Although eligible to come off of the 10-day disabled list today, Kris Bryant will get one more day to rest and test his shoulder before being activated by the Cubs tomorrow. (UPDATE: Unfortunately, today didn’t go as hoped, so it’s not happening tomorrow.)
Cubs plan on activating Kris Bryant (shoulder) on Wednesday after he takes part in full pregame activities today, assuming no setbacks.
— Jesse Rogers (@ESPNChiCubs) July 3, 2018
Kris Bryant will do full work out today in preparation for coming off DL Wednesday
— Bruce Levine (@MLBBruceLevine) July 3, 2018
The nice thing about this plan of action is that you get a couple built-in checkpoints without risking screwing up the roster too much. First, you get to check in throughout today and tomorrow morning to ensure Bryant’s shoulder feels 100% good to go before activating him from the DL. Then, after he plays tomorrow, he gets a built-in off-day to make sure the shoulder responded well and/or give it a little rest while he comes back to playing every day.
And with Bryant returning on the Fourth of July, you’ll forgive me if I start to have visions of the time he homered twice on the Fourth a few years ago, including a grand slam. It was extremely patriotic.
Moreover, hopefully this long time off has helped Bryant’s shoulder truly heal. You’ll recall that he indicated that it was originally injured about a month before he went on the disabled list. We could debate whether that had an impact on his power production, which happened to be at one of the lowest extended points in his career exactly over that same timeline, but we’ll never know for sure.
Like I said, if Bryant comes back tomorrow hitting bombs, then few folks will remember anyway.
The Cubs have been fortunate to play relatively well in Bryant’s absence, but nobody wants to see that happen for much longer. The Cubs are better when they’ve got a healthy Bryant in the fold. Obviously.
UPDATE: Maybe it won’t be tomorrow, but there’s still obviously a chance:
Kris Bryant could be activated tomorrow . Joe Maddon said they may wait through Thursday’s off day and activate Bryant Friday.
— Bruce Levine (@MLBBruceLevine) July 3, 2018