The Cubs, via David Ross, offered up a bunch of injury updates before tonight’s series opener in Cleveland …
Jake Marisnick: his hamstring strain is being called “mild to moderate” and there’s no timeline yet for his return. I can’t speak specifically to his situation obviously, but usually a “mild” hamstring strain keeps guys out from two to four weeks (feels like it’s usually on the longer end of that), whereas a “moderate” strain (Grade 2) can be a multiple month situation. So, with no timeline yet, I’m thinking the scans showed something worse than mild – especially for a guy who missed most of last year with hamstring issues – but not necessarily horrible. So basically, they can’t figure out a timeline until the inflammation abates, and no one knows how long that will be.
You can probably expect Marisnick to be down for multiple weeks before he’s even doing light baseball work, and then it’s probably at least another couple weeks before you could even start to think about a return date after a rehab assignment. That’s a WILDLY GENERAL timeline in my experience observing hamstring injuries LIKE THIS. Either way, don’t expect him back until some time into June, at least. Could be late June. Could be July. It’s a wide and seemingly uncertain range at this moment. It’s a huge bummer for a guy who was putting up great numbers.
Javy Báez: his back was tightening up on him this weekend, which is why he wasn’t playing (and why, to my eye, he looked really uncomfortable in that pinch-hit at bat on Sunday). The hope was yesterday’s off-day could put him in position to play today, and he was in the initial lineup. But David Ross said Báez was still feeling some tightness pre-game, thus the scratch. It’s possible he’ll sit tomorrow, too, which would give him three more days off in a row, coupled with Thursday’s off-day.
Jason Heyward: his hand is doing better, and it is not considered serious (he’s back in there today). It might be a bone bruise.
Jake Arrieta: he’ll throw another bullpen today (cut on thumb) with an eye on starting in Detroit Friday/this weekend.
