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 seem hollow. The strong start to April and excellent pitching throughout the season was wasted. If the organization had so many great potentials, there should be more of them today. Last year’s turnaround isn’t very inspiring as the team still missed the playoffs by one game and had the manager fired.
Despite all the reasons to replace David Ross with Craig Counsell and believe the hire will be the right move in the long run, it has yet to create a significant difference in the product on the field. 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 that much.
A Father’s Day crowd of 39,118 at Wrigley Field was treated to another anemic offensive display. Cubs hitters couldn’t have asked for much better conditions than this hot and windy Sunday afternoon, but their offense once again went quietly in a 2-1 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals.
“What worries us is we’re just not winning games,” said losing pitcher Jameson Taillon, whose strong start was canceled out by a two-run homer by Cardinals catcher Pedro Pagés in the second inning. . “At some point we will have to find a way to come together. »
It’s not early anymore
The Cubs haven’t won consecutive games against a team other than the Chicago White Sox since the first weekend of May. The Cubs have already lost their season series to the San Diego Padres and have lost records to other wild-card prospects in their division. Counsell’s former team, the Milwaukee Brewers, already has an 8 1/2 game lead over the Cubs in the National League Central. During what is supposed to be a softer stretch of the calendar, the Cubs have fallen to last place.
“Whether it’s winning games 1-0 or winning slugfests, we have to find a way to win games,” Taillon said. “We can talk about it as much as we want. We can try to evaluate and understand it. But at some point, you just have to put the wins in the win column.
Starting Monday, the Cubs will face the San Francisco Giants seven times in 11 days, another stretch that could ultimately determine a wild card tiebreaker. Despite all the Pete Alonso trade rumors, the New York Mets currently have almost the same record (33-37) as the Cubs (34-38). When the Mets visit the Friendly Confines this weekend and the trade deadline inevitably arrives, it will be difficult to tell the difference between presumed sellers and expected buyers.
“I truly believe we have a good team,” Taillon said. “We have names. We have guys who have done it in the past. We have guys who have had a lot of success in this league. You have guys who prepare extremely hard. You have ultimate pros in the locker room, people who show up with a good mindset, a preparation mentality with a good work ethic. This is where positivity comes from. When I watch these other guys go about their daily routine, the guys show up and go to work, giving it everything they have.
Dansby Swanson says no one will ‘jump ship’
This is not a team that has been slapped. The Cubs didn’t try to win the offseason with big headlines and spectacular moves. If things don’t change, this year won’t be remembered as a spectacular collapse or the costliest 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, sometimes hits 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 contract, it means something went wrong .
“It’s so easy, when times get tough, to try to jump ship or want to make 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 about getting back to who you – and we – are as a group. Things tend to work out. That’s just kind of the message, continue to not only be positive but also confident. Things are going to happen. The guys are working. The technical staff does everything they can for us. »
The manager sees “the light at the end of the tunnel”
Yency Almonte (strained right shoulder) is expected to begin a minor league rehab assignment this week. Julian Merryweather (rib stress fracture) should be activated around the All-Star break. There is “still some uncertainty” with Adbert Alzolay (right flexor strain) in terms of timing, according to Counsell, but the Cubs are developing other options.
Tyson Miller, who was acquired from the Seattle Mariners in a small trade last month, allowed one run in his first 11 appearances 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 dealt 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 constantly evolving,” Counsell said. “That’s the area of the team where we lost talent, frankly, and that changes things, for sure. We put guys in roles they’re not used to. We had some injuries in the rotation that continued to change things. This is the area of the team that has had to adapt the most. This is what kept us on our guard the most. This will continue. Things are happening now. We also have guys coming back. I feel like there is light at the end of the tunnel.
Kyle Hendricks must defy the odds once again
Recent injuries to Ben Brown (neck stress reaction) and Jordan Wicks (grade 2 oblique strain) have reopened a spot in the rotation for Kyle Hendricks, the last active Cubs player remaining from the World Series team 2016.
It was an easy decision for the Cubs to pick up their $16.5 million contract option and bring Hendricks back this season. He performed well last year (3.74 ERA in 24 starts), executing a collaborative plan to get healthy, improve his overall athleticism and slightly increase his speed.
The start of this season was the worst period of his professional career. Hendricks lost his job in the rotation after too many uncompetitive starts. He’s 34 years old and his ERA is 8.20, but the Cubs have to believe he’s still got enough of what made him one of the most important pitchers in franchise history. Taking over for Wicks on Friday and pitching 4 1/3 scoreless innings against the Cardinals, he looked more like the teacher of old.
“In many ways, Kyle continues to impress you,” Counsell said. “He’s had a hard time so far. He worries about things he can control. And that’s to be ready when his name is called. And not to make things more complicated than that. Easier said than done, with what Kyle accomplished and what he wanted to say here. But an outing like this is proof that this is how Kyle behaves and goes about his day. It’s about being ready for the next opportunity, no matter what happens. It doesn’t matter what happened in the past.
(Dansby Swanson Photo: Michael Reaves/Getty Images)