The Cubs placed shortstop Dansby Swanson on the 10-day injured list due to a left heel contusion. The placement is retroactive to July 6. Miles Mastrobuoni was called up from Triple-A to take Swanson’s spot on the active roster.
Swanson made an early exit from Wednesday’s game due to the injury, which occurred while he was running the bases. The injury doesn’t appear to be particularly serious, as Cubs manager David Ross told reporters (including MLB.com’s Bill Ladson) that Swanson might have been available if necessary in Chicago’s game yesterday. However, since Swanson had already decided to skip the All-Star Game due to his heel problem, the club has apparently opted for a 10-day IL stint to allow the shortstop to fully heal up. The All-Star break will automatically absorb four of the 10 minimum days Swanson must miss, helping minimize his absence from Chicago’s lineup.
The Cubs are an underwhelming 41-46 as the break approaches, and the club is seven games out of both the NL Central lead and a wild card berth. It certainly wasn’t what the Wrigleyville denizens were hoping for after the Cubs made some notable moves in the offseason, highlighted by their seven-year, $177MM free agent contract with Swanson. While a lot has gone wrong for the Cubs in the first half, Swanson has been living up to his end of the deal, hitting .258/.343/.409 with 10 homers over 367 plate appearances. Between his 108 wRC+ and his spectacular glovework at shortstop, Swanson has 2.9 fWAR, a total bested by only 18 position players in baseball.
Nico Hoerner has moved over from second base to shortstop in Swanson’s absence over the last two games, and will likely continue to fill in until Swanson returns. The hot-hitting Christopher Morel will probably get most of the second base action, with Patrick Wisdom getting more time at third base if Morel is at the keystone. Chicago is a little shorthanded in the middle infield since Nick Madrigal is sidelined with a hamstring strain, though with Swanson maybe missing only 10 days in total, the Cubs likely have enough to get by until the All-Star break.
Not Mastercrappy!!! Anyone but him. Literally, I’d rather see Ross take the field.
Bring up Slaughter, see what he can do.
Cmurph, agree. How many chances does Mastro get? And yes, Ross plays him!! Slaughter or Vasquez, why not?? – what are they afraid of?
And why didn’t they call up Mervis earlier in the season, when the team was going well, and Hosmer was doing NOTHING? They call up Young and Ross even batted Young in the 3rd spot a few games. He never gave Mervis the same leeway. Someone (Ross or Hawkins or Hoyer) deserves a smack upside their head.
And also – why is Barnhart still taking playing time from Amaya. Someone in that organization needs a wake up call – big time!
Barnhart is still playing because he is an awesome game manager/caller. He’s very similar to Martin Maldonado in Houston, any offense he gives you is a plus but his real value is between his ears.
I’m annoyed with the Mastrobuoni call up as well, to me it simply is due to the fact the Cubs do not want to make a 40 man roster move.
The Cubs signaled “sellers” as soon as they sent Wesneski down to get stretched out. Maybe that can change in two weeks if Belli just gets red hot and we can go on a 10 game winning streak but if they still play .500 ball between now and the deadline it’s been nice knowing some of you.
Ah, ok. Silly me, I thought Barnhart was still taking playing time from Amaya because he is signed to a 2 year contract for $$6.5M.
Hopefully it is because they are showcasing Barnhart and not Gomes for a trade.
They should keep Gomes for 2024, but Amaya can platoon in 2024 and be the lead in 2025. Even if Amaya is a 0.225 hitter with 15 home runs per year, his defense will play.
Barnhart is already under contract in 2024 for half of what they are paying Gnomes. More likely scenario is using Amaya/Barnhart for 2024 if the history of frugalness is any indication..
What frugalness? By all means, please show how the Cubs have been cheap. I’ll wait
I never said cheap. Frugal is more watching what they’re spending and utilizing what they have. They don’t spend freely, or rather recklessly, as some other teams do. So financially speaking, it makes more sense to keep Barnhart’s contract and let Gnomes walk. They only need another year for Amaya to be full time behind the plate..
Gomes. And I strongly doubt they don’t pick pick up Gomes option or trade him, he’s too valuable to the developmental program. Barnhart is great too but I somewhat suspect he may be traded alongside Stroman if the Cubs go that route.
I don’t think the Cubs would have much of an issue allowing Amayato continue doing what he is doing this season next year. Maybe give him another pitcher to work with (Wesneski) along with catching for Hendricks.
Didn’t know Gnomes had a Club option. That does change my thinking of course. With how he’s been resurging, I wondered if he’d want a huge raise if resigned.
Amaya, if he continues this way, has a lot of upside. Good behind the plate and at the plate. I hope his injury history is long behind him.
Isn’t this possibly the first time, maybe second, he’s ever been on the IL/DL?
He was out for awhile in 2018 with his wrist, think he had surgery on it in the following offseason.
I believe he also missed a month in 2019 because of a similar injury.
Still no opportunity to call up Hak-ju Lee.
I know that article Is about the Cubs player going on the DL.
But wondering how many GM / POBO get fired this off season.
And will managers getting fired outpace the GM / POBO getting wracked.
I have to wonder if Dansby is missing playing for a team that’s been in first place basically entire season and looks like a World Series contender.
He didnt mind when he signed the check. He knew what he was getting himself into. Smells like another rebuild of the original rebuild. Lmao. Fire Jed. Let another schmuck mess this up.
Fire Jeb – yes
White Sox should fire the two headed monster Williams/Hahn with Pedro right behind them..
