The Chicago Cubs will have to get by without closer Brandon Morrow for a little while.
The Cubs placed the right-hander on the 10-day disabled list Wednesday because of lower back tightness Redskins Game Jerseys , leaving a short-handed bullpen without its most important piece.
While
Morrow went on the DL, Yu Darvish threw a simulated game. Manager Joe
Maddon said he looked ”outstanding,” and the Cubs will see how he feels
Thursday before announcing the next step as he works his way back from
tendinitis in his right triceps.
Morrow – signed by
Chicago to a $21 million, two-year contract in December after helping
the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Cubs in the NLCS – has 16 saves in 17
chances.
He hurt his back taking his pants off at home
early Monday morning, after the team returned from St. Louis. The Cubs
put him on the DL before their game against the Dodgers and announced
right-hander Justin Hancock will remain with the club after being called
up from Triple-A Iowa as the 26th man for Tuesday’s day-night
doubleheader.
”Anybody who’s had a back spasm knows you
can pretty much get it doing anything – brushing your teeth, sneezing,
picking up a kid,” Morrow said. ”I think almost everybody has a story
about doing so I just said how I did it.”
Morrow said he’s
”pretty comfortable” walking, but feels it when he sits. He said he
would have needed a few more days to be ready to pitch. But the Cubs
opted not to hold his spot on the active roster.
”We
thought it would be wise to give him a couple of days,” Maddon said. ”We
just can’t go with one less pitcher right now. We just cannot.”
The
Cubs are also missing relievers Carl Edwards Jr. (right shoulder
inflammation) and Brian Duensing, who is on the bereavement list after
his grandfather died Saturday.
Maddon said the matchups
will dictate who closes with Morrow sidelined. He also said the Cubs are
”very close” to mapping out a plan for the return of Edwards, who has
been throwing. He said the Cubs hope to get Duensing back by Friday.
Darvish Cardinals Cheap Jerseys ,
meanwhile, said through an interpreter that the simulated game went
better than expected. He felt some anxiety before the outing but felt
comfortable on the mound and had good command of his fastball and
slider, though he needs to work on his curve and splitter.
Darvish
also said he thinks he will need only one rehab start before rejoining
the rotation. Once he is ready, the Cubs will have some decisions to
make.
Mike Montgomery has a 1.21 ERA in five starts since
he was inserted into the rotation in Darvish’s absence. And Tyler
Chatwood leads the majors with 63 walks.
Darvish is 1-3
with a 4.95 ERA in eight starts, not what the Cubs envisioned when they
signed the prized right-hander to a $126 million, six-year contract in
February.
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Two-time Pro Bowl defensive
tackle Marcell Dareus wants to let loose. He’s dying to say how he
really feels about getting dumped by the Buffalo Bills in October for a
late-round draft pick.
It’s clearly gnawing at the Jacksonville Jaguars lineman.
He’s biting his lips. He’s clinching his fists. He’s swaying while he talks.
But
he manages to stay on the high road – for now. His emotions surely will
be more evident when Dareus and his new team, the Jaguars, host his
former team , the Bills, in an AFC wild-card game Sunday.
”I’m
just happy for the opportunity, man,” Dareus said this week. ”It’s just
crazy. God is funny. Just don’t question his work. Just do your job.”
The 340-pound Dareus is itching to unload Falcons Cheap Jerseys ,
and that becomes clear when asked he’s whether it surprised him to find
out what the Bills got – a sixth-round pick that became a fifth when
Jacksonville made the playoffs – in return for a former first-round
draft pick with 300 tackles and 35 sacks.
”They had to
make a move, and it’s business,” he said. ”But you can’t act like it
doesn’t hurt. It’s just ironic that we have to see these guys and it
brings up old memories.”
Dareus was overwhelmed with phone
calls and text messages after the Bills (9-7) landed the final playoff
spot thanks to Cincinnati’s stunning, come-from-behind victory at
Baltimore on Sunday. He received 170 messages during a 45-minute flight
from Nashville, Tennessee, to Jacksonville, that night and hundreds more
in the days since.
Most congratulated him. Some wanted tickets.
All of them know what to expect: Dareus will have extra motivation against former teammates and coaches.
”He
knows those guys better than anybody in this locker room, including
coaches,” Jaguars safety Tashaun Gipson said. ”It’s good to have a guy
like that, especially a dominant player like him and it’s exciting that
he’s on my side of the ball.”
The Jaguars (10-6) have been
through already. Defensive end Calais Campbell returned to Arizona and
played against his former team in late November. A week earlier, Gipson
did the same to Cleveland.
”The difference is he’s playing
against a playoff team and I was playing against a 0-16 team,” Gipson
said. ”I think the stakes are a little higher with him Ravens Cheap Jerseys , the team that gave up on him essentially, let him come here, and he gets to face them. What an awesome opportunity.
”You
can’t dream of that kind of stuff. You get to play them here, at home,
in the playoffs. I mean, if anybody’s going to be hyped.”
Jaguars coach Doug Marrone expects Dareus to have a little extra juice, which could come with positive or negative results.
”I just told him to be smart,” Marrone said.
Dareus has been a solid addition to an already stout defense .
Jacksonville
improved from 31st to 21st against the run since his arrival. And with
Dareus making his first start since the trade last week at Tennessee, he
finished with four tackles and a sack as the Jaguars held Derrick Henry
to 51 yards on 28 carries.
”When opportunity presents itself, my number gets called, I’ve got to answer the phone,” Dareus said.
This is Dareus’ first playoff game in seven seasons. He had hoped it would happen with Buffalo Bills Cheap Jerseys ,
the team that drafted him third overall in 2011 and then gave him a
six-year, $96 million contract extension in September 2015.
Instead, it comes against the Bills.
”It’ll
be different,” Buffalo center Eric Wood said. ”It’s definitely a
familiar face, a guy I’ve gone against probably more than anyone else in
my career as far as a rep count goes, a guy I’ve texted with probably
weekly since he left, but a really good ball player. I’ve definitely got
to be on my game playing against him.”
Dareus called it
”comical almost” that it worked out this way. He said all the right
things, holding back his true thoughts and feelings.
Gipson was much more open and honest.
”We’re going to all rally behind him,” Gipson said. ”We all know how much this means.”
—
AP Sports Writer John Wawrow in Buffalo, New York, contributed to this story.
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