Injury Update on Chicago Cubs Second Baseman

The status of Chicago Cubs second baseman and former Stanford Cardinal Nico Hoerner has been in question all spring after he underwent surgery to address a flexor tendon injury on October 11. This past week, there was reportedly some good news and some bad news for the Cubs infielder.

The bad news, as reported by ESPN's Jesse Rogers, is that Hoerner isn't going to be traveling with the team for the season-opening series against the Los Angeles Dodgers in Tokyo, Japan.

The good news, according to MLB.com's Maddie Lee, is that Hoerner is hoping to play in the domestic opener, which will be played in Arizona against the Diamondbacks on March 27. This would also mean that Hoerner won't have to leave Arizona until that seres wraps up and it's on to face the Sacramento Athletics.

Lee also says that the plan is for Hoerner to "have him play in minor-league spring training games while the team is gone," to keep him ready while the team is away.

Whether or not Horner is set to return to the Cubs for the Arizona series remains to be seen, but the fact that the hope is present that he will be available should be considered good news overall. The wait may not be that long, regardless of when he's actually ready to take the field for Chicago.

According to Roster Resource, two players that are projected to be on the Cubs' 26-man roster and could feasibly fill-in short-term are Vidal Bruján and Jon Berti. Neither has graded out great with the glove at second, while Berti has been league average over his career (804 innings at second), and Bruján was below league average.

Neither bat is going to necessarily set them apart either, so this could be a matter of manager Craig Counsell playing the matchups and getting the best opportunity for each guy.

The Cubs could also bring in non-roster invitee Nicky Lopez for those first couple of games, given that he is easily the best defender of the bunch and may also be able to provide a couple of hits.

One of the drawbacks of using Lopez is that he'd have to be added to the 40-man roster before he could take the field, which could mean DFA'ing a player to make room for him. The other option would be to place Javier Assad on the 60-day IL if his oblique injury is severe enough.

The other drawback here would be that Lopez would only be needed for a couple of games until Hoerner is back, which would also lead to Lopez being placed on waivers to clear a roster spot for Hoerner's return.

The most likely scenario is that it's either Bruján or Berti on the roster and the Cubs will hope for the best for those two games.