Try Not To Suck...Again
Today, we look at the precarious position the Chicago Cubs find themselves in halfway through the 2021 season.
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Pregame Pepper
Did you know…
. . . Chicago Cubs prospect Brennan Davis won the 2021 Futures Game MVP. He hit two solo home runs in the National League Futures 8-3 win, making him the third player in Futures Game history to hit two homers in the same game. The 2018 second-round draft pick is the organization’s No. 2-ranked prospect — first among non-pitchers. He was named the Cubs Minor League Player of the Year in 2019.
. . . Going into the final game before the All-Star break in 2016, the Cubs had lost 15 of their last 20 games, yet the Cubs won the 2016 World Series. Going into the final game before the All-Star break in 2021, the Cubs had lost 15 of their last 2020 games. Coincidence?
. . . Cubs unassuming starter Kyle Hendricks has put together yet another solid start to his season, going 11-4 (tied for most wins in NL) and has recorded 10 quality starts in his last 11 outings. He has also gone a career-high 11 straight starts without taking a loss, going six or more innings in each of those outings.
Leading Off
Try Not To Suck…Again
By Brian Harl
The Chicago Cubs have entered the All-Star break playing ball like the Bad News Bears. They have lost 13 of their last 15 games and sit dazedly tied for fourth place in the National League Central division, a full eight games behind the division-leading Milwaukee Brewers.
It seems like the bottom has dropped out on a team that desperately needed a strong showing leading up to this week, lest the rebuild mob come calling - for real this time. There have been naysayers calling for a top-to-bottom rework of the team ever since they failed to repeat their historic 2016 World Series win, but fans like me continued to remain hopeful that the team, particularly the core of Anthony Rizzo, Kris Bryant, Javier Baez, Willson Contreras and Kyle Hendricks, would pull together and make another run at the title.
Unfortunately, an NLCS loss in 2017 and Wild Card game losses in 2018 and 2020 demonstrated that the Cubs while competitive never could find their way back to the Fall Classic. Now, the team faces some really tough decisions that quite likely will result in a noticeably different team composition before the end of this summer.
Back at the beginning of this core’s era, former Cubs manager Joe Maddon coined the phrase “try not to suck” as those were the words of advice he gave flashy shortstop Javier Baez as he prepared to kick off the 2015 season. The phrase became a tongue-in-cheek rallying cry for Cubs fans, who for years had been used to being disappointed by their Loveable Losers, yet now found themselves watching the ascension of a prime contender for the elusive World Series Title. Now, it seems like Cubs fans need to revisit that mantra and prepare to chant it quite literally. Instead of fighting for another postseason push, impending expiring contracts now put the franchise between a rock and a hard place.
The Cubs have tapdanced around extending Rizzo or Bryant, and trades of these stars now may be on the table when just a few weeks ago they would have been much less likely. Either of these would undoubtedly strike a blow to the gut of Cubs fans and depending on the return, could send the team further into a tailspin. Rizzo, the senior of the Cubs core, has been the de facto captain of the squad. The three-time All-Star and four-time Gold Glove winner has spent the past decade with the Cubs and his departure would certainly be felt immediately, no matter what return the team received.
On the other hand, Bryant, a former Rookie of the Year and NL MVP, is a player who the Cubs could (and probably should) have built their entire team around. The level of talent and utility he brings to the team is difficult to match and despite some slumps and injury stints, he is a proven star that would be rare to replicate in a trade return. Honestly, a departure of his magnitude could be the nail in the coffin for the Cubs to be near-term contenders even if the remainder of the core is retained.
Times like these are never fun as a fan. Seeing the cracks and weathering start to break down your favorite team and usher in the uncertainties of a rebuild, which for Cubs fans brings thoughts of another 108 years consisting of some “coulda-shoulda” seasons sprinkled in with years of cellar-dwelling, can really put a damper on your outlook. At this point, the best advice might be as simple as the cliche saying, “don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened.” Corny? Sure. But sort of fitting? Absolutely. The Cubs reached the pinnacle and won the World Series, and since then, they have been competitive and flirted with greatness again over the past six years. Of course, multiple World Series titles would have been better than one, but in that same vein, one is undoubtedly better than none. And none is what Cubs fans had for a very, very long time.
We all knew this era was going to end someday, but many of us still aren’t quite ready to let it go. All in all, as a Cubs fan, I plan to remain optimistic. I remember being distraught in 2010 when the Cubs traded one of my favorite players at the time, Derek Lee, to the Braves for some pitching prospects who of course never worked out. I was angry, yet over time I got over it.
That’s not to say that I’ve not been critical of decisions the Cubs have made over the years I’ve been a fan. There have been plenty of times I shook my head in disbelief at some of the decisions the team made. I hated seeing Darvish shipped out just after he put together a Cy Young worthy season. I was a big fan of Maddon and wished he was brought back. I scratched my head when they non-tendered Schwarber only to bring in a guy who was pretty much brought the same thing to the table but was an outsider, Joc Pederson, to the team this offseason. But in a weird, somewhat sadistic way, that is part of the fun of being a fan for me. On one hand, I want Bryant, Rizzo, Baez, Contreras, and Hendricks to remain in Cubbie blue forever. But on the other hand, I’m a bit curious about what’s to come.
So, as the Cubs try to decide what to do next, really the only hope I have for the team going forward harkens back to Maddon’s words of wisdom in 2015: Try not to suck. I hope for consistent competitiveness in the division. I hope to see a mix of new players and older veterans hit dingers, make web gems, and throw some heat. And if I’m lucky, and the baseball gods see it fit, I hope to see the Cubs ascend to the top again and bring home another World Series trophy to the Friendly Confines.
Brian Harl is a lifelong Chicago Cubs fan and a member of the IBWAA since 2014. He is an editor for the IBWAA Here’s The Pitch newsletter and is the host of IBWAA’s bi-monthly Zoom Meet-up Retired Numbers: Baseball History and Trivia. He is also a SABR member where he spends time assisting with the SABR Games Project. You can find him on Twitter @cubs_Corner.