The Chicago Cubs have dealt with a few minor injuries through the first three weeks of the season and Ben Zobrist is the latest player to go on the disabled list.
Following the 16-5 thrashing of the Colorado Rockies on Friday night, news broke that Zobrist was going on the 10-day DL. The veteran has been dealing with some back tightness, an issue that also slowed him down at the beginning of spring training earlier this year.
So, it's a bit of bad news and good news at the same time. Obviously you wish Zobrist was 100% healthy and not dealing with a back problem, but it's better to have it early in the year than down the stretch, when he the team might need him more. It also sucks that he hasn't played since the wild comeback win against the Atlanta Braves and will miss a few more days because he was raking at the plate. Zobrist has a slash line of .326.408/.465 in 43 at-bats. He looks a whole lot better than at any point last season, when he was playing through a wrist injury that made him almost an automatic out batting right-handed. The Cubs are also fortunate to be right in the middle of an offensive outburst with Albert Almora Jr. and Javier Baez batting one-two in the lineup. Even Jason Heyward is contributing at the plate, so for now anyway the loss of Zobrist shouldn't be a big deal. Zobrist last played on April 14, so he's eligible to return on Wednesday, the second game of a two-game set against the Cleveland Indians. The Cubs placed reliever Eddie Butler on the 10-day DL before Friday's game, replacing him in the bullpen with 26-year-old righty Luke Farrell. A few weeks ago, Anthony Rizzo spent time on the disabled list as well, dealing with back tightness too.
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