Almost by definition, when you’re updating Chicago Cubs prospect injuries, it isn’t going to be good news. Sure, the update might be suggestive of things moving in a positive direction, but you’re still talking about a guy missing time, having to recover from some malady, then having to work his way back to wherever he was before, AND THEN keep developing in the way you hoped he would have all along. Injuries suck.
However!
The Cubs prospect injury updates today are at least mostly positive? I mean, they remain bad news situations, but the optimism is there.
Chicago Cubs farm director Jared Banner is at the GM Meetings this week, and he spoke with Cubs.com and Marquee, among others, about a handful of Cubs injury items:
Alexander Canario has already had surgery on the double ankle fracture, and will have surgery on the dislocated shoulder this week. Banner acknowledged how unfortunate and serious the injuries are, but tried to keep things as positive as possible: “At this point, we have we have some of the world’s best doctors and rehab people. And we’ll get them back to where it was in due time …. (we) expect him back at some point next year, back to his normal self. We expect a full recovery.”
The nature of these injuries – each of them individually, let alone both on the same dang play – is such that it’s just going to take a very long time to recover, and then build back up to baseball playing shape. From there, baseball ABILITY is going to be a huge question mark. The margins between a quality big league player and a guy who washes out at Triple-A are incredibly narrow when you think about it in terms of the whole population of baseball players, so I suppose I’m just guarding myself against an expectation that, even if Canario is back to playing games after the All-Star break next year, he will be exactly as good as he was before these injuries. We just can’t know that. You hope that his age (22) helps in this process, but I think we all have to be realistic about just how unknown Canario’s future has become. One freak play. Sigh.
Wait. I thought I was trying to say this wasn’t all bad news. OK. Resetting: the Cubs are saying they expect a full recovery for Canario. That’s a start.
Speaking of freak injuries at first base and the resulting uncertain future, shortstop prospect Ed Howard is still rehabbing the hip injury (and subsequent surgery), but might begin some “light baseball activity” after Thanksgiving. If you’re hoping Howard, 20, can participate in minor league Spring Training at some point, this is a great step. Having nearly four months to go before minor league Spring Training even starts, I’m hopeful that Howard can get there. How he performs next season, however, is a big question. Howard’s plus glove at shortstop is so important to his game, and with a serious hip injury, you wonder how lateral quickness could be affected.
Speaking of being ready for Spring Training, here’s some great news: Miguel Amaya (Lisfranc foot fracture and surgery) is expected to be physically good to go for Spring Training. Yes, he’ll have missed time this fall when he would’ve been doing his first catching work in games since last fall’s Tommy John surgery, but at least his Spring Training build-up shouldn’t be impacted. There’s still a chance, then, that Amaya, 23, reaches Triple-A next season. He just needs reps.
And speaking of guys who just need reps, the update on Brennen Davis, who appeared in only five AFL games, is similarly positive (Marquee):
“He has some general soreness, and it just became too much time off to re-ramp him back up and him to get back in games,” Banner said. “It just wasn’t worth it.”
Banner didn’t want to contemplate whether or not it stemmed from the vascular malformity, but he did say that missing that amount of time and returning can become “non-linear.”
“Brennen’s pretty close to 100% now,” Banner said.
The expectation is that Davis should have a normal Spring Training. Unfortunately 2022 is just going to be a throw-the-whole-thing-away year, and hopefully 2023 can be his breakout at Triple-A.
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