A quick little pre-game update on Willson Contreras, who has been out since August 12 with a right knee sprain.
We could see Contreras back as soon as Friday when the Cubs open a three-game set on the South Side:
The Cubs are hopeful that catcher Willson Contreras can be activated from the injured list (sprained right knee) and utilized as a designated hitter for upcoming interleague series on the South Side and in Minnesota.
— Patrick Mooney (@PJ_Mooney) August 23, 2021
Say what you will about the merits of better game outcomes for the Cubs, but you can’t argue that playing without Willson Contreras has been tough on the Cubs. As long as he’s fully healthy and there’s no risk of any kind of longer-term issue, then I say God bless, bring him back and let him hit, especially with the ability to use the DH for five games.
After that, we get into September, and the rosters expand to 28, which means the Cubs could try to figure out a way to keep all three catchers around in any case. For the purposes of protecting Contreras post-knee issue and after a very heavy workload this year, I hope the Cubs do keep Robison Chirinos and Austin Romine around. What’ll be trick is that an expansion to just 28 roster spots is only two extra players, and the Cubs may want to see some other potential Rule 5 guys before the end of September. But we’ll cross that bridge when it comes.
Willson Contreras taking early BP at Wrigley. A couple shots clanking off the bleacher seats here⬇️ pic.twitter.com/vqw7Ck4Esq
— Jordan Bastian (@MLBastian) August 23, 2021