The Cubs placed pitcher Brad Wieck on the 10-day injured list Friday with an irregular heartbeat. He had heart surgery in February 2020 to repair an atrial flutter, and he started experiencing the irregular heartbeat earlier this week.
Wieck has been wearing a heart monitor for the last several days, and it reported the irregular heartbeat while he was sleeping. The Cubs trusted he was healthy enough to pitch earlier this week, but have shifted to a position of greater caution.
“With his history, I mean anything you’re dealing with is extremely serious,” manager David Ross said.
Wieck pitched two scoreless innings in relief against the Phillies on Tuesday night, and though his heart was being monitored at the time, Ross said it had not reached a level of concern to keep him off of the mound at that point.
“Everybody was on board with him, you know, it was safe for him to go out there and compete,” Ross said. “We weren’t running any really high risk of injury.”
What has shifted since then, Ross said, is concern that Wieck might not be in the right place mentally to pitch. Because the job requires feeding off of and channeling adrenaline and excitement, the team didn’t want Wieck worrying whether feeling his heart pounding while on the mound was normal or a sign of trouble.
“We want to make sure he’s in the right space,” Ross said.
That is going to involve keeping a monitor on Wieck and putting him through tests to help get him to a point where he can trust himself to push as hard as he needs to.
“We want to all be on the same page of making sure he’s safe and being able to go out there and compete,” Ross said. “I think it’s important for us to know that, for him to know that, [and] have peace of mind. And then he’s having a great year so we want to make sure he’s not out there distracted mentally.”
Wieck has not allowed a run and has struck out 28 in 17 innings pitched this season. Kyle Ryan was called up from Triple-A Iowa to take Wieck’s spot in the bullpen.
Bryant out again
Kris Bryant was out of Friday’s lineup, marking the second game in a row after he left Wednesday’s game early. Ross said Bryant described his hamstring as “more achy than tight,” so there isn’t concern at this point that Bryant might need time on the IL, and he isn’t expected to miss next week’s All-Star game.
And with trade rumors looming, Bryant’s absence from the lineup with a relatively minor injury leads to questions about whether or not the Cubs are protecting their assets.
“I haven’t been told that we need to protect anybody or I need to look at things like that,” Ross said. “I think in my DNA I’m always going to be on the side of erring on the side of protecting these guys when we can.”
Tepera returns
The Cubs activated Ryan Tepera (calf) from the 10-day IL Friday and optioned Cory Abbott to Triple-A Iowa.
Tepera owns an 0-2 record with a 3.35 ERA, one save and 14 holds in 37 relief appearances this season. He has a 0.82 WHIP and limited opponents to a .148 average.
