struggle while others emerge to take their spots.

How this looks by the end of the season is anyone’s guess. Not even Counsell can answer that. But he’ll be tasked with getting it right — and doing so without the likes of Josh Hader, Devin Williams or Corey Knebel, each of whom he’s had working at the end of games for much of his managerial career.

(Top photo of Justin Steele: Jerome Miron / USA Today)