Cubs in a Complete Free Fall – Another week of Chicago Cubs baseball has wrapped up, and it was another miserable week for the beloved Cubbies. The “Lovable Losers” mantra might soon be back, although there isn’t much to love about what is taking place at Wrigley Field.
The Cubs were in Denver to begin the week for a matchup against the Rockies, and then they welcomed the White Sox to Wrigley Field this weekend. Chicago went just 1-5 in those six games and were outscored 42-23 in the process.
Many Cubs fans felt like the team hit rock-bottom when it traded away nine players in July, but I think rock-bottom is still a ways away. This team will likely get there at some point, but it’s going to take a few more weeks of misery before it happens.
Developing young talent will be a key theme for the Cubs as the season moves along, but there should still be enough talent on this team to win some games. The Cubs were competitive in the three-game series at Coors Field, but they were outclassed by the White Sox all weekend long at Wrigley.
The Crosstown series between the Cubs and White Sox is always one of the highlights of the summer, and it was a great weekend for Tony La Russa and his team. The Southsiders came into Wrigley Field and swept the Cubs, and put on a show while getting it done.
Kyle Hendricks was able to continue his long no-loss streak on Friday, but the rest of the pitching staff continues to be a disaster. There are some power arms that have shown some promise, but they aren’t good enough to get outs at the Major League level.
Perhaps the only highlight of this week was what occurred in the 8th inning of the game on Friday afternoon. The Cubs were trailing 4-1 when Andrew Romine deliverd a game-tying three-run homer off of Craig Kimbrel.
Kimbrel received a massive ovation in his return to Wrigley Field, but the place was up for grabs when Romine tied the game. The excitement was short lived as the White Sox scored four runs in the 10th inning to take control of the game.
Getting swept in a three-game series at Wrigley Field is never fun, but it’s even worse when it is to the crosstown rival.
Hoyer Comments on Former Stars
Jed Hoyer made the difficult, but “necessary,” decision to trade away the core before the Trade Deadline, and it is a decision that he will continually be asked about. Hoyer has said all of the right things since taking over the GM job, but that wasn’t the case earlier in the week.
When asked about the reluctance of the Cubs to extend the contracts for Javier Baez, Kris Bryant, or Anthony Rizzo, Hoyer noted that the team tried several times. Those comments were not well received by the former players, and Hoyer took plenty of heat for what he said.
Most Cubs fans still had hope of a reunion between some of the traded stars, but those dreams can end now. It doesn’t seem like those players have any interest in a return to Chicago, especially after Hoyer threw them under the bus with these comments.
Painful Reminders of a Bad Trade
Not only did the Cubs get swept by the White Sox, but this weekend served as another reminder of one of the worst trades with the White Sox in recent memory. The Cubs received Jose Quintana for Eloy Jimenez and Dylan Cease, and those two helped push the White Sox to the sweep on Sunday Night Baseball.
Jimenez has killed the Cubs since he was called up to the Major Leagues. He would look great in a Cubs uniform, and it’s likely that the most recent sell-off wouldn’t have occurred if he was still on the roster.
Cease has continued to get better for the White Sox, and he dominated the Cubs lineup on Sunday night. This is a trade that will be hard to live down for the next decade or so.
