There are a lot of Chicago Cubs fans that have soured on shortstop Addison Russell. For all the promise that he came to the Cubs with; higher than average power for the position, ability to drive in runs, versatility to bat nearly anywhere in the lineup, all while playing Gold Glove-caliber defense – seems to of faded to the wayside. Fans have called Russell out for a decline in production, almost non-existent power, not having his head in the game, and worst of all – lack of hustle.
I have been an Addison Russell apologist. I have stood on the hill proclaiming that he is one of the four pillars that the franchise is and will continue to be built around. I believed that the front office wouldn’t even think of moving Russell because of what he meant to this rebuild and the Cubs rise to perennial championship contender. But it appears I might be wrong.
I’m not going to bash Addison here as I understand that he is still a very young and developing player that has gone through a lot both on and off the field in his four big-league seasons. I know that potential isn’t always reached, and something like 98% of all prospects ends up failing to live up to the hype. I do not know if this is the case with Russell, but it does seem as if the Cubs are beginning to sour on him as much as some fans have.
The first shot was fired when the Cubs claimed and traded for Daniel Murphy, formerly of the Washington Nationals. While Murphy doesn’t play shortstop (ahem, he hardly can manage second base) the acquisition allows the team to shift Javier Baez from second to short, providing a more dangerous offense with Murphy in the lineup. Just as Addison eventually bumped former Cubs shortstop Starlin Castro, Murphy, indirectly, will bump Addison as well.
Now it is important to remember, Murphy is a 45-day plus playoffs (hopefully) rental, and Addison is under team control until 2022. This does, however, act as a potential sign that the Cubs brass has lost confidence in Russell finding his way back to that guy that hit 21 homers and drove in 95 runs in the 2016 season.
If the Cubs had faith in Addison, and his ability to be an offensive force, I don’t see them going out to get Murphy. Now, maybe this is more of a sign that they know Ben Zobrist isn’t getting any younger and has played above anyone’s expectations in 2018, there are still concerns that Kris Bryant isn’t going to return to his MVP form this season, and there have been lingering nagging issues with Anthony Rizzo as well as some others on the club. Maybe this is a way for the team to spell several players over the next month without taking a hit offensively?
Maybe, but this still smells like a way to address the regression of Addison.
We have seen a decline since the off-field issues Russell had in 2017, which ultimately led to him and his then wife Melissa ending their marriage. While a rocky love life has crippled better players, he was also dealing with very serious allegations while going through the process as well. I am not going to speculate on his innocence or guilt with those allegations, but you would have to be inhuman to be able to continue to perform at a high level in any line of work with this hanging over your head.
Then coming into 2018, the personal life seemingly quieted, there were expectations of Addison returning to his 2016 form, or better. Outside of a couple week stretch, that just didn’t happen. His power is non-existent and he isn’t hitting with runners in scoring position (.235 AVG). Perhaps the Cubs just don’t see Addison improving, and they are testing the waters on life after Addison with the Murphy experiment? Afterall, it didn’t come as a surprise at all that the Cubs put him on the DL for the left-middle-finger injury to put Addison had previously dealt with.
This isn’t all Russell’s fault though. This was a collective failure from many levels of this team that is bringing this on. The Cubs offense has been rather offensive this season. While there are many statistics that support this team being a good offensive club, there are several supporting facts that show it has been very inconsistent as well.
But the biggest issue, at least in my mind, has been the Cubs starting pitching. Now, the last five games haven’t really supported my argument, but in a 162 game season, you never base a team’s ability on five games. Now Cole Hamels has helped bring some stability to the starting staff, and it doesn’t hurt that Kyle Hendricks seems to have found his groove, but the fourth and fifth spots in the rotation have been abysmal for the most part. Mike Montgomery has done enough to hang onto a job, but I don’t think anyone has a ton of faith in him starting a playoff game. Jon Lester, who had been great this season, has been mostly bad throughout the end of July and August. Of course, it doesn’t help that the two big free agent additions, Yu Darvish and Tyler Chatwood, have given nearly nothing to the team this season.
Because of all of this, the inconsistency, the lack of production, the uncertainty, I can really see the Cubs front office shopping Russell for controllable starting pitching this offseason. And I think they will be very aggressive in doing so.
Now, I can hear some of you already asking this, “what could the Cubs even get for Russell, he’s been horrible!?”
Well, actually a lot. I mean there’s that whole one man’s trash is another man’s treasure, but even in the vacuum of the Cubs Russell has been a treasure. He’s accumulated a 2.1 WAR on the season, mostly by virtue of his defensive ability, he has an above average, average and on base percentage for a shortstop. Even with a lot of Cubs fans undervaluing Russell’s ability and worth, more than half the league would welcome him with open arms.
I wouldn’t suggest the Cubs could acquire Jacob deGrom straight up for Russell, but including Addison in a deal like that is more valuable than a package of only prospects. There were several leaks from this past offseason suggesting the Cubs were shopping Russell for pitching, I am now thinking they will become even more aggressive on that front.
With the Cubs very likely embellishing how bad the left middle-finger sprain is, it really seems like they are either done with Russell. It will be very interesting to see how it plays out this winter.
