3:55pm: Bellinger technically has two cracked ribs, Counsell tells Jesse Rogers of MLB.com, though there’s still no timeline for his absence.
3:25pm: The Cubs are going to place outfielder Cody Bellinger on the injured list due to a fractured rib, per Robert Murray of FanSided, relaying words from manager Craig Counsell on 670 The Score. Fellow outfielder Pete Crow-Armstrong will be recalled in a corresponding move.
Bellinger crashed into the wall at Wrigley Field last night while attempting to make a catch and was later removed. The club announced that he had a right rib contusion with Counsell saying after the game that the initial x-rays came back negative. It would appear that further testing has revealed a fracture and Bellinger will require a stint on the injured list to heal up.
It’s unclear at this point exactly how much time Bellinger will need to heal this fracture but the club will likely provide more information today or in the coming days. Either way, it’s an unfortunate blow for the club as Bellinger was just starting to heat up at the plate.
He hit .167/.270/.296 through his first 14 contests but his line in his past eight games was .333/.412/.700. Instead of building on that momentum, he’ll now have to sit out while dealing with this rib injury for some unknown amount of time.
For the Cubs, they already have several pitchers on the injured list and today’s news will leave them doubly shorthanded in the outfield. Seiya Suzuki went on the IL last week due to an oblique strain and is looking at an absence of about a month or so.
Those injuries will open the door for Crow-Armstrong to get another shot in the majors. He’s long been considered an excellent defender but with less certainty about his offense. He got his first taste of the majors late last year but hit just .000/.176/.000 through his first 19 plate appearances. He’s also been struggling in Triple-A so far this year, with a line of .203/.241/.392 in 83 plate appearances down there.
Despite the lack of offense lately, Crow-Armstrong might get a decent run of playing time in center while Bellinger is out. As mentioned, he should at least provide the Cubs with strong glovework, but the hitting will be more of a question mark. Ideally, he could get back to the form he showed prior to his promotion last year, when he hit .283/.365/.511 between Double-A and Triple-A. Some combination of Ian Happ, Mike Tauchman and Alexander Canario will also be in the mix for outfield playing time, with Patrick Wisdom heading out to the grass on some occasions as well.
For Bellinger personally, this injury will possibly put a dent in his plans to return to the open market in search of the long-term contract he didn’t find this winter. Though he hit .307/.356/.525 for the Cubs last year while also providing strong outfield defense, it seems that teams around the league were still hesitant about his injury-induced struggles in previous seasons. He required shoulder surgery after the 2020 season and hit just .193/.256/.355 over the two subsequent campaigns.
Even though his results were good last year, he also spent some time on the injured list due to a left knee contusion. Even when he returned from the IL, the Cubs kept him at first base for a while to limit the wear and tear on him, as opposed to running him out to the more demanding position of center field.
The bounceback in 2023 wasn’t enough to get Bellinger the mega deal he was likely hoping to secure, and he instead returned to the Cubs on a three-year deal that allows him to opt out after each season. After inking that deal, the ideal scenario would have seen Bellinger stay healthy and productive for the whole year, therefore casting aside some of the doubts about his health and long-term viability. Each day that he spends on the injured list this year will limit his ability to shift the narrative before deciding whether to trigger his opt-out at the end of the season.
I thought X-rays yesterday were negative? oh boy…
Fractures don’t always appear on an x-ray. Sometimes takes a CT or MRI.
I
It didn’t happen until late last night so there was no x-ray yesterday.
All of the reporting, including in this post says they xrayed last night
Injury news comes with rose colored glasses
Time for his 1st MLB hit!
Put that o-for last year to bed….
Has he got one in 3A yet ?
LMAO
The Curse of the Boras Five?
Only Chapman and Monty remain ….. (cue the spooky sound effects).
Fever,
JD Martinez is going through “soreness” not sure if you included him haha!
Acoss – I am indeed, he’s among 3 of the 5 not playing because of injury.
A lot of recent rib fractures.
Pitch Clock strikes again
This was on a defensive play
That was also 100% sarcasm guaranteed
Then they should really reconsider where theyre placing it.
That’s a solid brick wall behind those vines. No padding like you have at Fenway, Dewey…
I think it’s pretty much common knowledge all around the world that the walls in Wrigley are bricks. And again, Bricks are hard.
Coop – No padding on the Green Monster, CF screen or CF garage door.
Uncle Mike— you guys forgot to inform Cody about that. The ivy gave him a sense of false security.
Have you ever run into a brick wall?
I have!
Let me tell you they are as soft as skydiving and hitting the ground, well I think!
Never run full force into a brick wall because the wall wins all the time!
Casas is a big loss to The Sox.
Monty has switched to Wasserman. Scott got canned. Bellinger is going to wish he left Scott too. Looks like Bellinger is already a lock to stay in Chicago next season.
Monty doesn’t have many innings pitched and everybody passed on Chapman cause he’s just not very good. Fortunately there’s always the handful of opt out contract sucker GM’s.
Here’s hoping PCA is given a real shot this time, unlike with DR last season
Can we stop with the DR crud—PCA was not up last year for any other reason that defense and baserunning (not too good) BECAUSE the Cubs were in a playoff chase.
