Michael Fulmer will miss the 2024 season

Michael Fulmer started out 2023 poorly, then pitched well for several months, then wound up the season injured at a time the Cubs could have used “pitched well.”

Now. Fulmer isn’t going to pitch again until 2025:

Fulmer went on the injured list August 25 and returned two weeks later, only to go back on the IL with the dreaded “forearm tightness.” Jesse Rogers’ tweet doesn’t say anything about this being Tommy John surgery, but that’s one of the few things that would put a pitcher out for an entire season.

Fulmer made 58 appearances (one “start” as an opener) and posted a 4.42 ERA and 1.333 WHIP, with two saves and three blown saves. But in 31 outings from May 28 through August 18, he posted a 1.60 ERA and struck out 37 in 33⅔ innings, which is the kind of performance the Cubs had hoped to get all year.

Fulmer is a pending free agent and will turn 31 next March. I suspect the Cubs will move on from him, given that he’ll probably miss all of 2024.