Kyle Schwarber is Frustrated
Imagine yourself just bending your knee, over and over again. Using all the strength you have to painfully, bend your knee. Then you flip over, and bend that knee some more. That is part of the rehabilitation process coming back from major knee damage such as the torn ACL and LCL Chicago Cubs phenom Kyle Schwarber has experienced over the past several months. The constant rehab that followed the reconstructive surgery of the 23-year old’s knee is enough to make grown men weep. Topping this off, the Cubs have played like the odds on favorites to win the World Series, all the while Kyle’s name continues to get dropped in trade rumors – most notably to the New York Yankees.
It was a scary evening in Cubdom when Dexter Fowler and Schwarber collided, and it was an even scarier thought that the Cubs would have to go through the season without one of their most dangerous weapons. But when the Cubs continued to win, some around baseball thought that Kyle was expendable, especially if it meant a premier left-handed reliever in return.
“I don’t pay much attention to it,” Schwarber told CBS Sports Bruce Levine. “You have to know in your own mind rumors are rumors. I can’t worry about that stuff. Here is what I can worry about – worry about my rehab, being a Cub and worry about this team going to the World Series. Until something happens physically, you can’t worry about it.”
While the trade rumors have been addressed by club president, Theo Epstein there is still a belief that if the Cubs are going to repair the hole in their bullpen Schwarber would make the most sense to trade. Schwarber, if we are talking honestly, doesn’t really fit in the National League and an American League team could benefit from his 50 home run potential. At the very least, the Cubs will need to trade one or more of their prospects that we all have heard so much about over the years. Theo, as well as many Cubs fans, hold each and every prospect to the highest regards, baseball doesn’t. While yes you can get a bigger return from a “blue chip” prospect, typically baseball GM’s do not trade proven commodities for just one or two no named guys.
Being involved in trade rumors undoubtedly can be frustrating, but being involved in trade rumors while injured is something completely different. Your day is literally filled with pain and exhaustion, and then you go home and open up a newspaper or browse the internet to find your name as a potential trade chip.
I have driven my brother to physical therapy for an ACL tear and sat through the incredibly uncomfortable sessions of watching him in agony while unable to lift 10 pounds in a simple leg lift. His screams are still etched into my brain as one of the most uncomfortable experiences that I have been through – and I wasn’t the one training. Simply walking from one end of the room to the other, leg lifts, squats, and all of the other exercises that he needed to complete seemed like everyday tasks to you and me, but the tears and sweat and yells proved otherwise.
“Those first six weeks…it was just trying to get my knee to bend and I was done,” Schwarber said. “Now that I’m doing a lot more it’s been more challenging.”
“There are times when you’re going to get frustrated because you feel you’re doing the same thing over and over again. It’s just a process. I feel like I want to do more but you can’t do more because if you do, you can definitely have another setback.”
All of baseball is rooting for Kyle Schwarber to come back at full strength. We all want to see him banish baseballs out of stadiums, on top of scoreboards, into rivers, and in the bays. Chicago fans hope however, that he is wearing a Cubs jersey while mashing his way towards a World Series win.
