October 3, 2020
There’s an adage: it’s not how you start, it is how you end.
The Cubs started 13-3 and they went 21-21 the rest of the way to finish the
season. The Cubs cruised the N.L. Central title. The crux of their problem was
hitting. I thought the bats might have awoken when they crushed White Sox
pitching in the final three games. They also had their two stud starters, Kyle
Hendricks and Yu Darvish, to start a best two out of three series at Wrigley
Field. However, to get two victories, the Cubs would have had to shut out the
Miami Marlins. The Cubs anemic offense had 1 run on four hits in game 1 and 0
runs on 5 hits in game 2, as they were swept out of the playoffs. This could be
a turbulent off season for the Cubs. No one can be sure what the roster will
look like next year. The architect, Theo Epstein, has one year left on his
contract. Will he want to return for another rebuild?
Usually when player is in a slump, other players will pick
up the slack. The Cubs problem was the whole core team was in a funk. The
experiment of Kris Bryant leading off was an unmitigated disaster, as he wasn’t
able to get on base. He finished with 4 homers and a .206 average. As a free
agent, the injury-prone Bryant was looking for a huge money contract. With his
performance and more importantly the economics of baseball, this isn’t going to
happen. As I pointed out in an earlier season blog, he should have re-signed
with the Cubs. They may be able to sign him for less than their original offer.
Javier Baez, hit .203 with 8 home runs. Supposed reasons for
this down year were there were no fans and no in game video. These are not good
excuses for striking out 75 times in 235 at-bats. Anthony Rizzo hit .222 with
11 home runs. In watching Rizzo throughout his career, I have never seen him
not being able to turn around a fast ball. I thought Kyle Schwarber would have
a break out year. He turned out to be the Cubs version of Edwin Encarnacion,
with a.188 average and 11 home runs.* Being fair, I didn’t list RBI totals because
there were so few runners on base. Ian Happ turned out to be their best hitter,
but he wilted at the end of the year. Jason Heyward had his best year since
signing a multi-year contract.
If there was an upside with the Cubs this year, it was the
pitching. The two at the top of the rotation, Kyle Hendricks and Yu Darvish,
are as good as it gets. Darvish should get strong consideration for the Cy
Young award. Jon Lester may have pitched his last game as a Cub. He had some
decent starts, but his ERA ballooned to 5.16 and he had only 3 wins. After your
top two starters, the rotation looks shaky. You can’t rely on Tyler Chatwood or
Jose Quintana to contribute. Alec Mills
and Adbert Alzolay look like your 3 and 4 starters. I have no idea at this time
who would be the fifth starter.
What once seemed to be the weakest part of the team, the bullpen,
did a pretty good job. The Cubs demoted Craig Kimbrel and inserted Jeremy
Jeffress, who was great as their closer with 12 saves and a 1.64 ERA. The
set-up men got better as the year progressed. Craig Kimbrel was also able to
turn it around towards the end.
*Despite hitting only .188, Scwarber’s average was 36 points
higher than Encarnacion.
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