Cubs Don’t Know When Dansby Swanson is Coming Back
The Chicago Cubs got some good news on Friday as right fielder Seiya Suzuki has been activated off the injured list. However, it’s bittersweet as the team also placed gold glover Dansby Swanson on the 10-day injured list because of a sprain in the shortstop’s right knee.
Swanson was given a day off on Wednesday in Chicago’s series finale against the San Diego Padres and the hope was that having two days off in a row would help with the pain. Unfortunately, Swanson’s knee isn’t feeling much better and now he’s going to be sidelined for a bit. At this point there is no timetable for Swanson’s return.
By the way, that series against the Houston Astros was two weeks ago. I know Cody Bellinger and Suzuki were both out at the time, but how many more times are we going to see the Cubs play guys when they’re obviously bothered by an injury and making the team worse when they’re playing.
When the Cubs said Swanson was dealing with a knee injury earlier this week it didn’t come as too big of a surprise because you could tell that something was off with the shortstop on defense and at the plate.
In 37 games this season, Swanson is slashing .209/.285/.341, with a 28.5 K%. After the first 10 games of the season, when Swanson was hitting the ball hard and putting up good numbers, he’s been slumping big time. From April 9 through his last game on May 7, Swanson only hit .177, while striking out 30 percent of the time.
On defense, Swanson has committed four errors and although he was still making some great plays at shortstop you can definitely say he wasn’t playing up to his standards defensively.
So, the Cubs will have to maneuver without Swanson for at least a couple weeks and it kind of sound like it will be longer than that. Nico Hoerner will step in at shortstop, which is a pretty good backup to have if you’re the Cubs. Meanwhile, this probably also means more Nick Madrigal at second base.
Hopefully Suzuki’s return gives the Cubs a much-needed boost because it’s not like Swanson was the only hitter slumping. Prior to his oblique strain in mid-April, Suzuki was slashing .305/.368/.525, and had 3 home runs in 15 games.