The Cubs announced Tuesday that right fielder Kyle Tucker has been placed on the 10-day injured list (retroactive to Sept. 6) due to a strained left calf. Catcher Moises Ballesteros was recalled from Triple-A Iowa in a corresponding move.
Tucker has been dealing with calf discomfort for a week. He was lifted midway through last Tuesday’s game and hasn’t played since then. The Cubs kept him on the roster for what they initially believed would be a day-to-day issue. Tucker hasn’t improved as quickly as they hoped, and he’ll now be ruled out for at least another week. Teams can only backdate an injured list placement for a maximum of three days even if the player’s last game action came before that.
This is the first injured list stint of the season for Tucker. He suffered a hairline fracture in his right hand on a stolen base attempt in early June. Tucker played through that injury. He initially remained productive but went into one of the worst six-week stretches of his career between July and the first half of August. Manager Craig Counsell gave him a brief reset with a trio of games on the bench. Tucker caught fire upon returning to the lineup but the calf shut him down a little less than two weeks later.
That the Cubs waited a week before placing Tucker on the injured list seems to suggest this isn’t a serious issue. He could return as soon as September 16 and would have a week and a half of reps before the start of the postseason. The Cubs aren’t playing for a whole lot this month. The Brewers have all but officially wrapped the NL Central. Chicago is eight games clear of the NL’s top non-playoff team, the Giants. While they’d presumably prefer to secure the top Wild Card spot rather than dropping to the #5 seed, that’s a relatively minor consideration. The far bigger concern is having Tucker at full strength in October.
Willi Castro and Seiya Suzuki will split the right field work in Tucker’s absence. Suzuki has gotten most of his at-bats at designated hitter. Ballesteros or Carlos Santana could pick up an extra start or two at DH on days when Suzuki draws into the outfield. Assuming Tucker makes it back before the end of the regular season, the injury shouldn’t have much or any impact on his impending free agency.
Woah.
Should have been done days ago. Why Ballesteros? Another mystery with no answer.
Ballesteros can DH so Suzuki can play RF. Unless you want to see more of Turner/Santana at DH. Probably will against lefties, anyways.
No I want to see Caissie play RF like he should have all year.
I read elsewhere that Caissie didn’t play at Iowa this weekend. Could be that he is hurting as well.
All year 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 that’s a good one.
Agreed. They were playing shorthanded for almost a week, and now, instead of recalling Cassie for a solid 10 day audition, Mo Baller gets the call. Why not another outfielder? Meh, it wouldn’t matter anyway since Counsell would just bury him on the bench. This is a totally unserious organization.
Nothing wrong with Ballesteros he may be the full time DH next year, happy that Cubs kept Caissie, Alcantara, Horton and Ballesteros. The moves you don’t make are often the best.
Tucker has cooled since first half, so something else could be bothering him
Could be the hand he fractured in June and was confirmed last month but that’s a guess…
His hand has already healed, which was pretty evident by how Tucker’s offensive production had spiked lately. He was looking like the Tucker we knew from the first half of the season. Unfortunately, he was feeling tightness and hit the bench to recover. Doesn’t seem like there’s any mystery to unravel.
It is likely the thought of playoff baseball bothering him.
extend Jed Hoyer another 10 years
Hoyer is so overrated.
Oh the sheep don’t wanna hear that. You’ll be on their bad side like me.
Baaaaaa! You guys are salty because you wanted Jed fired and he was extended after it was near certain the Cubs will make the playoffs.
But bucket—we get a good three or four more years of Uncle. As much as he doesn’t like Hoyer, they are linked at the hip as far as this site goes.
There is an entertainment part to all of this.
Keep buyin those season tickets waiting for the WS that’s not coming. What do they soak you for those? I suppose you have no other option than to hope Hoyer gets lucky for that kind of bread. I feel stupid for paying 19.99 a month for Marquee for 6 months.
Darn straight I’m going to keep buying them.
You very well may be right it that they may not win another World Series in my lifetime. That’s not a critical check point in my life.
Whether it’s a drip of $4,000 or $25,000 a year—I’m not getting soaked spending a portion of my disposable income as I wish. That’s really no concern of yours.
I’m guessing multi-year to be two seasons. So, we can extend Uncle for two more, too.
I’m not gonna stop you. Just get a major chuckle.
Aren’t you in your late 60s, “Uncle” Mike? I’d suggest against major chuckling as the stress and obsession over the feared Gollum may worsen through advanced age.
Right, because he should have seen Tucker would get hurt. Do you ever make sense?
what a weird thread. “play the unproven player all year instead of the known all-star”, “I can’t believe you support your favorite team”, fans of the same team fighting, etc. This board never ceases to amaze me.
he went from $500 mil contract to probly now taking a pete alonso 1yr deal to reinvent himself
Couldn’t possibly be more wrong. It might affect his overall dollars but Tucker is getting paid.
