It’s no secret that Joe Maddon likes to rotate his players. Outside of Anthony Rizzo and Kris Bryant, no Cubs player reached two-thirds of the team’s games at one position, with only Jason Heyward (right field) and Kyle Schwarber (left) even topping 100. That philosophy extends to Maddon’s usage of his bench, from which many […]
Tag: Bench
Rise of the Role Players
Heading into the All-Star break, the Cubs were two games under .500 and 5.5 games behind first place. How did the defending World Series champions end up in such a place? It wasn’t the two big boppers—Kris Bryant and Anthony Rizzo had .928 and .894 OPS marks, respectively. Rather, it was a combination of inconsistent […]
Spoiler Alert: The Cubs’ Bench Options in 2016 Are Good
Something that is so often overlooked when determining how solid a club is going into a new season is the strength of its bench. Though a bench may not be filled with the star-studded names you see on the backs of shirseys (or even, you know, jerseys) in the stands, the players it houses sometimes end up being the “dark […]
Russell Rests as Cubs Consider Arms Race
It wasn’t quite on the order of the sword of Damocles—the Cubs are too happy right now to feel anything approaching anxiety—but it was certainly an open question heading into the workout day on Thursday: What was Addison Russell’s status? The last anyone had heard of his health was on Tuesday night, manager Joe Maddon was […]
Getting Deep, Going Deeper
I’m a historian by trade—or, more correctly, by bachelor’s degree. Before I started writing for BP Wrigleyville, I was much more likely to pump out 3,000 footnoted words on Andre Dawson and collusion than an accessible analysis of Addison Russell’s changed approach at the plate. Given that background, I have a natural tendency to revisit things […]