Three takeaways for the Chicago Cubs after a rough weekend series

Chicago Cubs: Bullpen woes steal the show over the weekend

Look, everyone – and I mean everyone – knew the Chicago Cubs had a bullpen issue on their hands heading into the season. But, for an array of reasons, namely inherent financial restrictions put on Theo Epstein and the baseball operations department, the team scrapped the bottom of the barrel to address this glaring weakness.

And, to this point, they’ve gotten some value from these guys. Brad Brach has pitched well in his first year with Chicago. Brandon Kintzler, after a disastrous 2018 debut on the North Side, now finds himself firmly entrenched in Maddon’s circle of trust. Xavier Cedeno is yet to string together several strong outings in a row due to a lingering injury – but the jury is still out there.

The simple truth is this: the Cubs’ current crop of arms in the left field bullpen isn’t one capable of playing a critical role in helping the team win another championship. As much as I love Steve Cishek, he’s not a guy you give the ball to in Game 7 with a World Series title on the line – he’s just not.

Chicago could get Pedro Strop back as early as this weekend – which will be a huge boost, to be sure. But we just watched the bullpen cough up three runs in Friday’s loss (blowing a pair of saves in the process) and another four in Sunday’s lopsided contest.

It’ll take a lot more than Strop returning to turn this bullpen around and if the Cubs want to seriously pursue another deep October run, it’s time for Epstein to pick up the phone and get it done.

Chicago Cubs: Another tough luck injury for the 2016 NL MVP

As if losing two of three to the Cincinnati Reds wasn’t bad enough, the Cubs also lost Kris Bryant on Sunday, after he collided with Jason Heyward while the two ran down a fly ball in the alley.

“He’s doing OK. He’s still under evaluation,” Maddon said told MLB.com after the loss. “We don’t know exactly what we’re dealing with with this whole thing yet. But we’re trying to talk with the docs and him to find out exactly where we’re at. So, I don’t have anything new to report yet.”

At a bare minimum, I don’t expect to see Bryant in the Cubs lineup on Monday afternoon in Houston. In my mind, there’s no way he bounces back after undergoing concussion protocol to start less than 24 hours later – especially with his history of injuries, including head-specific ones. Don’t forget, he took a pitch off the head in Colorado last year that cost him some time, as well.

On the year, Bryant has bounced back from a slow start to become one of the Cubs’ top offensive threats once more. He ranks fourth on the team in OPS, trailing Victor Caratini (who missed a good chunk of the year due to injury), Willson Contreras and Anthony Rizzo. His 34 RBI rank second among Chicago players – and his 37 strikeouts to 33 walks stand out as a testament to just how well he’s seeing the ball.

We don’t know how long Bryant will be sidelined this time around. But Chicago fans haven’t forgotten how lost and overmatched he looked at the plate on the heels of multiple injuries last year and if he struggles after coming back from Sunday’s collision, you can bet the same Kris Bryant naysayers will be back in force in a hurry.

Chicago Cubs: Doing what needed to be done

Saturday wasn’t exactly what I’d call optimal pitching conditions. As I sat in the left field bleachers, the wind howled and I could hear the National League flags atop the center field scoreboard snapping with every gust.

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So it came as little surprise the two teams combined for 14 runs – the majority of which came via the half-dozen homers the clubs blasted on the afternoon. But that’s not what stood out to me. Rather, it was the gritty outing Yu Darvish turned in – a stark contrast from the guy who seemed mentally overmatched in many of his 2018 starts, often failing to get through five frames.

On the surface, his line from Saturday isn’t great – especially for a guy on a $126 million deal. Darvish turned in seven innings of six-run ball, allowing a dozen hits (three of which left the yard). He struck out just five and walked a pair in the victory.  But there was so much more than that in Darvish’s outing – as his teammates and manager pointed out after the contest.

“He did great,” Maddon said. “He’s pretty good at processing exactly what did occur. What occurred is he pitched well and he battled for his team and he got into the eighth inning. He’s going to walk away with that. I totally believe that.”

Was it pretty? Not really. But you know what, he knuckled down when his team’s bullpen was dangerously shorthanded and did enough to help the Cubs even up the series at a game apiece. The numbers don’t look great, but this was the first time we’ve seen Darvish focus and put his team on his back in the way we all hoped he would when he signed in Chicago two winters ago.

This weekend didn’t bring the results we’d hoped for and the Cubs’ lead in the National League Central is down to 1 1/2 games entering play Monday. But the lessons we can all take away from this series could pay dividends as we head into the month of June and toward the second half.