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Nick Madrigal

Cubs Activate Jordan Wicks From 60-Day IL

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September 1: Chicago has officially announced the activation of Wicks. Infielder Nick Madrigal was placed on the 60-day injured list due to a left pinkie fracture in a corresponding move. Madrigal was optioned to the minors back in June and suffered the fracture during his first game back at Triple-A. He’s been on the minor league IL ever since but has now been transferred to the big league IL in order to clear his spot on the 40-man roster.

August 31: The Cubs are set to activate left-hander Jordan Wicks from the 60-day IL tomorrow, manager Craig Counsell told reporters (including Megan Montemurro of the Chicago Tribune) earlier this evening. Wicks is scheduled to take the ball for tomorrow’s start against the Nationals in D.C. in a move that will push back the next start of right-hander Jameson Taillon. An active roster move won’t be necessary to make room for Wicks due to tomorrow’s scheduled roster expansion, but Chicago will still need to clear a spot on their 40-man roster in order to activate Wicks.

The lefty’s return to the majors is something of a birthday present for him, as he’ll turn 25 tomorrow. The youngster was the Cubs’ first-round pick back in 2021 and made his big league debut late last season. Since then, he’s pitched to roughly league average results with solid peripherals. His 4.31 ERA is almost exactly league average (99 ERA+), but his 3.98 FIP paints a somewhat rosier picture. Wicks was off to a strong start in 28 innings of work this year with a 25% strikeout rate against a 7.8% walk rate that left him with an impressive 3.10 FIP and 3.80 SIERA, but the southpaw has struggled to stay healthy this year.

After an elbow scare that proved to be insignificant cost him the month of May, Wicks has now missed two and a half months due to an oblique strain he suffered in mid June. Now that he’s healthy again, the youngster figures to slot back into the club’s rotation on a regular basis down the stretch. While the Cubs still sit on the periphery of the playoff race with a 70-66 record that leaves them four games back of a Wild Card spot, with playoff odds of just 5.4% per Fangraphs it seems likely that the focus for Wicks down the stretch will be establishing himself as a healthy and effective rotation option for the Cubs headed into next season.

Justin Steele and Shota Imanaga are poised to return next season as a strong top-of-the-rotation duo, while Jameson Taillon and Javier Assad figure to continue holding down the middle of the club’s rotation after solid seasons of their own. Franchise icon and 11-year MLB veteran Kyle Hendricks appears all but certain not to return in 2025, however, as the pending free agent has struggled to a ghastly 6.75 ERA in 102 2/3 innings of work this year. That leaves regular starts available in the club’s rotation next year that a number of young arms could look to capitalize on, including Wicks, right-hander Ben Brown, and top pitching prospect Cade Horton.

In the short term, however, the Cubs will have to decide how they want to set up their rotation for the stretch run this September. With Wicks back and Steele, Imanaga, Taillon, Assad, and Hendricks all healthy, they club could opt for a six man rotation or once again demote Hendricks to the bullpen. While the former would offer the club the opportunity to manage Imanaga’s innings as he continues his transition from NPB play to the majors, the latter is the route they took when they faced a rotation crunch back in May, when Hendricks was sporting a brutal 10.57 ERA through seven starts.

The soft-tossing righty’s 5.62 ERA in 12 starts since returning to the rotation has been an improvement over that aforementioned eye-popping figure, it’s still well below average, and given that reality it would hardly be a surprise if the Cubs moved him back to the multi-inning relief role that saw him post a solid 3.08 ERA and 4.18 FIP in 14 1/3 innings earlier this year. That’s particularly true given the fact that Imanaga has thrown just 146 2/3 innings so far this year, a figure that’s a good bit lower than the 170 frames that represents his career high during his time in Japan.

Nick Madrigal Sustains Hand Fracture

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Cubs infielder Nick Madrigal suffered a fracture in his left hand while playing for Triple-A Iowa, reports Tommy Birch (X link). The former #4 overall pick was hit by a Trey Wingenter pitch last night.

Madrigal just got to Iowa over the weekend. The Cubs optioned the struggling infielder when they called up David Bote on Sunday. Yesterday’s game was his first since the optional assignment. It’s not clear how long he’ll be out of action, but that obviously takes him out of consideration to be called back up in the short term. It’s the latest setback in a difficult season for Chicago’s Opening Day third baseman.

