Craig Counsell has no set timeline yet on second baseman Nico Hoerner, but sounds optimistic about where things stand (and confirms, indirectly, that indeed he had not been able to be the primary back-up at shortstop last year):
Cubs manager Craig Counsell said "the news has been all good so far" on Nico Hoerner's rehab/comeback from right forearm surgery. Still no firm timetable, but "he's not gonna miss much, if at all," noted the manager.One goal is to get Hoerner back to being able to step in as backup SS, if needed.
Counsell said today Nico Hoerner is "in a great spot" as he continues forward with focus on stacking good days. Counsell didn't put timeframe but "he's not gonna miss much (time) if at all. That's what I'd say. I'm confident in that. …The news has been all good so far & that's really encouraging."
— Meghan Montemurro (@mmontemurro.bsky.social) 2025-02-10T21:56:05.093ZMore from Counsell, via Marquee: “What Nico and I have talked about is stacking good days. It’s just keep on stacking good days. Because when you look too far forward, you kind of forget about today. You stack a bunch of good days up, and that day is going to be sooner than we all think, and that’s what’s happened so far. So, the news has been all good so far. And that’s really encouraging.”
Hoerner, 27, is returning from after-season forearm surgery, which addressed a flexor tendon issue that bugged him for much of the 2024 season. He is throwing and he is hitting, which seems very promising, but the Cubs open their season very early this year, participating in the Tokyo Series in just over a month. I think the question for all parties at that time is going to be whether Hoerner is fully good to go for those two games, or whether it’s worth letting him get two more weeks of ramp-up time – for the Stateside opener in Arizona – in exchange for sitting those two games.
But as all of Counsell, Hoerner, Jed Hoyer, and Carter Hawkins have correctly noted, there’s no real need to make that decision today. It’s possible that, by the first week or so of March, the answer will be quite clear in one direction or the other. So just let Hoerner keep doing the rehab and the work, and evaluate it week-to-week.
If Hoerner cannot go for those two games in Japan, it increasingly sounds like Matt Shaw would not be a replacement option at second base, with his focus instead pretty exclusively being third. Short-term options at second base, then, depend a bit on who makes the Opening Day roster. Jon Berti will certainly be in the mix, as could any of Vidal Brujan, Gage Workman, or Nicky Lopez.
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