Cubs star Kyle Tucker suffered a hairline fracture in his right hand back in June, reports Jesse Rogers of ESPN. Tucker jammed his right hand diving into second base on a stolen base attempt in a game against the Reds on June 1. Manager Craig Counsell subsequently confirmed the June fracture but says Tucker is now healthy (via Rogers).
Initial x-rays came back negative. However, Rogers writes that follow-up testing revealed a small fracture at the top of his hand between his ring finger and pinky. The Cubs did not announce the diagnosis at the time, and Tucker has not spent any time on the injured list. The four-time All-Star preferred to play through the injury.
In retrospect, it’s fair to question whether that was prudent. Tucker had been one of the best hitters in MLB for the season’s first two months. He owned a .284/.395/.524 slash with 12 homers across 269 plate appearances through June 1. Since then, he’s batting .236/.352/.368 in almost the exact same amount of playing time. Tucker has connected on six longballs over the past two and a half months.
While the injury certainly seems to be having an impact, it’s worth noting that Tucker actually continued to play well in the immediate aftermath. He hit .311 with five homers in June. It wasn’t until July that things went completely off the rails. He’s batting .189/.325/.235 with one homer in his past 38 games.
Tucker’s plate discipline remains strong — he has actually walked more often than he has struck out during that stretch — but his power has completely evaporated. His rate of hard contact (batted balls with an exit velocity of at least 95 MPH) was between 44-50% in each of the first two months. It remained solid at 42.9% in June but has plummeted below 30% in each of the past two months.
That kind of play from a hitter of Tucker’s caliber has naturally led to speculation about his health. Pat Murphy, manager of the Milwaukee team that is playing the Cubs this week, opined that the outfielder was playing through an injury. “I think Tucker’s hurt. I don’t have any information, but Tucker’s not the same,” Murphy said on 670 The Score.
Tucker himself has maintained that he’s physically ok. However, president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer conceded to Rogers “that when you look at his numbers, it’s had an impact on him, for sure. That’s the nature sometimes of these small injuries. They can do that.” Counsell has kept Tucker out of the lineup for the past three games — two days, including a doubleheader on Tuesday. Chicago won all three games over the MLB-best Brewers with Owen Caissie playing right field. Counsell hasn’t committed to Tucker’s status for tomorrow’s series finale.
The Cubs remain six games back of Milwaukee in the NL Central. They’re comfortably in Wild Card position, which gives them the flexibility to mix in more off days for Tucker if necessary. They’ll need to find a way to get him back to being productive if they hope to make a deep playoff run. The injury and slump obviously come at an inopportune time for Tucker personally, as he’s a couple months from free agency. He’s the clear #1 player in the class and generally expected to command $400MM+ as he enters his age-29 season.
That is not surprising, it’s common for players to have their performance suffer due to undisclosed injuries.
Needless to say, bad timing for both Tucker and the Cubs.
They have Owen Caissie who has filled in rather well. Cubs are better off giving Tucker time off to correct himself and let Owen run with RF for now. When the league adjusts Tucker should be back healthy.
Tucker chose to play because of his contract year and it’s going to cost him.
Bart – I think it depends on how long he would have been out if he had the surgery immediately, but it’s not uncommon for players to play injured and in pain strictly to help the team.
For example Pedroia played the final two months of his 2007 ROY and World Series Championship season with a fractured hand. Every injury is different though.
Who says he needed surgery? He could’ve still let it heal naturally, just while sitting on the IL and not torpedoing his rate stats while letting a potentially better option play for him.
Bartolo-Well so playing anyway and completely going down the tubes helped him how exactly? I’ll wait.
Duh 🙄
Thats what I thought, makes sense he’s struggled and they’ve all kinda served him some crap for it. Dude is a trooper
I respect the man he is, too often players have an injury and take days off. This man thought of his team first. Looks like to me this would be a person you would want on your team. I’m not so sure about the comment he hurt himself.
I think he was probably thinking 40% team & 60% future (wallet) payday.
