Cubs Continue to Bungle 2023

I know that a lot of the focus on Tuesday night's 6-4 loss against the St. Louis Cardinals is on the offense and don't get me wrong, the offense has been horrid for a couple of weeks, but you can trace last night's loss back to last week.

After the Miami Marlins series, the Cubs were going to need someone to fill in for Jameson Taillon in the team's series finale against the Washington Nationals on Thursday, May 4. Taillon had been out with a groin strain since April 20, and before last Tuesday the right-handed pitcher had only thrown one other bullpen session in preparation to return. Cubs manager David Ross made it sound pretty clear that Taillon was not going to be ready to come back against the Nationals.

Via the Chicago Sun-Times.

Manager David Ross said even if all goes well in Jameson Taillon’s high-intensity bullpen session Tuesday, he will not be in the mix to start Thursday. Recovering from a strained left groin, Taillon is eligible to return from the 15-day injured list Tuesday. But it doesn’t appear to be a minimum stint.

Taillon first threw off a mound again Saturday. The feedback from that 25-pitch bullpen session was “really good,” pitching coach Tommy Hottovy said.

With Taillon out of the picture for Thursday, the Cubs’ starting options are limited.

But then all of a sudden, after throwing a 45-pitch simulated game, the Cubs brought back Taillon on Thursday against the Nationals. And this is what really bothers me and I still don't really understand. The Cubs knew they weren't going to get many innings from Taillon on Thursday. He was going to be on a pitch limit because he still hadn't built up his stamina, as he had not started a game since April 15.

Taillon gave up a lot of hard contact against the Nationals and he was lucky to only allow three runs in three innings. He threw 42 pitches. He wasn't ready.

And that brings us to Tuesday night, when Taillon made his second start since coming off the injured list. Once again, it definitely looked like he wasn't ready and after walking back-to-back hitters, including one with the bases loaded, Taillon was yanked from the game after only getting eight outs.

No idea why the Cubs didn't give Taillon at least one rehab start before he was brought back.

All right, now to the other shit show. This offense stinks. These roster decisions stink. These lineup choices stink.

Who would have thought that batting Eric Hosmer sixth would come back to hurt the Cubs last night. He came up with the bases loaded and one out in the first inning and of course grounded into a double play on the first pitch. But Hosmer wasn't done because in the seventh inning, Hosmer came up again with the bases loaded and he struck out to end the inning.

Literally, one of the worst hitters in baseball right now.

Cool. Love it. Great signing and an even better decision to have him stick around after it's clear that he's not going to help.

Seiya Suzuki, damn. I really wish I had more faith in him right now. I just don't. It's frustrating because he showed that he was a quality MLB hitter.

Those numbers were heading into the Marlins series and apparently Ross had some advice for Suzuki.

That's the series where Suzuki kept hitting into double plays with runners on and it was frustrating as hell. Ever since then, he's looked either lost or stuck overthinking at the plate, leading to some awful numbers the last two weeks. It's a real shame because before the series in Miami, Suzuki was slashing .283/.377/.391.

Do the Cubs need more slugging from Suzuki? Yes, but how about Ross considers that Suzuki literally had no spring training and was still getting his timing down after a handful of rehab games. Way to screw up your hitter. How about realizing that Suzuki isn't your prototypical clean up hitter and bat him somewhere else instead of trying to make him be something he's not.

Oh and how about having someone warm up late in a game before it's too late. That would be nice, too.

This division sucks. The Cubs have a shot and they keep throwing games away against teams that are not any better than they are. So fucking frustrating. Only 3.5 games back in the division.