Cubs News: Jed Hoyer provides updates on Brandon Morrow, Ben Zobrist |
CHICAGO — Chicago Cubs beat writer Patrick Mooney of The Athletic Chicago interviewed Cubs general manager Jed Hoyer following the trade deadline on Wednesday. While Hoyer discussed his takeaways from the deadline deals that he and President of Baseball Operations
Theo Epstein pulled off, he also shed light on his outlook regarding injury-plagued reliever
Brandon Morrow and veteran leader
Ben Zobrist.
Morrow has not pitched for over a year now due to a variety of injury setbacks, and he is currently on the 60-day injured list. When asked about whether or not Morrow could potentially return this season, Hoyer said that the he and other members of the Cubs' front office are keeping their fingers crossed about it. However, Hoyer cast doubt on the remote possibility by saying that he is certainly not banking on Morrow returning in 2019. As for Brandon Morrow, GM Jed Hoyer summed up the Cubs’ attitude as “fingers crossed” but not banking on his return to the bullpen. As for Zobrist, Hoyer said that, despite the Cubs acquiring outfielder Nicholas Castellanos and utility man Tony Kemp at the deadline, the plan for him to rejoin the Cubs at some point in August is still in place. Zobrist is currently on the restricted list and has to be removed from it by no later than August 31 in order to be eligible for the postseason. Hoyer stated that the details pertaining to Zobrist's minor-league comeback stint have yet to be hammered out but also claimed that he still fully expects Zobrist to end his leave of absence in the not-too-distant future. All the details aren’t finalized yet, but the Cubs still expect Ben Zobrist to begin a minor-league assignment soon and attempt a late-season comeback.
