Cubs manager Craig Counsell provided members of the media, including Maddie Lee of the Chicago Sun-Times, updates on some injured players. Right-hander Caleb Kilian has a teres major strain and will be out for a while, probably not back in game action until around the All-Star break. Infielder Nick Madrigal has a mild right hamstring strain, with his prognosis a bit less clear at the moment. “We’re going to progress him over the next week, and then we’ll have a good idea where we’re at,” Counsell said of Madrigal.
Kilian, 27 in June, came over to the Cubs in the 2021 deadline deal that sent Kris Bryant to the Giants. He was added to the Cubs’ 40-man roster in June of 2022 but has spent most of his time since then on optional assignment. He’s only tossed 16 2/3 major league innings so far, having allowed 23 earned runs in that time.
His results in the minors have naturally been better. He has thrown 231 innings at the Triple-A level over the past two years, with an earned run average of 4.36. He struck out 22.1% of batters faced in that time, gave out walks at a 9.5% clip and got grounders on roughly half the balls in play he allowed.
The righty would have been in competition for the final spot in the Cubs’ rotation. Four starting jobs are accounted for between Justin Steele, Shota Imanaga, Kyle Hendricks and Jameson Taillon, with the final spot up for grabs between guys like Jordan Wicks, Hayden Wesneski, Javier Assad, Ben Brown and Porter Hodge.
Kilian would have been in that battle and, even if he didn’t win the gig, he would have been in Triple-A looking to earn the first call-up when a need arose. But he was experiencing some discomfort and underwent an MRI yesterday, which revealed the bad news. He’ll now be out of action for the next few months and won’t be available to the club until the second half of the season, most likely.
As for Madrigal, he also came into camp fighting for a job. The Cubs have a fairly open competition for time at third base, with Madrigal in the mix alongside Patrick Wisdom and Christopher Morel, as well as a few others. Madrigal’s current injury doesn’t appear to be severe, but if it lingers into the start of the season, it could open up more playing time for Wisdom or Morel until Madrigal is back to full strength.
Madrigal is a hit-over-power guy who has just four home runs in his 846 major league plate appearances. His 4.6% walk rate is also very low but his tiny 8.9% strikeout rate demonstrates he is one of the toughest hitters in the league to punch out. His career batting line of .280/.328/.354 translates to a wRC+ of 90, indicating he’s been about 10% below league average overall. Last year was his first season playing third base at the big league level, moving from his customary second base spot, but he seems to have made the move swimmingly. He was worth eight Defensive Runs Saved and 10 Outs Above Average in just 560 1/3 innings at the hot corner.
Wisdom and Morel have the opposite profile, as both of them are high-power, high-strikeout bats with questionable defense. The club doesn’t have a true designated hitter, so perhaps they could have used Madrigal at third while deploying one of Morel or Wisdom as the DH, but that won’t be an option if Madrigal misses some time.
Madrigal is a pretty good candidate for some kind of hamstring injury so this isn’t new. Kilian missing time will hurt him, between healing and ramping up, he’s probably not going to see action until probably August, and chances are he’ll be in the minors putting in the work.
Too bad. Killian was looking pretty good so far. Not a question of if but when with P’s. Madrigal and Wisdom can take their injuries with them when they go. Because with Madrigal it’s the same thing. When not if.
Uncle—the good part of the Kilian injury is that it will quickly open up a 40 man roster spot when he goes on the 60 day IL.
Depending on how they use it.
Fair enough—but at least it opens one up……activity doesn’t always equal accomplishment.
Just glancing at the 40 man
Cuas
Wisdom
Madrigal
Almonte
Brennen Davis? does he still have options? IDK
They’ll need some spots to bring up guys that aren’t on it yet for the pen. All those guys should hit waivers except Davis.
Carl Edwards is on a minor league pact so he doesn’t matter but probably has an opt out somewhere.
You know I share the same feelings on Wisdom and Davis—Davis does have 2 option years left.
The other guys aren’t going anywhere and I hadn’t thought about Cuas but he also has 2 options left and has to be higher on the depth chart than your list below.
And, if Cuas doesn’t make the team how are my son and I going to play the game: “Let’s guess what letter on the advertising board behind the left handed batter’s box is this pitch going to hit?”
Somehow, we have to get me, you and drascoo to meet at my seats one game and just chat ball for 2:38 —- or how ever long a game takes this year.