In 94 plate appearances, Madrigal collected just three extra-base hits (all doubles). He had a .221/.280/.256 batting line that allowed Christopher Morel to jump him on the third base depth chart. Morel has had an inconsistent season himself. He entered tonight’s game with a .203/.313/.387 slash over 252 plate appearances. Morel has hit for power — he connected on his 12th homer of the season this evening — but he continues to struggle on the defensive side. The Cubs have given him a personal-high 376 innings at third base. Both Defensive Runs Saved and Statcast have graded him eight runs below average with the glove.

Third base was an area the front office could look to upgrade at the deadline regardless of Madrigal’s health status. The injury is nevertheless a hit to Chicago’s infield depth and another impediment for the 27-year-old as he tries to establish himself as an everyday player. Madrigal has yet to show that his contact-oriented approach provides enough of a ceiling to be a regular. That’s particularly true on a team that already has Nico Hoerner at second base, which forced the Oregon State product to the left side of the infield.

Madrigal has appeared in 202 games since the Cubs acquired him from the White Sox in the 2021 Craig Kimbrel deal. He carries a .251/.304/.312 line in 616 plate appearances. He’s playing this season on a $1.81MM arbitration salary. The Cubs control Madrigal for another two years, but he could be trending towards a non-tender next offseason.

Cubs Select David Bote, Option Nick Madrigal

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The Cubs selected the contract of infielder David Bote this morning, as noted by Tony Andracki of Marquee Sports Network. Right-hander Adbert Alzolay was placed on the 60-day injured list to make room for Bote on the 40-man roster, while infielder Nick Madrigal was optioned to Triple-A in the corresponding active roster move.

The news marks the 31-year-old Bote’s first time on a big league roster since 2022 after he was outrighted off the Cubs roster in November of that year. Bote remained in the organization despite having more than the three years of service time necessary to reject an outright assignment because he did not have the five years of service time required to retain his salary. That was particularly significant for Bote, who was in the midst of a five-year, $15MM extension he signed with Chicago prior to the 2019 season.

That left Bote to play out the 2023 season and the beginning of the 2024 season at the Triple-A level, where he’s posted above average numbers in both seasons while splitting time between all four infield spots. In his return to the majors, the Cubs are surely hoping that Bote can offer the club decent production off the bench, as he did in his first five seasons with the club. To this point in his big league career, Bote has slashed a combined .231/.318/.393 (91 wRC+) while playing primarily second and third base.

Even that slightly below average production would constitute a major upgrade over what Madrigal has offered the Cubs so far this season. In 94 trips to the plate across 51 games with the club this year, the 27-year-old has hit a paltry .221/.280/.256 with just four walks and three extra-base hits, all of them doubles. That translates to a wRC+ of just 59, and the infielder hasn’t made up for that anemic offensive production with the glove, as his -5 Outs Above Average this year places him in the third percentile of all qualified fielders this year.

It’s been an extremely frustrating Cubs tenure for the former fourth overall pick in the 2018, who was traded across town alongside Codi Heuer in the deal that sent Craig Kimbrel to the White Sox at the 2021 trade deadline. Since making his Cubs debut in 2022, Madrigal has hit just .254/.301/.312 with a wRC+ of 75 as he’s struggled to translate his pure contact profile into production at the major league level due to lack of power and a minuscule 4.5% walk rate. The 27-year-old will now head to Triple-A in hopes of figuring things out at the level while waiting for his next big league opportunity.

Making room on the club’s 40-man roster for Bote is Alzolay, who has been sidelined since the middle of last month due to a flexor strain. While the Cubs have previously indicated that surgery is not being considered for their closer, he nonetheless already appeared poised for a lengthy absence when manager Craig Counsell indicated late last month that Alzolay would remain shut down for at the next few weeks. Now that Alzolay has been transferred to the 60-day IL, even a minimum stay would keep him out until around the All Star break. It’s a tough blow to a Cubs team that has struggled badly in the bullpen, as their relievers have combined for a 4.53 ERA that’s better than only the lowly Rockies among all NL clubs.

Caleb Kilian To Miss Several Months Due To Teres Major Strain

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Cubs manager Craig Counsell provided members of the media, including Maddie Lee of the Chicago Sun-Times, updates on some injured players. Right-hander Caleb Kilian has a teres major strain and will be out for a while, probably not back in game action until around the All-Star break. Infielder Nick Madrigal has a mild right hamstring strain, with his prognosis a bit less clear at the moment. “We’re going to progress him over the next week, and then we’ll have a good idea where we’re at,” Counsell said of Madrigal.