PCA was not called up, at all, to take ANY playing time from Bellinger, Happ, Suzuki, or Tauchman.
It was not DR’s job to let him and Canario play. Any one of us would have been throwing junk at the TV if these two were playing and Happ, Bellinger, Seiya were sitting in a playoff race.
It was 100% on DR! Good riddance to him. Glad to have a real coach this year!
Last place this year guys!
You’re trolling or a buffoon if you think the cubs are likely to be last in their division
I’m going to have to disagree with this one, Mike. If you remember, Candelario was out when PCA was called up and we just so happened to be playing in Coors and Arizona. Coors is the largest outfield in baseball, Arizona is notoriously tricky as well. It’s my opinion PCA should have been the primary center fielder for all those games with Bellinger starting at first base.
Flipping over to Canario, the offense was struggling when Canario was called up and Canario was on a crazy hot streak in AAA, Ross should have rode that hot streak or at least taken a chance to see if it would carry over. He could have very well made the difference between making and missing the playoffs because we have all seen when teams face a rookie call up with no book riding a hot streak that they have a strong chance of beating ml starters for a few games. ***see Wisdom and Morel
Ross managed scared at the end. Fortune favors the bold. His refusal to take a chance, even when the odds favored that chance, cost the Cubs the playoffs.
Dras, totally respect that opinion however if you remember when PCA was called up, in Colorado, he started two of the three games, went 0-7 and had some baserunning blunders. He played significant time in the Arizona series as well.
Bellinger, in September, started ONE game in CF until the last day of the season. He had been the 1B for a long time.
Understand that in no way am I a Ross fan and he actually lost me early in the season, when on TV with Taylor McGregor, he said they were going to slow on the running game (which got them off to a quick start) because Bellinger and Wisdom went on a couple of homer streaks.
I can list a lot of things that I didn’t like about Ross but with Happ, Suzuki, Bellinger and really Tauchman I would have been more upset seeing those guys out of the lineup just so Canario and PCA could get their feet wet when the dang race was heading down to a game separation of making/missing the playoffs.
I know, in reality, we are on the same page on this—just kind of wanted to clarify my position on Ross and really feel that he wearing down the pen is what hurt the chances more.
Let’s just hug it out.
That isn’t true, Bellinger started in center and moved to first later in games as a defensive replacement for Wisdom.
When Candelario went down, Bellinger should have moved to first base (although Wisdom did hit well) with PCA in center. Tauchman, if you would remember, was struggling badly when he did play.
PCA also only played in one game in Arizona.
I will agree Ross over used the pen and they wore out down the stretch. Despite Little not allowing a single run, Ross never used him in any high leverage outing.
Hope PCA only gets as much time as he earns. The division is up for grabs, if PCA can get on base over 0.300 he deserves to play, if he can’t Tauchman plays center at some point joined by Happ.
PCA has to hit better than Canario against RHP if he is going to start regularly. Otherwise he’s going to PR for the catchers and come in for late inning defense in the way that Counsell uses Madrigal.
Today against Verlander, both PCA and Canario are in the lineup as they try to nurse Happ’s hamstring by having him DH on a cold day. Time for PCA to start showing that he’s not just this generation’s Billy Hamilton.
There really is no comparing Hamilton to PCA. Hamilton was only slightly better than average defensively because of his speed where PCA is elite defender and his speed only enhances the quality of his defense.
I hesitate to say it, because he crashed and burned in the league but PCA is like Almora in the sense that he gets great jumps and takes great angles but he has plus speed where Almora only had fringy speed for a center fielder.
He’s been terrible in AAA so I would not expect much from him.
Well poop…
Alright Mash Mervis time for you to live up to the name. His leash will be short with Caissie raking in the minors. I think I’d rather have him DH than Mervis. Cubs have to find LH slug from somewhere
Doesn’t Cassie have to be added to the 40-man? Of course, there are possibilities to cut.
Oh ya damn forgot about that. Yep. PCA already on 40 man
I believe after they DFAd Cooper, there is a 40-man opening. I thought they were going to use it in Tehran though.
Wisdom could easily disappear for Caissie
Given Morel struggling and no proven back up to first base, designating Wisdom would be unwise.
Half the players I know are on the injured list already…
This season is gonna be weird.
You need to get to know more players if half of what you know are on IR.
As contagious as Covid.
Good job boarass , these players will reenter as free agents next year a little older and considered damaged goods
Bellinger is definitely not opting out at this rate. He’d be a fool to opt out if he has a down year or if it ends being full of injuries.
The Boras clients will be in a weaker position to demand long contracts next year(a year older) than they were this year. Scott Boras’ arrogance and being unable to read the market cost his clients probably a half billion or so.
I doubt that MLBfan. I’m pretty sure the league will straighten out what it needs to with the TV contracts and things will go back to normal somewhat. Drascoo called it correctly- This off season was a perfect storm. With the small market teams losing a lot of TV money and the teams with their own TV deals going all in on big time FA’s there wasn’t a ton of money left. Next year should be corrected or Manfred should be fired.
