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MILWAUKEE — The weirdness around a 2024 neck injury that cost Chicago Cubs right-hander Ben Brown the final 3½ months of the season has gained unexpected clarity two years later.
Imaging this week showed Brown has a stress reaction in his neck, which was in the same spot as his 2024 ailment that ultimately had been diagnosed as an osteoma (benign bone tumor). However, improved imaging of the injury helped determined that was a misdiagnosis and Brown actually suffered this same stress reaction two years ago, providing a better understanding of why the 26-year-old took so long to recover properly.
“I have a little bit of a higher level (of a stress reaction), which if you think about it, if my MRI looked the same as it did in ’24, we might be in a little bit of a limbo period again, of like what is this?” Brown said. “And the MRI gives us a little more clarity of how to attack this, so blessings to us, I guess.”
As Chicago Cubs reach midpoint of season on 88-win pace, can they overcome all their pitching injuries?
When he unknowingly dealt with the same thing in 2024, Brown kept trying to push through the pain and continue throwing.
“There was no exact clear definition of the injury, so we were kind of going through it, could be X, Y or a couple different options, and I think it’s very clear right now what it is,” Brown said. “Doesn’t mean that it’s any worse than ’24, I think they all kind of take the same amount of time to heal, but we’re able to attack it a lot differently.”
Brown still doesn’t have an outlined direction of what the next couple of weeks will look like for his recovery. But it will require a lot of rest to allow the bone fracture to fully heal.
“There’s no avoidance of that,” Brown said. “I could fix all my mechanics and do everything off the field to move better or to throw in a healthier way, but that’s not going to take away from the fact that the bone has to heal, so that’s the focus and priority No. 1. And then we’re just navigating in the meantime what can I do that’s asymptomatic.
“There’s no, it could be this, it could be this, we’re going to try to push here. There’s none of that. It’s very clear, which is good.”
Something within Brown’s mechanics in his delivery or how he throws the ball is the underlying issue to the two stress reactions he has sustained in the C5 vertebrae of his neck. Brown and the Cubs are still working to get to the bottom of what is causing the stress on his bone. But it likely will require some sort of adjustment to avoid this injury popping up again.
“As far as career outlook goes, there’s almost a positivity around that, like, hey, we might actually be able to figure this out,” Brown said. “So, I’m looking at this now, like, there’s an actual issue here, and I’ve got to take care of it.
“Obviously it’s frustrating in the midst of a season where I’m doing some really cool things, but also I can’t lose sight of how talented I am and how much I can contribute, and ultimately that’s the end goal is to get back to that.”
It’s not yet known whether Brown will have enough time to build back up as a starter before the season ends since he will be shut down for weeks before building up again. But the expectation is he can get back to help the Cubs in some capacity before the season ends.
“This is going to be easier in terms of we have an injury, we’ll go get it looked at again at some point — is it healed, is it not healed? We progress,” manager Craig Counsell said Saturday. “We didn’t really have that last time, and I think that’s probably the most important part.”
Serious pain in the middle of the night after Friday’s series opener against the Milwaukee Brewers caused alarm for reliever Hoby Milner.
He went to the emergency room in an Uber and was diagnosed with appendicitis. Milner underwent an appendectomy Saturday morning and could miss four to six weeks. Right-hander Tyler Ferguson was recalled to replaced Milner, who went on the 15-day injured list.
Yet another blow to the Cubs bullpen.
“The frequency of it just this week and then the cumulative effect is you just start running out of pitchers by nature in your organization that are kind of ready to go,” Counsell said. “We have obviously bodies, but the quality, it has to go down. You don’t have that big of a stockpile. I don’t think anybody does, so it’s where we’re going to have to get through it. We’ll keep looking to try to get guys that can do the job.”
Milner, 35, is the sixth Cubs reliever on the IL as they lose their most-used reliever (38 appearances with a 112 ERA+). Right-hander Phil Maton, who went on it Friday because of his reoccurring right knee tendinitis, isn’t expected to return until after the All-Star break. Closer Daniel Palencia, shut down with a flexor strain since June 16, also won’t be back until sometime following the break in mid July. The goal is for Palencia to start throwing next week when the Cubs return to Chicago.
The juggling continues with Counsell’s options for high-leverage spots out of the bullpen.
“This week has been different with the doubleheader, I keep stressing this, but we’re just pitching who’s available a lot too,” Counsell said. “That’s what a doubleheader does to you. And so that certainly was the case (Friday) in a way. And guys are just going to be in different roles, and I think they expect that. It’s are you available today? And then when the phone rings, it could be anybody. That’s how we’re going to continue to do it.”
The Cubs have another arm who can give them multiple innings if needed.
Right-hander Bryse Wilson, claimed off waivers from the Philadelphia Phillies on Wednesday, reported to the team Saturday and was added to the active roster. For the corresponding move, the Cubs optioned reliever Jayden Murray to Triple-A Iowa.
Wilson, 28, made one appearance for the Phillies, allowing one hit and walk in two shutout innings. He was part of the Brewers pitching staff in 2023 during Counsell’s last season in Milwaukee.
