Ron Coomer previews the Cubs’ offseason following NLDS loss to Brewers

Ron Coomer previews the Cubs’ offseason following NLDS loss to Brewers

Ron, good morning. How are you, sir? Good morning, guys. I am doing okay. I be better if I was in Los Angeles right now, but that is what it is. And um we’re doing just fine. Did a great job over the weekend. Did a great job all year. Kum, I think when you saw what happened on Saturday night, pretty self-explanatory. The Cub offense did not generate any kind of rally. They couldn’t get on base. They couldn’t drive guys over. How do you explain what happened Saturday night in in a nutshell? Was it just not being able to handle the the Brewers velocity? That bullpen was nasty. Their bullpen’s very good. They’re one of the best bullpens in baseball. They’re very physical as we saw. You know, a lot of guys throwing in the mid to high 90s. Um and obviously they were healthy too going down the stretch as far as the bullpen goes. Starting rotation, not so much. Um but the bullpen very much so. Um and you know at the end of the day that’s you know the the power arms against the Cubs and a lot of high fast balls were kind of the Cubs kryptonite and that’s kind of exactly what Milwaukee has. So that was that’s you know kind of a bad a bad combination for some you know quite a few of the Cubs hitters. you know, um there were there were obviously issues at play, especially throughout the lineup where they weren’t getting the kind of hitting that you would have expected. Um we know that uh Tucker was was hurt and played with an injury. We know that uh that PCA had a great first half of the season and then sort of went opposite in the second half. Um, when you look at their failure to drive in runs with runners in scoring position with the number of strikeouts versus walks when just the overall lineup issues they suffered through uh throughout the playoffs, what is your conclusion about the ability to sort of uh improve in that area over the off season from your experience? How much better do players get from one year to the next? Well, it depends on on the guy. That’s an individual thing, Mike. But but you can definitely improve and you can go home, you know, and spend a some time and and not look at what’s going what you did. And then when eventually when you want to take a look, you know, and you get kind of the season past you a little bit, you want to look at what you did, you you can look at your approach and you can look at your at bats and you can, you know, look at what what you did well, what you did, what you’d like to improve on. And I definitely think there’s some guys in the lineup that, you know, are going to look to make some improvements and be able to cover more pitches. Um maybe just if nothing else, you know, improve on on understanding the strike zone maybe a little better. And I think that’s for just about everybody when you go home after the end of a season and you know and maybe the approach of of understanding that putting the ball in play, the importance of that and you know we saw that with Milwaukee and that’s you know one of their key components to their offense is they extend at bats, they put the ball in play. Um the strikeout is becoming a real problem around the league for a lot of teams and I think that was that showed in the playoffs too. It it really has. It’s it’s one of those things of this launch angle and trying to swing up and always get the ball elevated that doesn’t always work. You have to understand how to get on top of the ball and and put the ball in play and do some of those things. And I think those are, you know, a couple things that I see, you know, off top of my head that really the Cubs could benefit on most of all because of the ballpark they play in too when that wind is blowing in. Fly balls are just out. Ron, the second half of the season, obviously the numbers speak to what Picro Armstrong, how far he fell from what he accomplished in the first half. And then overall you have 30 homers, you have 30 doubles, and certainly that is history that he made, but he had some feeble swings in October that looked like he was guessing wrong or was overmatched or a combination of both. Is there anything that you can point to that summarizes why he struggled the second half to the extent that he struggled? Well, when when you start doing the things that he did, uh first of all, uh David, he’s a young guy in the league, right? So, so that that alone tells you that you’re going to have some periods where the league is going to catch up to you, and that’s what happened. But the reason why the league caught up to him so dramatically is because he was killing them the first half. And I mean killing them. You you think of the numbers that that young guy put up uh in offense and defense, but 30 home runs, uh 30 stolen bases, 30 doubles. Nobody in a Cubs uniform has ever done that. So, what that did is it it it forced the opposing teams to really put an eye on Pete. And when they did that, they said, “Okay, let’s let’s look at how is he beating