Chicago Cubs: It’s time to start thinking outside of the box

The Chicago Cubs have gone 0-6 on the current road trip, and they need to come up with something to spark the offense. Returning home should help. But what else can this team do to get on track?

First, before some of you go jumping off the bandwagon, the Chicago Cubs were just about this bad at one point last season. In July of last season they were 12-14, and over the course of June and July, they played just 28-26 baseball. That’s not much different than this current stretch the Cubs have found themselves in. 12-16 in May. As Jim Deshaies says, “If May were a player, he’d be designated for assignment.” Can’t say I have any objection to that.

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So not much has gone right in these first two months. The Cubs find themselves just two games out of first place in a crowded NL Central. Not the place they hoped to be in, but things could be a lot worse. So now what? Joe Maddon says he believes the solutions are on the 25-man roster. Assuming that to be true, what are the logical moves for him to make?

These aren’t necessarily “cutting edge” ideas, but they haven’t been delved into yet, so we feel they’re worth a shot of considering to help get this stagnant Cubs’ offense going once again.

The sandwich needs a new topping

Ben Zobrist seems to have found a home at the top of the lineup. Last season with Kris Bryant, Anthony Rizzo and Zobrist the “Rizzo sandwich was complete.” With almost everyone else struggling on offense he hasn’t had that. Now, Jason Heyward isn’t ripping the cover off the ball, but he’s been about as consistent as they come in this lineup. It might be time for Maddon to move him up behind Rizzo and see if it can’t help the group as a whole.

This will, of course, change the righty-lefty matchups that Maddon likes to use. But let’s be honest, how’s all that working now? Sliding Heyward up will put two lefties back-to-back with he and Rizzo. So it might be a case of matchups when he decides to do it. But it’s an option that Maddon must consider.

Heyward’s .257 isn’t exactly setting the world on fire, but he’s putting good swings on the ball and hitting the fastball with regularity. Outside of Bryant, Heyward has been one of the more consistent hitters in the Cubs lineup.

Time to help, not hinder Schwarber

Then we have Kyle Schwarber. Last year, after missing the entire season with a knee injury–he returned to help lead the Cubs in the playoffs. With just a few rehab at-bats, he was added to the roster and hit .417 (7-for-17) with two RBIs and three walks. If not for Zobrist, he very well could have been the World Series MVP.

Fast forward to this season, and people are leaping off the Schwarber bandwagon. I’ll admit, it’s been a rough go of it for Kyle. But part of that is Maddon’s insistence in leaving him in the leadoff spot well past the point where it wasn’t working. Where should Schwarber be hitting? Maybe we should be looking at the other half of the batting order.

This is something that had proven to work well, especially when Maddon used it to help give Addison Russell better pitches to see when he first came up in 2015. The same logic could help Schwarber, who is still drawing walks (27) and hitting home runs (8) at a consistent pace. It’s his overall batting average that looks awful, and moving him to the bottom could work.

Even with the worst case scenario playing out, he could still draw a walk to get on base or jump a fastball to help generate some more offense for this team. He’s proven he can be a top-tier hitter at the major league level, and he still hasn’t played an entire season. Maddon has to do his part to help Schwarber, not hinder him.