Cubs right-hander Marcus Stroman was supposed to make his return from a hip injury today, but the 32-year-old righty experienced some soreness in his rib cage that caused the Cubs to delay his return. They’ve received unwelcome news after Stroman underwent testing, announcing to reporters that he’s now been diagnosed with a right rib cartilage fracture (Twitter link via Maddie Lee of the Chicago Sun-Times). There’s no timetable for his return at this point.
Although the next steps and the timeline for Stroman’s return are uncertain at this point, it’s unquestionably bad news for the Cubs. Stroman’s made 23 starts this year, allowing 3.85 earned runs per nine innings. He was even better earlier in the year, as he had an ERA of just 2.28 through June 20. With the Cubs floundering in the standings at that time, he was often floated as a potential candidate for a deadline trade.
But he then allowed 30 earned runs in his next 30 innings before landing on the injured list in early August due to right hip inflammation. That dip in Stroman’s health and performance coincided with the club getting hot and surging up in the standings. They ultimately held onto trade chips like Stroman and Cody Bellinger, as well as adding new players such as Jeimer Candelario. They are currently 61-58 and just a game out of a Wild Card spot.
They have been getting by without Stroman for a couple of weeks and will have to continue to do so. Four spots in the rotation have been taken by Justin Steele, Kyle Hendricks, Javier Assad and Jameson Taillon of late. With Stroman’s expected return this week, Drew Smyly was moved to the bullpen, tossing an inning of relief against the Blue Jays on the weekend. It seems he might get another shot at a starting gig, with manager David Ross telling reporters such as Sahadev Sharma of The Athletic that Smyly will likely get back in the mix.
Smyly’s season has been fairly similar to Stroman’s, as he had a 3.38 ERA through his start on June 19 but allowed 35 earned runs in his next 35 innings before getting bumped to the ’pem, inflating his ERA for the year to 5.01. Hayden Wesneski could be another option but he has a 5.51 ERA as a starter this year. They have other options on the 40-man such as Ben Brown or Caleb Kilian, but the former hasn’t made his major league debut and is walking 14.3% of Triple-A hitters this year while the latter has a 12.42 ERA in his limited big league work.
For the time being, it seems there are some moving parts here, with Stroman’s health and Smyly’s performance being two key factors to watch in the weeks to come. For Stroman personally, he’s facing an opt-out decision in the months to come, as he can walk away from the final season of his three-year deal and leave $21MM on the table.
Not too long ago, it seemed like a slam dunk that he would return to the open market, though that’s less certain now. He would likely still be able to top that figure on another deal even with this injury-marred second half, but it’s obviously a lesser platform than if he had stayed healthy and effective into October.
Hmmm, does Stro still opt out if he doesn’t make it back this season?
Yes. It’s just a rib injury.
How did he FRACTURE it?
Off-field incident?
Probably trying to make a woman.
How do you fracture rib cartilage? I can see how you can fracture a bone, but I’m under the impression that cartilage is softer.
Doing “work” in the bathroom. He pushed too hard. Hahaha.
Maybe things got a little too wild in the bedroom?
Hey just call him the new Mc-rib, purchased for a limited time.
@Avenger, hyaline cartilage has much more collagen fibers than other cartilage. It is why it so rigid and able to fracture. And as nearly anyone who has had a rib injury can attest to, it is extremely unpleasant.
And then she left.
Now he wants his babyback.
Think of it like a broken nose. Typically the “broken nose” includes a break of the bone. But when you look at someone you can often tell if they have broken their nose in their life and this is actually because the cartilage was torn and looks different rather than the actual bone of the nose which is reset and doesn’t really change in appearance. Cartilage is squishy but it’s still semi-rigid. So depending on how squishy the specific area of cartilage is it can be more prone to tears or breaks.
Yes, it makes simple things like coughing and sneezing a living hell.
The way he’s pitched so badly as of late compared to how he started the season, plus now having this injury, I’d be surprised if he opted out. He might though and he will probably end up taking a 1 year prove it deal for way less than he would’ve made had he just opted in. So if he doesn’t opt in he is surely going to screw himself.
Padres will sign him for 14-years $288MM
Comment aligns perfect with your profile picture lol
Just facts.
Only if he plays shortstop.
“Padres will sign him”…Yes they probably will…and instantly regret it, just the way they did Hosmer and Will Myers. The Padres motto?…Spend first, think later and then trade away your best prospects for the newest shiny objects on the market.
Machado, Tatis, Kim, Musgrove, Darvish, Snell Sanchez, Soto, Hader, Martinez, Wacha, Lugo, Wilson, Suarez – yeah fan so, so much regret over here.
Your comments coming with the perspective that all other teams don’t swing and miss on a player shows the level of your MLB intelligence.
