The Chicago Cubs hold a slim lead over the Milwaukee Brewers two days prior to the trade deadline and depending on what other moves the front office makes or not the team still has some serious injury concerns.
So, let’s rank the level of concern for the three biggest names who are currently on the disabled list, Kris Bryant, Brandon Morrow and Yu Darvish. This is simply based on how much the team needs these players back to win the division. They will obviously need all three back no matter what to have a good chance to make a deep postseason run.
It’s pretty weird to say, considering Kris Bryant has been the team’s best player ever since he made his MLB debut, but at this point his absence is the least concerning out of the trio.
Bryant missed 16 games, starting in late June that stretched into early July and earlier this week he returned to the DL because of shoulder inflammation. The thing is though, Bryant just hasn’t put up the same production from the first seven weeks of the season. He’s been pretty bad since late May and yes the shoulder injury is a factor.
But even with Bryant’s down season and the missed games, the offense ranks near the top of the league in almost every single category. The other thing is that after the latest update, Bryant made the following statement.
When asked if he would return this year, Bryant said "1000 percent" and whether he could be as good as the player he was in April/early May, he said he could be better. Said surgery in offseason isn't anything he's considering.
— Sahadev Sharma (@sahadevsharma) July 27, 2018
Bryant had a second MRI that revealed the same as the first, shoulder inflammation, so for now it appears as though resting is the best option. Anyway, out of the three big players out right now I have the most confidence in Bryant returning and contributing in a big way.
Next up is closer Brandon Morrow.
So, we all had our laughs back in June, when Morrow first landed on the DL because he suffered some back tightness after taking his pants off. He returned, was great for the Cubs and then he went back on the DL in July, but this time because of a biceps issue.
Morrow also had an MRI and said they “found stuff in there” which raised some eyebrows, but he seemed positive. Anyway, we knew several days ago that he wasn’t going to be ready to return after the 10-day period on the DL elapsed and like Bryant and Darvish, there’s no time table for Morrow’s return.
#Cubs Morrow says there's still a "little bit of soreness " in right arm. "We're going in the right direction. "
— Carrie Muskat (@CarrieMuskat) July 25, 2018
But again, the reason Morrow’s status isn’t the most concerning at this point is because the rest of the bullpen has been picking up the slack.
Plus, the addition of Jesse Chavez has so far been incredible. So, the Cubs have at least more than a few other relievers to hold it down for the rest of the season.
Obviously getting Morrow back will only strengthen the Cubs’ bullpen.
And now we get to the most concerning injury and it’s really weird because out of the latest updates the one for Yu Darvish is the most positive.
Darvish threw his second bullpen session in his second attempt to return from the DL this season. He threw 23 pitches on Friday in St. Louis, and although there was some panic over Darvish saying he felt pain at first, Theo Epstein made it clear that it was another positive step for the pitcher.
Via The Athletic.
“You can be misled parsing every sentence that he says or every adjective and every phrase,” Epstein said. “The bottom line is that it was a very positive day. He felt good. He made some adjustments trying to get his feel back for his arm action as he went. I think he got through a little bit of discomfort and ended up feeling really good and throwing more afterwards and is looking forward to his next bullpen.”
The most optimistic timeline that is mostly speculation is that Darvish will come back by the end of August. Yet, we don’t know how well Darvish will pitch when he comes back, so that’s still a mystery.
What makes Darvish the most concerning status is that unless the front office makes a huge splash, because the trade for Cole Hamels should only be viewed as a depth move, then Darvish has to be great when he returns.
Right now the only starting pitcher that you feel good about is Jon Lester. Jose Quintana had a rough outing Saturday, Kyle Hendricks has been very average and Mike Montgomery is regressing. Again, Hamels will make his Cubs’ debut next week, but expecting him to be the savior isn’t realistic. He just needs to be better than Tyler Chatwood, who’s been kicked out of the rotation.
At this point the Cubs are surviving in spite of the inconsistency of the rotation. All you can hope for is that the group steps it up and pitch up to their individual capabilities and that includes Darvish.
The starting pitching has the smallest room for error on the Cubs right now. The burden won’t all go on Darvish’s shoulders, but at this rate he has to be the all-star caliber pitcher he’s been before this season when he comes back and yes he has to come back for the Cubs to win the division.
Again, the Cubs could completely shock us and make a trade for another starting pitcher, but most likely Darvish has to be viewed as that guy to give the rotation a big boost to finish the season as division champs.
Do that and then you worry about the postseason.
