ENCOURAGED OR CONCERNED: Chicago Cubs Take Series But Bats Stay Quiet

ENCOURAGED OR CONCERNED: Chicago Cubs Take Series But Bats Stay Quiet

cubs take three out of four against Pittsburgh but the offense continues to struggle are you encouraged or concerned you are Locked on Cubs your daily Chicago Cubs podcast part of the Locked On podcast network your team every day you are Locked On Cubs part of the Locked On Network your team every day hey I’m Sam Olbert and I’m a lifelong fan taking my passion into a discussion with you on all things Cubs thanks for being part of the show and making Locked on Cubs your first listen today in the best way you can help us grow the show as you listen every day like the video and give us a comment below happy belated Father’s Day to everybody out there happy belated Father’s Day to my dad happy belated Father’s Day to my partner Matt Cozy who will be back for tomorrow’s show i wish everybody a good Monday uh Monday morning commute all that good stuff got a really good packed show for you i I want to talk at the you know uh uh you know closing the show about Kyle Tucker and him potentially playing through a little bit of an injury i want to uh go over some news and notes some Matt Shaw stuff we’re going to recap this Cubs Pirates series in full but I want to start by just asking you a question and I want you to comment below and give me a reason why are you encouraged right now that the Cubs continue to win despite not hitting or are you concerned because they are not hitting i’m going to lay out the case for each and then I’m going to tell you where I am at let’s start with the encouraging signs because I was called a hypocrite uh on Saturday rightfully by one of our listeners after our uh short after the Cubs beat the Pirates 2-1 because I was like man nice to win but that was really tough offense to watch and somebody’s like Sam you’re being hypocritical you always say it’s just about winning it’s just about winning and you love one-run games you love lowscoring uh games and all that stuff and that’s true and they were right but really it’s to an extent you don’t want to start doing it all the time uh because you know there’s some randomness to it and and you don’t want to be doing it to the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Colorado Colorado Rockies so on and so forth but then I thought about that comment i actually thought about that most of my Saturday um I went out for a change uh on Saturday night and that comment was just sticking in my head it was like “Huh am I being a hypocrite is that is that true?” Because like here’s the case for being encouraged really good teams find a way to win regardless of how they’re hitting regardless of how they’re pitching in April this team won by outscoring opponents when their bullpen really struggled in May this team won games kind of all sorts of ways and now in June the Cubs have had the best bullpen in baseball they’re now up to the fourth best bullpen ERA in all of baseball and they’re winning games because of their starting pitching their defense and their bullpen and so one would say that’s just the sign of a really good team you win 10 nine you win 2-1 you could win any way possible and that’s kind of what I’ve been jealous of watching the Milwaukee Brewers do in the regular season for the last I don’t know six seven years and the Cubs are doing that here’s a great example you guys always hear me say the key to a regular season you know is when you’re playing well win as many games as you can and when you’re playing poorly still see if you can just scrape out as many wins as you can maximize the great stretches minimize the bad stretches i would say the last 10 games the Cubs have really struggled offensively their record six and four that’s a really good sign that’s really really encouraging the Cubs have the second best record in all of baseball in one games the Cubs have the second best record in the National League period these are all cases to be very very encouraged even though the offense is struggling and look you know you could also just play the game it’s Father’s Day the Cubs are five and a half up on the Milwaukee Brewers any one of us would have taken that at that time but I just think that it it is encouraging to watch this team win games despite not hitting and you have to throw in the ballpark factor the ballpark conditions i thought Ian Hap did a pretty good job postgame talking about it on Sunday where he was like it’s not even just the wind blowing in taking away home run balls it’s guys now cheating in the outfield and playing way way in so they’re taking away line drive singles and things like that and guess what as frustrating as the wind has been the Cubs are winning at home they’re as good of a home team as any team uh not named the Mets in baseball the Mets just got swept at home this weekend so the encouraging signs are winning when you don’t have your best right winning and just surviving the year because every team is going to go through a a hot stretch a cold stretch and and a few more of each you know I just mentioned the Mets got swept this weekend right the Dodgers have been you know sleepwalking through this season you’re going to have those stretches the problem with last season is last season you had that stretch for two consecutive months but another reason to be encouraged is last season in combination with struggling so much offensively the bullpen was a mess at the exact same time and that’s what put the Cubs over the edge right how many of these 32 2-1 games how many leads did the Cubs have