Brandon Morrow underwent elbow surgery on November 6th that may keep him on the shelf beyond Opening Day, Jesse Rogers of ESPNChicago.com was among those to tweet. It was a debridement arthroscopic surgery, or a “cleanup of cartilage,” Jordan Bastian of MLB.com added.
Morrow, 34, had a successful, if short, first season in Chicago. He finished the year with 22 saves and a sparkling 1. 47 ERA, but a biceps injury in mid-July forced him to the DL, effectively ending his season. Though news out of Cubs camp repeatedly teased a Morrow return, he never did make it back for the second half of the season.
The news is certainly a blow for the Cubs, who struggled to keep their bullpen healthy towards the end of 2018. Still, it likely does not change Theo Epstein’s plans for the winter all that much, as the plan even before the surgery was to very carefully manage Morrow’s innings load next season. Though they do not appear to be big spenders in free agency, the bullpen is one area where it would not surprise to see the Cubs add a player or two through free agency.
Morrow would be the presumptive closer for the Cubbies in 2019, though they were always going to need a couple of guys to close out games, given Morrow’s limitations. Pedro Strop is one of those arms, and he likely steps in as the ninth-inning guy if Morrow does indeed remain on the shelf through Opening Day. Strop, 33, took on closing duties for most of Morrow’s absence, going 6-1 with a 2.26 ERA while recording 13 saves, though he too struggled with injuries down the stretch after straining a hamstring while running to first base.
Morrow signed in Chicago after a resurgent 2017 campaign where he served as a dependable arm down the stretch for Dave Roberts’ Dodgers. He was especially effective in the NLCS, helping the Dodgers win the pennant by downing the Cubs before joining them in free agency. He enters 2019 on the second year of a two-year, $21MM guarantee. He earned $9MM in 2018 and is set to earn another $9MM in 2019. The deal includes a vesting option for 2020 worth $12MM or a $3MM buyout.
Rub some dirt on it and get out there!!
I guess it’s better than undergoing arm
let alone undergoing leg!!!!!
morrow hurt? no way!! shocker…
It’s not another baseball season without him being hurt
I truly hope he comes back and has success. He’s dealt with enough in his career
Yeah he has, $40 million career earnings, he made $265,000 per inning last year. Tough luck for sure
Well played
Yeah, because we all know that money is the be all end all and wanting to play the game you love for a living and not being able to contribute only hurts when you make nothing.
I’m sure it hurts a lot lot less, though. I feel sorry for the guys who love the game and injuries derail their abilities to make a living from it when they have the talent.
There’s really no need for smugness
Baseball season getting closer, the first of the famous injury prone players will start in the DL, Cespedes and Tolo being announce missing the start of the season is on deck next.
The Mets more or less confirmed that he’s missing the start of the season when they first announced that he needed the heel surgery. So one of those is already happening.
Don’t forget Matt Harvey.
Brandon Belt got a concussion reading this comment.
Eovaldi
Total waste
Wonder what Joe Maddon’s seed thinks about this?
The Cubs need a SS and a closer. Sign Britton or kimbrel.
Maybe even marwin gonzalez. Have Baez stay at ss. Marwin stat at 2nd
Tough spot for the Cubbies. They gambled on Morrow last year, and while he was effective when he pitched, it’s hard to count on him, given the history. Britton is a couple years removed from being a reliable 9th inning guy. Another gamble? Kimbrel supposedly wants 6 years (yikes). Whoever goes 5 is taking a big risk. Closers are so fickle. Hard to name one long term deal that worked out for a closer. Mo doesn’t count. He is the exception, not the rule, and I don’t even know what his longest actual contract was anyway. SS sounds like they play Baez there, until Russell is back, and rotate some kinda platoon with Zo/Happ/Bote. If they were going a different route at SS, I don’t think they would have tendered Russell. All this being said, I really miss baseball. Christmas is almost here, and once that’s over, pitchers and catchers in no time.
I honestly don’t care who they get. Whether it’s free agent or trade. They need a closer. Morrow is trash. They need to DFA kinzler too hes the reason they lost game 163. Which should have never happened. The Cubs just had a very long stretch of games with no days off. The whole month of September they had 1 day off.
Britton, Ottavino, Marwin Gonzalez, and maybe a veteran catcher. Call it a day
Thats sounds good. Caratini just hasnt worked out for a backup. He was great in the minors but they need to move on from him. They have another catcher in triple A waiting for a chance. He can be Contreras’ backup. At little cost.
Yeah I think he could be used in a trade for maybe a half decent reliever, or package him for another catcher.
lol hard to name one that worked out, and i don’t count the most famous of all time that everyone can name…
Russell will be their SS by May. Period.
The gift that keeps giving
Every team in the nl central (except Pittsburgh) has gotten better in that division over the last few years. If they don’t make some changes this offseason to keep pace, things are gonna get ugly kick in Cubbieland.
*quick
I disagree. They haven’t lacked talent for several years. Production from the existing roster is what is needed. A bit of bolstering in the relief/closer roles aside
Better to get this injury out of the way now so the Cubs may look into finding someone to replace him while there are arms still out there
So many injuries
The Cubs love investing in those reclamation projects, and Morrow didn’t even come at a discount due to his fantastic 2017 season. However, with Morrow’s injury history and him being overworked in the 2017 postseason, this was a high risk move from the start. Those reclamation or high reward moves were cool when the Cubs had nothing to lose or weren’t reliant on those players.. but they were also typically low risk. Morrow wasn’t exactly low risk.. they brought him in to be the closer with Cishek as his backup, and he was extremely overused from day 1 last year. The Cubs need about 3-4 GOOD pitchers in their bullpen, not 3-4 question marks.
I agree with most of that except I think to say they need 3-4 is excessive. Last season the Cubs had pretty close to a top 5 pen. I think what they need is a real closer
You have to put stats and wins/losses into some context. The stats look good for the Cubs bullpen because they relied on a few guys. Most of their relievers were barely average or worse, which means there’s room for improvement or depth.
Bullpen stats are often misleading and especially when you look at bullpens collectively as a group. Three guys could throw 80 innings each and be great, and the 4 others could throw 40 innings each and be mediocre or bad, and the overall bullpen stats look pretty solid. Then you lose one of those three guys to free agency (two with the Cubs – Chavez and Wilson) and you’re left with a very spotty bullpen.
Who do you honestly trust to come in the game out of that bullpen with the game on the line? I’d say Strop, and Morrow when he’s healthy, which is something we can’t assume is going to happen. So they need at least two big arms.
There’s a difference between having a good statistical bullpen and a good shutdown bullpen. The Cubs stats might look good as a whole, but they are far from shutdown.
Good news! Morrow cleared to begin putting on his own pants Dec. 15th!
Cubs neede pen help even before this injury. I assume Montgomery goes back to the pen as long as the other starters are healthy. Right now it’s Strip, Cishek and ?’s. Unfortunately Chatwood is taking up a roster spot.
*needed and Strop, haha
Edwards, maybe Rosario. I agree. They need a pen.
As an Indians fan, it’s still weird seeing Jordan Bastian reporting Cubs news now
Kirby Yates Stammen Stock for Hoerner and Clifton.
Another bad Theo FA signing in the makes
Really frustrated with my Cubs as of late. Let’s face the Indians were without 2 of their 3 top pitchers (Carracco & Salazar)and their best hitter (Brantley) was out for the World Series and it still took the Cubs seven games. I guess I should be happy with the one World Series
BS. You’re an Indian’s fan and fake news is a perfect name for you. Get over it, dude ranch.