It’s homecoming week for former Chicago Cubs catcher Willson Contreras, former Kansas City Royals bench coach Pedro Grifol and former Chicago White Sox first baseman José Abreu.
But a few of them won’t be within the temper to rejoice.
Contreras’ return to Wrigley Field on Monday with the St. Louis Cardinals coincides with the lack of his catching place. Grifol’s return to Kauffman Stadium on Monday for a four-game sequence comes amid one of many worst begins in White Sox historical past. And Abreu entered Sunday hitting .223 with no house runs and a .527 OPS for the Houston Astros, who go to the Sox for 3 video games beginning Friday.
Now we’ll see how they fare of their outdated stomping grounds.
Every Monday all through the season, Tribune baseball writers will present an replace on what occurred — and what’s forward for the Cubs and White Sox.
Waiting on Morel
The Christopher Morel saga is starting to look rather a lot just like the Nico Hoerner story from 2021.
After early success with the Cubs, Hoerner was despatched to Triple-A Iowa in spring coaching of ‘21 after the Cubs gave David Bote the second base job. Bote hit .179 with a .571 OPS in April and by no means recovered. Hoerner was known as up in late April, carried out properly whereas largely taking part in second and finally took over at shortstop for the departed Javier Báez .
Morel was despatched to Iowa this spring after succeeding within the majors final 12 months with 16 house runs and 47 RBIs whereas taking part in a number of positions. The Cubs’ rationale was there was no place to play him repeatedly, although additionally they needed to vary his mechanics.
It has labored. Morel entered Sunday hitting .327 with 11 house runs, 30 RBIs and a 1.172 OPS, main the International League in a number of offensive classes. He had made 12 begins in heart subject, 9 at third base and 7 within the nook outfield spots.
“Chris is playing awesome and he’s great in the clubhouse and he’s going to have a huge impact on this team,” Cubs President Jed Hoyer stated. “I do assume he’s benefiting from taking part in every single day. Where there’s a path to taking part in rather a lot, there’s no query he’ll be up right here. He actually sparked us final 12 months and I do know he can have that impression.
“But we want to make sure he’s coming and playing every day. Having him come and not get those at-bats and not get a chance to participate on a regular basis, I don’t think that’s the right thing for him or for us.”
Maybe, however slightly creativity by supervisor David Ross may have solved the taking part in time subject. Morel may have performed proper subject when Seiya Suzuki was on the injured record to start out the season. He additionally may have made just a few begins at third when Patrick Wisdom performed proper subject and given heart fielder Cody Bellinger or left fielder Ian Happ a time off. Designated hitter additionally would’ve been a chance.
The Cubs didn’t want to hold three catchers to start out the season; they already designated Luis Torrens for project and despatched him to the Baltimore Orioles for money. They’ve additionally demoted third baseman Edwin Ríos, who hit .100 (2-for-20) in 12 video games, and outfielder Miles Mastrobuoni, who hit .200 (4-for-20) in eight video games.
The Cubs (17-17) aren’t adequate to proceed to disregard Morel’s numbers. Who is aware of if his bat may’ve helped of their eight one-run losses?
Hoyer ought to rectify the state of affairs quickly, as he finally did with Hoerner.
Latest hurdle for White Sox
Shortstop Tim Anderson returned from the injured record final week. Closer Liam Hendriks and third baseman Yoán Moncada are rehabbing with Triple-A Charlotte. Reliever Garrett Crochet is doing likewise with Double-A Birmingham.
Just when it appeared the Sox have been getting more healthy, they acquired the robust information Saturday that outfielder/designated hitter Eloy Jiménez will miss 4 to 6 weeks recovering from an appendectomy.
“He feels really good, he sounded really good,” Grifol stated Sunday. “I spoke to him (Saturday) and he didn’t sound too good. Today, the first thing I told him when he answered the phone, he sounded like normal Eloy. He was obviously in big-time pain (Saturday) and it intensified throughout until he had the surgery.”
The Sox positioned Jiménez on the 10-day IL on Sunday and recalled catcher Carlos Pérez from Charlotte. The Jiménez information got here a few days after infielder Jake Burger went on the IL with a strained left indirect.
Burger is tied for the group lead with seven homers. Jiménez has hit safely in his final eight video games, going 14-for-33 (.424) within the stretch.
“There’s really no words to explain it, it’s next man up,” Burger stated Sunday. “We will obviously miss Eloy for however long it takes. He was getting super hot. When he’s hot, he’s the best hitter in baseball, he’s fun to watch. Disappointing. I hope for a quick recovery.”
Grifol stated group management could be impactful in moments like this.
“You lose a guy, not only is he in the middle of your lineup, but you lose a guy who’s hot in the middle of your lineup,” Grifol stated. “That’s when leadership comes to the forefront. You’ve just got to keep it moving, keep moving forward. We have to find ways to win. We have to do whatever we can to win a baseball game.”
Week forward: Cubs
The Cubs rebounded from a 1-6 highway journey by profitable two of three from the Miami Marlins at Wrigley Field. With hotter temperatures again and the Cardinals on the town, the three-game sequence between the National League Central rivals must be fascinating.
