NEWSLETTER
I had the weirdest reaction to what is objectively bad injury news on Adbert Alzolay just now. According to Meghan Montemurro, medical imaging confirmed that Adbert Alzolay has a right flexor strain.
While I should have been upset to learn about YET ANOTHER Chicago Cubs player going down with a serious injury, I was actually kind of relieved to see that there was a legitimate issue here. Not because I want Adbert Alzolay out for longer than the minimum – I do not. But because maybe, I thought, this is a bit of an explanation for what has been going on this year.
And what has been going on this year has been brutal: 9ER on 6 HRs in 17.1 IP (4.67 ERA, 6.55 xERA).
So why does a legitimate injury like this make me feel better?
Well, it’s easy enough to root for a “phantom” IL stint and hope that a mental and physical break revitalizes a guy when he returns. But that’s all it ever really is … a hope. A hope that magically, something will be different when he gets back. But if there was actually something physical bothering him, perhaps slowly/moderately at first, but more significantly as the season went on, the chances of being better – after healing up – are far greater.
And, indeed, Montemurro seemingly confirms that although Alzolay felt a little soreness earlier in the season, it was “nothing he was concerned about.” But that’s exactly the sort of small issue that can have bigger downstream effects than a player realizes. Trying to be tough and play through things is sometimes necessary (Alzolay at 90% might be better than his replacement at 100%). But sometimes, that 90% is more like 65% and everyone’s worse off.
As for more specifics, Montemurro continues to have us covered: that not-concerning soreness reportedly turned into tightness while Alzolay was warming up on Sunday and what ultimately led to the roster move/IL stint.
And although there’s no timeline for his overall return, we did learn that Alzolay will be completely shut down for five days before then evaluating how he feels. If he feels good, my guess is the Cubs will play this nice and slow. Starting with catch, then long toss, then a bullpen session or two in a controlled environment, and then a rehab stint. All with plenty of rest between those checkpoints.
That timeline might be frustrating, but the Cubs bullpen needs Alzolay to return at his best, not his soonest. And if a nice, slow ramp up and a fully healed Alzolay can return to form, he can be an enormous boost to the Cubs at midseason (or whenever).
And I can’t believe that I even have to do this, but there are a bunch of misinformed people out there that don’t realize how good Alzolay has been for the Cubs as a reliever.
As a reliever for the Cubs from 2020-2023, Adbert Alzolay had collected a 2.53 ERA over 106.2 IP with a 29% strikeout rate and a 5.7% walk rate. Last season, alone, Alzolay rose through the ranks to become the team’s closer, earning a 2.67 ERA over 58 games (64.0 IP) with 22 saves and six holds against just three blown saves.
And he’s still only 29. So, no, he has not been bad for the Cubs. And, yes, you want him back (at his best) as soon as possible. He’s had a really terrible start to this season, but relievers are flukey players and it seems as though he may have been dealing with at least a little something longer than we realized.