Better than the Yankees failing to diagnose Rizzo’s concussion
Jacob Wilson got hit multiple times in hand, wrist area. But continued to play and struggled. He had been front runner for rookie of the year up till then. Eventually got put on DL for fracture in forearm and has been out a month or so but now playing in rehab games. Probably will be back with in next week or so
IL
Paleobros: I’m sorry to hear that you’re not feeling well. Disabled list /Injured list means the same thing to baseball fans. It means unable to play (perform their job). If a vehicle is unable to after an accident (or should I say collision) it is not an injured vehicle it’s a disabled vehicle.
Prospectnvstr: Well I’m sorry to hear about your fantasy of wanting to make Tucker look like a greedy player but pro baseball players don’t usually do it for the money. If a mutually-agreed-upon multimillion dollar contract is signed, it’s not a “me over the team” case.
Let’s be honest Nick Kurtz is the ROY in the AL and it’s not even close., even if Jacob Wilson did stay healthy.
Wanted to play through it now doing damage control for next year’s contract.
Someone will pay $400M. It won’t be Tom Rickets.
Fair enough, but who wouldn’t do both in his position
You got all the answers, Horace.
horace – He just missed 3 consecutive games in a big series, pretty sure that’s why the team had to finally reveal the injury.
Why would Tucker need to do “damage control” now? Wouldn’t have made a difference if the injury was revealed when the Cubs were done for the season. You do realize other teams can’t sign him to a free agent contract during this season, right?
Had Tucker continued to play like an MVP candidate, @horace would probably say that more guys need to be tough like him and play through injury. Tucker had every reason to go on the IL and take a rest but yet chose to play hurt during his walk year.
YBC – Agreed, I think it was a situation similar to Raffy last year where the pain was tolerable but has gotten worse over time.
Bregman is doing the same, dude hasn’t been able to run this week.
Only thing to say is the decision was wrong. Cubs went into tailspin and it turned contagious. if everything in the article is true they’re fools for not putting him on the 10 day IL and brought up Caissie, Especially when they needed a spark. That’s what the Brewers would have done and did with Chourio and Hoskins. And it’s Gollum should have done but he doesn’t trust the Minors. He’ll never win unless he changes or gets a lobotomy.
I think the Cubs made this announcement as a favor to Tucker. By doing this, they sort of help his bargaining position in the offseason.
Either they’re hoping he signs with someone else, or are hoping this spurs him on, to perform better down the stretch.
Either way, I don’t want the Cubs to offer Tucker anything more, than a ‘Make good offer’. With a team friendly, short term option.
UncleMike, how so? He said he was fine. The images came back clean. The guy continued performing well. Why would they have benched him?
Also, he says he is fine right now. His manager says he isn’t injured. Hoyer says he IS injured. All 3 points are evidence he is fine.
The biggest mistake now is that they didn’t bench him for 3-5 days before the Brewers series so he can have ample time to figure out his swing or mental issues. It turned Suzuki around last year. Maybe it will help Tucker.
I’m just saying that rolling Tucker out there at less than 100% was a mistake. There seems to be a disparity about EXACTLY WHOSE idea it was but whoever’s it was it was wrong. The Cubs had a competent replacement and once again refused to bring him up which goes back to the POBO and his lame philosophy of not bringing rookies up to play for fear of failure. So I ask you, Which is better? A healthy Caissie or a less than 100% Tucker who went into a spiral? I know what I would have done. And I know what the Brewers would have done because they did it with Chourio.
The Cubs Management are idiots. They wasted away last year with allowing Swanson to play thru a core injury and now this year with Tucker.
These two years have been a great example of poor roster construction with a lack of depth and more importantly it shows how Ricketts and Hoyer take fans for granted as long as the seats are filled they wont spend
Poor roster construction? Season started in March. You possibly couldn’t have missed all 115 games.
Easily one of the best balanced teams in baseball. Field well, run well, hit well, pitch well.
All three of the season opening rotation guys have missed significant time and they have been able to go six-seven deep with quality.
They have an “extended rough patch” which still produces over .500 ball.
Goes to show you that games in April are just as important as those in July.