“All those guys should hit waivers except Davis”
And exactly zero of those players will be waived.
Well if they have options fine. I don’t have any more faith in Cuas learning to pitch at Iowa than I do him with Hottovy. Davis has been passed by 4 OF’s in the Cubs system already. Cuas is just as likely to hit the Bull in the movie as the strike zone at this point Mike is right. If you want to keep them around fine. I think they’ll need the 40 man spots sooner than they’ll make Wrigley but fine. So be it. If they’re waiting for them to turn into something to trade them you’re wasting your time.
Cuas is a solid bullpen arm when used properly. And by used properly I mean 1.) never use him on consecutive days, especially against the same team and 2.) never use him against the same hitters in the same series.
Cuas is very hard to get a read on in short stints, especially coming in after a starter who has a traditional delivery but if you let line up’s see him too often he’s going to get exposed.
For those that aren’t aware, Cuas was a SS at Maryland and spent his 1st three years of minor league ball as a SS. I believe nearly out of baseball, converted to pitching in 2018 where he threw 19 IP. He’s still finding his way, and I bet the Cubs give him a long leash. He isn’t a free agent until ’29. And there’s a high probability that he’s on the 26.
Ah, the Teres Major…. You can really see it on clear nights.
fuc-
That is not how you spell Filihok’s name.
Cubs pitchers leaving camp right now:
Starters
Steele
Tallion
Hendricks
Imanaga
Wicks
Long man- Assad
Pen
Merryweather
Leiter Jr.
Neris
Alzolay
Little
Palencia
last guy
Almonte
Wesneski
Other
Just my opinion
Smyly?
Gone hopefully. Or I guess he could be other in my scenario. Just hope this injury doesn’t make Smyly more keepable. Brown,Hodge and Wesneski at Iowa should be first men up as starters now. Unless one of their retread P/U’s does something at Iowa.
Too early to tell right now but Smyly and his $9m contract need to be on the bullpen list and as of right now I don’t see Palencia making it but it’s early. Carl Edwards Jr has looked pretty good so far also.
Little and Palencia are the only 2 with options which is why I picked them.I agree on Edwards he’s looked pretty good. But sooner or later you’re going to need his spot and then he goes on waivers anyway. Might as well do it now and see if anyone wants him.
You’re right uncle—I think the lack of flexibility or ability to have guys on the shuttle may lead the Cubs to losing a couple of decent arms along the way.
You mentioned Brown and Hodge earlier—and I doubt Horton is up too quick—but if either of those mentioned are ready I think guys like Leiter Jr, Wesneski, etc might be the sacrifice as the season goes on (and if Brown is better—that’s OK)
Leaving camp now? Shouldn’t they stay until the end of Spring Training?
Almonte has no more options so
He makes the team
Actually I’d put Smyly on Waivers and see if anyone claims him. Then I guess I’d bring him North if I had no choice.
They aren’t waiving Smyly… PERIOD.
Smyly is making 10.5 million dollars in 2024. Nobody is going to take him on waivers. Hopefully they’ll just release him if he bombs in the bullpen. But I doubt it. And now that Nick Madrigal is injured yet again, they can’t easily trade him. And for some reason I don’t think Craig Counsell is going to like Patrick Wisdom very much. All three of those roster spots would be better served going to youngsters. Isn’t it nice to have so much young talent in the system again?
Pretty sure Counsell knows what Wisdom brings. Counsell was hired hired by the Cubs Nov 13th. A week later they extended Wisdom, giving him a $2M raise – $765k to $2.7M.
Interesting, I appreciate you mentioning that. For some reason I thought the Wisdom extension came before Counsell.
They waited 2 months more to extend Madrigal for only $1.8M.
As fans, we naturally focus on the Ks, but Counsell likely puts more value on the wRC+ 109 and 23 HRs in 300PAs.
And his over .900 ops in the second half.
Truth be told, Wisdom needs to start every game at DH when there is a soft tossing pitcher on the mound. The dude cannot catch up to a good fastball but he absolutely crushes the Hendricks types and guys who throw more off-speed pitches. Then, when a team brings in a hard throwing/high leverage reliever, pinch hit with Madrigal.
Don’t remind me. Then they came to their senses later and signed Garrett Cooper. Cooper 1- Wisdom Ba Bye.
