Chicago Cubs: Hoyer still resisting change despite Cubs’ offensive dearth

The Chicago Cubs’ most obvious need right now is pitching. At least, that’s what jumps right out when looking up and down the roster and tallying the injuries that have plagued this staff practically from day one.

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However, the offense may be the bigger reason behind the team being in third place in the NL Central Division right now.

The recent red-hot turn of center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong has been equal parts encouraging and exciting, but there hasn’t been all the much more to crow about (pun intended) when it comes to this current lineup.

The great offensive dearth

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Dansby Swanson’s slump has now become legendarily bad despite his two-run home run Wednesday night against the Rockies at Wrigley Field. Alex Bregman has not been the game-changing presence the Cubs had hoped for when signing him to a 5-year, $175 million contract in the offseason. The usually mega-reliable Nico Hoerner is languishing with a .148 batting average in the month of June and a subpar .233 average on the year. All-bat top prospect Moises Ballesteros, meanwhile, has been sent back to Triple-A for a reset after a horrid recent run in the majors.

In general, though, the Cubs are just not coming through in the pinch. Simply put, they’re not getting the big hits to drive in runs.

As this lack of execution continues to impact the team, Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer is not rushing to make any changes or swap in any young talent for the veterans.

Jed Hoyer holding steady

“We have a lot of really talented position players,” Hoyer told The Athletic. “There have been questions about our pitching depth that are fair. That’s something the injuries this year have certainly exposed. On the position-player side, we have a lot of good athletes, a lot of good bats. Having that depth is really valuable. If there are times we can use those young players, that’s fantastic.

“But I would also say the sample is still pretty small, and even within this year, those guys have had positive times. So let’s hope those guys kind of work through this. The best-case scenario, the best version of our team, is those guys are hitting and we still play really good defense.”

Typical of his style and mindset, the executive has considered a mental component to this extended clutch funk, but seems to be leaning towards this problem being a self-correcting one based on hard analytical data.

“If, theoretically, there’s no psychological component to those things, they should revert back to the mean,” Hoyer also said. “When it becomes something people are worried or thinking about, it can become its own problem.

So, where does this leave the Cubs?

The team is not actively searching out for offensive answers, certainly not those that may currently be outside the organization. Swanson, Bregman, and the rest are going to have to figure things out and get themselves fixed on the fly.

The team’s fate as a whole will depend on the bats getting themselves back on track.

The post Chicago Cubs: Hoyer still resisting change despite Cubs’ offensive dearth appeared first on ChiCitySports.

Source: https://www.chicitysports.com/chicago-cubs-jed-hoyer-lineup-changes-swanson-bregman-hoerner/