Happ Decision

 

Ian Happ is the current Cubs RBI leader. Granted, Cody Bellinger was injured for a few weeks and Patrick Wisdom is currently injured, but...Ian Happ's still in his prime, and he's just one piece of this Cubs team. 33 RBI is certainly not a bad shake of things for a guy who took his sweet time fitting into this team. 

This is a fourth place team, this Cubs team, but they've also won five straight against tough teams like the Orioles and Pirates, and are going right back to Pittsburgh in a few days anyhow. What's different about this team now vs. last week when they were struggling? They have Cody Bellinger back, and they just got Justin Steele back yesterday. Their big pieces are active again, and even if Chris Morel filling that hole still worked, there were holes in this team that they couldn't immediately recover from. Now Bellinger's back, and had an RBI double the other day, and Steele is back, bringing his record to a 7-2. This has helped.

It also helps that there's already a solid enough core on this team that all the need is a little push every so often. You already have Marcus Stroman, Nico Hoerner and Dansby Swanson giving league-wide great performances, and, yes, Ian Happ notching 33 RBIs. Morel has been hot ever since getting back from Iowa, hitting .301 with 12 homers and 26 RBIs. I think Morel is gonna be the answer for them going forward as a big piece. You also just have a lot of this team hitting for average, and a lot of cool pieces, like Yan Gomes, Mike Tauchman and Nick Madrigal jumping in for fun roles. Tauchman being the Cubs leadoff batter during a strong stretch is not something I saw coming this year, and I hope the Sockman keeps it up.

The issue is the pitching just keeps giving up too many runs. Too many bullpen pieces have gotten rocked, too many once-trusted arms have struggled, and even starters like Jameson Taillon and Hayden Wesneski are having trouble. What's odd is that the Cubs are still below league averages in terms of ERA, runs allowed and the like, which just means that the starters, and the last few days, have leveled things out a bit. I think they just have a troublesome bullpen, which is...allowed at this stage, but does explain why they're in fourth.

I think the Cubs will be alright going forward. I have no idea what to make of any of this division, but they still have a ton going for them, and may still rise to the top as a few of these guys get over their overexposure periods. Unless, in fact, the Reds and Pirates are, in fact, for real and the Cubs aren't gonna be able to get over them. Which would also be interesting. I think the Cubs could end up surprising people, but it's gonna take avoiding extreme drop-offs like they just got back from. 

Coming Tonight: Now I can say definitively that this guy was not, in fact, worth Jean Segura.