
Chicago Cubs Injury Update
Reinforcements Arriving Soon
As the Chicago Cubs continue to fight for breathing room in the National League Central playoff race, reinforcements are on the horizon. Help, in the form of several previously injured players, could strengthen the Cubs’ roster for the final month of the season.
Unlike last season (besides Kyle Schwarber), injuries have heavily influenced the story line for these 2017 Cubs. Right now four key players reside on the Cubs disabled list. Will the Cubs get these players back before the end of the regular season, or must they continue to press on with weapons missing from their arsenal?
1. Willson Contreras
Diagnosis:
When Willson Contreras pulled up with a hamstring injury after trying to leg out a grounder in an Aug. 9 loss to the San Francisco Giants, the Cubs were prepared for the worst.
Contreras sustained a moderate hamstring strain which generally takes about four to six weeks to heal. The Cubs placed him on the 10-day disabled list on Aug. 11 and placed a fluid timetable for his return due to the volatile nature of hamstring injuries and the high possibility of re-aggravation.
A week after landing on the disabled list, Contreras was playing catch in the Wrigley Field outfield. Since then, he’s done agility and other conditioning drills prior to games and has even taken batting practice.
Although Contreras is optimistic that he can return ahead of schedule, the Cubs will continue to err on the side of caution with his recovery. If the typical timetable for a moderate hamstring injury applies to Contreras’ situation, he will likely return to the lineup in mid-September.
Implication:
Contreras was the Cubs best offensive weapon prior to his injury. In 23 games after the All-Star break, he slashed .311/.380/.700/1.080 with 10 home runs and 29 RBIs.
Contreras’ hot bat allowed Chicago Cubs Manager Joe Maddon to protect Kris Bryant and Anthony Rizzo by inserting Contreras behind them in the batting order. Opposing pitchers couldn’t pitch around Bryant and Rizzo for fear of giving Contreras an at-bat with runners on base, thus increasing the former two players’ productivity.
Bryant, Rizzo, and a healthy Contreras form one of the most lethal middle-of-the-order combo punches in the entire league.
The Cubs also miss what Contreras brings defensively as he’s quickly blossomed into one of the most complete catchers in all of baseball. Contreras has flashed superstar potential for long stretches this season, and nothing but good can come from reinserting him into the lineup once he’s healthy.
2. Jon Lester
Diagnosis:
Cubs fans can exhale for the moment.
Jon Lester’s trip to the 10-day disabled list on Monday was largely preemptive. The rehabilitation on his fatigued shoulder has gone well and he threw a 42-pitch bullpen session on Friday. He will throw a simulated game on Monday and the Cubs expect him to return during the first week of September.
When a pitcher has a little bit of a fatigued shoulder, you rest him for a few days, and then things feel better. There’s a tendency to say, ‘Oh, great, he just miss one start and hop right back out there.’ Usually if you do that, there’s a price to pay down the road. And every day of no throw or every day of light throwing and allowing him to build up that shoulder pays dividends down the road. He’s in a really good place and getting a lot stronger.
It seems that we should really [have] him to get the position to not just come back and pitch but come back and be completely himself and be able to be himself with the hope that we pitch through October. The good news is he avoided any kind of real injury here. It’s truly a fatigue situation where he just needs a little bit of a breather to get stronger.
-Per Chicago Cubs President of Baseball Operations Theo Epstein’s interview on 670 The Score on Thursday morning
This prognosis is a best case scenario for a Cubs team that was prepared for the worst when Lester ushered trainers over to check on him in the second inning of an Aug. 17 game against the Cincinnati Reds. Lester left the game after pitching 1.2 innings and surrendering seven earned runs.
A postgame report from the Chicago Sun-Times speculated that Lester could miss the remainder of the season with a latissimus dorsi strain. However, this report occurred prior to follow-up examinations from doctors which diagnosed Lester with latissimus dorsi soreness and general shoulder fatigue while finding no structural damage in his shoulder.
Implication:
Barring a setback, Lester will miss just two starts because of this injury.
A healthy, rested Lester is critical for a Chicago Cubs World Series repeat. He was a workhorse for the Cubs in the playoffs last season, and his leveled, mentally tough approach to postseason pitching isn’t reciprocated anywhere else within the Cubs starting rotation (table snipped from Baseball-Reference.com).

Lester’s workload last season is probably one of the factors contributing to his statistically disappointing 2017 season. If that fatigue did indeed carry over to this season, the current DL stint could be a blessing in disguise for the 33-year-old veteran.
3. Addison Russell
Diagnosis:
Javier Baez’s sparkling performances as of late have made Addison Russell the forgotten man on this roster.
The Cubs placed Russell on the 10-day disabled list on Aug. 4 (retroactive to Aug. 2) with a foot strain and possible plantar fasciitis. Russell has now begun normal baseball workouts and is optimistic that his return to the Cubs lineup is imminent. Realistically, we’re probably looking at one to two weeks from today for Russell’s big return.
ESPN reported today that Russell has been sent to a rehab assignment at Triple-A Iowa.
Implication:
Chicago Cubs manager Joe Maddon told the Chicago Tribune on Wednesday that once Russell returns Baez will initially continue to play shortstop as Russell eases back from his injury.
This is probably fine during Russell’s readjustment period, but as a long-term setup it’s problematic. Statistically, Russell is a more effective shortstop than Baez while playing Baez at second and Russell at shortstop presents the Cubs with the best middle infielder combo they can create with the current roster.
Where it gets interesting is envisioning the reshuffling that will have to occur to accommodate Russell’s return to the everyday lineup. If Baez is to remain in the starting lineup on most days in conjunction with Russell, Ben Zobrist and Ian Happ will lose playing time at second base and create a five-way competition for playing time with Jon Jay, Albert Almora, and Kyle Schwarber for two outfield spots.
4. Justin Grimm
Diagnosis:
The Cubs placed Justin Grimm on the disabled list with a finger infection on the same day that Jon Lester landed on the DL.
Grimm will throw a bullpen session today and if things go well he will do a rehab assignment.
Implications:
Grimm is in the midst of one of his worst seasons as a pro, accumulating a 5.40 ERA across 39 games this season. His poor outputs have landed him back with Triple-A Iowa on three separate occasions this season.
While expanded rosters in September will likely save him a roster spot for the remainder of the regular season, don’t be surprised if he doesn’t make the postseason roster unless he drastically improves. Grimm embarked on a rehab assignment to Triple-A Iowa today.
Stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com unless otherwise linked in the text.

Paul Steeno spent 11 years pretending he was good at running. After hanging up the track spikes and officially becoming an elite hobby jogger, he decided to do something that he was actually good at: like writing about the Cubs. He is also a perpetually frustrated Chicago Bulls fan. This one time he got super lucky and ran 3:52 in the 1500 meter run.

