Cubs reliever Brad Wieck underwent Tommy John surgery this week, the team informed reporters (including Meghan Montemurro of the Chicago Tribune). Given the timing of the procedure, it seems likely he’ll miss the bulk or all of the 2023 season.
Wieck has spent the entire 2022 campaign on the 60-day injured list. He was diagnosed with an elbow strain in Spring Training, and efforts to rehab over the past few months have apparently proven unsuccessful. He’ll obviously not pitch this year and could miss two full seasons depending on his recovery timetable.
It’s a brutal blow for Wieck, who may have featured into the high-leverage mix for Chicago if healthy. He tossed 17 scoreless innings last season, striking out a whopping 39.4% of batters faced. The left-hander battled some shaky control, but he’d still been one of the Cubs best relievers through the first half. Unfortunately, he was diagnosed with an irregular heartbeat and was shut down early in July.
The only silver lining is that Wieck will collect a major league salary and a full year of service time while recovering this season. He’ll surpass the three-year service threshold this year, qualifying for arbitration for the first time. The 30-year-old’s salary would be fairly modest given all his time lost to injury, but the Cubs could still non-tender him rather than reinstate him to the 40-man roster over the offseason.
Would have been nice to have heard about this on a Cubs-focused site like Bleed Cubbie Blue, but Al Yellon is too busy living in the past and rehashing the same old articles for the 10th time…
Bleacher Nation had it.
I’ve been burned too many times by Brett Taylor’s clickbait. That and him writing in circles like a 12 year old girl.
Cue All Yellon.
This is sad. Wieck can’t catch a break. I was looking forward to Wick, Wieck and Wicks some day, but Wieck is a non-tender now.
As always, we await developments.
Thank you, you didn’t let me down.
And what site do you run so I can read all the breaking cubs news?
That’s a shame. When he was able to pitch for them, he was outstanding. Hope he comes back strong.
Guy can’t catch a break. Hope he can come back in 2024.
Wow. Psych. great minds think alike.
This guy is the best pitcher the Cubs have who never pitches. He just can’t seem to catch a break. And if he did, he’d probably break something.