The Orioles are perfect illustration of that. They have something like the top 4th record in baseball since late May. The hole they put themselves in over the first two months of the season was just too much to overcome. They would be a playoff contender right now otherwise, so those early games do have significance.
I was with you until “pitch well”. They have a 100 ERA+. They pitch ok.
They have the tenth best team ERA. Without Ben Brown starting games, it’ll likely be improved significantly!
This is an outcome that many of us speculated on, so it’s not coming as a surprise to finally see it in a news headline.
I totally get the motivation to play through it. Though keyboard tough guys want to comfort their egos by claiming these players don’t care, they in fact do and want to keep getting out on the field and contributing. Sometimes they are able to play through the small injuries, sometimes not. Unfortunately, this ended up being the wrong injury to try playing through. Now the Cubs will give him some time off to rest and heal up.
Sadly, there are gonna be some clowns who will call Tucker selfish for trying to play through the injury. These are the same clowns who would’ve called Tucker selfish had he requested time off and then mocked him for doing it because of an injury to his pinky finger.
Your last paragraph is so sad, yet so true. Just realize those clowns have such low self esteem, they have to belittle everyone else. It’s one of the precious few things that makes them somehow feel better about themselves.
Tucker is a proud man, I’m quite sure. And I certainly don’t put the onus on him to try and perform at less than 100%, — there’s isn’t an everyday player who is 100% in the dog days of summer. The current regime for the Chicago National League Ball Club has displayed a remarkable propensity for turning a blind eye to the things the layman (ie. the common loyal fan) has observed for multiple weeks. And it happens year after year. It’s baffling.
I remember a very similar incident in 2021 on the Guardians. Catcher Robeeto Perez broke his finger, and basically couldn’t grip a bat with full strenght the rest of the year. They chose to keep playing him for his defense. His offense, which already wasn’t great, tanked.
The Guardians followed that up by declining his club option, citing his lack of offense. Very nice to do to a guy that played through that pain for you.
I love the Cubs. I have loved them since 1960, when I was seven years old. I have never seen a front office be so unwilling to put injured players on the injured list. But this is yet another reason why they have dropped out of first place. The team seems to be getting their mojo back since Tucker has taken a seat to reflect, ponder, reset, meditate, medicate, etc. The trip out west will be a big test, and I remain skeptical that the Cubs have what it takes to do much in the playoffs. But that’s why they play the game, eh?
Ooh, a spoof account!
Wait you don’t think Alien53 could possibly be the cleverly disguised impossible to crack second username for Alan53 do you?
@Bucket: I don’t mind; what the guy says makes sense. I suppose he is trying to hate on me, but boys and girls, I got worse (health) problems.
Alan, if you have worse health problems, taking a break from negativity on here may be the right thing to do, actually.
After tomorrow not a single game against a team with a winning record until 9/18.
Your alter ego would tell us how a 1-8 trip is on the horizon. Can hardly wait.
Oh man! Jed got it wrong AGAIN! I think John Mozeliak is the most incompetent front office exec in baseball, but Jedi is his spirit animal.
Good thing the Cubs aren’t committed to Jed. They can just launch him at season’s end, no?
Good thing the White Sox aren’t committed to Reinsdorf. They can just launch him at season’s end, no?
So, he had this injury and yet still ran Tucker out instead of giving him a 15-day IL stint? Cubs management is fool of morons…
Someone have an organ, grinder, top hat, red pinstripe top, and a monkey they can lend for a little performance art thingy at the corner of Clark and Addison? Asking for a friend.
Hold on… he seemed healthy enough to play in the All-Star game July 15th, 45 days after the supposed injury. He didn’t take those days off to heal that injury. Did Counsell/Hoysr/Hawkins push him to do that?
Good point.
“While the injury certainly seems to be having an impact, it’s worth noting that Tucker actually continued to play well in the immediate aftermath. He hit .311 with five homers in June.”
Maybe underselling it a tad. June was his best full month. He slashed .311/.404/.578/.982. Interesting that the injury occurred on June 1. Wonder if something exacerbated the pain later on or if there was just the cumulative effect of trying to play through it.
