The Cubs announced Saturday morning that shortstop Dansby Swanson underwent surgery on a core injury in early October. They do not expect him to miss time as a result of the surgery.<\/p>\n
Swanson owned a .242 batting average this year, with a .701 OPS \u2014 his lowest since 2018 \u2014 which may have been affected by several factors. Wrigley Field was notoriously pitcher-friendly this past season, but Swanson also battled a knee injury early in the season.<\/p>\n
His sprained right knee landed him on the IL for a week and a half in May, but he\u2019d been playing through discomfort before agreeing the time off was necessary. Swanson finished the season particularly strong, batting .303 with seven doubles and four home runs in September.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe number one key is obviously, after any year, really, is getting healthy,\u201d Swanson said after the last game of the season. \u201cBattled through a lot mentally and physically this year, definitely one of the tougher ones in terms of stuff like that, but found a way to get through it.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a tale of two halves, really, \u2026 pretty rough first one, and then really found a groove and did a lot better in the second.\u201d<\/p>\n
Both of the Cubs\u2019 starting middle infielders underwent surgery in October. Second baseman Nico Hoerner\u2019s recovery timeline from right forearm surgery is less clear, but he is not expected to be sidelined for an extended portion of the season.<\/p>\n
The Cubs could make moves this winter that would shake up their middle infield. They have had wide-ranging trade discussions on a number of players, but those included at least preliminary talks with the Mariners about Hoerner.<\/p>\n
Regardless, the Cubs have prospect depth at middle infield, including Matt Shaw and James Triantos, who both rose to Triple-A last season.<\/p>\n
NOTE:<\/b> The Cubs also made left-hander Matthew Boyd\u2019s signing to a two-year deal <\/u>official on Saturday. His contract is worth $29 million, plus up to an additional $1 million in performance bonuses, sources previously confirmed. The two sides had agreed to terms by Monday, but the deal couldn\u2019t be finalized until after a physical.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The team said Swanson, who had the surgery in October, isn’t expected to miss any time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":15996,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15995","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mlb"],"yoast_head":"\n