Kilian, 27 in June, came over to the Cubs in the 2021 deadline deal that sent Kris Bryant to the Giants. He was added to the Cubs’ 40-man roster in June of 2022 but has spent most of his time since then on optional assignment. He’s only tossed 16 2/3 major league innings so far, having allowed 23 earned runs in that time.

His results in the minors have naturally been better. He has thrown 231 innings at the Triple-A level over the past two years, with an earned run average of 4.36. He struck out 22.1% of batters faced in that time, gave out walks at a 9.5% clip and got grounders on roughly half the balls in play he allowed.

The righty would have been in competition for the final spot in the Cubs’ rotation. Four starting jobs are accounted for between Justin Steele, Shota Imanaga, Kyle Hendricks and Jameson Taillon, with the final spot up for grabs between guys like Jordan Wicks, Hayden Wesneski, Javier Assad, Ben Brown and Porter Hodge.

Kilian would have been in that battle and, even if he didn’t win the gig, he would have been in Triple-A looking to earn the first call-up when a need arose. But he was experiencing some discomfort and underwent an MRI yesterday, which revealed the bad news. He’ll now be out of action for the next few months and won’t be available to the club until the second half of the season, most likely.

As for Madrigal, he also came into camp fighting for a job. The Cubs have a fairly open competition for time at third base, with Madrigal in the mix alongside Patrick Wisdom and Christopher Morel, as well as a few others. Madrigal’s current injury doesn’t appear to be severe, but if it lingers into the start of the season, it could open up more playing time for Wisdom or Morel until Madrigal is back to full strength.

Madrigal is a hit-over-power guy who has just four home runs in his 846 major league plate appearances. His 4.6% walk rate is also very low but his tiny 8.9% strikeout rate demonstrates he is one of the toughest hitters in the league to punch out. His career batting line of .280/.328/.354 translates to a wRC+ of 90, indicating he’s been about 10% below league average overall. Last year was his first season playing third base at the big league level, moving from his customary second base spot, but he seems to have made the move swimmingly. He was worth eight Defensive Runs Saved and 10 Outs Above Average in just 560 1/3 innings at the hot corner.

Wisdom and Morel have the opposite profile, as both of them are high-power, high-strikeout bats with questionable defense. The club doesn’t have a true designated hitter, so perhaps they could have used Madrigal at third while deploying one of Morel or Wisdom as the DH, but that won’t be an option if Madrigal misses some time.

The Cubs’ Third Base Possibilities

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Few teams have been linked more prominently to Matt Chapman this offseason than the Cubs. Chicago’s recent move to re-sign Cody Bellinger on an $80MM guarantee makes that decidedly less likely. Chapman remains on the open market but the Bellinger deal pushed the Cubs to the edge of the luxury tax threshold.

There aren’t many other external options. Maybe there’s a trickle-down effect once Chapman does sign — the Giants may be the favorite for his services and could market J.D. Davis if they landed him — but the Cubs seem likelier to stick with their in-house candidates. President of baseball operations Jed Hoyer suggested at the Bellinger press conference that Chicago feels good about the roster as it stands, although he said the front office would consider opportunities that might present themselves.

Let’s run through the current options to take the hot corner:

While Madrigal doesn’t look the part of a third baseman, he narrowly led the team in playing time there last season. Previously a career-long second baseman, Madrigal handled himself well defensively. Statcast credited him with 10 runs above average in only 560 1/3 innings. The range he’d shown in the middle infield remained on display. Before he moved across the diamond, there was concern about his arm strength. That wasn’t much of an issue. Madrigal doesn’t have a great arm, but it’s not poor enough to prevent him from making most plays.

The bigger question is whether he hits enough to profile as a regular anywhere on the diamond. Madrigal’s very slight frame leads to minimal power projection. He has preternatural bat-to-ball skills but needs to hit a lot of singles to compensate for the lack of power and very low walk rates. Last season’s .263/.311/.352 batting line in 294 plate appearances more closely resembled utility production.

Wisdom has the polar opposite profile from Madrigal. He has massive raw power and has topped 20 homers in three straight seasons. He connected on 23 longballs in only 302 plate appearances a year ago. While Madrigal has perhaps the best pure contact ability of anyone in the majors, Wisdom swings and misses as much as any regular. He fanned in nearly 37% of his plate appearances last season, a rate he has matched over three-plus years in Chicago.

