NEWSLETTER
At the end of a nice winning streak, it was easy enough to shrug off a throwaway 17-0 loss to the Red Sox. And I didn’t even let Christopher Morel’s tumble and early exit throw me, as he was apparently “fine” after the game. But this? Forearm tightness for Jordan Wicks? This has a chance to ruin our weekend.
Jordan Wicks Forarm Tightness
According to multiple reports, Jordan Wicks has been scratched from his scheduled start tomorrow after experiencing left forearm tightness. That is extremely not good news.
The Cubs are already dealing with a metric ton of injuries, including in the rotation, and Wicks has looked so undeniably great this season, that this one really hurts. The Cubs are fortunate to have Jameson Taillon back already, with Justin Steele’s return just around the corner, but still. Wicks has looked great. And is a big part of the Cubs rotation now and in the future. Plus, his most recent start was his best of the season: 6.0 IP, 5H, 2ER, 0BB, 4K. You just hate to lose that momentum (to say nothing of the long-term concern).
But maybe we shouldn’t have been caught off guard.
Part of the reason Jordan Wicks has looked so good this year is the unexpectedly improvement to his velocity and movement. Now, I don’t know the specifics here, but generally speaking, we know that there’s at least some correlation between the ever-increasing velocities across baseball and the rise in frequency of pitcher injuries.
Hopefully, this is something less significant than that. But forearm tightness is just never a good thing and can often be indicative of something worse around the corner. I won’t say the words, but I can’t say I’m not thinking about it.
For now, Hayden Wesneski will step back into the rotation, taking the start tomorrow from Wicks. And while Wesneski has been pitching great, himself, this is a significant hit to the rotation (Wicks to Wesneski) and the bullpen (Wesneski to whomever backfills his spot). Sigh. The Cubs have dealt with a lot this year, man. Brutal, brutal stuff.
