Cardinals left fielder Marcell Ozuna was scratched from Wednesday’s lineup after experiencing pain in his torso, Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports. Goold further tweets that Ozuna is headed for an MRI tomorrow, and manager Mike Shildt expressed some concern about a potential intercostal strain. It’s a frustrating development for both team and player, as Ozuna was hoping to bounce back from an injury-marred 2018 season in which ongoing shoulder issues hampered his swing. The Cardinals, meanwhile, were hoping that a healthier Ozuna could pair with offseason acquisition Paul Goldschmidt to bolster the middle of the batting order. If Ozuna needs to miss time, Tyler O’Neill could step into a larger role with the club, and Jose Martinez (who started in place of Ozuna today) could get some additional at-bats as well.
More from the NL Central…
- In light of the recent wave of extensions throughout Major League Baseball, Adam McCalvy of MLB.com asked a few Brewers players about their thoughts on some recent deals and their own willingness to engage in discussions. Third baseman Travis Shaw stated that he’s “open for business” when it comes to talking about a potential long-term deal to keep in Milwaukee beyond the 2021 season (currently slated to be his final season of team control). Late-inning terminator Josh Hader, meanwhile, suggested that his current focus is more on playing baseball than thinking about that side of the game. “If they feel they want to do an extension, then that’s the business side of it,” said Hader. “They control that.” The 24-year-old Hader has not yet even accumulated two full years of Major League service time and remains under club control through the 2023 season. Milwaukee president of baseball ops David Stearns added to McCalvy that while he’s not closed off to extension talks during the season, “there’s a reason” most deals are completed before Opening Day.
- Cubs skipper Joe Maddon said Wednesday that the two-year extension signed by managerial peer Terry Francona doesn’t have him thinking about his own contract status (link via Gordon Wittenmyer of the Chicago Sun Times). “I’ve been treated more than well,” said Maddon. “So I don’t lament or worry about things like that.” Maddon added that he’s not in the business of comparing himself to other skippers throughout the league. Wittenmyer, however, notes that Maddon’s current $6MM salary is substantially higher than the rates at which the influx of younger managers are being paid throughout the league. That, certainly, will be a factor in negotiations with the Cubs (or any other club, if he is not retained).
Maddon does have to worry about his current deal expiring if the Cubs continue to stumble out of the gate. Team looks lifeless
It’s April 4. They haven’t even been home yet.
Look, we get it, you ALL hate the Cubs and nothing will ever be good enough. Fine. But it’s Apeil 4.
Where’s the outrage over Boston’s WS slump? Yankees not going to make the playoffs either?
Nope, clearly Baltimore is the class of the AL East. The Cubs will be battling the Red Sox for the 1st overall pick in next year’s draft. Fingers crossed!
Although it’s early, I think the bullpen is EXACTLY what worries people. They did nothing seriously to address it and it shows. But hey, the cubs are broke
Cubs are, while Rickett family is rolling dough from Cubs fans. Enjoy Sinclair broadcasting as Cubs partner in network..
It’s “April” 4.
You feel better about yourself?
Neat, your friends must love you correcting them all the time.
Poster claims he is “getright11”.
So he ought to get it right.
While I see your point, he is still batting .500 and that is hall of fame worthy!!!
You’ve already been to the end of the season in your time machine and see that the “Yankees not going to make the playoffs”. Hey everybody @getright11 will be taking all of your sports betting for 2019 and beyond.
Sarcasm for dummies. Read it.
@Steven Chinwood – clearly the context of his statement completely eluded you. He was mocking people’s early-season overreaction, hence the question mark at the end.
Leave little Steven alone. Maybe no one has ever been sarcastic to him before.
Hey, thanks for the passive aggressive explanation though @ry.the.stunner.
Remember Steve Bartman? That silly guy.
We don’t hate the Cubs, just Maddons over rated sabremetrics crap. A lot of us think the Cubs win in spite of him, not because of him. His new pitching coach certainty doesn’t have the bullpen ready either. Time to go Joe.
The hitters are looking good. The starters have been..serviceable..ish. It’s all on the bullpen. It’s beyond awful.
Not before Marty and Doc come retrieve the sports almanac!
The defense hasn’t been anything to write home about either…
Maddon will be fired by the All Star Game.
In last place currently as I predicted.
4 losses in a row. These April games are as important as October games. Ask Theo!
You’re a fool. 2016 had to be the worst time of your life. I can’t wait until you relive it.
