Not
quite six months ago, I wrote that insofar as the Chicago Cubs were
concerned, they couldn't possibly repeat last season's
head-scratching fiasco. This year would assume an air of
normalcy, defined as the Cubs resting comfortably atop the National
League Central Division at the conclusion of the season.
I
was wrong. Interminably and utterly wrong.
I
have been watching major league baseball for half a century, and I
have never seen such a confounding display of it.
There are but a select few who see this team behind closed doors. In the locker room. At meetings. On team flights. I am not one of those people.
There are but a select few who see this team behind closed doors. In the locker room. At meetings. On team flights. I am not one of those people.
And
yet, I don't need to be to know something is amiss.
Yes,
there have been injuries to critical personnel: Willson Contreras,
Javier Baez, Craig Kimbrel and most recently, Anthony Rizzo. Ben
Zobrist spent the brunt of the season on leave collecting the pieces
of a shattered marriage. And Kris Bryant, Cole Hamels and Brandon
Kintzler battled recurring maladies.
But
so did the New York Yankees, who as of Friday's games are 100 and 55
and sit eight and a half games ahead of the division's next-best
team. No, this isn't about injuries. It's about something
less-obvious and more-insidious. These Cubs are satisfied.
Having
vanquished the most cursed stretch of baseball any franchise ever
endured, Rizzo, Bryant, Baez, Zobrist and Jon Lester will never have to pay for a drink in Chicago again. Which is as it should be. The
Cubs' 2016 championship was a monumental event that transcended
loyalties and perhaps even baseball itself.
But
that title raised expectations. With a
young core entering its prime, there was no good reason to believe
they wouldn't contend for several more.
And
they have. Kind of. After a hung-over first half, the 2017 Cubs got
serious and again won the division, defeating the Washington Nationals in the
divisional series before being swept by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NLCS.
Emerging
cracks in the pitching staff were addressed by two free-agent
signings, Yu Darvish and Tyler Chatwood, which on paper reinforced
the pitching corps for another title run.
It
didn't quite work out that way as Chatwood struggled to throw strikes and Darvish seemingly couldn't shake the memories of
his disastrous World Series the year before and pitched just forty
innings before succumbing to injury.
Despite
blowing a five-game lead in the closing weeks, the Cubs staggered to
95 victories (which seen through the lens of 2019 appears truly
remarkable) before surrendering the wild-card game to the
Colorado Rockies.
The
on-again, off-again offense, the shakey bullpen and the general
weirdness which characterized 2018 couldn't repeat itself in 2019,
right?
Right?
Ha.
Ha. Ha.
I
don't want to say this season has been strange, but I'd swear I saw David
Lynch in the dugout.
The
offense still disappears without a trace and the bullpen is still
shakey, but this year there is a new wrinkle: the Cubs can't win on
the road. Current homestand excepted, the Cubs were giant killers at
Wrigley and morphed into the Florida Marlins on the road.
Team
stats don't show a marked fall-off in OPS or runs scored or in
batting average, but the Cubs could not find a way to win away from
home. No division contender had a road record anywhere near as awful
as the Cubs'.
And
in the long, slow slide that is destined to close this season, it has
caught up with them. Armed with a small lead, the Cubs could not
afford to mess up. And mess up is exactly what they did. The run
spigot has been turned off and the Cubs are in the midst of a
four-game losing streak—at home.
In
homer-happy 2019, they have scored just nine runs in those four
games. (That figure falls to five in three games when the
series-opener against the St. Louis Cardinals is eliminated.) This
after scoring forty-seven in three games against the Pittsburgh
Pirates.
Bi-polar?
You have no idea.
This
while the division-rival Cards amass the best record in baseball
since the all-star break and the Milwaukee Brewers, supposedly
eliminated from contention after the loss of Christian Yelich, have
won eight of ten since his injury.
But
these are numbers. They are only reflections of what is going on
with this team. And that goes back to my contention that this club is
satisfied. There is little sense of urgency. The fact that this club
has never gone on a sustained surge means things like focus and purpose are in short supply. Chemistry is as rare as clutch hitting.
The
Cubs aren't on a mission anymore.
They
never found their groove, and have actually regressed from last
season's sputtering stop-start despite the remarkable turnaround by
Darvish. With the second-biggest payroll in baseball, the Cubs are
punching way below their weight.
As
a fan desperate to see another World Series appearance before the
window inevitably closes, I'd like to see change. Even if that means
waving goodbye to a personal favorite like Rizzo or Lester or
Contreras.
With
the Cubs' farm system running on fumes, the only way forward is a
trade. It's time to be bold. It's time to ask “What would Bryant
bring on the open market? Who could we get in exchange for Baez?”
Slugger
Kyle Schwarber had a big year. What would he bring?
Shocking?
Perhaps.
Necessary?
Definitely.
For
whatever reason, this team is sleepwalking. Blame it on the front
office. Blame it on Maddon. Blame it on the prolonged pressure of
playing for the Chicago Cubs, where the scrutiny ratchets up right along with the wins.
The
bitch-slap of a big trade might shake them from their doldrums.
There's
enough here to build on, but without a judicious trade or two this thing will never be turned around. They have shown us who they
are.