Couldn’t put both teams together and field a contender
Sad
Just asking keysox: and aside from Luis Roberts, could you tell me who from your beloved Chisox would actually HELP and grace that combined roster?
If you go back and read some of the quotes, Cubs pitchers have absolute trust in Barnhart. Stroman doesn’t shake off Barnhart, he completely trusts his game planning and game management to the point where all Stroman has to do is execute.
Amaya got a lot of praise for his game planning but has pretty much been Hendricks personal catcher to ease him in and Hendricks calls his own game. Amaya has two of the best catchers to learn from right now in Tucker and Gomes
> wonder if Dansby is
> missing playing for a [winner]
I don’t think that matters to him. He picked Chicago to be happy with his wife. He may have wanted to build a new life and be a part of an eventual winner somewhere else.
Glad AA stuck to his guns and didn’t back the Brinks truck at the Swanson residence!!!!
Swanson, 4-yrs $96MM (yes he signed for longer)
or
Arcia, 4-yrs $8.3MM (+$87.7MM)
Arcia might turn into a pumpkin offensively (or Dansby, too) but ATL has a lot of money freed up to do other things in the next few years. Such as, find a replacement SS, spend on someone else, etc.
I don’t really have a problem with Dansby leaving the Braves. The Cubs offered more money. Freddie is a different matter, he would have received more money from the Braves with the deferrals he received from the Dodgers. Dansby is what he is, defensively one of the best. Offensively he is inconsistent. The Braves were right not to try to topple the Cubs offer. The Cubs will regret that contract, happy it’s not the Braves.
The Cubs are not going to regret the contract. As you said he is what he is and once the Cubs front office go out and get real middle of the lineup hitters, Dansby can be what he is supposed to be.
Dansby is fast but doesn’t steal many SB, even in his offensive career year (2022: 115 OPS+) he had a career high in strikeouts and career low in walks. He sacrificed OBP for SLG, which is why ATL has a hard time installing him into the 2-spot without an injury that precluded it (Albies in ’22). He’s typically been very good with RiSP despite the strikeouts.
Dansby only cares that his hair is perfect…..dip!!!
DC – are you an expert on hair?? Just wondering. How sweet you must be.
Fetch, Fifi.
@MFF. You really know how to pick a fight with Cub fans, don’t ya? =}
I think Swanson knows enough about Baseball to know that the Cubs would be a greater risk than the Braves for at least this season anyway.
I’m just wondering who David Bote Pi**ed off?
If Bote comes up and then gets sent down I believe there is a risk he could refuse assignment. I suspect that’s the concern
I think if he refuses the assignment and chooses Free Agency he would loose the Golden Ticket of a contract he signed with the Cubs.
He really isn’t very good
I don’t know what the thinking is there. Other than they have to put him on the roster so someone (Mastrobuoni preferably) needs to be removed. Maybe it’s too much thinking for them?
What exactly is the risk if Bote rejects the assignment? So he declines, He’s in the last year of his deal. He’s obviously not in their plans anymore. Nobody is going to claim him off waivers , Or maybe they will. It would only cost about 2 million or so to pick him up. So they just let the guy rot in Iowa for about 2 years? So they DFA him and release him, They have to pay him anyway. Why they gave him that contract was a mystery to everyone. So obviously they liked him at one time. So like I said, Why do they not like him now? It’s stupifying.
Oh wow I just looked it up and Bote still has 1 year left at 5 million. So don’t worry he’ll accept the assignment and nobodies picking him up. Plus I just saw Heyward still counts for 5 million next year also. That sucks.
They already DFA’d last year and he went unclaimed and accepted the minor league assignment so he could keep his contract. I would think the same is true for this year with the contract he has. A second DFA may allow him to reject the assignment and still be paid. But 5m is a drop in the bucket if that happened. It’s a steal if he was any help.
I guess Mets fans finally get to see Lindor in the ASG
“Underwhelming” also describes Hoyer and his little dog, Rossy. The team is going nowhere until they’re both fired.
Hoyer has been fine, Ross has been terrible.
If you’re being objective, the line up is actually pretty well balanced. They lack a true middle of the order bat (two really) but they have a couple contact guys, a couple really strong on base guys, Bellinger has been a great addition, I didn’t have an issue at all with Hosmer knowing Mervis would eventually be called up. Defensively they are really strong. Suzuki is a strong defender, Happ and Belli are excellent, Nico and Swanson are one of the best double play combos in the league. Starting rotation has also been very successful.
Hoyers faults, gave too much money (imo) to some guys, he didn’t secure a high leverage reliever and middle of the order hitters were glaring omissions even if he did think Mervis would come up and rake.
Ross has just done a terrible job managing the bullpen and equally bad at filling out a line up card. This team is five wins better than their record easy and that falls on Ross.
***I never liked Mancini. Never thought he made any sense whatsoever. I also didn’t care for the Smyly deal.
Really don’t know why they don’t give Slaughter or Bote a chance. Wisdom is awful. Vasquez was recently called up to Triple A. They should give him a chance at 3rd too. Mastrobuoni is just not good. I wish they’d give Nelson Velasquez a chance too.
There are a lot of guys I want to see get a decent chance in the second half. Vasquez is having an amazing year and has been getting it done since ST. Wisdom, Mancini, Mastrobuoni can go anytime. Same with Kay, Rucker Fulmer and Sampson. If these kids get some play, It could set up fierce battles next year in ST for jobs. It’s time to start planning for the future and I now agree with Drascoo. They need to move past Ross, Nice guy but he should go back to the booth.