us and then what can we do to to to make some adjustments and see if he can handle this?” Well, then they quit throwing him strikes and his aggressiveness worked against him. And I think he had a real hard time trying to recover from that. Um, that’s what I saw. And when you when you go back to see this winter now, and he’ll he’ll go back and look at tape and he’ll go back with the with his hitting coaches. Um, that to me is the biggest thing is is him understanding when you go to home plate, you don’t always have to go up there swinging. You know, I love the idea of a guy being aggressive and swinging more than anybody else. Um, but that doesn’t always mean that’s a good thing. And I think in his case, he’s a guy that’s going to have to go up there and understand that the league is not going to just throw him strikes until he shows he can take some pitches and and not get himself out. It it seems fairly obvious, Ron, that the the Cubs found themselves with Michael Bush, with Nicoer and Seiya Suzuki to a certain point as the reliable hitters through the playoffs. Um, are are you ready to have um to have Bush play against left-handers? Are you ready to keep Seiya perhaps in right field? If indeed you don’t bring back Tucker, does he become the right fielder? And do you have a a need at DH or do you think Moises Balisteros could be an answer there? Like just in terms of some of the the guys that did prove themselves a little bit, where are you at with them? Hey, so go down a list. I think Michael Bush has showed that he deserves the right to play against everybody without question. Um, even in the playoff hitting balls with power the other way, hitting opposite field home runs. Is there going to be a little bit of a learning curve for him on giving up something to get something, you know, to use the other side more, maybe not hit the ball out of the park, but get his base hits the other way. Left on left. Yes. But he’s earned the right to play every day. He’s he’s a star player and an all-star caliber player I feel now. Um so I think he plays every day. I think the other thing you got to re-evaluate in your in your lineup is Nico her. You know Nico has showed that he belongs at the top of the lineup. Now is he a power guy? No. But um you know he he’s just a good baseball player and a really good hitter. And when the game’s on the line, who do you want at the plate if you’re in a Cubs uniform? Obviously, Michael Bush would be in the top of that list, but I think Nicoer has showed, you know, in big games, he he’s your guy, you know, and so I I think Nico is a guy that’s, you know, showed himself really really well and he’s a 300 hitter. I mean, you know, and then the other guy that I really think, you know, who did something pretty remarkable this year, we didn’t talk about it enough is Seiya. When he got forced into playing right field after missing, you know, after dhing. Yeah. And and really struggling last year. That’s not the easiest thing to do. You know, you kind of get in DH mode as a as a player and he lost his starting job out in right field. But but he played a heck of a right field. He really did. And that is saying something. I That’s a big tip of the cap to him because he could have had the excuse of, “Well, you didn’t put me out there. Now, you know, I’m struggling out there.” He didn’t do that. He played great right field. He really did. So, depending on what the roster looks like with the Kyle Tucker situation, if if you don’t get uh Tucker back, um you have your right fielder. I I think Suzuki has earned the right to go back out there. He he he rid himself of some of the, you know, droppings of fly balls and a few misplays from the year before. He’s rid himself of that. And I think you have a right fielder for sure. Kuma, not going to ask you to delve into speculation. That’s our job. But I do believe the Kyle Tucker situation will dictate just what the Cubs do and how good they might be next year. He sounded like postgame he was bracing Cub fans for whether it was intentional or not his departure. It sounded like he might not be a guy who is coming back. How replaceable is a Kyle Tucker? How important is it for the Cubs to prioritize resigning him? And do you have any gut feeling? Um my I have not had a chance to talk to him really and so to me the second half of the season he struggled. He struggled with his health. Obviously, he struggled with his performance when he did come back. Um he he’s a really really good player. That showed how good he was the first half and then like a lot of guys in the Cubs lineup, he had his struggles the second half. Um I I don’t want to speculate whether he’s going to come back or not, David, but I I’ll say this, whoever gets him, if they get the first half Tucker who’s healthy, they’re going to get a really good player. you know, he knows how to play the game. He does a lot of things really well. And I don’t antic I I think the second half of this season was his probably his worst period of time that he’s had in the big leagues. And I don’t anticipate that. I