The Chicago Cubs have quite the conundrum at second base

Chicago Cubs: The offseason signing of Daniel Descalso hasn’t worked out

When the Chicago Cubs first signed Daniel Descalso, the biggest complaint is why they didn’t keep Tommy La Stella. He was coming up on his second arbitration year, and the team felt he might be too much for just a ‘bench’ player. And when Descalso came out hot? La Stella wasn’t forgotten, but the team felt they had a good signing in Descalso. Fast-forward to June 25, and this isn’t going to be pretty, Cubs’ fans.

La Stella is an everyday player for the Los Angeles Angels, with a slash of .297/.350/.498 and an OPS of .840. He’s hit 15 home runs, driven in 43 and has an OPS+ of 124. He may have to ditch the ‘3 am’ nickname for something for an everyday player. Descalso? Ugh, here we go.

A hot-start through the first 19 games had Descalso at a slash of .310/.394/.448 with an OPS of .842. Since April 5, Descalso has managed to scrape together just NINE hits. This puts him at a .185 average with 15 RBI and only two home runs and six extra-base hits. La Stella has played in more games that Descalso, 72 to just 64.

In June, he’s only had three starts and only finished the game in two of those. Maddon has used him for pinch-hitting duties, and let me tell you; these haven’t been La Stella like numbers. On the season Descalso has just one hit in 24 plate appearances. One. Hindsight is always 20/20. The Cubs front office has made some great moves, and they had a few faux pas. This falls under the latter at this point.