I was all over David Ross Tuesday night after the Cubs lost 8-6 to the Detroit Tigers thanks to Drew Smyly giving up seven earned runs in 3.2 innings. It was still terrible managing during the game, as Ross let Smyly go out there and get beat in the fourth inning after the Cubs had taken a lead, but this overall mess goes up to the top.
Jed Hoyer certainly deserves much of the blame when it comes to the current starting rotation, which has Ross once again going to Smyly.
Following Tuesday’s loss, Ross was asked about Smyly possibly moving back to the bullpen on a full time basis after the Tigers lit up the veteran lefty in Detroit. Ross pretty much said they don’t have anyone else.
Via the Chicago Sun-Times.
“Who takes his spot in the rotation, is the question,” Ross said when asked if it was time to consider a more permanent move to the bullpen for Smyly. “He’s in there because we’re just a little short-handed right now. It’s his first start back; let’s give him a little bit of grace. And I don’t know that we have anybody waiting in line that we feel like is some dominant force.”
So, a few different things here. Ross is supporting his player in the media and not just shitting on him after a brutal performance. Fine, whatever. And yes, the Cubs are shorthanded right now and the Marcus Stroman injury really screwed things up this month, so Ross doesn’t have a lot of options right now. That brings us back to Hoyer and the front office.
You have to imagine that the front office and the coaching staff have had discussions about how to handle the rotation and if Ross is saying there’s no one else waiting in line, then you get the impression that maybe they don’t think Jordan Wicks is ready to come up from Triple-A. Again, fine, whatever.
What about Hayden Wesneski? I have no idea why the team has used him the way they have since he was recalled this last time. I thought he was stretched out to start again, but he’s been used as an opener, a long reliever, and recently a mid-reliever. I know he had some bad starts early in the season, but what has Smyly done to deserve more opportunities than Wesneski? Smyly has been terrible for nearly three straight months.
But once again, fine, whatever. You don’t think Wesneski will give you the best shot to win in the starting rotation. The big issue here is that the team already had this info in July, when they could have traded for another starter. By the end of July, the Cubs had already seen Smyly fall off the cliff since June, Stroman was awful for five weeks and Jameson Taillon was barely beginning to turn it around.
Yeah, injuries have sucked and if Ben Brown didn’t suffer a lat/oblique injury, then he’d probably be up by now, but it seems like the Cubs front office dropped the ball by not adding anyone else that could be a viable option in the starting rotation.
Smyly is scheduled to start Sunday against the Pittsburgh Pirates.
I hope this is a similar situation that we had back in May, when Christopher Morel was destroying Triple-A and the Cubs desperately needed offense. Morel was called up on May 8, and Ross said the following, “I don’t know that there’s this big path for everyday at-bats. The ability to get Velázquez back (to AAA) & not let him sit on the bench & some ability to mix Mo in time to time is probably going to be more of a role than just everyday at-bats.”
Morel then hit a million home runs in May.
So, I desperately need anyone to come up and take Smyly’s spot and absolutely shove and then we can laugh at Ross saying there was no one else waiting in line.
