Chicago Cubs: Five reasons the team parted ways with Kyle Schwarber

The writing was on the wall when it came to the Cubs dumping Kyle Schwarber.

Let’s start off by saying this: Kyle Schwarber should still be a member of the Chicago Cubs. If it weren’t for COVID – which led to a shortened season and a biblical loss of revenue – and the departure of Theo Epstein, it’s highly doubtful we’d be having this discussion right now.

For all his shortcomings, Schwarber was a winner. He was part of three NL Central championships, two Wild Card teams and only one team that missed the postseason – coincidentally in a year Schwarber put up MVP-type numbers in the second half.

Unfortunately, all of those above issues came to pass and created the imperfect storm for Schwarber and the Cubs. Now, Chicago will have to live with the fact that they non-tendered a homegrown slugger who could go on to put up 40 home runs a year for the next decade. I kinda hope he does just that, quite honestly.

That being said, Schwarber had his warts and while I wouldn’t have jettisoned him to the scrap heap to save his eight million dollars, I can acknowledge that there were some issues for the big lefty. Here are five that no doubt influenced the Cubs decision.