Cubs skipper Joe Maddon provided updates on an important trio of players today, with MLB.com’s Jordan Bastian among those covering the news. (Links to his Twitter account unless otherwise noted.)
- Star infielder Javier Baez is going to undergo an MRI on his thumb tomorrow. There’s still no cause for alarm, but it’s certainly suboptimal to hear that he’s not recovering promptly after getting three games off. Initial x-rays came back negative, but the club is obviously interested in making sure there isn’t some other injury lurking in the digit. Deep as the Cubbies are in position players, Baez — who owns a .281/.316/.532 slash line with 29 home runs on the year — is all but irreplaceable. Baez certainly won’t be in the lineup until Sunday, at the earliest. The organization’s hope is that it won’t be long thereafter before he’s ready to return. Obviously, a significant injury would be devastating at this time of year.
- Issues in or near the elbow are always a red flag for a pitcher, so it was at least somewhat worrisome to learn that righty Yu Darvish has experienced forearm tightness of late. But it seem he isn’t terribly concerned about it, having already managed things since early July — and thrived over that same span. The veteran says he won’t need to miss any further action after being skipped in his last scheduled start. He’ll pitch tomorrow. Maddon said Darvish looked great in his latest pen session and is “ready to roll,” as Mark Gonzales of the Chicago Tribune tweets.
- Speaking of ailments in the elbow region, the Cubs were holding their breath when closer Craig Kimbrel went in for an MRI. He says that the results were quite promising and that he hopes to be ready to return when first eligible on Thursday. That said, the veteran hurler hasn’t yet resumed throwing after spending some time on ice to let his inflammation subside. As he acknowledged, the precise course of action will depend upon how it goes once he does get back on the bump.
Maybe the Red Sox knew there was something wrong with Kimbrel?
And that’s why they didn’t resign him?
He never had a problem in Boston except towards the end when his production fell off the end of 2018.
The Red Sox did offer him a 1 year $17.9 million deal. That’s about $2.5 mill more per year on average than what the Cubs are paying him and $1.9 more than the Cubs will pay him on his most expensive year. I think they were willing to risk over paying him on a 1 year deal but thought his late season struggles might be a sign of things to come. If he wore down late in the season when he was healthy last year, what would make anyone think the same thing or worse wouldn’t happen when he was a year older? That’s what I guess they were thinking. Not to mention his early demands were 5 years at $20 mill per which is $100 million total for a relief pitcher. That would have broken all kinds of relief pitcher records. Unless you are Dennis Eckersley, Trevor Hoffman, John Smoltz or Mo Rivera big contracts for relievers almost always go bad for relievers. Had he dominated at the end of the season I think it would have been different. Late season decline is often a sign that pitchers are getting too worn down and are well beyond their peak. If you ask me, the season is too long. They should have never extended it beyond 154 games. That is a lot of games as it is and it’s not fair that there are plenty of players that can be dominant for the first 90% of the season but are to tired to help at all at the end. The guys that get you there should also be the guys that win it for you. I know that means Roger Maris would have never broken Ruth’s record but that’s why they made a movie with a * after 61 in the first place. Every home run record not set by Ruth or Aaron deserves a * next to it anyway. At least the major ones do.
Back to Kimbrel… Let’s not forget how he got here. He, Brandon Beachy and Blaine Boyer all lived in the neighborhood next to me in high school. I went to school with a buddy of mine named Miles Ethridge. He played baseball and actually went on to play professionally in Europe. His parents always put a bunch of support into his baseball a activities and he was very talented. He never made it to the bigs or anything but through the baseball circuit he knew all three of those guys. When they got called up to AAA Gwinett they actually lived in his parents house with him in Linfield. It was funny because Kimbrel and Boyer (I think it was Boyer but I could be wrong about that. I never saw him personally and it could be another former Braves relief pitcher who I have forgotten. I know it. Was Kimbrel and Beachy + another Braves reliever) both got drafted so they had signing bonuses. Brandon Beachy was an undrafted free agent. So Kimbrel and Boyer both had really nice cars that they bought with their signing bonus money. Beachy however had to buy a very used very cheap very old Toyota corolla. It was funny at the time because I had no idea what they were all about to become. I was actually driving around with a much nicer car than Brandon Beachy. Miles’ parents actually felt kinda bad for him. They are obviously great people to let young men they don’t even know live in their house for many months because they loved baseball.