I’d lean more toward the latter cause (cumulative effect), but it really could be both. Just the general everyday amount of stress placed upon the body of a pro athlete is probably enough to move the dial on making a smallish injury something more significant and/or lingering, but there’s no end to the kinds of shocks to the system that could exacerbate things to a whole ‘nother level.
I surmise it to be a mechanical issue. He likely compensated elsewhere with his grip, or some such, and now it’s got him out of whack. His walk and K rates have remained in line with career norms, he just stopped driving the ball with any consistency or authority. Let’s hope a few days on the sidelines gives him the opportunity to get Ye Olde Salty Dog seaworthy again. Cubs need him for the stretch run. Good to see Cassie performing admirably in his absence.
“Maybe underselling it…trying to play thru it”…There’s probably never a year where professional athletes don’t have to try to play thru some injury.
It’s just the downside of being a professional athlete, but no team wants you if every time you get a bruise, you miss 2 months of action.
Maybe. But trying to swing a baseball bat at 100 MPH pitches with a broken hand qualifies as stupid. Whoever’s idea it was. Especially when you had a capable replacement. Gollum needs to stop seeing answers in other teams rejects and start trusting his own people. No hope without that trust.
Dude was out last year 3 months with a “bruised shin”. Rub some dirt on it dude.
Not sure who makes the final call here: Could the Cubs have “forced” Tucker to go on the injured once the fracture was verified? Is it always up to the player himself whether he goes on the injured list or not?? I can see how this is a gray area, but I would think there should be some ironclad protocols in place that protect both the player and the team. The incentives are such that letting the player play thru the pain ultimately Wins the day. But I’m not sure if that’s the appropriate way to settle this conundrum.
It’s a collaborative decision. If the docs deem that he can’t further injure his hand and Tucker is fine with pain management (via cortizone shot possibly), I don’t see a reason to force the issue.
YBC
” I don’t see a reason to force the issue.”
Poor performance?
another reason why I am so fundamentally opposed to the concept of the rental trade. one injury could blow your entire investment.
Maybe got hand caught in cookie jar
lol. The 100 million dollar hairline fracture
The Cubs gave him that $100 million, he didn’t steal/grab/take it from them. The team and player agreed on the terms, that’s his jar. Swing and a miss for the big whiffa.
Hes trying to make as many excuses as possible for having a down season in his contract year. Albert Pujols missed 2 weeks with a broken wrist in his contract year in the earlier 2010s and was shattering records. Though I am a believer that Pujols was more likely then not allegedly taking something to aid in his performs, just like how he lied about his age
You have told more lies than Albert Pujols, banned more times than Barry Bonds too.
You’d think in the era of sports betting there would be a bit more transparency…thats a long time to not say anything
Sports betters can deal with it.
The point is these injury designations or lack thereof are misleading for example the NFL tries to be very transparent mlb is working very hard to sell people on betting on thier sport thus 100s of millions of dollars have come flooding in…mlb took the money and because of that no betters should not have to “deal with it ” when a little transparency can avoid alot of anger and frustration
Personally I don’t care what anger and frustration the betters are feeling, and I’m pretty sure Kyle Tucker and Craig Counsell don’t either
Thats fair you shouldn’t but kyle Tucker and Craig cousell should since these betters are fueling thier personal income..
Or have you missed all the betting site advertisements on every single mlb broadcast and if they don’t mlb and team ownership likely will clue them in..do you think salaries have exploded just because more people are buying seats or tv subscriptions? No..its the gambling…and to my point if they aren’t willing to be transparent..thats totally cool..then don’t keep taking the money
“The players owe it to the gamblers” is just about the worst take this site will ever see.
Then give back all that new money flooding in..all I said was a little transparency goes a long way mlb can learn from the nfl..why is that so terrible a take?
So he continues to hit well for weeks and suddenly everyone knew he was injured and that’s why he’s slumping?
