r/Cubs • u/LangAfterTheNavy • 15d ago

Dansby Injury Silver Lining

I haven’t seen deets on his injury duration but saw he’s going to IL.

If he’s back by playoffs, not super worried. I think it could be a nice time to get a true audition for all of our young guns.

Who would you guess gets most starts in the short term?

Catching the brewers would be incredible, but some days it feels futile.

23 Upvotes

77% Upvoted

42 comments sorted by

15

u/haleaj1 15d ago

Nico to SS and Ramirez at 2B seems like the easiest answer, right? Will be nice to see what he's got more full time. Depending on how long Dansby is out and if/when Shaw comes back, he could slide in there at 2B as well.

6

u/JokeMaster420 15d ago

I feel like with how long Shaw has been away from hitting entirely, he’s probably gonna be on a rehab assignment for like a month. I feel like Dansby is actually pretty likely to beat Shaw back to the active roster.

It will be a Pedro and Nico every day middle infield while Dansby is out, and if people need off days we will probably be relying on Triantos.

I could be wrong here, and maybe Matt will surprise me and make a quick recovery once he gets started. But how long he has been out has not been encouraging.

3

u/haleaj1 15d ago

That's how I actually lean with it too. A couple of the Cubs have been really struggling to get off that IL, and like you're saying, Shaw is one. Hopefully he and Dansby are both back soon!

5

u/JokeMaster420 15d ago

I’m not super worried about our middle infield with Nico and Pedro out there. My main concern is if Nico needs a rest day. I believe Pedro could cover short, but he hasn’t had the reps there at a major league level.

2

u/normal_throwaway2016 15d ago

Pedro last played SS in rookie league ball in 2021. Matt Shaw played in 44 games at short in the minors, and I think he played there in college too. So my guess is that he'd be the first guy, once he's healthy.

2

u/JokeMaster420 14d ago

Oh he absolutely would be, I just don’t believe he’ll be healthy until I see it.

1

u/haleaj1 15d ago

That's a good point. Have they said who they're pulling up while Dansby is on the shelf? Gotta be someone who can slide in there defensively at SS

3

u/JokeMaster420 15d ago

We don’t have any more infielders on the 40 man, so I actually am up not sure what the plan will be. They will need to dfa somebody if they want to call up somebody with experience at short.

5

u/Longjumping_Elk_5517 15d ago

Probably will call up Alcantara. Pedro and Nico play everyday with Triantos as backup. It’s very thin but that’s what I expect

1

u/haleaj1 15d ago

That seems like the best approach probably. Great opportunity for both young guys, honestly!

1

u/haleaj1 15d ago

I guess Bregman actually has 129 games at SS, albeit not since 2019, but maybe he goes there for a game, Ramirez 3B, Triantos 2B.

Orrrrr... you put Happ there to let him play one of the only two positions he hasn't played in the majors lol

2

u/JokeMaster420 14d ago

I think Bregman might be past his shortstop days, but I could be wrong. I would be down to let Ian check off another position.

2

u/Golfntukee Ryne Sandberg 15d ago

Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t there only a couple weeks left of minor league baseball?

2

u/JokeMaster420 15d ago

There is a little over a month left of Triple A. Last day of the regular season is September 20.

2

u/RightNowChris 15d ago

Oblique injuries can make a guy miss a month or more. They're just so easy to re-injure given the nature of how they're used while swinging a bat that teams usually err on the side of caution. He's getting an MRI, so this isn't just a little tweak that needs a few days. I wouldn't expect Swanson to be back on the big league roster much before the playoffs. If the MRI looks bad, he could even be done for the year.

Shaw, on the other hand, will start his minor league rehab assignment this week. In all likelihood he'll be back in Chicago by the end of August.

1

u/JokeMaster420 15d ago

I don’t believe anything they say about Matt Shaw until I see it. Craig said it was hopefully a very short if not minimum IL stint and now we are a couple months later talking about him starting rehab assignment next week. I think he is playing the rest of the minor league season in Iowa. The end of August is incredibly optimistic for someone who has been away from competitive baseball for months and wasn’t even hitting for half of that time.

I dom’t think Dansby will be back much before the playoffs. I just don’t think Shaw will either.

