The Chicago Cubs provided updates on five of their MANY injured players tonight, though the information is still fairly limited.
We still don’t really know what’s up with Nico Hoerner’s and Seiya Suzuki’s ankles:
Nico Hoerner (right ankle soreness) is still day to day, still going through evaluation process.
Seiya Suzuki (right ankle soreness) also remains day to day.
Neither are in the #Cubs lineup tonight.
— Meghan Montemurro (@M_Montemurro) May 13, 2022
Sure don’t like that part about Hoerner still “going through evaluation process.” Makes me think that, once the swelling went down, he wasn’t feeling much better or the initial evaluations suggested it was a legit sprain of the kind that will keep him out for a while (and may require imaging from here). We’ll see if he hits the IL tomorrow – the Cubs are running out of options to bring up as a replacement. They could call up Dixon Machado, but he would require a 40-man spot. They could leap Christopher Morel up from Tennessee, though maybe they don’t think he’s ready, even in a brief fill-in role.
They could also maybe wait a few days for Andrelton Simmons (and hope playing short-handed doesn’t hurt them in the meantime):
Andrelton Simmons will be playing 9 innings today and tomorrow at Triple-A Iowa.
Alec Mills is throwing a bullpen tomorrow.
David Bote is getting at-bats at extended spring training.
— Meghan Montemurro (@M_Montemurro) May 13, 2022
The timeline on Alec Mills is still completely unclear. As for David Bote, if he’s getting at bats in extended Spring Training, then he should be pretty well lined up to return from the 60-day IL as soon as he’s eligible in early June.
As for Suzuki, I don’t love that initially he was going to get right back in the lineup, was a late scratch, was then pinch-hitting, and now even after an off-day is still not starting. Suggests the ankle is not responding very well, and that’s a concern. Hopefully we get a rosier update from the Cubs soon.