The end result was a .205/.289/.500 slash. Chicago valued his power production enough to keep him around on a $2.725MM arbitration contract. That’s not an exorbitant cost for a right-handed bench bat, a role that probably suits Wisdom better than playing regularly at third base. He has an above-average arm but limited range, leading to subpar defensive grades in each of the last two years.

Morel, 24, might have the best physical tools for the job. He has big power, blasting 26 homers in 107 games a year ago. Morel has hit 42 longballs over his first 854 MLB plate appearances. That comes with a lot of strikeouts, albeit not quite at Wisdom levels. He punched out 31% of the time last season, hitting .247/.313/.508 in 429 trips.

Even with a lot of whiffs, Morel is a valuable hitter. He has had a much harder time on the other side of the ball. Despite being a good athlete with top-of-the-scale arm strength, Morel has rated poorly in the outfield and in a very limited sample of third base work. Hoyer suggested early in the offseason the Cubs felt he’s best suited at second base, but Nico Hoerner has that position secure in Chicago.

That makes third base the logical choice. Manager Craig Counsell told reporters that they’ll play Morel primarily at the hot corner this spring (link via Meghan Montemurro of the Chicago Tribune). It’d be a major boost for the Cubs if he’s capable of handling the position. If he doesn’t show the necessary hands or instincts to play there regularly, they’d be left looking for ways to shoehorn his bat into the lineup.

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The job is likely to fall to someone from that trio early on, with Madrigal and Morel standing as the likeliest options. Miles Mastrobuoni picked up 24 starts there last season. He remains on the 40-man roster but projects for a depth role after hitting .241/.308/.301 through 145 plate appearances.

Trade acquisition Michael Busch logged a bit of third base action as the Dodgers experimented with ways to get him into the lineup. He’s not a particularly good defender anywhere, the biggest reason he never forced his way into everyday reps in Los Angeles. The Cubs are planning to give him more regular run at first base, although he could theoretically move across the diamond from time to time if Chicago moved Bellinger to first base to plug Pete Crow-Armstrong into center field.

The Cubs entered the 2023 season with a similar group as they have now. They addressed the position at the deadline with the Jeimer Candelario trade. That could be the path again — Davis and Brandon Drury are among the players who could move this summer — but there’s also a chance that last year’s first-round pick forces his way to Wrigley Field midseason.

Matt Shaw is already viewed as one of the sport’s most promising minor league hitters. The Maryland product shredded pro pitching at a .357/.400/.618 clip after the draft. He only has 15 games of Double-A experience, so he won’t be an option on Opening Day. As an advanced college bat, he could get to the big leagues by the end of his first full professional season. Shaw was a middle infielder with the Terps, but third base is the clearest path to an MLB debut in 2024.

Chicago Notes: White Sox, Cubs, McCarthy, Junis

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The White Sox acquired outfielder Dominic Fletcher in a trade with the Diamondbacks last week, though the deal may have been something of an either-or proposition.  According to USA Today’s Bob Nightengale, the Sox had the option of picking either Fletcher or Jake McCarthy in the deal, with pitching prospect Cristian Mena still headed back to the D’Backs as the return piece in the one-for-one trade.

Fletcher and McCarthy share a similar profile as 26-year-old, left-handed hitting outfielders who can play any of the three positions on the grass.  McCarthy was the 39th overall pick of the 2018 draft and has more Major League experience, with a .261/.331/.380 slash line over 736 plate appearances in the Show.  A fourth-place finish in NL Rookie of the Year voting in 2022 seemed to hint at McCarthy’s potential as a building block for the Snakes, yet a tough 2023 season saw him relegated to the minors and then to the Diamondbacks’ bench as the year developed.  Arizona’s willingness to move on from either player and the Southsiders’ decision to take Fletcher provides some interesting wrinkles to this trade, and it might be interesting to revisit this deal in a few years’ time once we see how the careers of Fletcher, McCarthy, and Mena have developed.

