Today we received three injury updates from the Chicago Cubs, all of which are surgical in nature and therefore all bad news. So this isn’t as much fun as today’s game.
Codi Heuer
First, Codi Heuer’s injury was exactly what it looked like: something cracked in his elbow. It’s the elbow fracture that sometimes occurs at the end of Tommy John’s rehab (it’s rare, but we’ve seen it at about this point in the process), with the reconstructed ligament involved in the fracture but still healthy itself. It sucks almost beyond words and you feel sorry for Heuer.
The bone was fixed with screws and wires (Sun-Times), but now it just takes a very long time of immobilization while the bone heals. And then comes the actual rehab process. One can therefore assume that Heuer will be canceled for a long time, maybe even well into next season.
Brandon Hughes
Next up is substitute Brandon Hughes, who ended up having surgery on his problematic knee and his season is over. It’s not hard to see why when reading the Tribune’s description of the procedure:
The procedure involves breaking the leg above the thigh bone and then realigning the knee and leg. The bone takes six months to heal before it can begin the rehab period. The hope is that the fix will prevent Hughes from putting pressure on the area of his left knee that’s missing cartilage, allowing his legs to bend more and relieving the knee discomfort he’s experiencing.
By the way, Michael Fulmer had the procedure done, so obviously it can work.
Hughes, 27, was expected to play a big part in the bullpen this year, but he just could never remain healthy enough to be effective and stay on the field. Hopefully Hughes will be back in time for spring training or part of it.
Burn Davis
Finally, there’s young outfielder Brennen Davis, who retired from a game a few weeks ago after an awkward swing but has struggled with contact quality issues all year (having spent most of last season following back surgery was missing). It turns out that Davis has now had another operation – the so-called “core operation” – and he will be out for six weeks.
From Jed Hoyer on the Tribune: “The hope is that this explains a little the difficulties: The strikeout rate has gone down, but obviously the ball hasn’t flown off the bat as well as it has in the past.” He is like that strong, and when it hits 100% it really has an impact. So the hope is that this eases his discomfort and he comes back and becomes the athlete that he is.”
I’ll hope alongside Hoyer, but I can’t lie: the fact that Davis will need another operation this year is deeply worrying (and the situation was already very worrying). If he’s only been out for six weeks it doesn’t have to have been a MAJOR surgery, so maybe you can take some consolation? Maybe he’ll come back for the final month and a half of the Triple-A season feeling healthy, strong and refreshed. I just have to hope, hope, hope as the 23-year-old outfielder was so impressive before the back injury wiped out his 2022 season. He was in the top 30 in all of baseball at the time, and for good reason.
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All three guys will have unanswered questions about the 40-man roster in the off-season, but I’ll save that for another day. It’s too depressing to think about.