Chicago Cubs: Brandon Morrow receives some good news

Chicago Cubs dominate bullpen arm, Brandon Morrow, has had a season and a half of setbacks with his injured elbow. The tide might be starting to turn for the good as Morrow received good news for his rehab on his throwing elbow.

The Chicago Cubs hard-throwing right-handed bullpen arm, Brandon Morrow has had a very underwhelming time as a Cub to this point. Morrow was signed to a two-year $21 million contract before the 2018 season.  As Cubs fans, we saw first hand how good Morrow was in the 2017 playoffs when he was a member of the LA Dodgers. He completely shut down an excellent Cubs lineup in the NLCS.

When Morrow was still healthy in 2018, he was outstanding. In 35 games and 30 2/3 innings pitched he had a 1.47 ERA as the Cubs closer.  Morrow converted 22 saves along with striking out 31 batters. Those are some elite closer numbers, and that’s what the Cubs thought that they had signed when they got Morrow.

Then the injury bug got Morrow, the last game that he pitched in a Cubs uniform was last year on July 15 as his right elbow seemed to flare up. The Cubs shut him down for a while before trying to have him make a comeback for the end of the year and the playoffs.

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That proved not to be the case as Cubs president of operations Theo Epstein reported in September of last year that Morrow was being shut down for the rest of the year. Morrow received elbow surgery in November last year. The Cubs knew that it would be a slow rehab for the veteran.

The Cubs and Morrow received good news on Thursday as GM Jed Hoyer reported that Morrow is now throwing from 135 feet at the teams complex in Mesa.

“We’ve been down this road a few times where he feels good and then he has a setback,” Cubs general manager Jed Hoyer said. “I don’t want to be over-optimistic. I don’t want to be pessimistic.

There have been a few times in the rehab process with Morrow that the rehab amps up and he gets to throw from a longer distance and then his elbow doesn’t feel right after and he receives another setback. Hopefully this time he feels good and can start throwing off of a mound and working his way back to the big league ballclub.

“Getting him back would be such an incredible bonus for us at this point,” Hoyer said. “He could be a real shot in the arm for the bullpen. Kimbrel is coming and our other guys will slot in really well.”

I feel like at this point most Chicago Cubs fans don’t expect to see Morrow back on the Cubs because of how long this process has taken to this point. If he ever does come back to the Cubs bullpen could be an elite group especially when they get Craig Kimbrel as there closer.