Injury rehab will shape Nico Hoerner's winter, but he'll return with clear Cubs goal: 'You want to dominate'

SAN ANTONIO – In the immediate aftermath of the 2024 season, Cubs second baseman Nico Hoerner added nuance of his to the discussion about building 90-win teams.

“I also don't think 90 wins should necessarily be the goal,” he told the Sun-Times, standing in front of his locker after the last game of the season. “I mean, it gets you to the playoffs – obviously, first thing’s first. But you want to dominate. That's what the Cubs should do; that's what the standard should be.”

Manager Craig Counsell’s comments after the Cubs mathematically fell out of the NL Central race made building “90-win teams” a common topic in the last week and a half of the season. He called it the “playoff standard." And, indeed, every NL playoff team won at least 89 games in the regular season, and tiebreakers pushed the Diamondbacks under the threshold with that very win total.

The Cubs won 83 games, performing to projections. That put them 10 games back of the division-champion Brewers and tied with the Cardinals.

“I don’t see any reason this team couldn’t have won 90-plus games,” Hoerner said. “We didn't win a lot of big moments in close games, and I don't think that's a lack of preparation, but definitely things that we'll build on and learn from and be better equipped for in the future.”

As much as the players believed in their ability as a collective, it’s the front office’s job to keep strengthening the team's odds to make the postseason. And even if president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer and his team are going to count on some players outperforming projections, the higher they aim, the safer that bet.

Hoerner is one of those hitters who the Cubs thought had untapped potential even going into this past season, especially when it came to his power numbers. They weren't looking for him to morph into a 20-homer hitter, but supplementing his contact ability with improved slug could help the team optimize its lineup.

Even battling through a fractured right hand and hamstring issue this season – he avoided IL stints for both – Hoerner hit a career-high 35 doubles this past season.

His flexor tendon surgery last month, however, will shape his offseason. Hoerner had been dealing with the injury for at least half the season, Hoyer said.

“If you go back now and watch – we knew about it – you can see some double play turns where he probably didn't have as much on the throw as he wanted,” Hoyer said.” You can see him running balls over and kind of short-arming some balls. So, it's a credit to his toughness that he was able just to play through and play really well.”

Hoyer said the timeline for Hoerner's return is “uncertain.” But the Cubs have middle infield depth that stretches into the prospect ranks with Matt Shaw and James Triantos. And they could always add to the group this offseason. A left-handed batter who could push for regular time as a utility man, for example, could complement the current roster.

The range of possible recovery times, however, make it unclear whether the Cubs will have to tap into that depth early in the season. As long as Hoerner doesn’t experience setbacks, he isn’t expected to miss significant time for the injury.

Several young pitchers also ended the season injured. Rookie Ben Brown is scheduled to have another scan in mid-November to make sure the benign area of concern in his neck has fully dissipated.

“Our hope is that he has a no-restrictions off season,” Hoyer said Monday. “But I don’t think we’ll know that for a couple weeks.”

Left-hander Jordan Wicks’ season ended a couple weeks early, when he began feeling discomfort near his oblique. He’d already spent two and a half months on the IL for a strained right oblique. But he and the Cubs were encouraged when imaging showed that his late-season injury was actually a rib issue, which was causing tightness in the area.

The team doesn’t expect the injury to hinder Wicks’ offseason.

The Cubs’ top pitching prospect, right-hander Cade Horton, had a strain of the subscapularis in his right shoulder wipe out all but nine starts last season. Before the injury, he'd seemed likely to debut in 2024. Horton is on track to start a throwing progression this offseason.