ST. LOUIS -- Chicago Cubs slugger Kyle Schwarber will have surgery on his left knee this week, though the team isn't revealing the exact day or time.
"We're anticipating soon," manager Joe Maddon said Monday afternoon. "Part of the concern is having too much information out there and getting a response in his direction that might inundate his phone. We don't want to do that. We don't want to reveal it."
In other words, the Cubs want Schwarber to have his operation quietly and begin rehab without much fanfare. He tore two ligaments in his knee April 7 in the third game of the season against the Arizona Diamondbacks, in which he and centerfielder Dexter Fowler collided while going for a ball in the outfield.
Doctors wanted to wait for swelling to go down before performing surgery, and the Cubs speculated it would be one to three weeks after the injury. Thursday marks two weeks since Schwarber went down. He hopes to return for spring training next year.
"It's all to protect him," Maddon said of keeping Schwarber's surgery date a secret.