Cubs Closer Brandon Morrow Confirms He'll Miss Start Of 2019 Season

Everything was going smoothly for Cubs closer Brandon Morrow in 2018, and then he took off his pants one day and hurt his back. Fine, minor hiccup and a quick trip to the DL. (it was still the DL in 2018) Yet, an arm injury followed in July and that forced him to miss the rest of the season and then a minor surgery in November to clear up debris in his elbow was another setback. The Cubs made the scope done on Morrow's right elbow public in December. He had the procedure done on Nov. 6, so they knew since then that Morrow being ready for Opening Day in 2019 was not likely to happen.

But hey, maybe there was a chance Morrow could have had a quicker recovery and be ready to go sooner than expected? Nope. Morrow is in Mesa for Cubs camp and he talked with reporters on Wednesday. He was asked if there was any chance he could be ready to go to start the regular season on time, but Morrow quickly shot that possibility down.

Morrow will be taking the cautious route, trying to avoid another extended period sidelined because of injury. Via ESPN.

Morrow, 34, intends to throw from 90 feet this week and then slowly advance to longer distances before getting back on the mound. Though he still had some pain at the end of last season, MRIs showed no damage to his elbow. That led to a more intrusive CT scan that did find an issue. Surgery followed. "Missing just the first month this year will be better than missing the last three months last year," Morrow said.

Before going down with the elbow injury in 2018, Morrow was great for the Cubs. He had a 1.47 ERA in 30.2 innings, saving 22 games, striking out 31 batters in 30 appearances. Pedro Strop took over the closer role after Morrow went down last year and he was also pretty damn good. That was until he also got hurt in September, when running out a grounder against the Nationals in extra innings. Strop is expected to fill in for Morrow, but the Cubs also signed Brad Brach, who has closing experience during his MLB career. Hopefully things workout and there aren't any setbacks for Morrow. The Cubs have a very thin margin of error to have a steady bullpen in 2019.