Here’s more from the Windy City’s two teams…

  • Though the top four in the Cubs rotation seems set and several candidates are vying for the fifth starter’s job, Jakob Junis “recently” drew some interest from Wrigleyville, as per The Athletic’s Patrick Mooney and Sahadev Sharma.  The depth of the interest isn’t known, though it might’ve been something of a due diligence move by the Cubs since no formal offer was made.  Junis’ experience as a swingman means that he wouldn’t have necessarily even been in the rotation, so the Cubs could’ve been looking at Junis to bolster the bullpen and also add even more depth to the starting mix.  In any case, Junis is no longer an option, as the right-hander signed a one-year, $7MM contract with the Brewers last week.
  • In another piece from Mooney and Sharma, they look at the Cubs’ unsettled third base situation.  Patrick Wisdom and Nick Madrigal seem poised to get the bulk of playing time, with Christopher Morel getting the occasional start at the hot corner, and Miles Mastrobuoni or rookie Luis Vazquez providing further depth.  There’s enough uncertainty here that Mooney/Sharma feel the Cubs might again make a trade deadline move at the position, akin to their deal for Jeimer Candelario this past summer.  Of course, the Cubs have also been linked to Matt Chapman this winter if the team still had a bigger-ticket free agent upgrade in mind, though a longer-term answer might block top prospect Matt Shaw, who has been working out as a third baseman this offseason.
  • Reports surfaced last month that the White Sox were speaking with development company Related Midwest about the potential of building a new ballpark on a portion of land in Chicago’s South Loop area.  Related Midwest recently released a series of artist renderings to media (including MLB.com’s Scott Merkin) about what this new stadium and the associated “ballpark village” area might look like alongside the Chicago River, as well as some proposed renderings of how the area around Guaranteed Rate Field could be developed if the Sox moved to a new site.  Obviously a lot of hurdles still have to be crossed with the White Sox, developers, civic and state officials, and many other parties before this proposed ballpark could become a reality, and the earliest possible opening date would seem to be 2030, since the team’s lease at Guaranteed Rate Field runs through the 2029 season.

Michael Fulmer Expected To Miss 2024 After Undergoing Elbow Surgery

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Right-hander Michael Fulmer underwent UCL revision surgery on his right elbow on Wednesday, the Cubs revealed to reporters (including Patrick Mooney of The Athletic). He is expected to miss the entire 2024 season.

It’s yet another frustrating hurdle for Fulmer, 30, who has a few of them in his career. He was the American League Rookie of the Year in 2016 after posting an earned run average of 3.06 in 26 starts for the Tigers that year. His performance dipped a bit over the next two years and then he required Tommy John surgery in 2019, wiping out that entire season.

He returned to the mound in 2020 but registered an ERA of 8.78 in 10 starts that year, prompting a move to the bullpen. That proved to be a great pivot for him, as he finished 2021 with an ERA of 2.97 and then had a solid mark of 3.39 in 2022, the latter season including a deadline trade to the Twins.

He qualified for free agency and was able to land a one-year, $4MM deal with the Cubs for the 2023 season. Unfortunately, it was a bumpy season for Fulmer, due to both inconsistency and injury. After an appearance on May 27, he was sitting on an ERA of 7.84 through 20 2/3 innings. But he got in a good groove from there, with an ERA of 1.83 over his next 34 1/3 innings. But he then allowed three earned runs against the Tigers on August 21, making one appearance after that before landing on the injured list due to a right forearm strain. He was activated off the IL on September 11 but made just one appearance before landing back on the IL, again due to a right forearm strain.

Fulmer is set to return to free agency after the World Series but his market will obviously be impact by today’s news of his surgery. The revision of the ulnar collateral ligament is a slightly different procedure to Tommy John surgery, but it involves the same ligament and the recovery is still significant enough that Fulmer is likely to miss all of the upcoming campaign.

Free agents in this position can sometimes find two-year deals, allowing them to make some money while rehabbing and giving the signing club control over a post-recovery season. Fulmer could perhaps seek out such a deal on the open market, but teams will naturally have some degree of wariness about the health of his elbow. Fulmer already underwent Tommy John surgery in 2019, as mentioned, and is now set for yet another significant procedure on the UCL in his throwing elbow.

The club also provided health updates on a few other players, with Meghan Montemurro of the Chicago Tribune among those to pass on the news. Righty Brad Boxberger, who finished the season on the injured list due to a right forearm strain, is expected to begin a throwing schedule in mid-November. He and the Cubs have a mutual option for 2024 but those are rarely picked up by both sides, meaning he is likely to wind up a free agent as well. In terms of Cubs likely to be back next year, each of right-hander Nick Burdi, lefty Brandon Hughes, righty Ethan Roberts and infielder Nick Madrigal are expected to have normal offseasons.