Also, for the record, Myers wasn’t that bad of an extension / value except for the last year or so and he was underpaid (per performance) early in the contract so he doesn’t even really fit your point.
Hosmer no argument – overpaid from day 1 and no real justification for the 2 extra years. That said, see above – every team has a closet full of “0h sh—t” moves.
Doubtful, Preller is toast after the season
You may think he should be toast but Seidler has publicly confirmed his confidence in Preller and with that contract I can’t see it happening in 2023.
Now, Melvin on the other hand is likely to be the scapegoat if they don’t make the playoffs – I’m not sure I’m in the firing Melvin camp but I see it in the air. In same announcement, Seidler wasn’t quite as confident in Melvin and he only has 1 year left on contract.
KLN – nicely played
That’s a nice collection of shiny objects you just listed. Wouldn’t you rather watch a playoff team?
@Hemlock- You must mean Ohtani for 11 years, for $560 million.
Preller should have no autonomy to make any managerial decisions considering he’s stunk and had too many opportunities to put a consistent contender on the roster. If Melvin goes they both have to go. The ownership has spent a ton of money for a typical small spending club. Bottom line is if one goes they both do
My guess is Stro excersizes his player option for 2024. His character has took a downward spiral in recent years and a don’t see teams getting into a bidding war for him. This injury will also throw up red flags.
He opts out, signs with STL. They switch him to RP by June.
>switch him to RP by June.
Or catcher
They’ve already got 3 MLB ready catchers…. not including Contreras who they should ship back to Chicago along with 50 million… inwas convinced he’d done some cocaine to celebrate his singing and that’s why he didn’t know his pitchers and blame him for alot of the Cardinals early season faluires… SEAN MURPHY for what Oakland was asking was the right deal did Atlanta skip a beat?
How about a MLBTR poll?
So like does anyone else get that Stromans Hollywood persona would be Smokey potrayd by Chris Tucker in the ICE Cube Friday Series?
Cubs and Stroman will reach a deal this off-season, maybe 2024 and 2025 at 25 million with 21 million for 2026 but an opt out between 2025 and 2026. Deja vu?
Stroman is a solid number two without big K numbers. The haters and a few bigots will complain about his personality but his current teammates like him and the word personality is code for having a du-rag and being an outspoken short (for an athlete) black man.
Don’t overpay for Stroman, but hope Cubbies get him back on a shrewd deal as he adds value.
Or maybe people dislike him despite the fact that he’s black.
Let’s put it this way, among those bloggers who dislike his personality, how many do you think have a BLM yard sign or bumper sticker? The people who think he’s outspoken still think “all lives matter” is the correct answer.
“how many do you think have a BLM yard sign or bumper sticker? ”
Dude, you KNOW people who have those? That’s got to be one of the white-peoplist things I’ve ever heard!
The Cubs would be happy to have Stroman come back next year for the $21M that is his option. One more year would work out, as a nice timeline – with the arms the Cubs currently have coming through the system, as well as the ones they have under control or on options for 2024. And Javier Assad is beginning to look like he will be capable of taking a spot in the rotation next year.
Never heard of this injury. Sounds like it would hurt to breathe, let alone pitch.
Laughing—A bad idea that can cause premature death according to some folks, might be deadly with that sort of injury.
It does, trust me!
Wow, when did this happen? Bad luck for him, maybe good luck for the Cubbies since he wasn’t pitching all that well as of late.
cubs =playoffs????
Absolutely correct. And takes a long time to heal. Happened to my sister when she was a kid…
It does. I had nine broken ribs last year.
Was he hurt before the deadline?
Yes. With the hip thing.
Ahh ok. Sucks for the Cubbies, I give them a world of credit for buying and going for it. If run differentials can predict the future, they should be a playoff team.
Jed is going to have to bring up one of the kids vs holding them back. Brown has been on the DL with a oblique strain. Horton would be crazy but he would not be a unique scenerio going up that fast. His talent justifies a gamble.
They’ll probably just roll with Assad for now.
> They’ll probably just roll with Assad for now.
Putin has been doing that for years.
This won’t get him a long term deal- Heck a rib fracture(??) sounds like a long recovery to me. I bet he doesn’t opt out. I honestly am not sure if that’s a good thing.
I had 9 fractured ribs last year and it took a good 2 months until I felt better overall
Maybe picking up his player option after all.
Hi Wilmer 🙂
Terrible timing all around. For his pocketbook, and for the team
> For his pocketbook
That’s something a lady carries around in these parts. You callin’ that man a lady?
SODOMOJO: That’s the one shining light in this. The cubs lost to the lowly White Sox Tuesday. They’re going to tank real soon.