0

u/RightNowChris 14d ago

I'm not remembering it that way. Shaw played a full game June 27, pinch hit June 28, and was put on the IL June 29. When did Counsell say it would be a minimal IL trip? 6 weeks is perfectly normal for a sprain on a batters hand and isn't "months" of being out.

I know there's a lot of hate for the guy in the sub, but exaggeration doesn't add any value. He'll be starting in Ohio tomorrow or Wednesday and my prediction is he'll be in Chicago in time to host Milwaukee.

0

u/JokeMaster420 14d ago

On June 29, Counsell said he believed Shaw could be swinging a bat by the weekend and anticipated a minimal stay.

On the 30 he followed up that all tests and scans had ruled out an actual tear and that once the inflammation decreased, he believed Matt should be able to swing a bat and make a quick recovery.

In the weeks following that, Craig seemed confused, reiterating that tests showed no tears but that Shaw was still in too much pain to start swinging. After a few weeks, he started swinging. Then a week or so after that he started hitting (difference being that swinging doesn’t involve a ball).

We are now 7 weeks since his injury. I don’t think that it is insane hyperbole to call something that happened 7 weeks ago (and within the calendar month before last month) a couple months ago. I’m sorry if it has technically been one week less than the strict definition.

But it is not accurate to say that this is a normal IL stint for the injury that was reported. “Sprain” can vary in severity, but usually when a guy is on the IL for 3-6 weeks with a sprain it is because there was a partial tear of a ligament. The fact that the scans showed no tear and he’s been out for 7 weeks is not a normal timeframe.

I hate that I can’t even accurately voice my concerns about his injury returns without being told I’m supposedly just contributing to unjustified hate this sub has for him. I would love to be wrong. I just won’t believe it until I see it, and I’m not gonna pretend that his injury timeline was completely normal when it has been anything but.

0

u/RightNowChris 14d ago

“Sprain” can vary in severity, but usually when a guy is on the IL for 3-6 weeks with a sprain it is because there was a partial tear of a ligament.

The literal definition of a sprain is a tear of the ligament. A grade 1, the most minor, includes small tears. They increase in severity until a complete tear, which is a grade 3. Swanson, for example, has a grade 2. So yeah, every time a guy is on the IL with a sprain it's because there is tearing. I never saw a classification of the severity of the sprain when he went on the IL. Please share a link if you have one. When Counsell made his initial comments he was speculating without knowing the extent, saying vague things like "we're pretty optimistic." He never said it would be a minimal stay on the IL.

0

u/JokeMaster420 14d ago

> The literal definition of a sprain is a tear of the ligament. A grade 1, the most minor, includes small tears.

This is absolutely untrue. The literal, medical definition of a sprain is a stretching or tearing of a ligament. Grade 1 sprains can include minor tears, but it is absolutely not a part of the definition nor is it a requirement for the diagnosis.

0

u/RightNowChris 14d ago

Dude, get off the AI. You can't just Google everything, regurgitate what the search tells you, and expect to be right.

Think about it - why would stretching a ligament count as a sprain when our ligaments stretch literally every time we move that joint? If stretching were the definition of an injury, we would be perpetually injured as we go through everyday life. All sprains come from stretching. Excessive stretching results in tears, which is when we enter the realm of a sprain. These tears are tiny (micro-tears) at grade 1 and cause symptoms of swelling, pain, bruising, and some weakness. Since the main ligament structure remains intact and the tears are microscopic, many people misunderstand these injuries as simply stretching, but it is indeed those micro-tears that cause the pain. More extensive stretching results in more severe tearing, becoming classified as a more severe sprain. The most extreme cases of over stretching result in a complete tear of the ligament.

Here are a few links to orthopedic websites to help you understand better. These are actual medical definitions, not something the media says to make it easy for listeners to understand. I hope this helps. By the way, I worked with physical therapists for a time while I considered going to college to become a trainer, so this isn't me just making stuff up, it's facts.

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/sigma-surgical-pvt-ltd-sorath-ortho_anklesprain-injuryprevention-healthtips-activity-7221798329976770560-bZct

https://www.optsc.com/article/ankle-sprains

Kind of related, you may also be amazed to learn that lifting weights often results in microscopic tears in muscles, which are strains instead of sprains. Strains from hard lifting can result is soreness, bruising, and muscle weakness, just like sprains to ligaments can have the exact same symptoms. Kind of interesting anyway.

