NEWSLETTER
Earlier this morning, Brett discussed the increasingly real concern of not getting Jason Heyward (hamstring) back until the end of this month, if at all. And sadly, it seems that timeline may not have changed on that front, even if there is some good news to report.
Heyward ran (lightly) today for first time since hamstring injury. Still making no predictions. Taking it slow. Stresses importance of avoiding setback. September return? October? "…As soon as possible."
— Gordon Wittenmyer (@GDubCub) September 10, 2018
Heyward said no setbacks, hopes to return ASAP but coy on a specific date
— Mark Gonzales (@MDGonzales) September 10, 2018
According to multiple reports on Twitter, Heyward ran lightly today, testing out his hamstring, and suffered no setbacks. However, he’s also not ready to commit to a return date, other than hoping to come back “as soon as possible.” Shrug.
Normally, I wouldn’t read too much into these comments (every player wants to return as soon as possible, so, like, whatever), but given what we know about his particular injury (even the mildest strains tend to take guys about a month to come back from) and the way reporters have relayed their own reactions to his comments (Mark Gonzalez later tweeted: “Translation: he won’t be returning soon.”) I have to imagine we’re not inching very close to a return, here. Your best bet is still the end of the month, though it’s never bad news to see a guy out there and running. At least (1) there wasn’t an obvious setback after that today and (2) the Cubs have plenty of position players, particularly outfielders, to work into the mix.
Of course, that’s not our only news to discuss. Also earlier today, we discussed Brandon Morrow’s 25-pitch bullpen session yesterday, which was, apparently, not the wild success many of us had hoped for.
According to The Chicago Sun Times and Chicago Tribune, injured Cubs closer Brandon Morrow did throw his 25-pitch bullpen session as scheduled yesterday, but it was characterized as lighter than anticipated and more “touch and feel,” than they had hoped. What does that mean exactly? Beats me. But apparently, it’s to be taken as opposed to any serious kind of test for “velocity, stuff, or the health of his arm,” as Gordon Wittenmyer of the Sun Times put it.
It was difficult to take much away from that news, other than that the Cubs were targeting this upcoming weekend as a final decision point on Morrow, but we were told to keep an eye out for an update today, and that has arrived welcomely:
Morrow said he feels fine, going to play catch now
— Mark Gonzales (@MDGonzales) September 10, 2018
That’s a very brief, very un-descriptive explanation of how he’s feeling, but actions speak louder than words and he wouldn’t be going to play catch if he didn’t feel fine after yesterday’s bullpen session. My bet is that this is ultimately good news and will lead to one more bullpen session before the week is over. How he feels after that one will probably determine whether or not he throws another pitch in the big leagues this year. So I guess you can call that lukewarm optimism on both fronts.
