The Chicago Cubs already had a tough matchup in front of them on Wednesday night as Chris Sale is making the start for the Atlanta Braves in the series finale. Now, it's a little tougher as the Cubs will be without one of their better hitters from the second half because of personal reasons. Less than an hour before first pitch the team announced that Matt Shaw had been scratched from the starting lineup.
So, who will be filling in for Shaw at third base? It's none other than Willi Castro.
Castro has quietly been one of the biggest trade deadline flops in all of baseball. The Cubs traded for him after missing out on Eugenio Suarez and while the switch-hitting utility man got off to a solid start with the Cubs, collecting four hits in his first three games, Castro has been atrocious otherwise.
The Cubs probably should have seen his regression at the plate coming, especially because he was already declining on offense for more than a month before the Minnesota Twins shipped him off to Chicago.
Castro's slump has extended into September. Dating back to June 21, Castro has a 54 wRC+ in 211 plate appearances with a slash line of .175/.257/.286. His numbers have been worse since joining the Cubs on Aug. 1. Since then, Castro has a 33 wRC+ in 81 plate appearances, slashing .171/.222/.250.
Do you guys remember how bad Vidal Brujan was this year with the Cubs? Well, as bad as he was Brujan actually had slightly better numbers than Castro does. Awful. What sucks is that the Cubs don't really have anyone else to backup third base if Shaw isn't starting other than Castro. Stuck with him being the substitute and the only thing you can do is hope Castro turns it on ASAP.
I mean, the way the Cubs offense has been going tonight was probably an automatic loss anyway, with Shaw or without. Sale has a 2.38 ERA this year and the last time he gave up more than two runs in a start was back in the middle of April.
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