Craig Kimbrel dealt with some elbow inflammation last weekend, was put on the Injured List, and was eligible to come off tomorrow. And that seemed like a real possibility, given how he felt, how the MRI was clean, and so on and so forth.
But I forgot to round up for the Cubs Return Assessment Protocol (“CRAP”), which is typically overly optimistic by a factor of some. So then we learned that Kimbrel definitely wouldn’t be back by tomorrow, and now, lol, it’s probably not even until well into next week. MAYBE.
Kimbrel (elbow) to play catch again today. Does not yet have a bullpen scheduled. Return can’t be planned until that. Cubs have 16 games left after tomorrow.
— Gordon Wittenmyer (@GDubCub) September 11, 2019
Mason on Kimbrel: “there is no finish line” pic.twitter.com/2hAeO13Ri8
— Mark Gonzales (@MDGonzales) September 12, 2019
I guess the best we can realistically hope for at this point is for Kimbrel to throw off the mound this weekend, recover a day, and then throw again more aggressively off the mound early next week, recover, and then be activated the middle or end of next week. That’s the *hope*.
In other words, if you wanted to flip a coin on whether he makes it back at all, I wouldn’t call you a reactionary at this point.