Well this article said he was injured in June looking at his stats they seem to nose dive in July and and get worse in August. So not sure what your definition of “hit well” is but the dip in stats tracks with the timeline presented so yes it makes sense. The fact they waited nearly 2 months to divulge this information is the problem imo when you have far more people invested here than just the cubs and thier fans..since nobody knew he was injured officially
While the injury certainly seems to be having an impact, it’s worth noting that Tucker actually continued to play well in the immediate aftermath. He hit .311 with five homers in June. It wasn’t until July that things went completely off the rails. So at least a month it didn’t seem to hurt his production. I do agree it’s odd that we’re just now hearing about it, thankfully I don’t gamble.
And he played in the All-star game.
Trying to save his free agent value I see.
Or, he has a broken hand
Uh give this alittle more thought please.
Are you aware not all MLB players do it for the money like Anthony Rendon? Do you really know Tucker’s intentions?
I feel like back in the day this would’ve have been like an Xavier Nady type situation where he goes from potential massive deal to a one year prove it deal on a heavy discount and it completely changes the trajectory of the player’s career.
That said, this is a very different era of contracts, money, etc.
The question to me is basically does he get a 1 year prove it deal, does someone assume he’ll bounce back and prove he was always worth it so they give him like 6 years/$270M anyway? Does he get one of those 2 years/$50M deals where it’s 1 year/$10M while he recovers and then 1 year/$40M for his hypothetical bounce back season?
Etc…. Hmm… a really interesting situation.
His defense will keep his value high I think. 5 tool player. They’ll be out looking for 10 years minimum I think. Nats, Phils, Yanks, Angels, Dodgers, Giants, Maybe Toronto if Bichette walks. Who else ? 40 a year minimum.
Det. Dark horse team for sure.
@Jay: Someone will pay, sure. But if you watch him every day, you see that his defense isn’t that great either. He gets a slow break, and he pulls up on catchable balls a lot.
In general, he’s simply overrated. He’s the kind of player who we READ a lot of great things about, and HEAR a lot of great things about, but rarely SEE him do great things. And it’s not just the jnjuries.
He might have briefly been different in Houston, where I suppose he was more comfortable, but this is what he is now. Someone will massively overpay for a decent player.
Just looking at the offensive stats – .252 @ Wrigley, .229 during the day. Plus the injury factor, he probably would well have been on his way to 35hrs and over 100 rbi
I’m curious if playing right in Chicago plays a role with his defense as well? Is the sun more prone to affect right fielder than left ? And did the ballpark adjustment from Houston affect him as well. Also, doesn’t Chicago primarily play more day games than most teams?
Curious. With a 4.1 WAR so far and injured as they leak it now after some bad press no less. WAR is one of those stats that jumps for Free agency. And MVP candidates. If he somehow gets healthy and finishes strong and a healthy showing in the postseason, 10/400 I could see a team going for it. 29 years old in January.
Yeah this is a thing…. perception vs reality.
In terms of, say, Hollywood- Colin Farrell 20 years ago, I think currently Sydney Sweeney. High profile starts to their careers, but the box office doesn’t match the hype.
I see this a lot in baseball, though. Guys who consistently put up high WAR, consistent end of year numbers on HR’s, RBI’s, OBP, etc. and they’re constantly bouncing around on 1-2 year deals, meanwhile some guy like, say, Kyle Tucker now or, maybe, Jayson Werth 10 years ago, etc. they just ride the lightning of hype despite the numbers never really justifying the hype.
Only nominally more day games snymore–basically Fridays. The sun is a fs tor though, and I think Tucker was spoiled by the consistent environment in Houston.
4+ years is more than “briefly.”
You’re embarrassing.
Yeah right
They would’ve let him keep playing through it, too, except his negative energy got to the point where it was infecting the entire team. He needed a breather at the very least to give the rest of the team a chance to clear the air and step past the distraction, which is exactly what they did. When he comes back, he should be dropped in the order to a lower profile spot (5/6), until he bounces back.
Well at least their not blaming my pal Brais… He’s been pitching with a crooked neck all season!!!
Hard to blame the Cubs on this when he hit great the month of June, after the injury.
Once again, I’m right… Guy needs to fix his mechanics now after that injury.
mlbtraderumors.com/2025/08/poll-how-will-kyle-tuck…
He’s not getting 400 million unless he seriously gets hot before end of season and into playoffs.
