Chicago Cubs: Would deadline deal for Manny Machado have saved us?

Chicago Cubs: Numbers can’t tell you the whole story

In addition to the stat-driven comparisons and speculation, there is one piece to the Machado puzzle that can’t be qualified or quantified in any logical way.

As much as we probably feel like Manny Machado would have helped the Cubs win one extra game over the course of those final 66 contests, we have no idea what his presence would have done to others.  We don’t know what it would have done to team chemistry.  We have no idea if the move would have jumpstarted everyone  in the Cubs lineup for the final two months.

We also have no idea if it would have signaled a panic button for players and fans given that we would have sent our “franchise shortstop” to Baltimore for three months of a guy who, while a great player, wasn’t even a shortstop.

My guess: Machado probably wouldn’t have made any difference in the ultimate end of the season.  Might he have gained the Cubs one more game and allowed us to enter the NLDS where something different might have played out? Sure. But, more than likely, given what transpired with the bullpen, offense and brutal schedule down the stretch, the end would have come regardless.  The Cubs were just put out of our misery in a Wild Card game rather than prolonging the inevitable down the road.

But, you know what they say.  Hindsight is 20/20. Maybe getting Machado would have propelled the Chicago Cubs to a World Series, Kris Bryant would have been a monster down the stretch and Pedro Strop never would have gotten hurt in that game because we would have been in a different place.

This is why you can’t live on “what-ifs” and “might-be’s.”  It’ll drive you crazy and if you’re still reading, you’re already fanatic enough.