during May and June of last year and it was like well we needed a score there because we know the bullpen can’t hold it i mean I could think of literally just right now walk-off in Tampa Bay a walk-off in Frisco a three-run uh blown lead against San Fr San Francisco at Wrigley just right off the top of my head during this stretch whereas right now the the narrative is different because the bullpen is carrying the team they’re closing down those games so you know while one part of your team is struggling the other is flourishing and that’s a really good sign maybe that’s a sign of a good team maybe that’s just a little bit of luck and last year they had really bad luck with that i don’t know but I think the case to be encouraged is hey you’re winning baseball games even though you’re not playing your best that’s what good teams do and you’ve put yourself in a great position um you know as we sit here in mid June the case to be concerned is simple are we positive are we positive that this is the offense u that the offense we saw in April is that actually the real offense or is it closer to this or is it somewhere in the middle because this offense in April looked like a legitimately like a legitimate World Series contending offense they were unbelievable they were relentless now you look Carson Kelly’s not that guy anymore right dansby’s been up and down we’re going to talk about Matt Shaw you know even Tucker he’s been fine but he hasn’t been you know great but you know another hot stretch is coming for him in the offense but the the concerning thing is is hey if this offense can do this for three weeks like they have been and really struggle you know is that going to happen again is it going to come back in October is this a good enough offense in October can they hit good pitching all those things are really fair questions to ask right now because they’ve been struggling it’s it isn’t a small funk here i mean you go all the way back to the Rockies series you know they have really struggled offensively and it’s situational i think that’s the most concerning thing for me it’s not home run balls they’re not taking as many walks but it’s the situational hitting that bothers me the most i mean there are so many examples even this weekend of not getting that job done and when you look at it you know you’re so reliant really on your big four which is Tucker Pete Seiya and Bush and you know Seiya is guessing half the time up there sometimes it goes great sometimes it doesn’t tucker you know may or not not may or may not be battling a finger injury pete is is still young and is going to go through stretches and Bush is neutralized um you know against left-handers so there’s a lot there maybe you need another bat you’re probably not going to be able to get it just based off of of where the positions are but I think there is a case to be concerned and and it’s very fair because it’s been frustrating to watch i still have to lean towards being encouraged right now because I’ve watched a lot of Cubs teams and I I still have last year so fresh in my head and the fact is last year they lose three out of four this weekend we and and that’s not even really a hypothetical because they did it was Mother’s Day weekend last year it wasn’t Father’s Day weekend they lost three out of four this year despite playing you know not great offensive baseball they found a way to win three out of four and you know like I know the bats are going to heat up the weather is going to heat up and they’re going to hit again and at some point the the pitching is going to struggle again and you know Drew Pomearance and Chris Flexon are going to let up runs right i just think for whatever reason and I think it’s just because of wins and losses this is a results game i just think this this struggle feels more es and flows to the season versus last year where it was like hey something’s fundamentally wrong to be this bad for this long obviously they need to get it together soon but to continue to win games to have the second best record in the National League to be five and a half games up on fir in first place I have to you know I I couldn’t look this camera in the lens and and be negative and say that I’m overly concerned because you know good teams find ways to win it’s about winning that that that’s what it’s about it really is and nobody’s going to remember in October if this team wins 98 games and is you know number one number two seed nobody’s going to remember that you know late May into mid June they struggled a little bit offensively it’s part of the game uh but it’s frustrating uh and and it’s definitely raising a couple eyebrows but I still overall am on the encouraged side uh while understanding why people uh would be concerned coming up next we’re going to talk about this rough lowscoring kind of boring series um and break down some offensive struggles and outstanding pitching performances all that coming up next we are back here on Locked on Cubs where the Cubs were able to take a series for the Pirates three out of four in what felt like a game in 1898 uh scores of these games 3-2 Cubs 2-1 Pirates in 10 3-2 Cubs no no 2-1 Cubs and then 32 Cubs in 10 i mean it was It reminded me of that Yankee series last September uh we already recaped uh Thursday’s game so let’s go to Friday’s game which was by far the most disappointing game obviously the only game they lost the weekend but one of the more disappointing games I thought of the season and I’m going to tell you why paul Sch was on the bump and the Cubs did well against him and I know you guys are saying Sam how