Sure is a shame. But now he’ll have more time for his real passion. Defending his height on twitter.
Heard it happened on the weekend when Cubs were in Toronto for Joey Bats ceremony, Stro asked good buddy , show me how to do that bat flip , twacked himself on the rib with the bat knob , as the flip flopped.
Stroman is a bad dude. After Ian Happ hit Willson Contreras with his backswing and drew blood Stroman was laughing about it like a child. I guarantee the Cardinals won’t sign him and good luck to whoever does.
Where did you see that? The whole dugout was laughing when Mikolas was egging them on after getting ejected but I never saw anyone laughing when the original hit happened.
The whole dugout was not laughing.
Egging them on?
You sound like a Cubs fan……
An M’s fan actually. Mikolas was shouting at the Cubs dugout trying to engage them but that resulted in pretty much laughter from multiple players. Watch the videos, the Bally Sports feed. As he approaches the Cards dugout after getting ejected, he turns around and starts gesturing across the field. Then the video goes to the Cubs dugout where Stroman and other players are laughing as the umpiring is explaining the ejections to Ross. The video even goes to show Stroman again laughing but again, it was after the ejection, not when the backswing hit happened.
@king of cards. I heard it happened when he was reading the NL Central standings in the paper, and had to bend over too far – to see where the Cardinals are at.
You sound like a B hurt former lover of Stroman’s.
Watch the game. The whole dugout was laughing at Mikolas.
Why would Mikolas start a fight with the dugout unprovoked????
Why would he do that????
He was responding to the reaction from the Cubs players. Stroman was the one laughing the others were just there.
That’s a good question. No one knows why Mikolas plunked Happ. The laughing was from Mikolas’ unexplainable temper tantrum.
Mikolas hit Happ because Happ hit Contreras and knocked him out of the game. It’s not some big mystery dude that’s what happened. Mikolas got mad because he was ejected when he shouldn’t have been. The ump said it was because Mokolas threw at Happ twice but the ump didn’t issue a warning the first time like he was supposed to do.
Are you saying there is a rule in the rulebook that states a player can’t be ejected without a warning?
I am saying I have been watching baseball all my life and I have never seen someone tossed over something so insignificant. He hit him with an 85 mph pitch on the butt.
So you missed the Dbacks game a few months back where Walker was ejected, from the dugout, for clapping? There have been a lot of weird ejections, and a lot of instances where there should have been ejections.
Warnings are not always issued. A quick Google search yields: “If the umpires determine that a pitcher is intentionally throwing at a batter, they can eject a pitcher without warning, or they can toss both the manager and the pitcher per rule 6.02 following crew consultation.”
Pretty sure the official rule says a warning should be issued. Pretty sure about that please stop making things up to win the internet. I will mute you if you do it again.
Not a random thing. I’m not trying to be anything but informative. And while I kind of agree it was a quick ejection, I’ve seen quicker. This is from the official 2023 Rules of Baseball Rule 6.02:
(9) Intentionally Pitch at the Batter.
(1) If, in the umpire’s judgment, such a violation occurs, the
umpire may elect either to:
(A) Expel the pitcher, or the manager and the pitcher,
from the game, or
(B) may warn the pitcher and the manager of both teams
that another such pitch will result in the immediate
expulsion of that pitcher (or a replacement) and the
manager.
If, in the umpire’s judgment, circumstances warrant, both
teams may be offi cially “warned” prior to the game or at
any time during the game.
img.mlbstatic.com/mlb-images/image/upload/mlb/wqn5…, page 81
My point was simply that it isn’t required to warn. Have a great rest of the season of whichever team you root for.
The umpire used the first pitch as justification for tossing Mikolas after the second pitch. He said that after the game. But if that’s the case you are supposed to issue a warning. And he didn’t do that.
If Mikolas had thrown the very next pitch at Happs head he would have been thrown out with no warning and it would have been justified. But that’s not what happened.
It’s merely a flesh wound!
Gotta wonder if he knows something more, he was really pushing for a long term deal and the Cubs were receptive to it and then they backed off,thankfully the Cubs said nah we’re good
StroME suddenly has a second injury after the first. Something doesn’t add up.
“Something doesn’t add up”..A player suffering another injury while trying to come back from a previous injury, is not exactly CSI conspiracy material my friend. It happens all the time.
It is my understanding that, when he was with the Mets, he stayed on the IL just long enough to ensure he had enough service time to qualify for free agency, Then promptly opted out of the season.
I don’t blame people for being suspicious.
Stroman didn’t play in a single game in 2020 and opted out before the season started.
I do blame people for being haters with no facts to support their opinion.
Owners engage in service time manipulations all the time. If Stroman had a reason to sit out the pandemic shortened year, it was his decision to make and his Cubs teammates clearly do not hold it against him.
