Before the Chicago Cubs decide how serious they want to be about re-signing Kyle Tucker in free agency they’ll have to decide how much longer they want to keep the right fielder on the active roster. It’s been a turbulent second-half for the All-Star, but in recent weeks Tucker was finally looking like himself again at the plate, following his mental reset. Now, there’s a different problem the Cubs are facing with Tucker.
Earlier this week Tucker was removed from a game against the Atlanta Braves at Wrigley Field and it turned out to be a calf issue. The team initially categorized the cause of Tucker’s early exit during Tuesday night’s game as calf tightness that also sidelined Tucker on Wednesday. The Cubs were hoping that Thursday’s off day would give Tucker enough time to recover, but the left-handed hitter was once again absent from Friday’s starting lineup.
You always hate to see this kind of manager speak on a player who is dealing with something physical.
“He’s improved, for sure, and I think we’d like to give him the day to just move around,” Counsell said on Friday morning before the Cubs’ series opener against the Washington Nationals. “Really, we want to get him symptom-free.”
“Wednesday was a good day in terms of how he came into the park and felt on Wednesday,” Counsell said. “I think he was very encouraged, and we were encouraged that he felt if he had to absolutely play on Wednesday, he probably could have.
“But we’re going to give him a day to do a little more running around today, and then just see where we’re at. But I’m pretty optimistic that we should get him in the lineup by the weekend.”
I mean, all right. Tucker could reasonably return to the lineup this weekend, but it sounds like that would only be as the designated hitter, which again is perfectly fine. Yet, it kinda makes you think back to all the times the Cubs haven’t placed a player on the injured list when said player then proceeds to miss a bunch of games anyway.
Tucker himself probably would have benefited from a stint on the injured list back in July or early August, when he was struggling mightily after he was playing through a broken finger.
This calf issue comes at both a bad and good time. Obviously any injury late in September, leading up to the playoffs or during the postseason would be less ideal, but it’s also a shame that Tucker is being forced to miss games right when he was crushing the ball again. He was given a couple days to reset back in August and after his first game back Tucker has been a beast at the plate. In Tucker’s last 11 games he’s gone 16-for-40, with four home runs and four doubles, slashing .400/.489/.800, in 47 plate appearances.
Fingers crossed that this calf issue goes away quickly or that the Cubs actually give Tucker time to completely get over the injury.
