After a weekend of baseball action in South Bend, Cubs utility man Ben Zobrist is back home in Nashville as he and the front office plan out the next steps in his hoped-for return to the Cubs. Per the Myrtle Beach Pelicans, that’ll be a stop at High-A in a couple days:
.@Cubs have announced that 2016 World Series MVP Ben Zobrist will be assigned to the Pelicans from August 8-August 10. Full info: https://t.co/E1qVnIx7dF
Tickets ⬇️
Thur, Aug. 8: https://t.co/7kd7xgJgnf
Fri, Aug. 9: https://t.co/KMMtgND1km
Sat, Aug. 10: https://t.co/1iMNI7efGS pic.twitter.com/pfYiDdsws7— Myrtle Beach Pelicans (@Pelicanbaseball) August 6, 2019
Zobrist, 38, was healthy and capable in his first three minor league games with South Bend, so that’s the first step, but it’s still a long way from being a productive player again in the big leagues. As of last night, things were still being worked out on the schedule. “That’s what we’re still trying to figure out,” general manager Jed Hoyer told the Sun-Times. “There’s probably some recovery issues and some family stuff. … We’ve said all along this is going to be pretty fluid. We’ll figure out the next stint in the next couple of days.”
And there you go, the decision must have been made this morning on Myrtle Beach.
It’s all still pretty much up in the air from there. I’d imagine at each step of the process – which the Cubs long ago conceded might take all of August – Zobrist and the front office will check in about how he’s feeling like they did yesterday, and how likely he is to contribute if he’s brought back.