CHICAGO — It’s hard to take a team with a losing record seriously. Until the Chicago Cubs start winning series and get above .500, their reasons for optimism will sound hollow. The good start in April and the great starting pitching throughout the season have been wasted. If the organization had so many great prospects, more of them should be here by now. Last year’s turnaround isn’t that inspiring because the team still missed the playoffs by one game and got the manager fired.
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For all of the reasons to replace David Ross with Craig Counsell and believe that hiring will be the right move in the long run, it hasn’t yet created a meaningful difference in the on-field product. Jed Hoyer’s front office plans to buy at the trade deadline — or at least selling isn’t a viable option — but the tenor of those conversations changes when the major league club struggles to this extent.
A Father’s Day crowd of 39,118 at Wrigley Field was treated to yet another anemic offensive display. Cubs hitters couldn’t have asked for much better conditions than this hot, windy Sunday afternoon, yet their offense again went down quietly in a 2-1 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals.
“The causes for concern are we’re just not winning games,” said losing pitcher Jameson Taillon, whose quality start was negated by a two-run homer from Cardinals catcher Pedro Pagés in the second inning. “At some point, we have to find a way to come together.”
It’s not early anymore
The Cubs haven’t won back-to-back games against a team other than the Chicago White Sox since the first weekend of May. The Cubs already lost their season series against the San Diego Padres and have losing records against the other wild-card hopefuls in their division. Counsell’s old team, the Milwaukee Brewers, already has an 8 1/2-game lead on the Cubs in the National League Central. During what’s supposed to be a softer spot in the schedule, the Cubs have fallen into last place.
“Whether it’s winning 1-0 games or winning slugfests, we got to find a way to win games,” Taillon said. “We can talk about it all we want. We can try to assess it and figure it out. But at some point, you just got to put wins in the win column.”
Beginning Monday, the Cubs will play the San Francisco Giants seven times in 11 days, another stretch that could ultimately determine a wild-card tiebreaker. For all of the Pete Alonso trade rumors, the New York Mets have almost the same record (33-37) as the Cubs (34-38) right now. When the Mets visit the Friendly Confines this weekend, and the trade deadline inevitably comes up, it will be hard to tell the difference between the presumed sellers and expected buyers.
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“I do truly believe we have a good team,” Taillon said. “We have names. We have dudes who have done it in the past. We have guys who have been very successful in this league. You got guys that are preparing extremely hard. You’ve got ultimate pros in the locker room, people who show up with a good mindset, a mentality for preparing with a great work ethic. That’s where the positivity comes from. When I watch these other dudes go through their daily routine, guys are showing up and going to work, giving it all they have.”
Dansby Swanson says no one will ‘jump ship’
This is not a team that was slapped together. The Cubs did not try to win the offseason with big headlines and splashy moves. If things don’t change, this year won’t be remembered as a spectacular collapse or the most expensive flop in baseball history. But the inertia is frustrating.
Dansby Swanson, the Gold Glove shortstop in the second season of a seven-year, $177 million contract, is sometimes hitting eighth in a bad lineup. Ian Happ, Seiya Suzuki and Nico Hoerner are all under contract through 2026. If Cody Bellinger doesn’t opt out after the first season of his three-year, $80 million deal, it means something went wrong.
“It’s so easy, when times get hard, to try and jump ship or want to do this change or that change,” Swanson said. “Sometimes, when you try so many different changes, you kind of forget what you are in the first place. Sometimes, it’s just getting back to who you — and we — are as a group. Things tend to work out. That’s just kind of the message, continuing to not only be positive but be confident. Things will happen. Guys are working. The coaching staff is doing everything they can for us.”
The manager sees ‘light at the end of the tunnel’
Yency Almonte (strained right shoulder) is scheduled to begin a minor-league rehab assignment this week. Julian Merryweather (rib stress fracture) is expected to be activated around the All-Star break. There is “still some uncertainty” with Adbert Alzolay (right flexor strain) in terms of a timetable, according to Counsell, but the Cubs are developing other options.
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Tyson Miller, who was acquired from the Seattle Mariners in a small trade last month, has allowed one run in his first 11 appearances back with the Cubs. Drew Smyly is healthy and locked into his role as a left-handed reliever. The Cubs also just added Ethan Roberts to their 40-man roster and optioned him to Triple-A Iowa, giving them another pitcher with electric stuff. (In the corresponding move, José Cuas was designated for assignment.)
“Your bullpen is always evolving,” Counsell said. “This is the area of the team where we’ve lost talent, frankly, and that changes things, for sure. We’ve put guys in roles they’re not used to being in. We’ve had injuries to the rotation that have kept changing things. It’s the area of the team that has had to adapt the most. It’s kept us on our toes the most. That’s going to continue. We’ve got things going on now. We’ve also got guys coming back. I feel like there’s some light at the end of the tunnel.”
Kyle Hendricks has to defy the odds once again
The recent injuries that hit Ben Brown (stress reaction in his neck) and Jordan Wicks (Grade 2 oblique strain) reopened a spot in the rotation for Kyle Hendricks, the last active Cubs player remaining from the 2016 World Series team.
It was a straightforward decision for the Cubs to pick up their $16.5 million contractual option and bring back Hendricks this season. He had performed well last year (3.74 ERA in 24 starts), executing a collaborative plan to get healthy, improve his overall athleticism and slightly boost his velocity.
The beginning of this season was the worst stretch of his professional career. Hendricks lost his job in the rotation after too many noncompetitive starts. He’s 34 years old, and his ERA is 8.20, but the Cubs have to trust that he still has enough of what made him one of the most important pitchers in franchise history. In taking over for Wicks on Friday, and throwing 4 1/3 scoreless innings against the Cardinals, he looked more like The Professor of old.
“In a lot of ways, Kyle continues to impress you,” Counsell said. “He’s had a tough go of it so far. He’s worried about the things that he can control. And that’s to be ready when his name is called. And to not make it any more complicated than that. Easier said than done, with what Kyle has accomplished, and what he has meant here. But an outing like that is proof that that’s how Kyle conducts himself and goes about his day. It’s to be ready for the next opportunity, no matter what is going on. No matter what’s happened in the past.”
(Photo of Dansby Swanson: Michael Reaves / Getty Images)
