Cubs reliever Codi Heuer underwent Tommy John surgery recently, reports Gordon Wittenmyer of NBC Sports Chicago. Heuer himself revealed that he’d undergone what looked to be a major arm procedure on Instagram earlier today. He’ll now be sidelined for the 2022 season.
Because Heuer is on the 40-man roster, he’s been restricted from working out with the Cubs or speaking to the team’s medical staff. As such, the injury occurred at a workout that was not supervised by the team and, presumably, the surgery was recommended by third-party medical experts as well. He’ll begin the rehab process without the assistance of the Cubs’ medical staff, though he’ll obviously be able to work with team doctors and trainers once the lockout is finally lifted.
Heuer, 25, was acquired from the White Sox alongside Nick Madrigal in the crosstown July trade that sent Craig Kimbrel to the South Side. The 2018 sixth-round pick had a dominant debut campaign in 2020, pitching to a 1.52 ERA with a 27.2% strikeout rate, a 9.8% walk rate and a 50% grounder rate in 23 2/3 innings of relief. His results slipped in 2021, however, as he slumped to an ERA north of 5.00 in his first 38 2/3 innings prior to that trade. Heuer’s struggles perhaps contributed to the ChiSox’ desire to acquire Kimbrel — a move that ultimately proved regrettable from the White Sox’ vantage point. Kimbrel struggled enormously following the swap, and he’s widely reported to be a trade candidate whenever the lockout lifts.
While the 2022 season will now be a lost one for Heuer, he can still be a prominent piece of the Cubs’ long-term relief corps. He’ll be controllable for three more seasons beyond the 2022 campaign and, if he’s able to pitch closer to his 2020 form than his 2021 upon returning, ought to be a candidate for high-leverage work before long. Heuer averaged 97.8 mph on his fastball as a rookie and posted a strong 14.4% swinging-strike rate that season.
Heuer’s velocity dipped a bit in ’21 and his fastball was hit quite a bit harder as a result — but opponents have been been embarrassingly feeble against Heuer’s offspeed offerings. Fifty-eight times so far in his young career, Heuer has ended a plate appearance while throwing a slider. He’s picked up 21 strikeouts in that time, and opponents have batted just .125/.171/.167 against the pitch. It’s been a similar story with his changeup; in 57 plate appearances ending on that pitch, opponents fanned 23 times and posted a .155/.219/.155 batting line. The slider has generated a 21.5% swinging-strike rate, while the changeup is even better at 26.6%.
With Heuer now out for the upcoming season, Rowan Wick becomes the even heavier favorite to pick up saves in the Cubs’ bullpen. They’ll quite likely be in the market for some additional bullpen help once the lockout ends, as Heuer, Wick and lefty Brad Wieck were the only three members of the currently projected relief corps who have even topped one year of Major League service time. Non-roster invitees like Jonathan Holder, Eric Yardley and Kevin McCarthy will all vie for bullpen jobs, but there’s a pretty clear need for some more established veteran arms to help piece the staff together.
This guy can definitely afford to lend Matt Szczur a couple of vowels.
It looks like the Cubs are going to regret trading Kimbrel after all… PSYCH!!! It shows how lopsided that trade was for this to happen and the Cubs still won by a landslide. Why was Heuer even involved in the trade? Were the Cubs able to convince the White Sox that they might actually turn the deal down for Madrigal straight up? That would have been an obvious bluff. Shame on the White Sox for not calling it. Shame on the White Sox for the whole thing. They are a good team right now but most teams can’t afford to make mistakes like that and still end up winning it all. That’s the worst trade I’ve seen since Arizona acquired Shelby Miller.
The Sox made the trade specifically because they COULD afford to weather it. Neither one of those players is a huge loss.
But can they afford to weather it? Madrigal and Heuer could be way better then Kimbrel, and Kimbrel could easily fall apart again this season like he did late last year.
Or Nicky Madrigal can continue to do Nicky Madrigal things like bungle balls and run into outs, all while continuing to go slap happy.
stop….dont do it…….freeze!
As a Cub fan, I wasnt a fan of that trade. Madrigal is overrated and has had season ending injuries 3 of 4 years. Lets see Madrigal finish a season before you start praising that trade.
