Cubs Begin Spring Training with Best News Possible
Pitchers and catchers have been reporting to spring training this week and the annual tradition of heartbreaking injury updates has once again crushed fans across MLB. It has been brutal for both pitching and position players with some star names already ruled out for the start of the regular season and you bet Cubs fans were dreading Jed Hoyer’s press conference on Wednesday, which marked the team’s first official work out in spring training.
Don’t get me wrong, and knock on wood because injuries can pop up at any time during the next six weeks, but so far so good because the Cubs gave fans the best news possible, which was no news at all. You always fear that someone needs surgery or they’re going to be behind in spring training, but Hoyer eased anxious Cubs fans as he had no injury updates for the media.
Splendid. That being said, I am a little worried about the upcoming World Baseball Classic.
The Cubs have eight players projected to be on the Opening Day roster who will represent and play for their respective country in the 2026 WBC and that number includes four pitchers. Overall, the Cubs organization will have 13 players participating in the WBC this year.
Team USA: Alex Bregman, Pete Crow-Armstrong, Matthew Boyd
Team Panama: Miguel Amaya, Christian Bethancourt, Erian Rodriguez
Team Mexico: Javier Assad
Team Chinese-Taipei: Jonathon Long
Team Great Britain: B.J. Murray
Team Venezuela: Daniel Palencia
Team Puerto Rico: Yacksel Rios
Samurai Japan: Seiya Suzuki
Team Canada: Jameson Taillon
Here’s the thing, guys can get hurt at any point of the year and sometimes it comes from a completely normal action like last September, when Cade Horton was sick and persistent coughing led to a fractured rib. Or how about the time that Jose Quintana cut his hand while he washed the dishes. Back in 2018, Brandon Morrow experienced back spasms as he was taking off his pants. Shit happens.
That being said, despite not being definitive, there has been a public perception about MLB pitchers playing in the WBC who return to their team and either experience decline in performance or an increased risk of injury.
However, according to a 2017 study that looked at all MLB pitchers from three different WBC competitions, (2006, 2009, 2013) revealed that there actually wasn’t any strong evidence that starting pitchers experienced too much of a decline compared to others that did not play in the WBC.
Out of the four MLB pitchers going to this year’s WBC for the Cubs, Jameson Taillon and Javier Assad have each participated in the past. Taillon was still a prospect in 2013, when he made one, four-inning start for Team Canada. He proceeded to make 25 starts and ended the season at Triple-A. Meanwhile, Assad turned heads with his performance on Team Mexico in 2023, when the right-hander threw 5.2 shutout innings in two games. Assad tossed 109.1 innings with the Cubs in 2023, and finished the year with a 3.05 ERA in 32 games.
So, fingers crossed that everyone comes back 100% healthy after the WBC.