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Horrible History, Morel’s Knee, Almonte’s Shoulder, Hoerner, Wesneski, Hendricks, Mervis, and Other Cubs Bullets

Brett Taylor Brett Taylor
May 12, 2024
Chicago Cubs

Happy Mother’s Day to the mothers among you, and to the mothers in my life! I’ll be doing some extra family stuff today, so I’m gonna cruise through these Bullets …

  • Up front, because this was certainly the thing most on my mind. Craig Counsell says the Cubs are “not too concerned” about Christopher Morel’s knee soreness (Cubs.com), which he felt yesterday on a play at second base, and then he didn’t return after the rain delay.

  • Meanwhile, Yency Almonte (shoulder strain) has an unclear timeline for a return. He didn’t recover well after his last outing, played catch on Friday, and it did not go well (Sun-Times). I am now braced for an absence of several weeks.

  • The Cubs (and Pirates, really) made history last night, even if the ultimate outcome of the game was disappointing (Cubs.com): “The Cubs’ six bases-loaded walks were the most by an MLB team in one inning since April 22, 1959, when the White Sox had eight in the seventh inning of a 20-6 victory. Since then, no team had ever had more than four in an inning.” And yes, that was the first time in franchise history the Cubs have worked six bases-loaded walks in an inning. It’s kind of horribly amazing that the Cubs received six bases-loaded walks in an inning yesterday and still lost the game.

  • Craig Counsell on the loss:

  • Nico Hoerner will forever be the surprising trivia answer to the question of Paul Skenes’ first big league home run:

  • Hayden Wesneski, who may or may not still be in the rotation with Kyle Hendricks returning today, got a little treatment at FanGraphs today in David Laurila’s Sunday column. He was asked how things are different between the Cubs’ and Yankees’ organizations: “It’s not really that much different. They break down what your pitches do and where they play best, giving you a good guideline on how to use your stuff in games. Another thing is that results aren’t everything. It’s ‘Hey, did you throw the right pitches? Did you throw them in the right spots? The results may not all have worked out, but this is how it’s done. A bloop single and a line-out to left field are two different results, but which was on the better pitch?’ That’s something both orgs preach.” Definitely the right attitude and approach. More here at FanGraphs.

  • I wonder if Wesneski (only three days’ rest) will be available to follow Hendricks today. If so, then you know he’s out of the rotation. If not, it’s possible the Cubs would squeeze one more start out of him before moving him to the bullpen, which would give everyone else an extra day of rest.

  • As for Hendricks’ return, the Cubs will have to make room on the 26-man roster. I wonder if Keegan Thompson gets optioned back to Iowa after a disappointing appearance last night (not necessarily BECAUSE of that appearance, but he’ll probably be down for a couple days now, and the outing probably didn’t help as a tiebreaker). Also: please be back to normal, Kyle Hendricks.

  • You already know it about Matt Mervis, but good gravy does he rake at Triple-A:

  • The first one was 455(!) feet. The second didn’t get a distance reading, but it looks like it was probably about 400. Mervis is now hitting a ridiculous .321/.431/.654/173 wRC+ at Iowa, and I still think he might be the most extreme difference between Triple-A and MLB I have seen. I have no idea when or if Mervis will get another big league shot with the Cubs, but you’d like to see him get it someday somewhere.

  • Love this. If he can get back to who he was pre-surgery, that’d be a boost THIS year:

  • Mr. Cub:

  • Just happened to see this and thought it looked really cool:

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    written by

    Brett Taylor

    Brett Taylor is the Lead Cubs Writer at Bleacher Nation, and you can find him on Twitter at @BleacherNation and on LinkedIn here. Brett is also the founder of Bleacher Nation, which opened up shop in 2008 as an independent blog about the Chicago Cubs. Later growing to incorporate coverage of other Chicago sports, Bleacher Nation is now one of the largest regional sports blogs on the web.

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