DALLAS — Chicago Cubs shortstop Dansby Swanson’s offseason surgery isn’t expected to impact his readiness for spring training.
The circumstances around Swanson’s injury are unclear, namely when he sustained the hernia. The Cubs had been unaware he was playing through it, which Swanson revealed to the team after the season ended when he wanted to see a specialist and get it fixed in October.
“We were surprised, candidly, which is fine,” president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer said Monday at the MLB winter meetings. “That’s his personality, he was going to play, but clearly he was feeling something he wanted to get fixed.”
The Cubs’ middle infield tandem of Swanson and second baseman Nico Hoerner (right flexor tendon) are both coming off surgery, which has affected the start of their offseasons.
Swanson, 30, takes pride in being in the lineup every day, at one point playing in every game in a three-year stretch (2020-22). There is always a balance for players trying to grind through an ailment, a tipping point when that choice hurts more than helps a team. That occurred with Swanson’s knee injury he sustained in late April, eventually going on the injured list one week into May when it became visually apparent with his on-field performance that he needed time off to heal.
In Hoerner’s case, the Cubs understood he was playing with an injury for a majority of the season and wasn’t throwing as well as usual. This meant they couldn’t use him to fill in for Swanson at shortstop for more than one game at a time.
“In (Nico’s) situation we knew, OK, at the end of the year, we’ll get this looked at but in Dansby’s case we weren’t aware,” Hoyer said. “He had a great second half, he played great defense, he was really good offensively. Yeah, it was unexpected.”
Hoerner’s injury was more significant and leaves less wiggle room for being ready for the start of the season compared to Swanson, mitigating the level of concern of potentially being without their starting middle infielders to open the 2025 season.
“I would say I’m grateful we have two guys who will go out there with things going on and still give really good efforts and still be productive players,” manager Craig Counsell said Monday. “I think every player goes into a season hoping this is the year I’m going to feel really, really good and not going to get bit by any of the injury stuff. I think in both cases they dealt with some stuff. It’s both things that they were able to stay on the field with.
“But it affects you. I don’t have a prognosis that they’re going to be healthy 100% this year. I think both of them are going to go into camp knowing, ‘hey, I’m in a really good spot right now,’ and that’s always a good feeling.”