could you say that he they didn’t score a run yeah but they got him out after five kate Horton was magnificent magnificent i would even go as far as to say Kate out pitched gains in this ball game it was a 000 game sixth inning dansby Swanson at the plate two on nobody out cubs didn’t score cubs had uh uh many other opportunities to score they couldn’t get it done uh uh in the 10th inning down a run uh Bednar came in man on second no outs you had top of the order up couldn’t score lost the ball game and that was when I was like okay there is a real situation here offensively that carried over into Saturday’s game where the Cubs won that game 2-1 but be before we talk about the offense Matthew Boyd should be in Atlanta matthew Boyd should be in Atlanta okay this guy was unbelievable again listen to this he has had 10 games this season where he’s allowed two runs or less he has also had 10 games this season where he’s gone at least six innings of work and he has had one start this season where he’s allowed more than three earned runs he was spectacular again on Saturday uh Cubs grinded out a run and then Dansby Swanson hit a solo shot in the six with nobody on two out more on Danby here shortly and the Cubs bullpen was able to hold it down and win the ball game two to one and then on Sunday it was like uhoh Colin Ray’s really regressing here gives up two in the first cubs bounce back beautifully uh tie the game in the in the first 2-2 another clutch hit from Dansby really the Cubs probably should have had more uh runs that inning sea uh uh hit a ball where he was he should have been safe the runner was off the first base was off the bag cubs didn’t challenge for some odd reason ian Hap stole a bag uh to get them going it was a pretty good series for Ian obviously he ended up walking it off late but again it was just Colin Ray settled in did a really nice job bullpen was really good chris Flexon uh continues to just be one of the many unsung heroes of this Cubs bullpen and Cubs pitching staff and then um some interesting strategy in the 10th the Cubs pinch hit Tucker to only to get walked but then Bruhan got a double steel birdie struck out i you guys know how I I feel about his offensive performance this season it’s it’s really been some of the more eye opening things I’ve I’ I’ve seen because the guy’s here to put the bat on the ball and he strikes out a ton uh and then Ian got an O2 mistake from Bedar and won the baseball game so the Cubs won i want to talk my takeaway from this weekend is Matthew Boyd wow kade Horton really really been good don’t even think Kad’s gotten enough credit to be honest with you just a rookie that hasn’t pitched a ton innings just coming in here and really just being like a solid guy for the Cubs he’s had maybe one bad start since he’s come up i mean he’s really been helpful and I’m really excited to see kind of how his year grows and what they do with him a lot of people have asked me well when I comes back you know does Kade go down i I don’t think so i don’t think so i think um you know someone like maybe Genesis Cabrera would would would would be gone and Ray would go to the bullpen and that that’s where I would fit in um I mean CA K Cade’s been great but I want to talk about Danby a little bit here that that’s what I want to talk about from this series because I got on Dansby and then he hit a homer and had a decent day and and and I didn’t really get on Dansby i don’t think Danby Swanson should be batting fifth okay before Sunday’s game his his WRC plus with runners in scoring position was like in the in the mid- teens with runners on base it was in in the mid to high 50s and with nobody on it was you know really solid close to 130 okay i don’t want a five hitter that doesn’t feel comfortable hitting with runners in scoring position and and Council talked a little bit about Dansby this weekend and he’s like “When you can get you know however many homers Dansby has uh you know when your shorts stops hitting that many homers that’s that’s a really really good sign.” And it’s like absolutely but it would be way better if he were doing that in the six seven eight hole and to be honest with you it would be way better uh uh you know if if it was in the seven or eight hole and I know like 13 homers is a lot of homers that’s how many homers he has i think that’s the same amount as Kyle Tucker has but it’s just I just think the offense makes so much more sense with Nicoer in the middle there and I know Council is not a big order guy he doesn’t think it matters that much but I just think you have her hit behind Pete there’s so many things you could do you could just run Pete and tell Nico to just hey just swing but just you know make sure you’re you know Nico’s one of the Nico’s one of the only guys in baseball that actually could steer the ball just say “Hey Nico if you’re going to swing just make sure it goes you know we’re going to right field here.” because Pete’s going to be on the move you can play hit and run uh Nico’s your best uh hitter i was about to say Nico’s your best hero nico’s your best hitter with runners in scoring position and let Danby ambush people from the 78 hole the offense felt so good when it was like that and I don’t understand why it’s been forced there and it’s it’s not as much a knock on Dansby as it is just what what that spot in the order calls for i want my five hitter i’m not worried about slug right now when I have Tucker I got say I got Bush i am worried about with with runners in scoring positions situationally can we move runners along can we find a way to get big hits especially