5 underperforming Chicago Cubs who need to improve to stick around

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As time slowly ticks by on the North Side, a record that once led the National League Central continues to plummet toward rock bottom. It’s not that anyone expected much different at this point of the juncture after a frenzy of trade deadline moves that sent everybody who helped turn the Chicago Cubs around to contending teams across the game. But it’s still been tough, nonetheless.

Since the deadline, there has been quite a few sparks that have been a breath of life to an otherwise dying season. Rafael Ortega and Frank Schwindel have mashed in their new roles. Hendricks has continued to show, for the most part, that he belongs in Cubbie blue, currently leading the league in wins with 14. Patrick Wisdom, after blasting four more home runs in the Crosstown Classic, has proven he is a serious NL Rookie of the Year candidate.

However, that’s about where it ends. There are certainly more underperformers than overperformers on this roster. Given the state of what’s going on, accepting the reality that this is a losing season, players now have a golden opportunity to show what they have and how they can contribute where they otherwise wouldn’t if the team was contending.

Though the team is underperforming as a whole, it is important to examine what’s really going on here and figure out who could play a vital role moving forward and who could be at the end of their rope. Let’s take a look at five underperforming Cubs who need to get it together if they wish to stick around long term.

5 Chicago Cubs that need to get it together – #5: David Bote

In April of 2019, Bote signed a team-friendly extension of only $15 million over five years. He took the guaranteed route to make sure he can provide for himself and his loved ones. For that, he has my respect. However, breaking down the man as a baseball player, he needs to improve because even that contract seems like it has been overpriced lately.

Over the last two seasons, Bote has slashed a combined .202/.282/.362 in 413 plate appearances. He is currently on his second IL stint of the season after spraining his ankle in a freak accident during batting practice. Earlier in the year, Bote missed nearly two months with a dislocated left shoulder. Shoulder injuries can have a serious impact on your swing, so the hope is once he is back from his ankle injury he can get into a groove and finish out the season and show that is was just in fact the shoulder hindering his performance.

He has cut down on his errors in the field as he has only committed three this year and his ability to play multiple positions in the infield is valuable. He simply will have to swing a better and more consistent bat moving forward. Given the fact that Wrigley Field is a hitter’s ballpark, his career slash in the Friendly Confines of .236/.333/.387 has been less than ideal to say the least. Hopefully he can change his approach at the plate and once again become a threat in the lineup.

Five Chicago Cubs that need to get it together – #4: Jason Heyward

For starters to give him the respect he does deserve, Jason Heyward is one of the finest defenders I’ve ever seen. He brings motivation and a determination to win, most famous for his rain delay speech in Game 7 of the 2016 World Series.

To be fair, Heyward hasn’t been as bad as it seems but is struggling mightily this year with a slash of .210/.279/.330. Though it may not seem like it, he actually had productive years at the plate in the past three years, batting .265 in 2020, .251 in 2019 and .270 in 2018. Heyward has a tendency to either be ice cold or white hot. This year unfortunately, it’s been mostly ice cold.

Though he has actually been rolling lately, going eight for his last 16, he is still well off the mark of earning a team-high $21 million this year. That’s the main issue with Heyward here, others are underperforming as well, but the veteran’s contract severely hinders the Cubs’ payroll when he doesn’t play to the standard he set with St. Louis where he batted .293/.359/.439.

Moving Heyward’s contract has proved nearly impossible and you won’t find a team looking to take on that sort of deal for the underperforming numbers he has provided. Though he is a five-time Gold Glover, Heyward needs to get back to around that .250-.270 range for his contract to at all be worth it for the Cubs front office.

Five Chicago Cubs that need to get it together – #3: Ian Happ

Another player currently underperforming as a whole but recently knocking the cover off the baseball is Ian Happ. Happ’s tenure with the Cubs has been a long stretch of “is this guy good or is he bad?”

Happ, who was drafted out of Cincinnati in the first round of the 2015 draft, has really shown flashes of how good he can be, coupling those instances with flashes of, well, not so good. Happ, like Heyward, has been red-hot lately with a stretch of 9-for-21 entering play Sunday before going 0-for-4 in the season finale against the Chicago White Sox.

After a 2017 that showed mighty promise for Happ, he followed up leaving fans wondering what happened to him in 2018 where he hit just .233. As most remember, the former first-rounder started 2019 in Triple-A Iowa where he came back to the big league club later in the year and seemingly got it back together where he slashed .264/.333/.564 in 140 at-bats. In 2020, Happ batted .258 but was red hot for the majority of the year until ultimately slumping at the end of the 60-game season, finishing 18th in National League MVP voting.

This year, Happ has spent most of the season as the worst version of himself, hitting just .201/.302/.380 with 16 home runs and 41 RBI. As a former first-round draft pick, Happ needs to find his common ground. He plays multiple positions but is not the best defender in the league. He has gotten a lot better in the outfield. The peaks and valleys of Ian Happ need be no more.

Happ will enter his second year of arbitration next season and therefore will still be reasonably cheap. He has time to get it together but needs to finish the season strong to provide the front office with some confidence moving forward.

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Five Chicago Cubs that need to get it together – #2: Adbert Alzolay

Narrowing down this list to number two, we come to Adbert Alzolay. Though he has much promise, Alzolay has really struggled to put it together at the big league level. After posting a 2.95 ERA and 3.05 FIP in four starts for 2020, Alzolay has fallen from grace this season.

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He currently has an ERA of 5.16 in 21 games started and a record of 4-13, the 13 being the most losses by a starter on the season thus far. Though his 4.02 career ERA at Wrigley Field isn’t terrible, as it is a whole number below his overall career ERA of 5.01, it also isn’t the best either.

On the road, he’s been even worse – working to a 5.03 ERA away from the Confines in 2021. Those numbers simply will not help the Cubs do anything moving forward. He has had good starts on the year but has been snake-bitten by the long ball, allowing 24 homers on the year, 19 of which have come from left-handed hitters.

If Alzolay can get back to 2020 form and sustain that level of performance then he will be just fine. Important to note, his 2020 season was an extremely small sample size, but it was consistent for a few starts in a row after starting four games on the year. Moving forward, he cannot be a glaring weakness in the rotation should he look to stick around long-term.

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Five Chicago Cubs that need to get it together – #1: Willson Contreras

Contreras tops this list simply because he has had the most success out of anybody left on the team. The World Series champion and two-time All-Star is currently having his worst year at the plate, slashing just .226/.333/.417, down from his career mark of .258/.348/.455.

Contreras is the sole remaining All-Star caliber position player remaining on the Cubs. He has openly stated he hopes for an extension and would be happy for the Cubs to rebuild around him. Given the fact that 2021 has been his only far below average year, coupled with the fact that he has a cannon for an arm with the most pick-offs by a catcher since being called up in 2016, I would extend him in a heartbeat if I’m Jed Hoyer.

All-Star backstops do not come along often; his heart and fiery passion to win is invaluable to any team. Many times Contreras has stepped up in the clutch or single handedly shifted the momentum in Wrigley Field with a big swing of the bat or a play behind the plate.

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It is unlikely he will continue to struggle at the plate, but the fact that he is underperforming with only a year left on his contract is the scary part. As we’ve seen this year, the front office isn’t keen on extending players they view as underperforming. To be fair, you can’t extend a player based on past success. However, Contreras has a lot of it. Hopefully, he will right his wrongs at the plate before it’s too late and the front office does something they will be sure to regret.

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