I think he’s right. Maybe a one year prove it deal instead of lowball offers
Ok so two wrong people. A hand injury doesn’t take away his proven track record. He’s the #1 FA this offseason. He’s getting 300 million minimum.
Right? He’s going to be the most sought after free agent in baseball this off-season. I’m not saying that he necessarily deserves it but he is certainly going to get paid.
One could argue he deserves half what Soto got cause he’s more than half the player Soto is
“chandlerbing” is known to always be wrong.
And hyperbolic.
And insufferable.
@TheGreatOne I’m glad you know everything motherfletcher. Tucker has been struggling the entire second half and has been lost at the plate for months. It’s not going to help him in free agency. Get over yourself.
He had a broken hand you bucket of boiled hot dog water. Bet you couldn’t type anything relevant if you had a broken hand. You’re not doing it with two working ones.
@Bartolo, You truly think he’s going to get a one year deal? Really?
$15 mill per for 3 years. He’s too injury prone and unlikeable. You can’t base an advertising campaign around this guy, he doesn’t smile. He also doesn’t know when to sit himself down for awhile when his body is telling him to. Selfish player. Let the Astros resign him; perfect for that unlikeable organization.
Yeah, that’s hilarious. 15 million per? You really think that Kyle Tucker who will be the premier free agent is only going to get a three-year contract totaling $45 million? Can you please pass over whatever you are smoking?
Prayers and thoughts for a speedy recovery so he can take again and make mega bucks in the offseason.
Prayers to what? I though God didn’t exist
Yes I know I made a spelling error. At least you know it’s not AI
@choof
AI can intentionally make errors so it makes you look like your reply wasn’t generated by AI. I know you’re using AI.
@choof
One can still pray to other things. Humans do it all the time.
I’ll be sending thoughts and prayers for you to have you retire your “Old York” schtick character instead.
@Steinbrenner2728
What ‘schtick’? When are you planning to end your trolling schtick?
I think the important thing here as the calendar inches to October is that Tucker is out at least another week.
No issue with giving it time to see how it improved and keep the roster spot open, but now—it being another full week before he can come back makes it a little scary that the treatment and path aren’t working.
It’s got me anxious, too. Things were looking pretty good for a bit there when Tucker finally came out the other side of that hand injury and resumed his role as main offensive weapon. The post-season seemed a lot more promising.
We need to do better in the IL section
I suspect the disappointing Tucker has played his last game as a Cub. Good riddance to The Superstar Nobody Ever Saw.
I hope against hope that Ballesteros gets into some games, like tonight. Whatever you have read elsewhere, the Cubs are NOT a lock to make the postseason. Not yet. They need to win a few games for that to be a valid assumption. Eamus Catulli!
Ok, Kyle. See you batting second next week.
Between the old man perpetually yelling at the cloud (Alan) and the crazy Uncle who thinks good players are useless and only unproven rookies should play, I’m afraid to admit I’m a Cubs fan on this forum anymore.
This is the perfect example of cut of your nose to spite the face hoping to be right to prove a silly premonition.
Not sure what that sentence means, but as a student of post-modernist literature, I admire it for its Joycean elliptical-ness.
Uhhh… you want Tucker to be out for the season and the Cubs to colossally-collapse missing the playoffs to then be able to yell “I told you so!” followed by whining over the entire offseason through Spring Training about the Cubs’ front office being incompetent. Is that close enough?
Even the 1995 Angels or 2007 Mets would have made the postseason if there were six seeds. The Cubs are in better shape than those teams were at this time of the season.
Right, I mean the Reds are going to finish 6 games in front of them and Tucker really has a broken leg
I would argue playing for the 4 seed and a chance to host WC series at home is a lot to play for. Would you rather play the Padres/Dodgers at home or their place?
I think the assumption is if you think your team is good enough then it doesn’t matter what seed they start with. If you’re afraid of your team losing on the road in a short series, then they aren’t good enough in the first place.
And after bringing up ballesteros you’d think they’d be starting the youngster to energize this dead offense!
How does being young create automatic production?
Haven’t checked the lineup but assume much the same actors and order. Will the result be the same a loss? Tuckers fault!
So who would start, Turner?
Lots of one-base advances on singles lately. Evaluating that depends on the placement of the hit, of course, but the trend does suggest an element of timidity and flop sweat that has infected the team. Sometimes you have to make the outfielder throw you out.
What’s the worst record the Cubs can have the rest of the way and still retain their playoff spot?