when Wrigley is playing the way it is uh uh you know it’s a very difficult place to hit the ball out of the park so you got to string some hits together you got to move guys over and I just think Nico is more adept at doing that than Dansby Swanson it’s not a knock knock on Danby he might hit two homers on Tuesday night in Milwaukee it’s just I think the offense is better with him down and Nico up and even his his good spells now he had a really important clutch hit uh on Sunday in the first inning to right field if he does more of that then it’s a it’s a totally different ballgame uh but he doesn’t do a lot of that he’s pulling off the ball he strikes out a lot he goes up and down it just to me that’s a guy that should be sitting at the bottom of the order you know the the the cold streaks are going to happen the hot streaks are going to happen let him h let them happen down there that’s that was just my take overall it was a a very good weekend for the Cubs in terms of wins and losses um you just can’t say enough about the bullpen and and and really the defense too uh I thought Nicoer made a play in the 10th inning on Sunday that he made it look really easy it was man on second two outs uh Cubs were trying to keep the ghost runner from scoring and it was a line drive right up the middle off the bat I thought for sure was a hit but you just never know where guys are playing these days you knew Nico was going to be shaded up the middle for the righty and he made a diving catch you made it look easy but there’s just there’s a lot that could happen on that type of play uh and I thought that was honestly as big of a play as any offensive play uh in the game so you know the takeaway from the weekend is obvious you know you win three out of four the offense is struggling hopefully the offense can get right it It’s going to get a lot warmer here this week so I think the condition part of things will probably be um less of an excuse and you know hopefully the Cubbies can just you know put up a 10 spot or an 11 spot at some point this week or do what I love put put up five seven five six six just consistent run production um to get out of this slump uh part of the reason I think they’re in this slump is because I think Kyle Tucker and this is me putting on my conspiracy hat i got a new one if you’re watching on YouTube new Cub hat here it is and my conspiracy hat on is telling me that Kyle Tucker might be a little bit more hurt than uh everybody thinks we’re going to talk about that and and a huge baseball trade coming up next we are back here on Locked on Cubs and Craig Council talked about Kyle Tucker on Sunday and he didn’t really have a quote at all it was just he’s kind of dealing with it in regards to his finger injury that was and and that’s not even a direct quote but just putting two and two together you know it’s still there those are the type of things that council was saying about Tucker’s finger and if you just read between the lines there and you just use context clues they gave him off a day before an off day that means they wanted to give him two days and that’s what council even said he’s been dhinging a lot more i don’t think that finger is quite right and there’s been some metrics that have come out about his uh his swing speed his bat speed and things like that that are a little bit down i’ve been noticing a lot of rollovers lately and I just I’m not sure that he’s quite right right now and I don’t really know what that means because you know is he the type of guy that could just play through something like this you know with the money that he has at stake he’s not going to play hurt for long because the numbers this year you know every time he hits a home run it’s another 10 million in his pocket i mean the guy’s in a walk year and has a chance to make 500 plus million dollars so you know Kyle Tucker seems like a great dude a super team first guy but I don’t think he’d put himself through this if he were really really hurt i just think he’s a little bit banged up and it might be affecting his play a little bit hopefully getting off on s Sunday not having to play um you know getting the getting the day off basically the whole day off because they uh pinch hit for him but he got intentionally walk so he didn’t have to swing the bat and then um you know having that full off day Monday maybe maybe we see a Kyle Tucker uh two home run game against Colin Patrick and the Brewers on Tuesday matt and I are going to be previewing all of that uh for Tuesday that’s going to be a a big preview show and a big series uh but keep an eye out on that for Kyle Tucker and let’s see how he responds uh to some off days some other news and notes uh Imanaga uh is scheduled to throw uh Friday in De Moine so I would probably guess he’ll have two rehab stints maybe three but you know hopefully back if he’s going to throw Friday you know hopefully back in I don’t know you know maybe about 10 i guess if he had two stints he wouldn’t be back in two weeks but you know they said well into June and at this point I just hope he’s back sometime in June but all is going well sounds like with his recovery and we should have him back soon it’ll be interesting to see how he looks uh pitching in a real baseball game i wanted to just bring up u Matt Shaw and the Sunday lineup so the Cubs kind of uh ran out what what what you call in the business a Sunday lineup which is just like kind of a hey we’re going to get a day off here this guy’s going to get a day off let’s just see what happens and and the Cubs did that but Matt Shaw in June he’s batting 188 294 292 