Steele Wheels

 

I will give the Cubs this, even keeping their 2021 obliteration in mind: In the carryover from the end of the 2021 season til right now, the Cubs have found young, mostly homegrown players that were good for them when they needed to build, and have continued to be good as the team has built. Justin Steele, Nico Hoerner, Keegan Thompson and Ian Happ have stuck with this team as they've strengthened with more free agents, and they're all as good now as they were a few years ago.

And that's honestly what you want. The Cubs couldn't win it all in 2016 without Bryant, Baez, Hendricks, Contreras and Schwarber coming up and staying good. And look, this current incarnation can do whatever they want with Jameson Taillon and Marcus Stroman, both doing relatively well so far, but I genuinely think that Justin Steele is that homegrown lynchpin that is keeping this rotation together. Steele's 2-0 so far, has 19 Ks and a 1.42 ERA. Stroman may be a bit showier, but now in his second full season and he's the most consistent, consistent and reliable option the Cubs have. 

I kinda hate that Kyle Hendricks isn't as reliable as he was, or that Marcus Stroman still has the occasional messy start that needs to be mopped up, but...if they can build off of someone like Steele, especially keeping people like Hayden Wesneski, Javier Assad and Caleb Kilian in mind, they could be in good shape.

That's how the lineup has been working with people like Happ, Hoerner and Patrick Wisdom. Now that Swanson, Mancini and Hosmer are in town, Wisdom isn't as relied-upon for power hitting, and while Wisdom does have 5 homers at the moment, his contact struggles aren't as jarring. I mean, Hosmer and Mancini aren't exactly hitting for contact either but, regardless, it doesn't stand out as much. Swanson and Hoerner as a battery has worked insanely well, and Bellinger is honestly beginning to heat up a little. I'd give Seiya Suzuki another week or so to catch up but I think he's ready for a crucial full-season effort. And honestly, Yan Gomes hasn't been the worst as the starting catching option, though I find it funny that former-gold-glover Tucker Barnhart is better than him offensively right now but not defensively.

As flawed as this Cubs team is, I can see promise. Upping both the power hitters and the innings-eaters was a good depth move, and I think they'll be a lot closer to breaking .500 this year vs. the last few. 

Coming Tomorrow- An outfielder for a team that, I'm guessing, is gonna be really hard to find people good enough to make customs of this year.