NEWSLETTER
Javy Báez has been nicked up throughout this season, mostly playing well despite a minor hammy thing, a minor back thing, a minor hand thing, and a minor thumb thing. It’s always a balance between the short-term and the long-term, as well as the 80% performance of a star versus the 100% performance of a back-up, and you don’t want Báez out there if he’s in a position to injure himself further.
So that’s why he’s had a couple days off, with David Ross noting that Báez’s current thumb issue wouldn’t keep him out of the starting lineup if the circumstances were different.
“I don’t think it’s something that’s major from what I’m hearing,” Ross said, per Marquee. “More of a bone bruise type thing. But it is the hand. The small areas are always delicate. We’ll see but right now, I don’t have any concerns. I wouldn’t doubt if this was a postseason game or a major game in September that he would be in there.”
Sure enough, Báez was able to pinch-hit last night, grounding out in the 8th inning.
Ross probably gave him that at bat just to chill him out. I joke, obviously, but this anecdote cracked me up.
“I’ll promise you this — Javy always wants to play,” Ross said. “He wanted to just get up on deck and feel the crowd [Sunday] when Marisnick hit. I was like, ‘get out of here, what are you doing?’ He just wants to be a part of it. He’ll come up to me and just tell me he’s bored in the middle of a game. I’m like, ‘I don’t know what to tell you, I’m working right now!’ That’s the fun you get with Javy.”
I cannot play with you right now, I am trying to work. Go find something to do!
I guess that’s why Javy got that giant bag of popcorn on Sunday. Something to do.
Sunday Night Baseball.
Getcha popcorn ready. 🍿 pic.twitter.com/f9spo780hH
— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) June 13, 2021
As for the story behind the big bag of popcorn he was eating on the bench yesterday: “I was just coming in and I saw a big cart with a bunch of bags and I just grabbed one and kept going to my locker.”
Did he finish it all?
“No, it was too much.”— Tony Andracki (@TonyAndracki23) June 14, 2021