Sometime before the three moved into Linfield Kimbrel was already lower in the Braves organization. That’s what brings me to where Kimbrel came from. When Kimbrel started out he only pitched at about 89 mph on the top end. Then he had a young person accident. I think it happened in a pool but I am not 100% sure. He ended up breaking bones in each of his legs and had to be in casts. Most people would just stop pitching for awhile in that situation but Craig was determined (obviously since he made it this far). Kimbrel continued to pitch even though he couldn’t stand up. He practiced pitching sitting down. Rumor has it that he built the core of his body up and greatly increased his strength that way wixh is why he velo jumped up so quickly. He kinda came out of nowhere considering his status in the Braves organization early on. I think he was a nobody prospect until all that happened but literally his determination led to strength which brought him to the point where he was striking out over 2 batters per inning at AAA. I don’t have a clue what Kimbrel did to condition himself during his off season. All I know is that he and Keuchel were the 2 big guys left and I constantly read about Keuchel training and staying in shape. I know Keuchel signed after Kimbrel and was ready to pitch almost a month before Kimbrel. Keuchel has pitched more innimgs and on average they have been of higher quality than Kimbrels. I don’t want to call the man out for anything because I don’t know what he has done recently. I do know that he was looking forward to this offseason for a very long time and was very disappointed in how it turned out. Maybe he got demotivated? I mean to go from expecting $100 million to having nobody wanting to sign you until mid season is a big let down. He is literally the beat relief pitcher in MLB since Mariano Rivera after all. I know for a fact he figured he would break multiple records for MLB relief pitcher contracts in history and it was justifiable considering his production and past contracts handed out to relievers. I mean BJ Ryan got a contract worth $5 mill more than his and that was many years ago. And we are talking about BJ Ryan here. You also have to look at the guy in Colorado that had just gotten a several year contract worth over $17 mill per year right before Kimbrel hit the market… and he sucks. The only reliever even comparable to Kimbrel since Rivera is Aroldis Chapman and he’s getting paid out the wazoo. He’s even on the same team as Ottavino who I think might also be making somewhere around what Kimbrel is. What I mean is that I see why the guy thought he should get paid. Considering what has happened so far this season I am guessing Boston is glad he didn’t accept the qualifying offer and whether or not the Cubs will admit it I bet they regret giving him the $43 million. I think they may have even given him a no trade clause too. Regardless, Craig Kimbrel is a good man and I am glad he got his money. I felt differently before the contracts went down but at this point I am glad my Braves saved $30 million and went for Keuchel instead. The guy I really feel bad for is Brandon Beachy. He could strike batters out like no starting pitcher I have ever met in my life. He just could not stay healthy. The last time I heard about him was when he and Kris Medlen both signed with KC and that was years ago. I think he is retired now but he had serious talent and was a great guy too. Sorry this post was so long but those of you that read my posts know that this is typical of me. It’s really more for folks that have longer attention spans and want to read true insightful baseball posts. You could always just scroll down but I’m sure I’ll get some backlash anyway.
Dude your comment is longer than the actual post. It was just pointless rambling. You aren’t nearly as “insightful” as your full blown delusions make you think.
This isn’t insight. It’s writing for the sake of writing.
It’s insight because I actually knew the man. I lived basically right next to him and conversed with him many times before 99% of Braves fans even saw his face. I also know what kind of person he was before he had enough money to even support himself. I would say that is more insight on pre-MLB Craig Kimbrel than any other person commenting on this page including the poster. Do you disagree?
STFU you’re not getting a job at MLBTR
How do you know what the sox offered??? My guess is they offered Evoldies money before signing him. Kimberl said no so Evoldi signed given the money.
Because it’s common knowledge. They offered him a qualifying offer. All qualifying offers are 1-year $17.9 million deals.
The Red Sox were pretty sure he was not going to take the QO. Plus if he did, it’s just a one year deal.
Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
This is why we really need to get kids out of mommy’s basement and get them some fresh air.
Outside sucks. Too much sun. You could get skin cancer. You’re gonna die of skin cancer. I just deduced it.
I thought the comment was good, maybe a little long.
Better put an * after the Babe’s stats too…since black players were banned from playing during his time!!! Consequently, Babe never played against all the great players that he should have which makes his stats “inflated”!!!
You had me at hello. Oh wait, you never said hello. Goodbye.
This comment reminds me of when Brian tells Killer’s life story in “Half Baked”.
Ahh yes… Another great literary work. Almost as good as mine.
a lot of evidence seems to point to Craig Kimbrel having arm problems developing at the end of 2018. he just has not been the same picture since the end of 2018 that he was prior to since the end of 2018 that he was prior to that. also have you ever heard anyone describe an MRI is fairly promising?
just go back and look at Craig kimbrel’s lifetime era and lifetime whip. he’s not even close to the picture he was for his entire career.
PS speech recognition really sucks on these Androids. LOL you have to be a slow ski and talk one word a second for it to understand what you are saying
Is that why you keep calling him a picture?
Kimbrel’s contract will be determined in the next two years. Let’s just say Kimbrel not pitching all season can be a factor to his injuries but people should judge the contract after this season.
That’s what makes me curious. Why didn’t we hear about him going through a consistant regiment like we did Keuchel. I kept hearing about Keuchel throwing 95 pitches every 5 days to stay in shape for months before he signed. I would have thought a relieve could have gotten ready for game action much faster than a starter but it was just the opposite. It makes me wonder if Kimbrel didn’t keep up with any pitching regiment at all until he got his contract. I’m sure he worked out and stayed in shape but he had to know given the time of year that any team signing him would need him to pitch as soon as possible and in midseason form. I know Keuchel understood that because he was constantly telling the media what he was doing to be game ready within a week or so.