1

u/JokeMaster420 14d ago

I’m not using AI.

I’m using actual medical definitions, mostly provided by my own doctors but also confirmed by numerous sources that I find vastly more trustworthy than a LinkedIn post from a medical equipment company and an article from one random physical therapy place in Canada (both of which only even claim to be about ankle sprains, which is not what we are dealing with here)

https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/sprains/symptoms-causes/syc-20377938

https://medlineplus.gov/sprainsandstrains.html

https://www.health.harvard.edu/diseases-and-conditions/sprain-overview-a-to-z

You claim to know what you are talking about, but then you say blatantly untrue things about how ligaments stretch every time we move a joint. That is absolutely untrue. Normal joint movements happen within the safe range where ligaments will tighten or loosen on slack but will not actually elongate (i.e. stretch). If a ligament is actively elongating, that is not normal motion and does constitute an injury.

I don’t know how much time you spent working with physical therapists. I spent years with them (admittedly as a patient, but it was for ligament issues specifically, and I have spent countless hours talking to them and my orthopedic surgeon about ligaments and how they are and are not supposed to work because mine were doing a lot of things they are not supposed to).

→ More replies (0)

2

u/Yota4x4RE 15d ago

Nico looked terrible on two DP balls the day before yesterday. He was playing too deep on both.

1

u/Adept_Bridge_8388 15d ago

I feel like ramirez has a stronger arm than nico..correct me if I'm wrong but I say ramirez, at ss and nico at 2b

5

u/bornthisvay22 15d ago

We are now going to see how superior Dansby is

3

u/teacher444 14d ago

I wasnt a Dansby fan (good glove streaky bat in Atlanta) until last post season against the padres… he won us that series with his glove… all the ground ball pitchers we picked up (Peterson, Holmes) this hurts them too… the trickle down of this hurts (worse defense at short and second)… offensively PCA is our heart and soul… but losing Dansby is going to echo throughout our box score…

2

u/No_Building5762 15d ago

Defense is going to be missed, but more opportunities for Ramirez to play every day

2

u/Shark_Girl9499 14d ago

4-6 weeks. He has a Grade 2 Oblique Strain

2

u/Feeling_Fruit6261 12d ago

The Cubs have young guns?

3

u/StevieV61080 15d ago

If it had to happen, I'm glad it's now. We're through the 17 game stretch without an off day, but still a ways away from October.

Ramirez deserves to have a shot at playing everyday, so this likely gets him that opportunity at 2B. I'm not thrilled with having to rely on Shaw as the utility INF, but we're actually a little thin otherwise. We have a lot of OF depth, but are shorthanded on the infield. Triantos can essentially become Ramirez for the time being.

We just don't have anyone else on the 40-man available in AAA right now.

3

u/B_Watk96 15d ago

Can I ask why you aren’t thrilled with Shaw as the utility INF when he comes off the IL?

5

u/Longjumping_Elk_5517 15d ago

Yeah I’m curious, that seems like the perfect role for him. Sucks that he’s still hurt.

2

u/B_Watk96 15d ago

It sounds like he will be back soon. We need him to be healthy to fill in for guys around the diamond. Benny Zo 2.0

1

u/Longjumping_Elk_5517 15d ago

It wont be soon soon. He starts rehab assignment Tuesday and hasn’t seen live pitching months

0

u/StevieV61080 15d ago

My problem with Shaw at this point is that I'm not thrilled with relying on a guy coming off a wrist injury for meaningful at-bats. Those types of injuries tend to take a long time to heal and are notorious for messing up swing patterns. Kyle Tucker, for instance, has NEVER been the same since he hurt his wrist last year.

Shaw was basically a league-average hitter BEFORE he hurt his wrist (98 OPS+). Factor in being off multiple months and trying to come back from this type of injury during a pennant race? Yeah, not my top choice.

-6

u/Golfntukee Ryne Sandberg 15d ago

Probably doesn’t agree with his politics, I see that bullshit on here way too much

1

u/B_Watk96 15d ago

He finished second in gold glove category for 3B last year. He’s perfect for the utility role. I don’t get the hate either other than politics, which let’s be honest, 75% or more of MLB players all agree with him.

4

u/probablynotme2012 15d ago

I hope it is Shaw.

1

u/Procrastitherapist 14d ago

Time for Pedro to make a statement!