Chicago Cubs: Team’s recent slide aided by struggling depth

The recent 2-5 road trip for the Chicago Cubs was frustrating for several reasons. Some losses were close to being wins as a lot of pieces have been hot and cold.

Some Chicago Cubs fans may be a bit worried about how the team has performed this past week, and on the road in general. With Sunday night’s loss to the Dodgers, their road trip ended at 2-5, and they have not won a road series since May 19th. It ended with stranding two on and nobody out in the ninth in what looked like another possible 9th inning rally. It was all for not.

Outside their outburst against the Rockies last Wednesday, the offense has been struggling. Sure they faced some great pitching, and beating the Dodgers at home is hard, but it has seen some major rough patches the past several weeks. Overall on the season, the Cubs are one of the best offensive teams in baseball, but lately, the inconsistency has reared its ugly head. What is going on?

Looking at the position players right now, one thing seems obvious; the depth outside the central core is not producing right now. Depth is something the Cubs had working great for them the past several years and has proven to be an essential part of success. The main core of Anthony Rizzo, Kris Bryant, Javier Baez, and Willson Contreras cannot do everything, and it is harder to win when others are struggling.

Struggling depth

This is not to say every single person, not including those four are doing poorly. David Bote is doing well, Kyle Schwarber has been hitting lately, and Victor Caratini has had a very impressive start, but a lot of the others are struggling. We have already seen the Mark Zagunis experiment not work out, and Jim Adduci came and went fast. Here is a look at some key depth guys on the roster.