NEWSLETTER
I hate Mondays. I hate the NL West. And I hate obliques. After losing their No. 3 starter before the season (Jameson Taillon), their ace on Opening Day (Justin Steele), and one of their best relievers a week ago (Julian Merryweather), the Cubs have another significant injury to deal with. This time, unfortunately, it’s Seiya Suzuki, one of the best and most important hitters on the team.
Seiya Suzuki Hurts Oblique
According to reports, Seiya Suzuki has injured his oblique. You can expect him to miss at LEAST a month of action, I’d guess. And this is a familiar injury for him. You’ll recall that Suzuki was scratched before the spring opener in Arizona last season, forcing him off Japan’s roster for the World Baseball Classic. He made it back to the Cubs by April 14 last year, which was quicker than expected, but that was still something like six weeks since he was pulled from that first spring lineup. And who’s to say if that means he’ll make another quick return … or if it’s actually worse that he’s injured it again.
For what it’s worth, Brendan Miller may have spotted the moment it happened. Watch as Seiya Suzuki pulls up before reaching first base on what could’ve been a much closer play in a tight game:
This could be *way* off and I could be freaking out everyone, but I did think Seiya Suzuki ran awkwardly through 1B in the 8th yesterday. He held up on a bang-bang play, which seemed uncharacteristic for him.
Anyway, maybe just nothing. pic.twitter.com/NDvZnsrIYi— Brendan Miller (@brendan_cubs) April 15, 2024
Obliques are tough to come back from and critical to a lot of baseball activity, most of all, swinging. This stinks, man. It really stinks.
With Alexander Canario’s surprise call-up earlier this morning, we had an idea that a Cubs outfielder was potentially hurt. But I really didn’t see Seiya Suzuki coming. And I’d argue that outside of Michael Busch, this is the biggest hit the Cubs offense could take at the moment.
Through 15 games (68 PAs), Seiya Suzuki is slashing .305/.368/.525 (139 wRC+) with four doubles and three homers. No one is going to be able to replace that. But I suppose the Cubs do have some options.
Replacement Options
The path of least resistance is to just give Alexander Canario some actual run in the outfield, replacing Seiya Suzuki on a one-to-one basis and keeping everything else the same. That would at least be the most exciting option.
But I wouldn’t be surprised if what we actually get is more Mike Tauchman in right field (which I don’t love). He’s a really nice fourth-outfielder/occasional starter at DH or across the outfield, but he does not carry the offensive upside needed to get a month+ of starts, in my opinion, even if he was platooned with Garrett Cooper or something.
Meanwhile, I don’t think the Cubs would move Christopher Morel to the outfield, backfilling with Nick Madrigal at third, because Morel looks like he’s finally settling into the position and you don’t want to mess with that.
No, I think the Cubs best move would to just hope Alexander Canario can catch lightning in a bottle. He has been hitting fine at Iowa so far: .269/.377/.481 (123 wRC+) with a 13.1% walk rate and 24.6% strikeout rate. And he’s had a hot last four games, with seven hits including a double and a homer.
So just to recap, the Cubs leadoff hitter (Ian Happ) and cleanup hitter (Chris Morel) are in a slump. Their No. 2 hitter (Seiya Suzuki) is out for at least a month. And their No. 3 hitter (Cody Bellinger) hasn’t really gotten started yet. Meanwhile, their ace is out, their No. 3 is out. And one of their best relievers is out.
Oh, and all of this is going on while they face arguably the toughest part of their season schedule. Cool. Cool-cool-cool.