Are we still blaming the pitch clock?
I’m blaming a brick wall here
Quonset – I’m blaming Pink Floyd.
Careful with that axe, Eugene.
I guess there is a “Dark Side” lol
That’s what you get with outfield walls without padding. Surprised the players union goes along with it.
What do you mean they have some leaves on it. lol
There are ivy leaves. lol
I agree. I know fans love the historical aspect of Wrigley but it’s time to get out of the 1930’s. Ivy and brick is just dumb.
Well not many Iowa Cubs seem to be left to pick from. Interesting how Berlinger always gets hurt against the Astros and outfield walls 2 years in a row.
or maybe he just plays hard
The wall plays harder.
Or maybe the wall sucks
I blame Boras. Or the brick outfield wall at Wrigley. Either one. Both.
The ivy will provide protection! /sarcasm
How does Bartman get a free pass?
Any other ballpark this is a non-story. Silly to spend all this money and not protect your outfielders because of tradition.
When you are right you are right. There is no reason faux brick shouldn’t be added to the walls. You can keep all the charm of Wrigley while making it safer for players.
Got to love brick walls in the outfield.
The hate for PCA is still insane. Maybe not here. But man Cub fans can really be Impatient when it comes to young players. They still hate on him over 19 Plate Appearances. 14 ABs.
Not hate for PCA, but I felt he showed some immaturity in his September call up. Until Suzuki comes back, I expect PCA and Canario to be in a quasi-platoon with Tauchman shifting between RF and CF.
Seven of twenty-six opening day guys on the IL. It’s time for the rookies as a whole (Mervis, Canario and PCA as position players, Wicks and Brown as pitchers) to show everybody what they got. If they don’t have anything, then the FO has to think about bringing in some veteran reinforcements via trade.
PCA is very very raw still. Please PCA lay off high fastballs and know the strike zone. Just get on base and steal bags and quit trying to hit home runs and you won’t be sent back down
The power will come. He definitely doesn’t need to be a homerun guy. But he has potential for 25+ homeruns a season. I’d gladly take 15HRs and 45-50 SBs though.
I fear Mervais is a AAAA player, I hope I am wrong, but who are you benching for him? Busch? Morel? Hoerner? Unless you play Morel in the OF it has to be one of those.
He is totally over matched to MLB pitching, 19 or 14 AB’s or not the eyes can see it. Now he’s at .203 vs AAA pitchers with 79 AB’s. He was terrible in Spring Training too. Not every prospect makes it. They need pitching more than anything, it’s awful.
Did you just write PCA off? Top 20 prospect across raters and you said to your eyes “Not every prospect makes it” on a sample size of 14 at-bats and a slow start to the AAA season? Wow.
Billy Beane the kid says hi
PCA has a very high ceiling, but his floor is Billy Hamilton. I think he can eventually become an everyday #7 hitter with gold glove-level defense. But in these next few weeks, I’d be satisfied with .225/.285/.315.
PCA has to cheat for power and that isn’t a huge deal as long as he learns that he cannot cheat as often against ML pitching as he can against minor league pitching.
If he can cheat he can Astro
Its gonna happen.
Again.
I was 40 when I quit risking injury. I cracked a couple ribs on a ski jump. I could function in life but was out of sports for a long long time. It will hurt belli every swing for the next couple months and linger the rest of the season.
Glory days
I’m not a doctor nor did I sleep at a Holiday Inn Express last night – but every fracture, and everyone’s ability to heal – is different.
Owie
If this is anything like casas its mult months
That’s a tough injury. I had a fractured right rib, broken right wrist and a few other bumps and bruises when I had a motorcycle accident many years ago. Thankfully I wore a helmet. Anyway, the docs told me about 6 weeks for the rib. I didn’t get that rib completely healed for 4 months. Hurt to breathe, twist, reach and do simple stuff like everyday chores. Maybe medical treatment has progressed over the years. I hope Belli gets back soon and healthy. We will see.
I hope they gave you some good painkillers at least. This is why I don’t like motorcycles.
Gave up my bike years ago after the birth of my kid. I just don’t trust other motorists. Also don’t do extreme skiing anymore.
Don’t sneeze, dude
My names not Sammy Sosa.
At least he probably didn’t feel it…
At what point does Wrigley put up some sort of padding on the walls? I know it’s all about the ivy, but I think million dollar players are worth more.
Never, it’s been there almost 100 years.
Sad that they won’t upgrade a bit to protect their guys.
PCA is hitting a rather smooth .203 in AAA
after slugging a big 0-fer in MLB last season, he better turn the corner soon or his confidence will be shot.
First Blake Snell, and now this. Tough day for Boris holdouts.
Well that healthy Bellinger didn’t last long
As a Met fan,I hated to see him traded for Javy Baez.(Crow-Armstrong)Great center fielder with speed.I’m sure in time his hitting will come around.I’ll be rooting for him.
First ML hit for PCA is a 2 Run homerun! Gotta love it.
Unfortunately the Cubs are going to have to eat the 80mil as Bellinger has reverted to his old self, a below 200 hitter who is constantly hurt.