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All right, so the Cubs have somehow morphed into the New England Patriots, or every NHL team when talking about injuries. One day a player is doing fine and he’s expected back and then the next day his season is over. Now, I’m not saying I’m panicking about Kyle Schwarber, but the Cubs keep being wishy-washy about his status.
Two weeks ago, Schwarber hurt his back sliding into third base against the Brewers in Milwaukee. That was the same game when he hit another monster home run and then took 4 hours to round the bases.
Punishment. pic.twitter.com/bLkg3Mmcka
— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) September 6, 2018
Here’s how Schwarber tweaked his back.
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Since then Schwarber has only appeared in four more games and has missed the last nine, including tonight’s series finale in Arizona.
Before the trip to play the Diamondbacks, Joe Maddon said that Schwarber could be available to pinch hit against the Reds. Then, the Cubs kept Schwarber in Chicago, so that he could continue to rest his back and avoid two long flights. That made sense and more so considering the Cubs were going to face two left-handed starters, so Schwarber wasn’t going to play much anyway.
Yet, the expectation was that Schwarber would be ready to go for this upcoming series against the White Sox and maybe even return to left field if his back was feeling good again.
And that brings us to today, when Cubs GM Jed Hoyer went on 670 The Score and well, he didn’t sound 100 percent sure that Schwarber would indeed play on the South Side.
#Cubs' hope is that Kyle Schwarber (back) can play "soon" — perhaps sometime as the DH when they play at the White Sox this weekend, Jed Hoyer says.
— 670 The Score (@670TheScore) September 19, 2018
Again, I’m not panicking about Schwarber, but we’ve seen this way too many times this season. “Soon” has turned into more waiting for a few players dealing with injuries for the Cubs this year.
So, we’ll wait.
In other injury news, Jason Heyward started for the first time in three weeks last night and he lined a hard, opposite field double in his first at-bat against Arizona. He eventually scored on an Ian Happ double.
Heyward missed time with a hamstring strain and he’s still being eased back in. He grounded out in his second plate appearance Tuesday night and didn’t run at 100 percent down the line, which is completely fine. No need to push it now and possibly blow up the hamstring. He was replaced in the middle of the game, but a great sign to see him back in the lineup and hit the ball hard.