and I gotta tell you and I’m kind of disappointed in myself on this one because when things were going well with Shaw when he first came back now there was a clear couple of at bats especially in Miami uh where he he was driving the ball there there was improvement i’m not trying to minimize Matt Shaw’s improvement here but the same issues are there he is not hitting the ball hard a lot of his hits are infield hits and I I I want you to understand what I’m saying here i’m not at all talking about Matt Shaw the future i’m just talking about Matt Shaw the 2025 Chicago Cub third baseman in a year the Cubs hopefully are going to go all in and try and win a championship i think the ceiling on him I is lower than I thought it was um offensively I I’m not saying that long term that would be crazy to say it’s his first year i’m just talking about this season this individual season i thought there was just more pop in the bat and he showed it he had a nice home run in Detroit but you know he’s starting to take pitches again the strikeouts are increasing and I just watch very carefully Matt Shaw’s at bats defensively he’s been outstanding but I think it’s time to start watching Matt Shaw’s at bats very carefully again because this offense one thing it is showing is that it’s not good enough to have a big hole in it and obviously transitioning into the biggest news of the day right you know about an hour before I’m recording this um Raphael Deers got traded to the Giants and and what I think is one of the most shocking trades I I I could remember in baseball just considering the fact that the Red Sox just swept the Yankees um I know the Red Sox are saving a bunch of cash and you know good for the Giants for going for it now the Giants are really serious i wasn’t taking them very seriously but now they are um but you just have to think about it you know could the Cubs could the Cubs make a move there and just say “Hey Matt let’s take the pressure off you we believe in you we believe in your future.” Uh but but we want another another real solid bat at that i doubt it but just keep an eye on his at bats because I I they’re starting to trend towards they what they were before he uh got sent down uh the first time just want to go around the league a little bit here uh before we uh before we get out of here on this Monday uh Diamondbacks won a series against the Padres’s they’re not done yet i know a lot of people think that Gallon and Kelly could be targets for the for the Cubs diamondbacks aren’t done yet i mentioned it earlier the Mets got swept by the Rays and I just I just jotted that down as a number one i I don’t think the Mets were as dominant as as as they were playing uh the scary thing for the Mets is just Juan Sodto hasn’t hit and so if Sodto starts to hit what are they going to be but I think it’s also just a good reminder the Mets were the best home team in baseball they were flying high they’re playing great and they got swept like these things happen throughout the course of the season i remember the 16 Cubs got swept in a double header by like the Padres’s who won like 60 games that year like you know these things happen throughout the course of a season i just jotted that down i thought that was uh um really interesting brewers took three out of four from St louis i don’t want to talk too much about the division because I think Matt and I will for tomorrow but the Brewers now have leapfrogged St louis and uh you know look like the team that’s going to be chasing the Cubs and the Cubs are going to have an opportunity uh obviously uh this week to you know really build themselves a nice lead uh the Reds took two out of three in Detroit which I thought was pretty impressive and uh that’s all this this trade the the biggest thing in baseball all over the place you’re going to see on Monday is this Devil’s trade i mean you this guy has a 900 plus ops he’s a stud i know he was unhappy there i know there’s money at stake and all that stuff but man and for for those of you saying “Well why couldn’t the Cubs make that trade?” Well I don’t want to ruin your Monday but the Giants are taking on the full money in that deal and I don’t think the Cubs are willing to do that uh for Raphael Devers $250 million and if they did that would basically send Kyle Tucker out the door so um that wasn’t going to happen but uh wow the National League is really really loaded and uh the Cubs are one of the biggest reasons why so Matt will be back uh tomorrow will be a really fun show i’m so excited to have him back talk Cubs Brewers the team that I uh uh fear the most the team that I’ve scoreboard watched the most over the last six seven years we’re five and a half up on them can we build that lead and really have a get-right offensive series they’re going to have some tough pitchers that are going but man I cannot wait to talk about that one thank you so much for checking out this edition of Lockdown Cubs you give us 30 minutes and we’ll give you all things Cubs with a laugh or two along the way be sure to subscribe on YouTube smash the like button for the algorithm leave a fivestar review on Apple Spotify and everywhere you get your podcasts i’m Sam Olber and this is Locked on Cubs happy Monday everybody

The Cubs did their job over the weekend taking 3/4 from the Pirates but the Bats struggled. Sam debates whether he’s concerned or encouraged with how the games have been going lately. He then breaks down each game of the series and closes the show with news and notes including Kyle Tucker’s finger injury.

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