Cubs Announce Several Roster Moves

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The Cubs announced several roster moves this afternoon. The club selected the contracts of right-handers Shane Greene and Tyler Duffey, while transferring infielder Nick Madrigal and right-hander Michael Fulmer to the 60-day IL to clear space on the 40-man roster for the duo. Right-hander Hayden Wesneski and left-hander Jordan Wicks were optioned to the minors to make room for the duo on the active roster. In a separate pair of moves, second baseman Nico Hoerner was placed on the 10-day IL with a left knee contusion while infielder Jared Young was recalled to replace Hoerner on the active roster.

Greene is in the tenth season of his big league career, having debuted as a member of the Yankees back in 2014. From 2017-2020, Greene was a strong set-up option at the back of the bullpen for the Tigers and Braves, posting a 3.25 ERA and 4.04 FIP in 221 1/3 innings of work, including his lone All Star campaign in 2019. Unfortunately, he’s struggled badly since then with a 6.83 ERA in 27 2/3 innings since the start of the 2021 campaign. Greene was selected to the major league roster by the Cubs earlier this year, but recorded just one scoreless inning before being outrighted off the 40-man roster. Now he’s back for the final game of the season, with the Cubs having been eliminated from postseason contention last night.

Duffey, 31, spent his entire career as a member of the Twins prior to the 2023 campaign. Since his debut in 2015, he’s posted a 4.57 ERA and 3.96 FIP in 475 innings of work with Minnesota. Upon hitting free agency last offseason, Duffey signed on with the Cubs on a minor league deal but is only just cracking the big league roster despite a solid 3.77 ERA in 45 1/3 innings of work at the Triple-A level. That’s in part thanks to a elevated 12.6% walk rate. Still Duffey posted a solid 29% strikeout rate and will now appear in the ninth big league season of his career, should he get into today’s game.

Departing the roster to make room for the pair of veterans are Wesneski and Wicks, a pair of youngsters who each got auditions in the Chicago rotation this season. Wesneski posted a 4.72 ERA and 5.52 FIP across 87 2/3 innings of work with the big league club, while Wicks sported a sterling 3.00 ERA and solid 3.96 FIP through six starts before getting shelled during last night’s game against the Brewers in Milwaukee, which raised his season stats in the majors to a 4.41 ERA and 4.70 FIP. Both youngsters figure to enter Spring Training next season as potential options for the Cubs at the major league level.

Meanwhile, Hoerner heads to the IL after fouling a pitch off his knee during Friday’s game and sitting out on Saturday. With the Cubs having been eliminated from postseason contention last night, clearly the club saw no reason to have Hoerner play through the injury on the last day of the season. It was a strong campaign for Hoerner, who slashed .283/.346/.383 in 688 trips to the plate while going 43-for-50 on the basepaths and playing elite defense at second base. Taking Hoerner’s place on the active roster is Young, a 27-year-old rookie who made his MLB debut with the Cubs last year. Through 65 trips to the plate in the big leagues the past two seasons, Young has slashed .224/.308/.466 while playing first base and right field.

The moves are purely procedural for both Madrigal and Fulmer, who were already on the injured list through the end of the season.

Nick Madrigal Suffers Grade 2 Hamstring Strain

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September 20: The strain is of a Grade 2 variety, Madrigal told reporters (including Bruce Levine of 670 The Score). That’s a reasonably significant injury that often requires a few weeks of recovery, though Madrigal stated he’s without a current timetable for a return.

September 19: The Cubs placed infielder Nick Madrigal on the 10-day injured list, with a retroactive placement date of September 17.  Infielder Jared Young was called up from Triple-A Iowa to take Madrigal’s spot on the active roster.

Madrigal suffered a right hamstring strain that forced him to make an early exit from Saturday’s game, and after a few days of examination, a trip to the IL became inevitable.  “We got some imaging and it’s worse than expected,” Cubs manager David Ross told MLB.com and other reporters.

This is the second time Madrigal has strained his right hamstring this season, with the previous injury costing him most of July.  Despite that somewhat lengthy past timeline, Ross is “not ruling out hopefully postseason [availability]” for the infielder should the Cubs reach the playoffs.  “He’ll still be working and trying to get back, but it’s just the same hamstring — just worse than we thought.”

