Everyone needs to come to grips with reality when it comes to Kyle Tucker's 'slump'

I swear, Chicago sports fans are incapable of enjoying nice things. That certainly seems to be the case when it comes to at least some Chicago Cubs fans and four-time All-Star Kyle Tucker, who is in the midst of another monster year at the plate.

Entering this weekend's series against Baltimore at Wrigley, Tucker owns a 155 OPS+ that leads all Cubs players, as well as a .391 on-base percentage that would rank as the highest mark of any Cubs player over a full season dating back to Anthony Rizzo (.405) in 2019. But you'd never know it by the about-face I'm seeing at every turn, with folks who were begging for him to get a blank check a month ago now calling predictions of a $500 million contract crazy.

That's right. Joining those very calls is none other than David Kaplan, who has suddenly changed his tune and jumped off the Kyle Tucker bandwagon. But how he's handled his cold spell at the plate is exactly why he's going to command hundreds of millions of dollars from teams this winter.

Kyle Tucker's approach during his recent slump is why he's so valuable

Look, nobody is arguing the fact that hitting one home run in the month of July is not going to cut it. The Cubs need Tucker's power for this lineup to be at its best. But every hitter goes through stretches where the slug just isn't there - and oftentimes, you see some bad habits form as they search for answers, desperate to rediscover their extra-base stroke.

But that's not what we've seen with Tucker.

In July, a month where he was pretty clearly at his worst, his overall OBP for the season fell just two points: from .393 to .391. He's currently riding an active 19-game on-base streak. In 23 July games, he walked 21 times and struck out just 11. Is he at his best? Absolutely not. He's a far cry from what he was in April and May. But it's his ability to find ways to contribute during his cold spells that make him so valuable.

We can only hope that his 2-for-3 showing that included a double in Wednesday's badly-needed win over Milwaukee was a sign of things to come. But if you think the last month soured anyone on his free agent earning potential, I'm sorry, but you're sorely mistaken.