Addison Russell had a very bad game yesterday – the kind you more or less don’t ever see from a big league player.
This is all from ONE GAME:
It's been a longgg 5+ innings for Addison Russell at Wrigley. #Cubs @WISH_TV (Courtesy: MLB/WLS) pic.twitter.com/7jaak1rtyF
— Charlie Clifford (@cliffWISH8) July 20, 2019
Oh, and that doesn’t include a failure to move up on a wild pitch and a routine throw so bad that it nearly took Anthony Rizzo’s wrist into the break zone.
That’s a collection of little league crap, all coming from one player – a player who has not shined so brightly this season that you would otherwise easily excuse a few really embarrassing lapses in focus and effort. None of that is to say anything of Russell’s suspension for domestic violence, from which the Cubs are giving him an opportunity to return and re-establish himself. I know those things are totally disconnected for some folks, but they aren’t for me. The Cubs’ daily decision to retain Russell on the big league roster was always a tenuous one for me, but every time he effs things up on the baseball field, it feels all the more indefensible to keep him on the 25-man.
Even Joe Maddon was not happy:
Even after a 6-5 win over the Padres and a 7-1 surge out of the All-Star break, Cubs manager Joe Maddon was not glossing over Addison Russell’s lack of focus on the field: “He’s got to straighten some things out. He has to. There’s no question he does.”
— Patrick Mooney (@PJ_Mooney) July 20, 2019
Joe Maddon, clearly frustrated with Addison Russell’s play: “We’ve talked about his baserunning in the past. We’re making too many outs on the bases, and we’re missing things on the bases that we can’t to be an elite team.”
— Patrick Mooney (@PJ_Mooney) July 20, 2019
Joe Maddon on if Addison Russell's sloppy game was just one of those days: "No, he’s gotta straighten some things out. He has to. There’s no question. I’m not going to stand here — he’s got to, we’ve talked about his baserunning in the past."
— JJ Stankevitz (@JJStankevitz) July 20, 2019
No, Maddon didn’t absolutely bury Russell, but if you have followed Maddon’s comments closely these past five years, you know he really doesn’t say things like this. He’s not one of those managers who puts his players on blast in an attempt to motivate them (or just out of his own frustration). So him going this far is about as much as you’d ever hear him say about an individual player. He’s ticked.
From here, if Russell has things to work out and focus to regain, why wouldn’t he be sent to AAA Iowa to do that? Because right now, I’m not convinced he’s actually helping the big league team win games (he’s not alone on that front – more on that later). I get that maybe the front office wants to be able to trade him, but how can they continue to justify his presence on the roster – and the starts he gets – when they preach urgency and production over talent and all that stuff?
Maybe I’m just frustrated after watching that circus.