“He’s got the ability to pitch some length, obviously has some experience, and just kind of treat it like that,” Counsell said.
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Imaging this week showed Brown has a stress reaction in his neck, which was in the same spot as his 2024 ailment that ultimately had been diagnosed as an osteoma (benign bone tumor). However, improved imaging of the injury helped determined that was a misdiagnosis and Brown actually suffered this same stress reaction two years ago, providing a better understanding of why the 26-year-old took so long to recover properly.
“I have a little bit of a higher level (of a stress reaction), which if you think about it, if my MRI looked the same as it did in ’24, we might be in a little bit of a limbo period again, of like what is this?” Brown said. “And the MRI gives us a little more clarity of how to attack this, so blessings to us, I guess.”
As Chicago Cubs reach midpoint of season on 88-win pace, can they overcome all their pitching injuries?
When he unknowingly dealt with the same thing in 2024, Brown kept trying to push through the pain and continue throwing.
“There was no exact clear definition of the injury, so we were kind of going through it, could be X, Y or a couple different options, and I think it’s very clear right now what it is,” Brown said. “Doesn’t mean that it’s any worse than ’24, I think they all kind of take the same amount of time to heal, but we’re able to attack it a lot differently.”
Brown still doesn’t have an outlined direction of what the next couple of weeks will look like for his recovery. But it will require a lot of rest to allow the bone fracture to fully heal.
“There’s no avoidance of that,” Brown said. “I could fix all my mechanics and do everything off the field to move better or to throw in a healthier way, but that’s not going to take away from the fact that the bone has to heal, so that’s the focus and priority No. 1. And then we’re just navigating in the meantime what can I do that’s asymptomatic.
“There’s no, it could be this, it could be this, we’re going to try to push here. There’s none of that. It’s very clear, which is good.”
Something within Brown’s mechanics in his delivery or how he throws the ball is the underlying issue to the two stress reactions he has sustained in the C5 vertebrae of his neck. Brown and the Cubs are still working to get to the bottom of what is causing the stress on his bone. But it likely will require some sort of adjustment to avoid this injury popping up again.
“As far as career outlook goes, there’s almost a positivity around that, like, hey, we might actually be able to figure this out,” Brown said. “So, I’m looking at this now, like, there’s an actual issue here, and I’ve got to take care of it.
“Obviously it’s frustrating in the midst of a season where I’m doing some really cool things, but also I can’t lose sight of how talented I am and how much I can contribute, and ultimately that’s the end goal is to get back to that.”
It’s not yet known whether Brown will have enough time to build back up as a starter before the season ends since he will be shut down for weeks before building up again. But the expectation is he can get back to help the Cubs in some capacity before the season ends.
“This is going to be easier in terms of we have an injury, we’ll go get it looked at again at some point — is it healed, is it not healed? We progress,” manager Craig Counsell said Saturday. “We didn’t really have that last time, and I think that’s probably the most important part.”
Another pitcher out
Serious pain in the middle of the night after Friday’s series opener against the Milwaukee Brewers caused alarm for reliever Hoby Milner.
He went to the emergency room in an Uber and was diagnosed with appendicitis. Milner underwent an appendectomy Saturday morning and could miss four to six weeks. Right-hander Tyler Ferguson was recalled to replaced Milner, who went on the 15-day injured list.
Yet another blow to the Cubs bullpen.
“The frequency of it just this week and then the cumulative effect is you just start running out of pitchers by nature in your organization that are kind of ready to go,” Counsell said. “We have obviously bodies, but the quality, it has to go down. You don’t have that big of a stockpile. I don’t think anybody does, so it’s where we’re going to have to get through it. We’ll keep looking to try to get guys that can do the job.”
Milner, 35, is the sixth Cubs reliever on the IL as they lose their most-used reliever (38 appearances with a 112 ERA+). Right-hander Phil Maton, who went on it Friday because of his reoccurring right knee tendinitis, isn’t expected to return until after the All-Star break. Closer Daniel Palencia, shut down with a flexor strain since June 16, also won’t be back until sometime following the break in mid July. The goal is for Palencia to start throwing next week when the Cubs return to Chicago.
The juggling continues with Counsell’s options for high-leverage spots out of the bullpen.
“This week has been different with the doubleheader, I keep stressing this, but we’re just pitching who’s available a lot too,” Counsell said. “That’s what a doubleheader does to you. And so that certainly was the case (Friday) in a way. And guys are just going to be in different roles, and I think they expect that. It’s are you available today? And then when the phone rings, it could be anybody. That’s how we’re going to continue to do it.”
Roster move
The Cubs have another arm who can give them multiple innings if needed.
Right-hander Bryse Wilson, claimed off waivers from the Philadelphia Phillies on Wednesday, reported to the team Saturday and was added to the active roster. For the corresponding move, the Cubs optioned reliever Jayden Murray to Triple-A Iowa.
Wilson, 28, made one appearance for the Phillies, allowing one hit and walk in two shutout innings. He was part of the Brewers pitching staff in 2023 during Counsell’s last season in Milwaukee.
“He’s got the ability to pitch some length, obviously has some experience, and just kind of treat it like that,” Counsell said.
Continue reading...