Madrigal has hit .263/.311/.352 over 294 plate appearances this season, and that lack of pop made playing time hard to come by earlier in the season.  With Dansby Swanson and Nico Hoerner entrenched in the middle infield positions, Madrigal was limited to mostly part-time at-bats with Patrick Wisdom at third base.  Madrigal began to earn a larger share of playing time throughout the summer, and even after Jeimer Candelario was acquired at the trade deadline, Madrigal still got some looks at the hot corner when Candelario was utilized at first base (with Cody Bellinger playing center field).

More third base time opened up when Candelario hit the IL with a bad back last week, and with Madrigal now also out, Wisdom and Christopher Morel figure to split time until Candelario returns.  Chicago’s fight for a wild card slot has been hampered by a few notable injuries in the last few weeks, with Marcus Stroman missing significant time and the likes of Candelario, Adbert Alzolay, Michael Fulmer, and now Madrigal all out.

Central Notes: Bibee, Madrigal, Yelich, Perez

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Guardians right-hander Tanner Bibee exited yesterday’s game due to right hip tightness in the sixth inning of yesterday’s win over the Rangers, as relayed by MLB.com. Bibee is scheduled to undergo an MRI today to determine the severity of the issue.

It’s the latest negative development for a Guardians rotation that’s been plagued by injury woes all year. Right-handers Shane Bieber and Triston McKenzie are both currently on the 60-day injured list, while righty Cal Quantrill also missed significant time with injury earlier this season. With the club’s three most established starters having spent time on the shelf this season, Bibee has become the rotation’s anchor during his rookie season. The 24-year-old youngster sports an impressive 2.98 ERA that’s 41% better than league average across 25 starts this year. While his 3.52 FIP and and slightly inflated 80% strand rate indicate there could be some regression in Bibee’s future, his solid 24.1% strikeout rate and strong 7.7% walk rate give him the look of a strong mid-rotation starter at the very least.

If Bibee’s injury ends his 2023 campaign, it will have certainly been a successful one that figures to garner some attention in AL Rookie of the Year voting. The Guardians are unlikely to be meaningfully impacted by his availability for the remainder of this season, however. Considering Cleveland sits seven games back of the Twins in the AL Central with just thirteen games left to play, it would take a miracle for the club to make the postseason even in the weak AL Central division.

More from around MLB’s Central divisions…

  • Cubs infielder Nick Madrigal exited yesterday’s 13-inning marathon loss to the Diamondbacks with right hamstring tightness, as relayed by Meghan Montemurro of the Chicago Tribune. Madrigal’s balky right hamstring has caused him issues throughout his young big league career: it required season-ending surgery while he was with the White Sox back in 2021, and he missed just under a month with a strain earlier this season. A former top prospect who was selected fourth overall in the 2018 draft, Madrigal has slashed just .283/.311/.352 (83 wRC+) in 294 big league plate appearances this season. That being said, the 26-year-old has hit better since returning to the big leagues from an optional assignment in early June, slashing .271/.325/.379 with a minuscule 7.7% strikeout rate. With Jeimer Candelario already on the shelf, the Cubs figure to primarily rely on Patrick Wisdom at third base for the time being if Madrigal is out for an extended period.
  • Brewers outfielder Christian Yelich has appeared in just one game since September 8 due to low back stiffness, and manager Craig Counsell (as relayed by MLB.com) indicates that the 31-year-old is still day-to-day despite starting Friday’s game against the Nationals. “At this point, we need 100 percent of Christian Yelich.” Counsell told reporters yesterday, “It’s not the time to go out there less than that.” Though Yelich is still nowhere near the level of production he enjoyed in 2018 and 2019 when he looked like one of the best players in the sport, the veteran outfielder has enjoyed a bounce-back of sorts in 2023, slashing a solid .272/.363/.432 with a wRC+ of 116. The club has utilized Joey Wiemer and Tyrone Taylor in the outfield alongside regular fixtures Sal Frelick and Mark Canha while Yelich has been unavailable.
  • Royals catcher Salvador Perez exited yesterday’s game against the Astros after a foul ball off the bat of Jose Altuve struck his mask in the fifth inning. Perez began to feel lightheaded before exiting the game to undergo the concussion protocol, though the Royals later announced that Perez had avoided a concussion. Per MLB.com, manager Matt Quatraro told reporters that Perez “got his bell rung a little bit” but that Perez was feeling fine by the end of the game. It’s possible, then, that Perez returns to the lineup as soon as this afternoon. Perez has slashed .252/.291/.415 with a wRC+ of 84 in 551 trips to the plate this year while splitting time between catcher, first base, and DH.
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