So, why are we on this skid?
1. Injuries?
2. Rookies and called up players?
3. Under-performing starters?
4. Bad home plate umps and calls (strikezone, etc.)?
5. Pitching outside of 1/2?
6. Bullpen?
Thoughts? I'm a bit shocked in our play lately. I'm going with injuries.
Yes? I mean it's a little bit of all of those. I'd also add in "baseball" as one. Sometimes good teams go on a losing streak. If you want a bit of a more in detail answer I'd go with this. The cubs starting pitching thus far has been ridiculously good. Their offense has been streaky. The bullpen has been average with a couple of relievers being fairly bad. If we break into why the offense has been streaky you get injuries which then lead to rookies. Rookies are going to be inconsistent and at times flat out bad.
Whether or not you should worry in my opinion depends on how you feel about the young players the cubs have. Fowler, Zobrist and Heyward aren't typically what I'd think of players who can carry a team. Fowler and Zobrist sort of did when they started incredibly hot but that seems more the exception than the rule. All three should be good on base machines but you still need someone hitting for good average to drive them in. Bryant and Rizzo when going well probably can do that but thus far they haven't killed it like they can. Although, looking at Rizzo's stats he's quietly hitting .277/.402/.558 and his 155 wRC+ is 10th in the majors. I think if the majority of those guys are playing well the cubs will look like the dominant team they started the season as. If not, then you're going to have peaks and valleys.
Russell is so young still that I'm not sure his bat is ready to get where he can. Baez has been really streaky. Almora is probably too young to be in the majors but is here more because of injury. Soler.... who knows. Like Baez he jumps around and is pretty streaky. And between Montero and Ross I'm not expecting much. Montero was great last year but injuries have derailed him this year as they have done in the past. Ross is retiring after the year so that should say all you need to know there. Contreras though is really pretty interesting. He hit AA/AAA like Bryant and Scwharber hit AA/AAA. And unlike Bryant, he did so without striking out much which should play really well in the majors(and thus far has). I think it's going to surprise people how good his bat turns out being.
Overall, if the guys from the first paragraph do their jobs and play well the cubs are probably fine if they get even below average out of the guys in the second paragraph. As for pitching, some here will tell you the bullpen is a problem but I don't particularly see it that way. It could be better but it's not like the cubs have the Reds bullpen. Rondon, Strop, Cahill and Wood have been fantastic. Grimm hasn't been what he was last year. Richard was a bit of a train wreck. Warren didn't look comfortable in the pen after pitching well there in NY. So you're really talking about 2 bullpen guys in a righty to take Warren's spot and a lefty for Richard. Conception has dominated the past year and a half in the minors as a lefty. He had a 1.24 ERA over 36.1 IP in AA/AAA this year with roughly a 9 k/9 and a 3.46 bb/9. So, I think people will be happy with what he'll do. Not sure about the righty. Edwards in theory can dominate but still walks a lot of batters.
Long story short, think they will keep their eyes on the reliever market but I'm not convinced they will pay the price to get Miller like many are speculating. I see a Rodney/Hunter like move from last year again. I do think they will look at possible young starters and maybe consider addressing the bullpen that way either adding said young starter to the BP or moving Hammel/Hendricks out. They also could really use another vet bat but I'm not sure how they make that work playing time wise. Might be a case where they need to deal someone like Soler for a young starter(my hope is Drew Smyly personally) in order to find the playing time for a more vet bat they pick up in a separate deal.
