Lambs right hand Adbert Alzolay you will have Tommy John surgery, per manager Craig Counsell. Maddie Lee of the Chicago Sun-Times reported the news to X. It was reported last week that the righteous will go under the knife but the nature of the process has not been clarified. He will miss the rest of this season and could miss all of 2025.
It's obviously bad luck for Alzolay and the Cubs. The righty seemed to open up a bit last year after moving from a starting position to a full-time relief role. He threw 64 innings in 58 games for the Cubs last year, allowing a 2.67 ERA. He struck out 26.5% of the batters he faced, walked at a 5.1% clip and kept the ball down 42.2% of the time. He even got the closer job, notching 22 saves last year.
He missed nearly two weeks in September with a strained right arm, which now looks like a harbinger of things to come in 2024. He started 18 times this year but was less active. He only struck out 17.3% of the batters he faced and had a 4.67 ERA. The Cubs placed him on the IL on May 13, announcing that he had a right arm. The next day, they told reporters that the imaging confirmed that Alzolay has the right flexor strain, to Lee in X.
There was still hope that he would return, as he began rehabilitation work in July. But he made just three appearances before it was reported that he would need some sort of surgery, which was a vague update until today's development.
Now that he's scheduled for the worst-case scenario of Tommy John surgery, Alzolay's entire 2025 season is in jeopardy. Pitchers typically need 14 months or more to return from such an important job, a timeline that would see him not see game action until 2026. He is currently 29 years old but will turn 31 in March 2026.
He reached arbitration for the first time this year and earned $2.11MM. Given how much time he's missed, the Cubs could keep him at that price through 2025 but would likely get nothing for that investment other than the right to hold on to Alzolay's rights for the 2026 campaign, the last time before he is granted free agency. Teams and players in this situation will sometimes issue an extension to include a rehab period and the pitcher's scheduled return to the mound, so perhaps the Cubs will talk to Alzolay's representatives this winter about such an arrangement.
Meanwhile, the club's bullpen stats will fluctuate, this year and next. Héctor Neris he holds the closing job this year but is not guaranteed to return in 2025 as his one-year deal has a $9MM club option that converts to a player option if he makes 60 appearances this year. He is currently 42 years old. Mark Leiter Jr. leads the team in catching but was traded to the Yankees before the deadline. Yency Almonte again Porter Hodge tied for second in that division but Almonte was sidelined for the year due to shoulder surgery. Tyson Miller again Drew Smyly next on this list but it is possible that Smyly is headed to the open market as his contract has a co-op option in 2025 and those are unlikely to be taken up by either side.
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