I know it’s early don’t get me wrong. This is a serious question though. Are cubs fans worried about their pitching? Again, I’m not being smart I’m legit wondering from fans who watch the team. It seems like they have a lot of names who just aren’t producing.
They gotta be worried about the bullpen.
Cubs fans I know are pretty worried about it. That bullpen does not look good. And its not a rough stretch out of the gate thing. it’s a lack of talent back there I think. strop and Edwards are the only guys who could right the ship, everyone else looks rough
They are also a bunch of “head cases”.
Can’t wait for Darvish next start tonight! Ought to be entertaining.
Hilarious!
Cubs losing 7-0 late.
Another bad Yu performance.
Bullpen as well.
Cubs losing again:
6-0 after 2 innings?!
I’m sad to see Q performing so poorly since he left the Sox.
Cubs to go 1-6 after this game! That should give them last place all by themselves.
Perhaps Maddon is fired before first home game?
Just sayin… the Dodgers were, what… 16 and 26 in May last year? It’s still early.
They ought to keep Madden and fire Theo.
November game was most important in 2016. I’m sure brewers will continue to win 6 of 7 games and have no injuries and slumps . SIGN KIMBREL NOW
Brewers have actually already had injuries with Jeffress and Knebel.
Girardi is waiting in the wings for sure.
Did you read the article? He’s older and makes $6,000,000 a year, he doesn’t have any worries.
I don’t get why any team would be concerned with paying a difference making manager (if there is such a thing) a bigger salary or scrimp on a cheap young manager. For the sake of 4 or 5 million get the manager you want. It’s not like his salary counts against tax threshold. 4 million is thrown away all the time by teams ….failed international signings, failed free agent signings and extensions. I don’t believe money will be the issue for Maddon and Cubs. If he goes it will just because it’s time for a change for both parties.
It is a time for a change. Maddon did great when the players were loose and chasing the rest of the pack. He was new and hip and cool and the guys rallied around it because they hadn’t smelled success as Cubs yet. The moment they had that success they tapered off and he hasn’t found a way to get them to play to their potential since 2016 (aside from Baez last year). It is one thing to get guys to want to reach the top, but you have to have a completely different mindset to get them to want to stay at the top and know how to keep it, and he hasn’t done well improving that area.
His over-managing of the lineup and bullpen throughout the years has been widely marked, he’s not a good guy, he is a great guy, which is why nobody near wants to discredit or talk down on him. Anyone that has watched the last two years, you can see the digression (and I am a die hard Cubs fan). I still believe in the talent on the team and the ability that they have shown in flashes, you just have to find a coach that is able to bring out those flashes more often rather than it just vanishing during spurts.
Sure a game changing manager can be worth more, but is he really a game changer anymore? Is it worth it to pay him $2M more than Girardi would possibly make? around 5M more than possibly Ross or someone else new?
What makes a good team and coach is knowing when your process just has run its course. Doesn’t make it wrong, or you a bad person for the job. It just means maybe you don’t match up anymore.
The idiot fans lament…”team looks lifeless”. That’s what guys whose highest level of competitive athletics is band practice.
Actually, it could be argued that the true “idiot” would actually be the one whose response would have no depth or insight; resorting to name-calling and condescending statements about the intelligence of those with whom he or she disagrees.
Hey, I would regularly break a sweat during band practice.
Cubs on pace to finish 32-130!
Don’t worry. The team is loaded with Hall-of-Famers.
Make that 27-135!
Lost again tonight 9-4!
Pace 23-139 after Friday.
Should be a record.
They’re probably still just tired from all those games they had to play at the end of last year. The MLB is so unfair to the Cubs.
My opinion is release Fowler and Ozuna if you really want to have a chance at winning. Play O’Neil and Martinez.
Fowler sure ozuna not yet
It would be really stupid and pointless to get rid of Ozuna, and I’m not even a fan of his.
I know that the season just got started but the Cubs don’t have that weapon out of the bullpen that scares hitters. Do you guys think that Edwards will develop into a dominant reliever?
Edwards balks too much!
How do you keep getting out?
the problem is he never does get out….
Edwards ERA 45 now!
Wow!
He has really good stuff, but lacks the command and confidence to take it to the next level.
And lacks a “legal” delivery.
MLB disagrees… and they have the only opinion that matters
It’s April 4th and the North Siders have already shown that the bull pen sucks and the rest of the pitching staff is old and running on name recognition
The bullpen has sucked, but “the rest of the pitching staff” means the starters and the starters have been great so far. The starters are 27, 27, 26, 30 and 28. Just FYI.
