Good and Bad Injury News and Other Bullets

nomar injured cubsA very Happy Father’s Day to the fathers among you. I didn’t know it at the time, but the quality and depth of my life kicked up about 50 notches the day I entered your ranks.

  • As noted yesterday, Hector Rondon says he felt fine after his bullpen session yesterday (CSN), and it turns out that he wasn’t feeling any kind of pain in his elbow in the first place. He just felt a slight twinge of tightness, and he immediately shut things down and went to the trainer. After two elbow surgeries, he says that’s the only way he’s going to proceed, because he doesn’t want it to happen again. Good plan.
  • Bad news on Emilio Bonifacio’s injury: as feared based on how it looked when he went down, it’s an oblique strain, which can be a tricky thing to get over. I’m sure it depends on the severity, and some guys get over them more quickly than others, but, for the most part, it seems like oblique injuries take at least a month to get past. In recent Cubs memory, there was Steve Clevenger who hurt his oblique in April, and, even originally, was expected to be out at least six weeks. He wound up missing a couple months. We’ll see if there’s further word on Bonifacio’s expected time table, but nobody can really know until he rests for a while, and gives the muscle a chance to heal. Rick Renteria tells Cubs.com that Bonifacio already feels good, so maybe that’s a positive sign. Not to be too callous, but you know the drill: ideally, Bonifacio, a free agent after this year, would be back by mid-July at the latest, so he could prove to teams that he’s healthy before the July 31 Trade Deadline.
  • Peter Gammons writes a column about the future of the Cubs’ organization, and he still sees all of the reasons for optimism. It’s mostly fluffy, but it’s also mostly right. The only minor beef I’d have is Gammons’ insistence on setting up a parallel/comparison between Jose Abreu and future Kris Bryant. No need, Mr. Gammons. The comparison for Abreu already plays in Chicago, also plays first base, and already has better numbers than Abreu.
  • (Note: in it, Gammons makes it sound like Jorge Soler is already back at AA Tennessee, but I’m not sure that’s quite right. Today’s is the last game before the All-Star break, so Soler wouldn’t return today even if he was just about ready anyway. As of last week, Jason McLeod suggested it would be at least two more weeks, so I’m not looking for Soler until the end of the month.)
  • Paul Sullivan with a profile on Kris Bryant, which once again makes him sound like just the best kid from the best family with the best future ahead of him. It also sounds like his dad got into the KrisBryantFacts thing, telling Sullivan that when Kris was five, he was bit by a rattlesnake, and, after a few days of pain and agony, the snake finally died. (That’s a joke story, by the way. But, well … I’m sure that’s what would happen. You’ve been warned, snakes of the world.)
  • Patrick Mooney writes about Edwin Jackson and his intermittent struggles as a Cub. I remain just not sure what to make of Jackson. I think I’m still fine with the idea of him being in the certain rotation plans heading into 2015, but I’d love to be more confident about it.
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    Brett Taylor is the Lead Cubs Writer at Bleacher Nation, and you can find him on Twitter at @BleacherNation and on LinkedIn here. Brett is also the founder of Bleacher Nation, which opened up shop in 2008 as an independent blog about the Chicago Cubs. Later growing to incorporate coverage of other Chicago sports, Bleacher Nation is now one of the largest regional sports blogs on the web.

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