You know it’s God’s Wrath when a guy finally starts hitting the ball hard after a prolonged slump to start the year, and then he gets hurt.
Running in the outfield today, Ryan Sweeney came up lame with an apparent leg injury (he still made the catch, though). It looked like it could be a hamstring, but we won’t know much until after the game (and then probably after tests). Sweeney left the game.
With Justin Ruggiano already out with a hamstring injury, the Cubs’ already thin outfield just got a lot thinner. Assuming Sweeney needs a stint on the DL, Nate Schierholtz, Ryan Kalish, and Junior Lake are the only healthy outfielders on the roster (with Emilio Bonifacio rotating in). You’ve got to figure the Cubs will need to replace Sweeney with an outfielder, and the 40-man options are Brett Jackson (injured), Josh Vitters (struggling), Matt Szczur (has barely played at AAA), Jorge Soler (injured and wouldn’t come up anyway), and Logan Watkins (not a true outfielder).
It’s a bit of a motley crew at this point, but the best guess is probably Vitters or Szczur.
We’ll see on Sweeney’s injury before we get too far ahead of ourselves.