How about we make a bet… if Wisdom gets waived I don’t for a year. If Wisdom doesn’t get waived you don’t post for a year.
I guess the difference is I don’t give a crap what you post so it’s no win for me
You should pay closer attention then, you wouldn’t post so many y stupid comments.
Madrigal really knows how not to help his cause. He’s going to give Morel a long runway at 3B (which he will need).
Like I said last week, the biggest weakness in Madrigal’s game is that he gets injuring running and running is somewhat important in baseball. Happens time and time again with Nick.
He’s made out of glass. You can pencil in a hamstring injury year after year with Madrigal. But if I had to pick him or Wisdom, I’ll take Madrigal.
If I had to pick Madrigal or Wisdom I’d take Herpes. It’s curable.
Haha yeah I know neither is ideal at this point. Morel can fumble infield grounders for the entire season and I’d still take him at 3B!
As long as Morel hits HR’s and is a proven run producer Counsell can deal some errors and misplays. But if he doesn’t, I doubt Counsell will be satisfied with shabby defense. But the reality is what are his options that may be better overall.
Madrigal’s career high in games is 92. The only time he’s played in over 60. Does a hamstring injury surprise?
If Madrigal has to start the season on the DL, does Bote go north with the team?
Madrigal got drafted out of college where they play like 60 games tops. That’s like his limit.
I don’t think Bote has any shot whatsoever heading north with the team…unless they play their final ST games in Vegas again this year…but seriously I think it would take about 8 injuries for him to make the squad. That was $15m we wasted, grrr.
When Hoyer gave Bote that deal the Cubs had nothing and the money seemed like nothing. And then right after that Bote got hurt. So nobody really foresaw that the money might mean much in 4 years but it’s over after this year finally.
The Bryant for Kilian/Canario trade was a good one.
Glad those 2 prospects have made their way to the Cubs 40 man and hopefully they’ll got more opportunities this year.
It’s a good thing we weren’t relying on him for much of anything. But hopefully he heals up and finally figures things out.
Not sure why there’s still so much debate as to who is going to play 3B for the Cubs. Counsell even said he wants Morell to make those mistakes to help him learn the position. Barring a huge collapse from him over the next couple weeks it seems clear the job is going to be Morel’s.
If you saw the game Wednesday, that is unplayable. His mental error of not covering the bag on a steal attempt was as bad as his 2 physical errors.
Councell said he’d give Morel every CHANCE to win the job. Councell did not say Morel has the job regardless of how he looks in spring.
I think Wisdom is on his last leg in a Cub uniform. If he doesn’t start out strong, I see him meeting the same fate as Hosmer did last season.
Again, a week after Councell was hired he gave Wisdom a $2M raise.
Wisdom has some positional flexibility. OF corners in a pinch, Infield corners, and naturally DH. A large part of the manager swap was the FO believing the new manger knew how to put players in the right position to succeed. Wisdom is going North. Madrigal is going to the DL and Killian to the 60 day DL. This opens a spot for someone. Maybe the string bean slinger. If Morel continues to struggle in the field Wisdom is the best bet at third. A swap with the Giants is probably off the table unless they take back Madrigal and another salary. Cubs are currently topped out salary wise until the deadline unless they shed what they take. Bote off the roster. He comes back if they have a major infield injury. Probably sent packing for good if not needed later. Hodge and Brown go to Iowa.
Bote isn’t on the roster, he was out righted last Spring and accepted assignment.
A lot of people hate Wisdom, I don’t particularly like Wisdom, but he isn’t going to be DFA. P-Wiz hit very well in the second half of the season when Ross finally got him in good situational match ups. Wisdom doesn’t hit velocity at all but destroys junk ball pitchers and should get plenty of at bats against them.
If I’m the Cubs, I’m not adding anyone to the 40 man roster until I absolutely have to. I want to see who becomes available during roster cuts and get prolonged looks at our non-roster invitees once the season starts. Bare in mind also the Cubs only have two catchers on the 40 man roster, so having an open spot is a good luxury to have so you don’t have to expose anyone to waivers if one of our catchers goes down.
Mastrobuoni and Peralta are in too on the position side. Quite possibly the new roster spot goes to Peralta if not Edwards. Killian wasn’t making the squad. It’s a lost season for him. Someone that threw innings last year is going down with Thompson in the final cuts too.