Cubs right-hander Julian Merryweather will be undergoing knee surgery tomorrow, says manager Craig Counsell. As relayed by Meghan Montemurro of the Chicago Tribune on X, it will be a right patellar tendon debridement. The skipper says Merryweather is expected to be ready by Spring Training. The pitcher himself says the rehab process will take three months, per Bruce Levine of WSCR-AM on X.
Merryweather seemed to develop into a key bullpen arm for the Cubs last year, as he tossed 72 innings with a 3.38 earned run average. His 11.9% walk rate was on the high side but he punched out 32.3% of batters faced. He moved into a leverage role for the club, securing two saves and 17 holds.
He wasn’t able to carry that over into 2024. He missed over three months due to a rib stress fracture and landed on the IL a second time last month due to right knee tendinitis, with the latter issue now requiring season-ending surgery. Around those ailments, he tossed 15 innings with a 6.60 ERA. There was probably some bad luck in there, as his .375 batting average on balls in play and 63.3% strand rate this year were both on the unfortunate side, but his strikeout rate also plummeted to 18.9%.
The righty has always been a tantalizing arm thanks to his high 90s velocity, but health has often been an obstacle. The Blue Jays acquired him from Cleveland as the return for Josh Donaldson in 2018, though Merryweather was recovering from undergoing Tommy John surgery earlier that year. He made his big league debut in 2020 but has since gone on the injured list for right elbow tendinitis, a left oblique strain and a left abdominal strain. The 2023 season is the only one in which he’s been able to throw at least 27 innings.
Merryweather reached arbitration for the first time last winter. He and the Cubs agreed to a salary of $1.175MM for 2024. He’ll be due a raise for next year but it won’t be huge, on account of his limited workload this year. He could also be retained via arbitration for 2026, before he’s slated to reach free agency. He’ll turn 33 years old next month.