Chicago Cubs: Top 3 issues David Ross must address right away

Chicago Cubs: Can Ross get consistency from his former teammates?

The second biggest issue that the team’s new manager will have to handle quickly is how he is going to get his team to be more consistent with offensive production.  If there is any glaring issue out there that needs to get fixed – it’s the inconsistency of the bats.

Everyone knows the boys are not robots. We can’t install new batteries into a remote and all of a sudden it’s dinger heaven. It just doesn’t work that way.  No one thinks former manager Joe Maddon didn’t do everything in his power to get his players to be more consistent. So what can Ross do that Maddon hadn’t tried?

I’ve seen tweets and heard the bleacher talk that the Cubs are just going to magically be consistent because they like Ross and feel comfortable around him; therefore they can now begin to hit the ball more than when Maddon was in the job.

This is such nonsense. To buy into that scenario is to say the Cubs were not really trying when they took their turns at bat and we all know that isn’t true.

We’ve seen outfielder Kyle Schwarber nearly tear an umps head off because they called a bad ball on him. Tell me that guy isn’t trying to hit? What about our beloved shortstop Javier Baez? He swings at everything! Do you mean to tell me Baez doesn’t want to hit? And yet they both are examples in their own way of inconsistent at-bats.

Schwarber sometimes hits when you need him to and sometimes he strikes out when you need him to hit. Baez may need instruction on seeing the ball better, so he knows when to spend his precious swing. Either way, they both need more consistency.

Ross needs to dig in right away and look at lots of tape to try and figure out how he is going to get the consistency back into the club.  If he doesn’t figure it out quickly, the team could be well into the season, when it’s too late.