It’s June, and the Cubs are swooning. At the least, they’re wobbling into the teeth of a defining stretch. Urgency is upon us.
Would Cubs manager David Ross have yanked Kris Bryant, Anthony Rizzo or Jason Heyward from Monday night’s 4-0 loss to the Indians at Wrigley Field for making the same baserunning blunder — and it was a bad one — Javy Baez made?
I have my doubts, but file that under the timeless, perhaps pointless category of second-guessing the manager. Not just Ross. Any manager. It’s kind of a sport unto itself.
“I think that, yes, [I would have] if the circumstances were the same with anybody,” Ross said. “I’m not trying to set an example of Javy ever. The guy plays his butt off and brings it 99.9% of the time. So it’s not about setting an example of a star player that’s a big part of this team. That’s not it.”
Ross wasn’t wrong for pulling Baez four innings into a 1-0 game after the shortstop lost track of outs and — believing there were two instead of one — jogged around second base on a lazy fly ball, then, after realizing his mistake, failed to even feign an attempt to get back to first base to avoid being doubled off.
But Ross wasn’t right, either. Baez often plays at a harder, higher level than many big-leaguers can match on their best days. And that’s saying nothing of the keen awareness and insight he routinely displays — seeing things others don’t — which might seem to earn him some room for the occasional brain cramp or moment of frustrated letdown.
A decision like this one isn’t about wrong or right. It’s about why. As White Sox manager Tony La Russa said of himself this season: Ross is the guy with the office. Ross’ “why” is the one that counts.
Javy Baez has a blunder so bad that he gets benched by David Ross immediately pic.twitter.com/jHXk1rt6Gr
— MLB Errors (@mlberrors) June 22, 2021
And in this case, it’s June and the Cubs are swooning. Or threatening to swoon. What constitutes a swoon, anyway? They’ve lost six of eight heading into Tuesday night’s finale of a two-game series against the Indians, after which they leave for their longest, toughest road trip — 10 games, beginning with four at Dodger Stadium — of the season.
It could get ugly. The July 30 trade deadline waits for no one. It’s foolish for anyone to assume the Cubs — tied for first with the Brewers, whom they visit after the Dodgers — will kick into go-for-the-gusto mode if their struggles multiply.
Half a lifetime ago, in 1997, Ross, then Auburn’s catcher, hit a three-run, walk-off homer in a regional finals series against Florida State to help lift the Tigers to a rare appearance in the College World Series. Facing the mod of giddy teammates waiting for him at home plate was a lot more pleasant than facing the media after pulling Baez.
“I did not feel good to take Javy out of the game,” he said. “I definitely would agree with that statement. I never feel comfortable doing that at all. That’s a pit in my stomach and was in my stomach the entire game.”
That pit isn’t going anywhere. His team is wobbling into the teeth of a defining stretch.