Marcus Stroman begins Monday’s opener for the Cubs. The Cardinals have fallen off the face of the earth since falling to the Philadelphia Phillies within the playoffs, beginning out 11-24. Before beating the Detroit Tigers on Sunday, they have been 14 video games beneath .500 for the primary time because the finish of 1997.
Cardinals supervisor Oli Marmol is on the new seat and never dealing with issues properly in his second 12 months on the job, preventing with umpires and reacting defensively to innocuous questions from reporters. Could he be on his approach to an early exit?
After an off-day Thursday, the Cubs journey to Minnesota for a three-game interleague sequence towards the Twins, the early leaders within the American League Central, maybe the worst division in baseball. Drew Smyly probably faces Twins ace Sonny Gray (4-0, 1.35 ERA) on Friday in a recreation telecast on Apple TV Plus.
- Monday: vs. Cardinals, 6:40 p.m., Marquee
- Tuesday: vs. Cardinals, 6:40 p.m., Marquee
- Wednesday: vs. Cardinals, 6:40 p.m., Marquee
- Thursday: off
- Friday: at Twins, 7:10 p.m., Apple TV+
- Saturday: at Twins, 1:10 p.m., Marquee
- Sunday: at Twins, 1:10 p.m., Marquee
Week forward: White Sox
Grifol didn’t get nostalgic throughout spring coaching when the Sox traveled to Surprise, Ariz., to play the Royals. He spent the earlier 10 seasons in numerous teaching roles with the Royals earlier than turning into the Sox supervisor.
“You’re probably going to think I’m lying, but I don’t really feel anything extra,” Grifol stated on March 8 in Glendale, Ariz. “It’s another game that we need to prepare ourselves for Game 1. And that’s the truth. My 10 years there were my 10 years there and I’m here now.”
Grifol stated maybe it could be totally different earlier than the primary recreation in Kansas City.
“Because I felt like I connected with fans there and with the media there,” he stated on the time. “I was always eating out and knew a lot of people in Kansas City.”
The reunion week additionally contains Abreu returning to Guaranteed Rate Field with the Astros. Abreu, who ranks within the high 10 in a number of all-time offensive classes after 9 seasons with the Sox, signed a three-year take care of the Astros within the offseason.
- Monday: at Royals, 6:40 p.m., NBCSCH
- Tuesday: at Royals, 6:40 p.m., NBCSCH
- Wednesday: at Royals, 6:40 p.m., NBCSCH
- Thursday: at Royals, 1:10 p.m., NBCSCH
- Friday: vs. Astros, 7:10 p.m., NBCSCH
- Saturday: vs. Astros, 6:15 p.m., Fox-32
- Sunday: vs. Astros, 1:10 p.m., NBCSCH
What we’re studying this morning
This week in Chicago baseball
May 8, 1984: White Sox and Brewers play 25-inning recreation
It was the longest recreation in MLB historical past at 8 hours, 6 minutes. After taking part in 17 innings the day gone by, the groups met once more earlier than a repeatedly scheduled recreation, making the whole 34 innings for 2 days. Harold Baines homered off Chuck Porter with one out within the backside of the twenty fifth for a 7-6 victory. Pitcher Tom Seaver gained each video games for the Sox.
May 9 1993: Cubs 1B Mark Grace hits for the cycle
He was the 14th Cubs participant to take action, and it occurred in a 5-4 loss to the Padres.
May 11, 1998: Kerry Wood units major-league document for strikeouts in consecutive video games
The document of 33 was set by fanning 13 Arizona Diamondbacks in a 4-2 victory. The document for strikeouts in two begins had been 32, set by Luis Tiant in 1968 and matched by Nolan Ryan (1974), Dwight Gooden (1984) and Randy Johnson (1997).
May 11, 2000: Cubs lose longest nine-inning recreation in NL historical past
The Brewers beat the Cubs 14-8 in 4 hours, 22 minutes. The groups tied the major-league document set by the Orioles and Yankees on Sept. 5, 1997.
May 12, 1970: Ernie Banks hits five hundredth house run
It was a wet and foggy morning at Wrigley Field and the sport was nearly postponed, however Cubs GM John Holland determined to attend. “The sun will come out for Ernie,” Holland predicted.
And it did — within the second inning, moments earlier than Banks stepped in with the bases empty towards Pat Jarvis of the Atlanta Braves.
The Tribune’s Jerome Holtzman wrote: “The count was even, one ball and one strike, when Jarvis fed Banks his best fastball, chest-high and on the inside half of the plate. Banks swung. Rico Carty, the Atlanta left fielder, turned toward the bleacher seats in left-center, and the small crowd, aware of the historic moment, responded with what was to become a four-minute standing ovation.”
Mr. Cub had hit his five hundredth major-league house run. The milestone homer additionally elevated his profession RBI complete to 1,600.
Quotable
”I like Twitter. I’m going on Twitter for the NFL draft and the whole lot that simply occurred. I open up Twitter and each on occasion I’ll scroll and my face pops up, which is bizarre. It’s surprising and I attempt to scroll previous it, however I’m human. Sometimes I learn it. Try not to consider it an excessive amount of. Take it for what it’s price and carry on going.” — Cubs rookie first baseman Matt Mervis
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Source: www.bostonherald.com