Five moves the Chicago Cubs must make to have a chance

Chicago Cubs: First, you send Russell to Triple-A Iowa

I’m done with Addison Russell. If it were up to me, he would have never returned to the Cubs organization after his 40-game suspension and subsequent fallout surrounding his domestic violence issues last season.

But we’re not even talking about his off-the-field matters right now. His on-field performance, for a team that has World Series aspirations, is simply unacceptable. The lack of mental focus that turned Cubs fans against Starlin Castro in his final weeks on the North Side pales in comparison to what we’ve seen from Russell lately.

His baserunning mistakes took center stage on the recent homestand and the former top prospect only made matters worse when speaking to reporters on Monday, admitting that he doesn’t know the team’s signs – or, at the very least, he doesn’t know them well.

"“Also, not missing signs as well,” Russell said. “Stay on top of those. Remind myself, I need to become more familiar with the signs as well. So there’s no gap there. You know exactly what’s being put on so you can do your job more efficient.”"

You know signs in Little League. Not knowing them at the Major League level is certainly enough to warrant a demotion to Iowa. His seemingly out of touch comments and his below-average contributions in literally every area of his game cannot be ignored any longer.