The 2022 season is likely to miss the 2022 season, might as well take care of those lengthy rehab surgeries now
??
that’s rough, he certainly could have cracked the CL mix this year.
Well if the players and owners keep it up then no one will notice, so let hope for great recovery and be ready by mid-season 2023 if there is baseball by then…
Well Gordon is an idiot anyways, there’s been ZERO confirmation it’s TJS. I’m sure it is, but with that clown first reporting of a IG post, I wouldn’t believe it until a more reliable source reports it.
Heuer’s own post within the story is pretty convincing. I’m guessing that’s as good a source as you can get.
@cubs2016 Denial is the first stage of grief my friend. Time to move on to anger.. “F the Sox – they probably knew it when they traded him to us!!!”
Look at Kimbrels numbers post trade we definitely won that deal
Still too early for that midway—even though the intent of the Sox in that trade was to win the World Series LAST YEAR with Kimbrel as the final piece—they still may win it this year with Kimbrel’s help.
I was doing a @cubs2016 impression, not a true Big Hurt evaluation. I think Heuer will end up a good late inning guy and I loved watching Madrigal hit (and still think he’ll come around as a good defensive player, although he’s not there yet). So yeah, probably a win for the Cubs.
He needs to change hsi mechanics a bit first, or he will have arm issues going forward. He needs to learn how to pitch and not throw. Watched him for years, and wish him luck.
Denydenydeny. Yeah that sure worked.
So the Sox won the Kimbrel trade right?
@harambe – looks like you are hoping for a fight, but I already answered you above regarding THAT trade. Now I know you don’t want to talk about the Q trade, so I won’t even bring it up. 😉
Not a Cubs fans or a White Sox fan so bring up the Q trade all you want fam.
Yep! So who was fleeced now?!
Go Rick Hahn!
You do realize Madigral is coming back this season? and we still have tons of control over Heuer and Madigral, and Kimbrel totally fall apart for the Sox at the end of the year.
Nick has a lot of work to do – mostly mental, but once he figures it out, he will be an All Star. The game is a bit too fast for him right now so he rushes and forces everything. However, he has a high baseball IQ. The Sox cannot afford to wait 2-3 years for him to get there, so he will be perfect with the Cubs, which is a blessing for him, and pay back to the Cubs for the Q deal. LOL, only because Kimbrel sucked.
No, too soon to tell. If Madigral comes back strong this year, then it’s a win even without Heuer, even without Madigral and Heuer being as good as they can be, if Kimbrel keeps on with his late-season struggles we’ll still have won the trade.
Madrigal comes back strong from what. When was he ever strong?
Agree.
If Madrigal comes back… for how long?
Also, still time for Sox to trade Kimbrel for future HOF’ers!!
Finally, Kimbrel may flourish in a shortened 2022 season and not be traded!!
Hi Steve,
Can you fix the sentence? You put ‘been’ twice between ‘have’ & ’embarrasingly’. Please & thank you.
“— but opponents have ‘been been’ embarrassingly feeble against Heuer’s offspeed offerings.”
Hi Steve,
Not sure if you saw my question 4 days ago., but nevertheless please read below.
Can you fix the sentence? You put ‘been’ twice between ‘have’ & ’embarrasingly’. Please & thank you.
“— but opponents have ‘been been’ embarrassingly feeble against Heuer’s offspeed offerings.”
Wow, terrible news. Heuer had a high chance of grabbing the closer spot this season, he would’ve been very good, guess this is what happeens when you throw this fast so much, your bound to eventfully get injuried, unless your Chapman, that guy can never get injuried.
That sucks! I’m beginning to think that when the Cubs and Sox make trades, injuries seem to be an inherent, hidden bonus – on both sides. Just look at the past 2 trades and how many of those players ended up missing time due to injury. That said, nobody won the last deal – yet, but I expect the only player to stand out is Nick. Trading Nick was a must for the Sox because they are in NOW WIN MODE (2022-2025), which is the time needed for Nick to become an All Star. Going to the Cubs will afford him that time to slow the game down and use his high IQ to master his position. Now, the is overthinking, which is why he hurt himself 2X basis, dropping balls, messing up DP’s, etc. Moving to fast to slow it down vs just relaxing and playing ball out there. BUT, will be a stud, and good for him..