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The Cubs had a rough weekend, losing two of three against the Twins including a 4-0 loss Sunday night on ESPN. Early on in the game, Cubs manager David Ross benched Kyle Schwarber after he didn’t hustle on a ball that bounced off the left-field wall and went over his head.
Certainly not going all out here and it resulted in a leadoff triple for the Twins.
Is this going to be an issue moving forward? No.
If anything, maybe this lights a fire under Schwarber, who has been in a major slump in September, slashing .111/.250/.167. That’s 6-for-54, with one home run since his multi-homer game against the Reds on Aug. 30.
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Kyle Schwarber blames himself for leadoff triple in second inning: “I pride myself on being a team guy and a guy who’s going to play this game at 120 percent every play. I think my teammates understand that. And I think Rossy understands that as well. Just moving on from it.”
— Patrick Mooney (@PJ_Mooney) September 21, 2020
Kyle Schwarber said this is “bigger than me” and continued to cheer from the dugout: “I don’t see myself as the kind of person that’s going to pout. I took a moment for myself and I’m not going to be that guy who’s going to be selfish and sit there and feel bad for himself.”
— Patrick Mooney (@PJ_Mooney) September 21, 2020
Right now the Cubs have a 3.5 game lead over the Cardinals in the NL Central division and although getting to the playoffs is basically a guarantee there’s plenty to be frustrated about.
The Cubs are averaging 3.17 runs per game in their last 17 games, getting shutout three times. That also includes scoring two runs or fewer in eight of those 17 games. Schwarber isn’t the only player slumping, as Anthony Rizzo has a .503 OPS in September and Ian Happ is 9-for-56, since a foul ball hit his eye in Pittsburgh.
Meanwhile, Javier Báez is still hitting in the low .200s but at least Ross has moved him down in the lineup.
Now, it’s time, and this should have happened at least a week ago, it’s time to move Kris Bryant down in the lineup too.
This won’t make sense at first, but as a Cubs fan you kinda have to hope Bryant’s struggles are linked to his hand injuries. There’s simply no threat at the plate when Bryant is up to bat and all his power has disappeared. If it’s not injury-related, then big yikes.
Since returning from the injured list, Bryant is 13-for-60, with only three extra-base hits, two doubles and the last being a triple against the Brewers on Sept. 11. Overall this season, Bryant has an average exit velocity of 86.2mph, which is below league average and the worst on the Cubs among qualified hitters.
Bryant also has 19 strikeouts and only five walks in September, so it’s not like he’s helping out by at least getting on base with walks either. Ross had Bryant in the third spot on Sunday, and well that has to stop.
When Bryant’s been available this season Ross has batted him in one of the top-three spots in the lineup and it sucks that he’s been bad, but it sucks even more for the team that he’s getting more plate appearances than Jason Heyward.
But what really stinks, is that other than Heyward, there isn’t a clear upgrade for replacing Bryant at the top of the lineup because as bad as he’s been Bryant has actually been the third most productive hitter as of late.
The #Cubs offense over the last two weeks has been so bad that Kris Bryant, who's very noticeably struggling, has actually been the third BEST hitter on the team. pic.twitter.com/7k9nJXYOQP
— Michael Cerami (@Michael_Cerami) September 21, 2020
Yikes.
Definitely don’t envy David Ross having to manage and trying to construct a lineup that can produce with almost the whole team struggling at the same time. But the point still stands, you gotta move KB down in the order right now.
