The Cubs have gone 4-6 in their last 10 games. After not losing back-to-back games until the season’s 33rd game, they’ve now done it three times. During this momentous skid the Cubs’ lead over the Pirates in the NL Central dropped from eight games to 6 1/2 games. Oh, the doom of it all.
Remember when the Cubs used to be good? Remember when they could do no wrong and the playoffs were an inevitability and we were all trying to figure out what day the World Series championship parade would be held? Now, all of that is seems like folly. That was from a more innocent time, before this epic collapse. That was when life was good, when food had taste and the world had vibrant colors and now…
Just knock if off. Do you know what teams have a stretch where they go 4-6 over 10 games?
All of them.
Yes, losing a doubleheader to the Padres is mind-boggling and losing two games in Milwaukee (and needing 13 innings to win one) was beyond frustrating. Somehow, the world’s greatest offense made Chase Anderson look like a competent big league pitcher. He was throwing a no-hitter for seven innings. Given his “stuff” that’s like being no-hit by a batting tee.
Advertisement
How far back do you have to go to remember a time when the Cubs played like this?
Set your Wayback Machine to July 20-July 30, 2015. The Cubs, managed to go 4-6 over 10 games, and they did it in style. They got no-hit on July 25 for the first time in 50 years. They got swept…at home…by the Phillies. Not the plucky “We know our run differential is horrible and we’re unsustainably winning every one-run game” Phillies of 2016, but the hapless, “We’re phoning it in…collect” Phillies. They even lost a game to something called Johan Flande.
How did they respond from that season-crushing stretch? They won 14 of the next 15 games.
Come in off the ledge. Find someone to fan you while you hyperventilate on the couch. They play 162 of these, and even the best teams have stretches — usually a few of them — where they play like this, or worse.
Besides, when the Cubs collapse, they don’t do it like this. They go all in. Remember the 1999 Cubs? They were 46-47 on July 22 and were 56-87 on Sept. 12. Now that’s a collapse. Don’t forget the Cubs’ inauspicious start in 1997, when they kicked off the season with a 10-25 record. Collapsing to start the season was a bold move. The Jim Riggleman era sure had some highs and lows.
So, on Friday night I wandered out of the room for like 20 seconds and I walk back in and Jason Heyward is lying prone on the warning track. It looked like the end of most of his at-bats, except it was happening more than 400 feet from home plate. I was pretty sure he was dead and that instead of trainers coming out to check on him it was just a couple of cops coming out to draw the chalk outline around him. Thankfully, not only is Heyward alive, but he’s only expected to miss a few games. So all is good, right?
Despite the fact he had a nine-game hitting streak snapped just Thursday, we’re enduring a lot of hot takes about how disappointing he is, and how he shouldn’t be batting second and how he’ll never live up to his huge contract. While we’re knocking things off, let’s knock this off, too.
Has he been disappointing? Well, kind of. He’s not hitting for any power with an anemic .611 OPS. His batting average is only .225, but only dopes worry about batting average. At least he’s getting on base a little (his OBP is .329). We found out in early May that he’s been bothered by a bum wrist, and that’s no good for anybody trying to hit a baseball hard. But he’s also a notoriously slow starter. His career slash stats for April are .225/.318/.387. They get better in May, but not markedly (.248/.350/.395). If history means anything, June should be a much better month, and it should continue to get better from there.
Advertisement
In Heyward’s career, his first-half numbers are: .250/.336/.408/.742. His second-half numbers are: .287/.373/.447/.820.
When he plays, should he bat second? Sure. The one thing he’s done is get on base a little bit. Ben Zobrist seems to be very comfortable hitting behind Anthony Rizzo (Zobrist is .337/.485/.623/1.108). Unless you think Addison Russell is ready to hit second (.270/.361/.476/.837 in May).
Russell is definitely an option, but one of the great things about the Cubs offense is how relentless it is, and having a hitter as good as Russell down towards the bottom of the lineup helps add to the, uh, relentlessness.
Leave Heyward second, leave Russell seventh or eighth. Heyward will hit better, and if Russell keeps up his lightspeed improvement, all the better.
As for Heyward living up to his contract? He’s never going to put up counting stats that make people think, “Wow, what a steal at $184 million bucks!” But that’s what it cost to get him on the open market. And there’s no reason to think that when he leaves (after year three or four or six, or whenever) that Cubs fans won’t be glad he signed with them last December.
Will the Cubs’ entire infield make the All-Star team?
It’s never too early to start drooling over that possibility. Three of the four appear to be locks, and Russell’s got a pretty fair shot, though he might need either Trevor Story and/or Corey Seager to cool off a little.
Despite a very good rotation, the Cubs figure to be big players at the deadline, and to try to add a top of the rotation-type starter to go with Jake Arrieta and Jon Lester. One of the guys expected to be available is Oakland’s Sonny Gray.
He hasn’t pitched well, and now he’s on the disabled list with a strained right trapezius. Trapezius? So, Aaron Boone lost an entire year’s pay because he tore his ACL playing basketball, Jeff Kent had to pretend that the wrist he broke falling off his dirt bike was broken during a car-washing accident (huh?), and remember when Moises Alou supposedly tore up his knee when he fell off a treadmill? Unless he ran on the treadmill at the top of the stairs, that doesn’t seem likely. So, Gray hurts himself because of some defective circus equipment, and it’s no big deal? How is having a trapeze OK? Wait, what?
Come on Cubs fans, you know you’ve already started to worry that the big arm the Cubs get at the deadline is going to be old friend Rich Hill, haven’t you?
And if you hadn’t worried about it, you are worried about it now.
You’re welcome.
The Cubs are carrying three catchers because they are afraid that Tim Federowicz won’t clear waivers and they want to have him in the system in case of another injury to Miguel Montero, or an injury to David Ross.
Just let him bat a few more times, that will ensure nobody claims him.