ATLANTA — Chicago Cubs manager Craig Counsell expressed hope his star right fielder wasn’t going to need time on the injured list to allow a left calf issue to fully heal.
But 24 hours later, the circumstances changed once Kyle Tucker’s calf did not progress following Monday’s more vigorous on-field work. The Cubs placed Tucker on the 10-day IL before Tuesday’s game and recalled designated hitter/catcher Moisés Ballesteros. The move is retroactive to Saturday, making next Tuesday the first day Tucker will be eligible to return.
“It didn’t really get to a get to a point of a lot of effort at all and wasn’t comfortable playing, and so we just said well, we’ve got to give this a little more time,” Counsell said. “That’s why we did a little bit more yesterday, to put a little more effort into it and see how it’s going to feel, and it didn’t respond to it today.”
Tucker had been looking to get into either Tuesday’s or Wednesday’s game at Truist Park, but realized that was unlikely after experiencing soreness in his left calf before Tuesday’s game that didn’t dissipate as easily.
“It got a little tighter as we went,” Tucker explained Tuesday. “Normally as I kind of move around and did some stuff, it’d loosen up, probably just getting the blood flow in, it just getting loose and stuff. And today it kind of didn’t really do that as much. Kind of got a little tighter, so it’s still kind of bothering me and stopped it.
“I was hoping to feel good today and coming in, hopefully getting in there. But obviously, it doesn’t really work out like that. So that part is kind of frustrating, but just got to take care of it from now and get back whenever I can.”
Tucker didn’t delve into his level of confidence as to whether this would be a minimum IL stint, saying it’s a day-by-day process. The timing, on many levels, isn’t ideal. For Tucker, an impending free agent, he had looked better at the plate in the two weeks leading up to his calf soreness following a brief reset on the bench. In his last 11 games, Tucker hit .400 with a .489 on-base percentage, four doubles, four home runs and 11 RBIs.
Tucker departed after the sixth inning on Sept. 2 due to calf tightness and subsequently missed five games before landing on the IL. Teams can backdate an IL move by up to three days, depending on when a player last appeared in a big-league game. Had this injury occurred earlier in the season, the Cubs probably would have put Tucker on the IL immediately to avoid playing shorthanded. The additional position player on the bench because of September’s expanded roster made that less of an issue, Counsell explained.
“You’re just gathering information from all the sources and trying to make your best guess,” Counsell said Tuesday. “We didn’t think the roster was really going to be that affected by it. We thought we were in the range, and figured the range of like six-ish days, and that’s when the tough call happens.”
Tucker should be able to continue to hit and throw while he’s sidelined; he said his calf only bothers him when running. It’s too soon to say whether Tucker would need a short rehab assignment to get at-bats before rejoining the Cubs. He noted that last year, when he came off the IL with the Houston Astros, he took some live batting practice and was good to go.
The Cubs will have 12 games remaining in the regular season if Tucker is activated on Sept. 16, his first day of eligibility.
“It kind of sucks, I mean, you don’t want to as a player miss any time,” Tucker said. “In that aspect, a little frustrating, especially since just being on the team, you want to go out there and help the team win, do what you can out on the field and help everyone around you. So I mean, now I’ve just kind of got to do that but without being on the field.”