NEWSLETTER
This sucks. The Cubs suck at the moment. After another three-game losing streak, the Cubs are nine games under .500, back in fourth place of the NL Central, and tied in the win column with the last-place Cardinals (who began the season at 10-24).
Through last night, only the Nationals (25-36), Royals (18-44), and A’s (14-50) have fewer wins than the Cubs in all of MLB. And even the terrible 2022 Chicago Cubs — who regularly started players like Frank Schwindel, Rafael Ortega, and Jason Heyward — were just 2.5 games behind the pace of the 2023 Chicago Cubs. That’s absurd. And unacceptable.
And a few things are making it feel so much worse.
They Shouldn’t Be *THIS* Bad
They’re just not — or, at least, they shouldn’t be — this bad.
We went over the possible Cubs All-Stars yesterday, but in case you missed it, here’s where I landed: The Cubs have two players that almost certainly will make the 2023 NL All-Star team (Marcus Stroman and Dansby Swanson). They have two more that should make the team if they come back healthy (Cody Bellinger and Justin Steele). And they have something like another FOUR players that are on the outside looking in, but are still having nice seasons (Nico Hoerner, Seiya Suzuki, Ian Happ, Drew Smyly).
That’s five position players and three starting pitchers having nice seasons all at the same time. And that’s not even to mention Yan Gomes, who’s having a perfectly solid year at and behind the plate. And the Cubs have even pulled some of their best available prospect levers, with Matt Mervis, Chris Morel, Nelson Velázquez, and Miguel Amaya all getting playing time.
I’m used to following teams that are less than the sum of their parts, but rarely are they THIS MUCH less. Yeesh. Some good seasons are really being wasted.
They *SHOULDN’T* Be This Bad
This is not the same point as the one I made above. Note the emphasis. For this section, I mean it more holistically. We shouldn’t have to deal with a team this bad AGAIN.
In 2019, the Cubs finished the season in third place after really falling off in the final month of the 2018 season (and losing the Wild Card game). In 2020, the Cubs barely snuck in a division win during the COVID-shortened season, before exiting the postseason with two quick playoff losses against the Marlins. Before the 2021 season, the Cubs lost Theo Epstein, non-tendered Kyle Schwarber, and traded Yu Darvish following a Cy Young runner-up campaign. Later that year, they sold off Anthony Rizzo, Kris Bryant, Javy Báez, Craig Kimbrel, Ryan Tepera, Andrew Chafin, and Joc Pederson, at the trade deadline. Exactly one year later, they traded David Robertson, Scott Effross, Chris Martin, and Mychal Givens. And a few months after that, Willson Contreras skipped town to go yawn in St. Louis. It goes without saying that 2021 and 2022 featured strongly losing records.
From 2017-2022, the Cubs had seven first-round picks, including one in the top-10, and they’ll pick 13th this year. And on top of all of that, the Cubs have one of the most expensive game-experiences in baseball and are valued at over $4 billion, fourth highest in MLB.
We should not have to deal with a team this bad once again. Frankly, it’s bullsh*t.
The NL Central Still *SUCKS*
Zooming back in to this year … what a colossal waste.
The “best” team in the division has just a .548 winning percentage, second worst among all division leaders. And they (the Brewers) have a -12 run differential. Meanwhile, the Pirates (-2), Reds (-30), and Cardinals (+1) are all right there with them.
As a matter of fact, the entire division is so bad, multiple baseball insiders are wondering if all five teams might sell at the deadline.
Wasting this golden opportunity to win the division, or even just make the postseason in an expanded playoff pool, is almost unforgivable.
Thunder –> Stolen
And finally, I just hate that we are once again drifting away into obscurity. Before the season began, I lamented that I just wanted the Cubs to be relevant again. And for a second there, they were. After a nice start, which reminded us how fun it *can* be to watch baseball, the Cubs were rising the power rankings and being included in the national baseball discourse. But now? They’re nowhere to be found. They’re not just bad and disappointing. They are irrelevant.
Instead, we have to sit through stories about how surprising the Pirates have been or how far the latest Reds prospect hit his first big league home run. It sucks.
Oh, and the Prospects!
I almost forgot about this one. While there are absolutely some nice prospect stories to tell this season (Miguel Amaya, PCA, Owen Caissie, Cade Horton, Jordan Wicks, Ben Brown, Pablio Aliendo, Jackson Ferris, Moises Ballesteros, etc.), there’s also a lot of not-so-good stuff going on down on the farm.
Am I overreacting? A little. Yes. I do think think most of these concerns will be remedied solely with time. But right now, combined with everything else going wrong at the big league level, this stuff stands out and makes it all hurt even more. Those are a lot of high profile, expected contributors underwhelming.
I’m in a bad mood. The Cubs need to win some games. Some prospects need to emerge as impact players at the big league level. They have to avoid a sell-off. Something needs to change.