BaseballisLife you haven’t watched StroME enough to make that kind to claim. Nothing to do with “haters” as that’s a cop out accusation. Nothing to do with his social media shenanigans and everything to do with what he does at the park.
Incorrect he was out with a phantom injury then opted out of the season in August just as he qualified for enough service time.
Teams use service time manipulation, guess it’s only fair that a player does. And the Mets kept him anyway with a QO. And got a draft pick when he signed elsewhere the following year.
Sorry but that’s BS, the team needed him to compete that season, and he only cared about himself. What about the other 24 players who didn’t try to game the system? He’s not a team player.
Do you ever get tired of looking stupid?
The team wasn’t getting him either way, so the story goes. He was injured but also was opting out of the 2020 season anyway, like some players did. But the story goes that he held the opt out until the last possible minute, remaining on the roster, so he could accrue service time.
mlb fan – something does not add up. Not exactly conspiracy material to say. Also to say it “happens all the time” is as naive a comment as you can get.
I just hope as a brewers fan that cubs fans don’t use this as an excuse IF you lose the division… let’s not forget brewers have only got 4 starts all season of woody just different timing… I wish stroman was playing and I wish him well.. does he opt out? I still think he will even if his best offer is 3/45 it’s more overall money then opting in and chancing another injury… good luck to the cubs… but if the brewers DO win the division they earned it same with the cubs… reds fans are basically 4.5 games back of the brewers as the brewers dominated the season series brewers are up on the cubs for the year series wise but that could flip its close… it’s going to be a fun ride we are in the final stretch!!! GO brewers!!! Hey cubs fans I’m happy if you make a wild card then our division wasn’t as bad as people say it is… but then again we do have the cardinals in our division so that’s almost a gimme win…
He will opt for free agency and the most liberal owner will overpay him.
Money has ruined sports
Fans are willing to pay it.
Maybe he will opt for free agency in the re-entry draft.
Highly doubt there are any liberal owners. But most general managers/pbo’s are likely liberal.
Uh, no. The son of the Cubs owner is Todd Ricketts and he was the Republican National Committee finance chair.
Let’s bring up Cade Horton and see what he can do
Do you mean Pete Horton? Is he Canadian ? I’ve never met an American named Horton.
Horton hears a “Who’s on first?”
With that kind of injury, I would suspect he will miss the rest of the season. Those kinds of injuries tend to heal slowly. Tough break because I am sure he wanted to get back and right the ship after a string of brutal outings to enhance his chances of a nice payday after an opt out. Now, who knows what he will do.
Opt outs are “heads I win, tails you lose” for the player. Good for FOs that don’t play that game. Cubs will be lucky if he opts out under the motivation he’ll get more guaranteed even if the AAV is less in post-prime years.
Guys never had these injuries years ago. They just played.
Years ago pitchers average career was 2 years shorter than it is today.
Years ago every pitcher was not throwing 95+.
Years ago when a pitcher had a labrum tear or a UCL tear their careers were just over.
Years ago we didn’t have a 24/7 news cycle where every ingrown nail gets reported like it is today. Print space was limited so unless you’re were a star, you were an unknown.
And knowing all the players was more impressive. Baseball talk was more of a secret language that only diehards could speak. Nowadays you wanna research about a prospect you’re 5 seconds away from knowing every relevant stat there is about him.
You know who also doesn’t throw 95+? Marcus Stroman.
Maybe the Cubbies can trade Stroman to a contender
Maybe the White Sox can start attending MMA classes
Cubs are in the last wild card spot, I think that’d count as a contender. I guess you can’t blame a WS fan for being unfamiliar with what that term means.
Calling Ben Brown… love to see him get a spot start or two and bridge Wesneski.
I said before, the Cubs made a big mistake not trading for another starter before the deadline, Stroman was struggling, Smyly was as well and Taillon has been inconsistent. Now Stroman is out, JT got smoked in his latest outing and Smyly is in the pen.
Isn’t he on the Injured list with an oblique issue?
Y
Legit question: how does cartilage fracture? I thought it was softer stuff, like at the end of your nose. Did his get brittle somehow?
According to a Cubs minor league source, Stroman is being held in Canada after trying to move marijuana across the border on the team plane. The rib cage injury is more of a coverup story, which makes you wonder how Brittney Greiner can be treated like such a villain where Stroman gets a cover story.
According to a MLBTR anaonymous and disreputable source, blogger “garbage-truck” is enjoying a nana-made platter of slathered nachos in the family’s basement, where he comfortably resides.
Good thing they had no interest in that extension.
Will he accuse the doctor of a racist prognosis?
Will you shut your pie hole and stop gaslighting?