Cubs' ridiculous Owen Caissie messaging problem keeps growing worse by the day

Chicago Cubs fans were already frustrated this month, with the team seemingly dropping out of the race for the NL Central. That's why the way that manager Craig Counsell has used outfield prospect Owen Caissie since he got called up on Friday , has felt like it was adding insult to injury. And suppose Counsell's usage and comments and Caissie are indeed an insult to injury. What does that make Jed Hoyer's most recent take on the situation?

To recap, Caissie was inserted directly into the lineup when he was first called up in the final game of the series against the Toronto Blue Jays. While the young outfielder went 0-for-4, he did have a hard line drive that was caught on a magnificent play. And Caissie himself said after the game that he felt like calling him up was bringing in a player "who can change the game."

Fast forward to Sunday morning, and Caissie was benched for his third straight game. Before the series finale against the Pirates, Counsell made it clear that the outfielder won't be supplanting any of the veterans, saying, "We have a pretty good group of outfielders here. Owen has to cross that bar. We're going to play the best guys every day. This is why we wrestled with calling him up ... because of the group of outfielders we have." While Caissie did pinch hit in the game (popping up weakly), it was for third baseman Matt Shaw.

Chicago Cubs management keeps missing the forest for the trees with Owen Caissie's usage

On Monday morning, Hoyer made an appearance on 670 The Score and was asked about his take on Counsell's comments. There had been some hope that perhaps the Chicago Cubs front office and manager weren't on the same page, and that Jed would "fix it" and Caissie would get more playing time moving forward. Instead, Hoyer made it clear the club continues to have a bizarre approach to calling up the franchise's top prospect.

"We talked about this when we brought him up," Hoyer replied when he was asked if he disagreed with Counsell's take. "I mean, I think that the way our team is set up, if we're going to play him, it's going to be at the expense, really, of Seiya or Kyle or Ian. That's kind of the way it would work."

Hoyer then went on to say that the veteran outfielders had been doing this a long time and that at some point, Owen will play or else get sent back down. He also pointed to guys like Shaw and Pete Crow-Armstrong struggling when they first got called up. However, he then made the comments that miss the point entirely.

"I think that he's going to get at-bats. He's going to be in the lineup at times. But, you know, the point of calling him up was never to bench one of our veteran guys."

The problem with both Hoyer's and Counsell's comments is that there isn't a single Cubs fan who is seriously advocating that Owen Caissie permanently replace any of Happ, Suzuki, or Tucker. No one would get "benched."

However, it wouldn't hurt for Caissie to float between left field, right field, and DH more often than once every four or five games. While Happ had a good game on Sunday, he broke out of a 1-for-18 slump with his two hits. Tucker is still mired in the worst slump of his career. Slashing .160/.250/.160/.410 in August, Tucker hasn't had an extra-base hit since July 30 and hasn't hit a home run since July 19. Suzuki has hit just four extra-base hits since July 18 and last homered 12 days ago.

None of these guys' performances are screaming "I must play every game," or even close to every game. Considering the grind of a long, hot summer and the fact that the Cubs haven't had much in the way of bench help for most of 2025, coming up with a real rotation that sees Caissie at least play every game against righties seems not only doable but smart.

Unfortunately, the Chicago Cubs seem locked into an old-school approach of "dance with who brung ya." One need to look no further than the NL Central-leading Milwaukee Brewers to see a team that has no fear of trying new guys (Andrew Vaughn was awful until he became a member of the Brew Crew), and it paying off massively. One has to wonder at this point, when or if Hoyer and Counsell will learn that lesson.