![]() It was a 3-3 game when Smyly walked off the mound Sunday afternoon with two outs in the top of the fifth. It’s not always going to be bad.”Īcross the past 14 games, the Cubs bullpen has an 8.05 ERA. “It’s just a matter of keeping that confidence up,” Happ said, “continuing to play the game hard and play the game the right way. That’s key for us to keep going and not lose that faith.” We still have a lot of belief in this clubhouse. But it’s baseball, so at any point it can turn in our favor. “We’re not playing up to our caliber,” Wisdom said after driving in all five of his team’s runs in Sunday’s two-homer game against the Reds. It’s puzzling that the Cubs are already looking like trade deadline sellers when Nico Hoerner (.723 OPS), Dansby Swanson (.789 OPS), Ian Happ (.814 OPS) and Seiya Suzuki (.853 OPS) are putting up good numbers and Patrick Wisdom and Christopher Morel have combined for 23 home runs. There are a lot of empty calories in this offense, which needs more clutch hits and three-run homers. Stroman (2.95 ERA), Smyly (3.45 ERA) and Justin Steele (2.77 ERA) are having All-Star-caliber seasons, but the Cubs are 0-8 in Jameson Taillon’s starts and Wesneski is back in Triple-A Iowa’s rotation. Between April 28 and May 28, the Cubs lost 20 of their 28 games, a downward spiral that recalls the phrase Hoyer used last June to describe the team’s breakdown: “Multisystem failure.” Reminders that the Cubs are only 5 1/2 games out of first place are ringing hollow. “We’re not putting all three phases of the game together at the same time. ![]() ![]() “We’re just not really clicking right now,” Smyly said. The Reds took a no-hitter into the eighth inning on Friday afternoon and outscored the Cubs 25-10 during the series that was supposed to be a soft spot in their schedule. Scattered boos from the crowd are being heard at Wrigley Field, where the Reds completed a three-game sweep with Sunday’s 8-5 victory. We haven’t really gotten on any kind of a roll.” We kind of hit a little bit of a rut this last month. “There’s still a lot of potential to be better in a lot of areas. “We’re not where we want to be yet,” Ross said. Maybe Hoyer’s group will consider more outside-the-box ideas this summer - like last year’s Hayden Wesneski-for- Scott Effross trade with the Yankees - because this isn’t working. Kyle Hendricks, who recently returned to the rotation after a nearly 11-month absence, is another starter with an uncertain future, as the club holds a $16 million option for next year.Ĭody Bellinger - the Gold Glove center fielder who injured his left knee while making a leaping catch at the wall on May 15 - hasn’t started running yet, so it’s unclear where the Cubs will be in the division race by the time he’s ready to return. Drew Smyly is more than halfway to the 110 innings pitched that will enable him to use the opt-out clause in his contract. Marcus Stroman, who can opt out of his contract after this season, told The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal he doesn’t want to be traded, though he understands how the business works. Being this close to irrelevant so early in the season won’t be good for the entertainment divisions overseen by the Ricketts ownership group and president of business operations Crane Kenney. The palace intrigue is becoming the storyline as David Ross’ coaching staff tries to squeeze more out of the roster and Jed Hoyer’s front office contemplates the trade deadline. The Cubs woke up on the Sunday morning of Memorial Day weekend - a traditional marker in the baseball industry - with the lowest winning percentage of the 15 teams in the National League.
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