expect whatever team gets him is going to get the guy that you saw in the first half. He may not be a 40 home run guy, but he knows how to drive in runs, plays a good right field. Um he can hit hit for power. He’s he’s a really solid solid big league player, that’s for sure. So, um you know, whether he comes back or not, that’s you know, his market value is probably going to be the the big question whether he comes back or not is where he’s at financially. What do you think about the future of the starting rotation? We’ll get to the relievers, but I’m curious. Um, you know, obviously Kate Horton, uh, looked pretty good. The fact that he’ll be healthy and back. Um, we’ll see when Justin Steel is able to come back and and how healthy he’ll be able to remain. That will be a very interesting one. Um, I’m just curious about, you know, Matthew Boyd, Jameson Ty, and they got an option with uh with Shota. I mean, how do you look at the trust level of the starting rotation and the amount of money you want to invest? I think Colin Ray, for instance, has a 6 million option with a $750,000 buyout. So, those are all decisions they’re going to have to make. The rotation to me looked just fine, you know, especially when you start talking about getting steel back. Um, I thought J Mo, you know, he was outstanding. Uh, Matthew Boyd, you’d love to see him put a Cubs uniform on again next year and have him back for sure. Um, same thing with Shota. I think Shota is a guy that for the first time has had to experience playing this deep with with, you know, everything on the line here in the States. I know he did it, you know, in Japan, but you know, so maybe he gets a little more work in understanding how to pitch this deep into a season, but show’s been very good for the Cubs, you know, and when you start talking about Horton Steel and those guys, very good. And you know, my thing with Colin Ray would be with the amount of money that everybody is getting on the mound, that’s he did everything you’d ever ask for from a guy that you were expecting to be your sixth or seventh starter. Um, and he ended up in the rotation most of the year. He I would be running over to his house to to get him to sign that deal to make sure that we got him and keep him because he he was he was excellent. So, um, I think the rotation’s in pretty good shape. I would say the bullpen is the thing that you’re going to have to look at and see where you stand with the pen. That would be more more my issue than the rotation. I think the question heading into the off season big picture, Kum, is this, and I don’t know that you can answer it in a couple minutes or even a couple weeks or months. Does the Brewers success in beating the Cubs compel them to spend more to make them more unbeatable? or does it reinforce this idea that you don’t have to spend as much and you can do more with less if you have the right manager? I think the answer to that is complicated. It’s not clear-cut, but it’s one that you’ll watch this postseason moving forward kind of asking yourself the question about how the Cubs should proceed from here. Yeah, I I think that’s a it’s a great question, Ben. It’s a it’s a difficult one to answer. I don’t know if there is really a a distinct answer. I know, you know, there’s a few things that you you want to have. You you’ve you’ve played very good defense, so that is very good for the Cubs. You know, I think their biggest key is on offense being able to put the ball in play more and and keep innings moving and extending at bats. Um, I think Bisteros, I know Mike asked me about Bisteros earlier. I’m a big fan. Cubs need more hitters in their lineup to have more of a balanced lineup like a like Nico Bsteros and guys that can move the ball around the field a little bit more and put the ball in play than you know everybody trying to be a home run guy. So that’s that’s the one thing that I see. The talent level, if you look at the talent level as Chicago Cubs, it’s very high when you go position to position around the field. Um, it’s just I think there’s some things that, you know, to have a balanced offense to me is the biggest the biggest question mark and you got to balance that out a little bit with some more guys that, you know, have that mentality of not trying to hit every hit every ball out of the ballpark. Great stuff. Really appreciate your time, Ron. Great job all year, boys. Thank you very much. love being on um all season with you guys. It was a it was a really really fun year. We had a great time, but it’s unfortunately only one team can win and only one team can win the last game. So that’s you know we’re home now. But um I had a great time with you guys and Dustin and everybody. So thank you for having me on. You’re the best. Our pleasure. That is Ronkumer. Always fun to talk to

On the Mully & Haugh Show, Cubs Radio analyst Ron Coomer discussed the club’s loss to the Brewers in the National League Division Series. Coomer also previewed what lies ahead for the Cubs this offseason.

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