Fffffffffffffflip. I know this happens every year. I know you can set your watch by it. I know you have to just hope that it’s not a super major injury to a super major player. But I still hate it every time.
The first injury of the spring has arrived for the Cubs, and I’d call it a “not great” injury to a “pretty important” player:
If Happ were to miss time to open the season, the Cubs do have a variety of ways they could cover left field internally and hopefully not take too huge of a production hit. But Happ is consistently underrated, and is one of the team’s best on-base bats (and one of the few lefty-available hitters). I don’t like the idea of him possibly missing time.
I also don’t like the idea of Happ starting the season behind the curve, even if he’s able to get back for Opening Day. It’s rare that guys who miss most of Spring Training come right out of the gate with perfect timing at the plate, so you hope he could get back in time for, like, four or five spring games at least.
Will that happen? Well, as the report indicates, there’s no timeline right now. And we know that even mild hamstring strains can cost a guy upwards of a month. So even if Happ recovers very well and very quickly, this is going to be right up against the season opener on March 28. If he has to begin the season on the 10-day Injured List, the Cubs can at least back-date it a few days and he might miss only a couple series (assuming the Cubs and Happ can get the bat timing in a good place).