Lester 35, Darvish 32, Hendricks 29, , Hamels 35 and Quintana 30.
Did you just blindly type numbers for the starter’s ages?
Ooops. No, I just forgot that more than one NL Central team plays on the “North Side”.
I was thinking about the Pirates’ bad loss to the Cards while also listening to the FAN talk about it, so I read his comment through the wrong prism.
He’s right, then…that is an elderly rotation there.
Wow, this why the comment section gets so heated. Because people have no idea what they’re talking about. The discussion was about the Cubs. The Cubs’ nickname is the north siders. It’s not that hard.
Are you taking copious amounts of bath salts again?
someones about to get their face eaten.
Did you eat a lot of paint chips when you were a child?
Joe will be managing the Cubs by next season, and his last name isn’t Maddon…..
Cubs likely will come begging to Sox to get Renteria back to manage.
I would welcome Quintana and Cubs top prospect in a trade for Ricky.
We have Vizquel to promote. If he isn’t ready, bring back Ozzie for the World Series push
Lol. You really are ignorant. I thought that you were just a miserable troll.
Why would the Cubs want to call back a manager who has accomplished nothing?
Hah renteria ya we definitely want a manager who has accomplished nothing and World Series push lol
Ha! Rental-ria won’t even be managing the Sox when they are ready to win!
I really hope not. I would like to see David Ross manage them.
I’m not even looking at the standings or records until like May
I can’t blame you since the cubs are 4 out 6 games in.
Might wanna wait longer than that. it’ll read like a horror story for ya.
I wonder why…
Love Joe Maddon and his candor but he is the most overrated Mgr of all time. He gets less with more than any Mgr in the history of the game.
Winning is hard in baseball. Maddon wins.
He got Tampa rays to World Series . I’d say he got moat out of nothing there
The Worst manager of all time made Joe Madden look great, his name …. Mike Matheny, Your welcome Chicago, they wouldn’t have a World Series yet without Matheny handing the cubs the NL central that year
Dad’s been drinking again..
His players have been hurt, he’s been saddled with high contracts, some overachieved and are now overrated plus they traded their best prospects for little in return.
Players have been hurt when? He’s had unprecedented luck with old starters remaining healthy and effective for the vast majority of his time there. Also he’s gotten outlier performances,relative to the aging curve, from guys like Zobrist. This year looks to be the first one he’s faced any real adversity in his time with the Cubs.
Cardinals went after the wrong Marlin we should’ve went after Yelch!!
They would’ve gone after Yelich instead, but it’s been clearly reported that he was NOT available at the time when Stanton spurned them. Then after they pivoted to and traded (virtually nothing) for Ozuna, Yelich came out some time later and demanded a trade. It was still worth it, but it would be nice in hindsight.
“virtually nothing” seriously! Sandy A looks like a legit pitcher…for two years of pretty much nothing from Ozuna
As a brewers fan I was going to say a similar thing. Thank god the brewers got yeli their mstead of ozuna. Already you guys got goldschmidt now
Marcel Ozuna has been raked over the coals in this early part of the season by Cardinal Fans. Sure he’s not the superstar Mozeliak insinuated. But Mozeliak knew he was getting damaged goods when he got him. Passed up Yelich to get Ozuna. Ozuna has 5 hits in five games, has run the bases well and thrown better already than last season. Ozuna is a warm weather player. Currently Ozuna’s BA is much higher than “lead off man” Matt Carpenter, Molina, and Fowler. Those guys are hitting less than .200 and Yadi is hitting under .100. Cardinal Fans… cut Ozuna some slack. He’ll be fine as the season warms up. No … he’s not a #4 hitter, but who on the roster would currently fill those shoes anyway??
He did not pass up Yelich, dude. They tried for Stanton and were spurned by him. Then they pivoted to Ozuna. At the time, the Marlins had no intentions of trading Yelich and profusely stated as such. It wasn’t until we got Ozuna that Yelich complained about the rebuild and demanded the trade. Batting average as a measuring stick for hitting prowess? Lol. He’s an above average hitter still, but not even close to as good as Carp.
Holliday, everyone especially the Marlins knew they were going to trade Yelich even before the Ozuna move.
Au contraire, Mon frere. He was not available and it was widely reported as such.
link to stltoday.com
for the right price, anyone is available
Even if that is true, it wasn’t going to happen until Ozuna was traded. He had just had a breakout year and there was no reason to think he wouldn’t do it again. And if you remember the state of things that year, Mozeliak couldn’t risk passing on Ozuna after missing on Stanton and then have Miami withhold Yelich and get the Cards nothing.
