When looking at who could contribute to the Chicago Cubs for 2019, Brandon Morrow was a name that always, had quite a bit of hope surrounding it. The oft-injured pitcher, who is absolutely lights out when he is healthy was injured twice last season. The last one ended his 2018 season before the summer had even really gotten going.

Knowing that Chicago's offseason was likely not going to include a whole lot of spending, the Cubs have been hoping they could get at least half a season of good baseball out of Morrow. Now there are some indications they might get even more of a season out of him than they thought.

Chicago closer ahead of throwing schedule

CBS Sports is reporting the closer threw a baseball, from 150 feet, on Sunday. He will repeat that this coming Wednesday and then again next Sunday. If all goes well, he could be looking at an actual bullpen session on Monday, the 18th.

If all of that plays out the way the team is currently looking at it, Morrow would be about a week ahead of his schedule. It's not like the pitcher is going to be coming back by the start of the season, but it does seem to indicate his rehab is going okay and that he could be on track for a healthy and successful 2019.

Cubs remaining cautious

Chicago Cubs fans shouldn't get too excited that the team's closer is a bit ahead of his schedule because, it stands to reason, the club is going to be very, very careful.

He is indeed an oft-injured player who has seemed straight up fragile in recent years.

Last season, he missed some time because he hurt his back messing with his suitcase. Those are the kinds of injuries that are only going to make people roll their eyes and wonder if he could ever put together a real season.

Those injuries are also fluke enough that it's hard to say they are going to happen over and over again.

The Cubs are still going to treat the player as though he is someone who needs to be handled very gently. That is in part because they don't have a whole lot of options should he miss more than the first month and a half of the season.

The front office has been pointing to May as the return date for Brandon Morrow for quite a while now.

They want to make sure that when he does get back, he can be back for more than a few weeks. The player being ahead of schedule is good news but any fan who is looking at the tea leaves needs to take the news with a big grain of salt.

If the Chicago Cubs can get Morrow for 5 or 6 months this season, it would have to be taken as a big win.
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