Cubs activate Cody Bellinger from 10-day IL in step toward returning 'best team'
Chicago Cubs’ Cody Bellinger runs the bases after hitting a home run during the first inning of a baseball game against the Houston Astros, Tuesday, April 23, 2024, in Chicago. He late left that game with fractured ribs.
Erin Hooley/AP
The Cubs activated center fielder Cody Bellinger from the 10-day injured list on Tuesday. In all, the fractures in two of the ribs on his right side, which he sustained running into the brick outfield wall Wrigley Field while trying to corral a deep fly ball, sidelined him for just two weeks.
“I wouldn't say I'm fully pain-free,” Bellinger said before the Cubs’ game against the Padres on Tuesday. “But something like this, it takes quite a bit of time to be fully pain-free. Where it's at, it's a matter of pain tolerance, and I feel like I'm in a pretty good spot with it.”
In a corresponding move, the Cubs optioned outfielder Alexander Canario to Triple-A Iowa. They also put reliever Daniel Palencia on the 15-day IL with what the team called a strained right shoulder and recalled right-hander Keegan Thompson from Triple-A.
“You want to have your best players in the lineup, you want to be able to put your best team out there as much as you can,” manager Craig Counsell said. “And getting Cody back puts us in a step in the right direction and that.”
The next step on offense will be to get right fielder Seiya Suzuki (strained right oblique) back from the 10-day IL. He left Tuesday to go on a rehab assignment with Triple-A Iowa. Counsell said the anticipates Suzuki will play rehab games Wednesday and Thursday and then rejoin the major-league squad on Friday or Saturday in Pittsburgh.
At first, the Cubs offense weathered Suzuki and Bellinger’s absences well, but they hit a rough patch in Boston and New York last week.
Suzuki was on an offensive tear when he landed on the IL in mid-April, batting .305 with three home runs. Bellinger was off to a slower start through 22 games, but he still had a .320 on-base percentage, and the threat of a breakout game was always looming.
“He's been a really good offensive player in this league,” Counsell said. “He's been off a little bit, but confident that it was a short layoff, and we can get him back into the swing of things quickly. And just getting him back is a good feeling for everybody.”
Bellinger’s return immediately lengthened the Cubs lineup. With him reclaiming his role as the Cubs’ regular No. 3 hitter, switch-hitting Ian Happ moved down to No. 5, after cleanup hitter Christopher Morel.
Bellinger served as the designated hitter on Tuesday, and Counsell said he anticipated writing in Bellinger’s name at DH Wednesday as well, as the Cubs ease him back into playing the field.
“It's a way to hopefully get him back playing without having to aggravate it and annoy it,” Counsell said, noting that there’s more risk of that with him running around and sliding in the outfield. “And then we'll just see how the next couple of days go and then go from there.”