Julien Merryweather diagnosed with rib stress fracture

[Jason Ross]

Likely an IL-60 stint. Ouch.

[jersey cubs fan]

[Rcal10]

50 minutes ago, 1908_Cubs said:

Likely an IL-60 stint. Ouch.

Is this the roster spot for Edwards? 

[Jason Ross]

13 minutes ago, Rcal10 said:

Is this the roster spot for Edwards? 

I'm not sure it's going to be Edwards. He's a possibility, but do think it's not a forgone.

[Rcal10]

7 minutes ago, 1908_Cubs said:

I'm not sure it's going to be Edwards. He's a possibility, but do think it's not a forgone.

I agree. Just speculating. 

[Irrelevant Dude]

Well... At least it isn't his shoulder??

[Stratos]

Before the season I was worried about injuries specifically from Steele, Leiter, Merryweather, and Alzolay this season due to their overuse last season.  Didn't think Steele's injury had anything to do with overuse, but with Merryweather also on the shelf and all these other injuries around the league i'm wondering if it may be related.  We saw Hendricks and Stroman have injury issues the year after being pitched a lot in 2021 after the COVID-shortened 2020 year.

If the league wants to keep the pitch clock I think they need to be reasonable and also make some adjustments so players can get used to it.  E.g. Add another roster slot to the 26-man just for a pitcher, and add 2-3 seconds to the clock, at least until the established pitchers get used to it for a couple of seasons and can build their arm up a bit.

The Cubs would be very wise to play it conservative until more data comes out and watch the pitch counts and reliever usage on guys in April/May and maybe even all year.  With reduced recovery time between pitches maybe they should take about 10 pitches off the total pitch count of a SP that they'd normally allow.