He will definitely get 400 mil…I think he will get 500 mil if cubs go deep in playoffs.
Not from the Cubs
What will he get if the Cubs don’t make the playoffs?
400 mil is is floor..vlad got 500 mil and Tucker plays a more premium position with better defense and same offense
I can see the scenario where the Cubs may end up signing Tucker, putting Caissie in LF. It would open up Cubs to a trade maybe putting Happ in a trade package for a starting pitcher this winter.
Except Happ has a no trade clause
And why do people think Happ has any trade value? He’s a somewhat above average player at best, and his skills are deteriorating rapidly.
His injury is so severe, he’s back in the lineup today.
Stress and hairline fractures are an accumulative thing. It’s caused by repeated stress on a certain area. He’s playing through an injury at least, but if he sits out he’s “greedy”, if he plays through it, he “sucks”.
I didnt say either of those things. The I jury occurred June 1. 45 days later he played in the All-Star game.
If it is bothering now, sit… but you cant blame the manager or front office. That’s the point.
Tucker is poised to be a sucker mega FA signing. Unless he rewrites the narrative this Oct to be a superstar, even casual fans can see he rode the coattails of Altuve and Yordan when the stage was big vs the best (not empty calorie counting stats in regular season in lopsided games or vs subpar pitchers).
Icing on the cake is one can’t keep calling yearly injuries a fluke that cause missing most of ’24 or going into a prolonged slump in ’25. The bidders need to assume these “just bad luck situations” will be even more likely each year that passes.
Soto and Vlad Jr have been incredibly durable, plus Soto thrives under pressure (only missing ingredient for Judge to slay). Those recent big deal comps are not a good one to adjust downward from…..be it age or reliability.
10yrs/400mil at 29 when he is not a full season stud now!?……yikes
Tryna help your tm is commendable
But playing thru injury & batting .170 is counter productive. Shoulda gone on DL & healed up
Probably thinking more of himself than tm He’s a free agent. Didnt wanna be known as injury prone, so stayed on the field.
Cubs know they not resigning Tucker. That’s why Cassie and Alcantara didnt get traded at deadline
Unbelievable that with caissie doing such a good job for the past 3 games and the team winning all 3, tucker would sit and with less pressure with the booing come back on the road trip starting Friday. Now, with the 1st groundout to the right side today expect the booing. Very unnecessary and may destroy Tucker mentally, Tucker gone anyways!!
Stress and hairline fractures are an accumulative thing that can be alleviated by taking breaks from repeated movements at a certain area. The only injury you probably had was finger sprains from typing rants.
astros would have been better off trading yordan and keeping tucker
Cubs lose today with same common denominators. Tucker as expected did nothing- 5 hits and 8 walks. 11 lob. No key hits again. No way this team capable to have lengthy winning streaks like brewers.
Yup, all Tucker needed was that mental reset. He just dominated today! He did what superstars do: He put the team on his back and JUST WOULD NOT LET THEM LOSE!!! I got goosebumps when he hit that game-winning home run in the ninth.
And hey (saying “hey” at the beginning of a sentence always makes it a better sentence)– that was a great play he made in right, too!
In addition cubs in position to take lead with runners in scoring position and pca in position to show some creativity by Kati g down bunt or solid single but nope went for the homer with mighty swing and flew out to drive in only run.
None of them even try to take a nice short swing and line the ball into the opposite field. What stupid Brett Taylor calls the Brewers’ “voodoo” amounts to nothing more than that.
Can any of cubbies play small ball when wind blowing in?
Hoerner, kind of. He would fit in on a good team.
Modest 3 game winning streak going into big finale against the crew and both caissie and Shaw who both performed well find their youthful exuberance on the bench.
Okay, Tucker seems back on track but how about Suzuki? He should sit for couple of games for caissie?
I would sit him for a few days. Let Cassie DH.
Yeah i kinda had the same thought…if they can get him right as well the cubs might still grab the divison..they seem to be back on track now
Typical Cubs. The guy is hurt and instead of telling him for the good of the team sit down and heal up then come back, this bunch let Tucker go out there and not only does his game suffer the whole team goes into a funk.