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Chicago Cubs Update – Matt Meyer

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Post by Matt Meyer – @Bluto51 on Twitter

Decent April, frustrating May, and an encouraging June have landed the Chicago Cubs in the thick of a mediocre National League Central race for 2023. Entering play Tuesday, Chicago is 37-39 and 3 games behind division leading Milwaukee, 2 games back in the loss column. Without a clear favorite in the division, the Cubs are in play to return to the playoffs for the first time since the pandemic shortened season of 2020.

Chicago has been led by their starting rotation all season long. Marcus Stroman has been as good as any starting pitcher in the NL and is a bonafide Cy Young Award candidate. Stroman developed a blister on his right (throwing) index finger in his start on Sunday in London against the Cardinals. That’s worth watching over the next few weeks. Justin Steele appears to have recovered from a left (throwing) forearm strain in late May. Steele has been as consistently good as Stroman and anyone else in the league. Since returning from injury, Kyle Hendricks has been good in his six starts, particularly over his last five outings. Drew Smyly has been solid for the majority of the season and better than that on occasion. Jameson Taillon has rebounded from a bad beginning to the season to be better of late, dropping his ERA almost a run and a half over the last month. All in all, the starting rotation has been terrific and has often carried the club through an up and down first half.

A big key to the Cubs getting back in the race has been an improved bullpen. Yes, I just wrote that…an improved bullpen. Julian Merryweather, Mark Leiter, Jr., and Adbert Alzolay have developed into a decent, approaching reliable, back end. Merryweather lives in the high 90’s, Leiter, Jr. has an outstanding splitfinger that allows the right hander to be very effective against left handed hitters, and Alzolay’s combination of slider, four seamer, and sinker has dropped his ERA below 2. Michael Fulmer has even pitched better of late, usually in lower leverage situations. You can never have enough arms in the pen, and the Cubs are no different, but a bullpen that was among the worst in baseball has improved in recent weeks.

You never want anyone to get hurt, but one positive that came out of the bruised left knee that kept Cody Bellinger out of for a month has been the emergence of Mike Tauchman in the leadoff spot and CF. Since debuting four days after Bellinger’s injury, Tauchman’s been on base at around a .400 clip and has played terrific defense. Tauchman’s emergence has allowed Bellinger to ease his way back in at 1B, and right now, I’d prefer the former NL MVP to stay there. Tauchman, Nico Hoerner, Seiya Suzuki, Ian Happ, Dansby Swanson, Bellinger, and Christopher Morel have settled into a nice 1-7 in David Ross’ lineup, and while the Cubs still aren’t a high slug team, they make a lot of contact and have decent to better speed throughout the lineup.

Around five weeks shy of the trade deadline, it’s time for the annual question to be asked once more: are the Cubs buyers or sellers? Here’s how I’d answer that: if Chicago continues to play as they have since their series in San Francisco, they shouldn’t sell any of their key players, unless the deal is too good to pass up. I’m not sure that the Cubs should be buyers either, unless a fantastic bullpen or starting arm is available, and even then, I’d be careful who you give up to get him. Ideally, that arm would have more than one year left on his contract. Chicago is playing better and the rebuild is starting to take shape, but these Cubs are not one acquisition away from a World Series championship like they were in 2016. If things turn bad over the next few weeks and July looks more like May, then trading a veteran or two becomes a stronger possibility.

It will be very interesting to see which path the 2023 season takes over the next 20 games or so. The NL Central is in reach and if the Cubs continue to play as they have over the last two weeks, Chicago will have every chance to compete for a return to the playoffs.


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