People really need to stop judging moves through the lens of today. It was a good move, we traded 2 guys that probably won’t get to be that great for two years of potential potent offense. Well worth the risk. And well worth the hedge to go after Ozuna rather than Yelich.
Ozuna had one great season. He has pretty much been the same guy you saw last season every other year. He’s a slightly above average player. No one should be expecting him to be an All Star.
With his hot start I would bat the Wonger first, Goldie, Carp, Dejong, Oz, Fowler, Yadi, Bader. If Fowler keeps getting walked at his current rate and can get a hit every forth at bat or so I would consider him in the two hole and bump Carp down until the salsa is ready this summer….
It was concerning watching Madden leave Chisek in to walk the bases loaded. But, he only has the tools upper management clearly decided were enough. It feels like, knowing Rizzo, Bryant, and Baez contracts are wrapping up, management seems to be going into rebuild mode early. Makes sense because maybe we could have all new talent by 2022. But, with the World Series team pretty fully intact, now is still the time for me as a fan. I don’t see Madden being extended at this rate, I think at the very least he needs a division championship for that. You can say its early, but any time of year losing 4 of 5 with 16 runs after the 6th in those losses is cause for concern. I think it’s an even bigger deal this early because the bullpen should be fresh still. And then the headline deal of our season/ offseason is the extension of Bote. Cringe
Crazy division trade? Ozuna and Fowler to the Cubs for Heyward, Happ and a middle end pitching prospect?
Cubs end up taking on Ozuna and Fowler money (which is more this year but less overall) and return Fowler to a place where he had success. Cubs seem to like taking guys with injury history so wouldn’t mind Ozuna. St. Louis would get Heyward, who saw some success in St. Louis, albeit short lived. Happ won’t see time in Chicago but could benefit from a new approach and style from a team like St. Louis and does have a ton of versatility and upside (OF and middle infield). Then throw in a middle end pitching prospect to try to help outweigh some of the excess salary the Cards take on for couple years. Definitely don’t think it happens and don’t know if either team would be interested, but I do think that it is an interesting proposition and I don’t think either team hangs up immediately, might be worth negotiating a little more or less either way.
As a Cubs fan. I’d rather have Heyward and Happ.
they can have Heyward, just not Happ. he’s the only one of the group with any upside.
If you could get Marcell Ozuna and dump the rest of heywards contract, Ian Happ would be out of Chicago tomorrow. Sorry, I mean Iowa. The cardinals would be the fools to accept that trade.
Maddon extension lol
First week of the season and we are predicting firings… wut?
If Padres dont finish above .500 I can see them firing Green and hiring Maddon to groom this young team
Ricketts says the Cubs are broke… they won’t be able to afford Maddon. I can put them in last place at a fraction of the cost. Hire me.
The season has just started, it’s early. Nothing a petting zoo, a balloon animal artist or clubhouse disco can’t solve. Don’t play with matches and Trust In Uncle Joe.
Brewers are 6-1 with a run differential of ONLY +3. That is remarkable and completely unsustainable.
You know the Rockies made the playoffs last year with A +25 run differential for the entire season? Forgetting about that, we are in week 2 for Christ sake. You’re already trying to poke holes? That +3 run differential puts them 9th in baseball right now btw. Just to show how ridiculous it is to even consider that right now. There’s not much to say about any team after a week.
You missed my point. They won’t win 6 out of every 7 with a +3 run differential winning every one run game just like the Cubs won’t go 1-161. I didn’t pole holes or say they wouldn’t make the playoffs.
*poke
Well they are 1 and 5 now.
On their way to 1 and 161!
Well, obviously. I don’t think anyone had the brewers winning 125 games this year. The run differential can literally be skewed by one blowout when you have 7 games played. There’s just really nothing to draw from a weeks worth of baseball.
Every day Fowler plays over Martinez and O’Neill is a crime against baseball. Until Fowler is gone we won’t be reaching this team’s potential. O’Neill is the answer, let him play. Stop coddling the ego of a $54M victim. If he thinks he’s been treated unfairly, let him walk. This is Pham all over again, just with even less talent.
Pham has incredible talent and battled adversity, injury and a front office that had little faith in said talent. One of the more interesting players to put the birds on the bat in years. I know they couldn’t move Fowler, and they wanted Bader the golden boy to play, but the return received on that deal was pretty light for the player he is. They just couldn’t deal with a player willing to speak the truth about that team with the media.