Plenty Of Positives Despite Slow Start By Cubs

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It is perfectly fine to be pissed off about the 2-3 start, especially when the Chicago Cubs began the season with a four-game series against the Miami Marlins and have two consecutive shutout losses. Yet, if you’re all doom and gloom about the early negatives, then you can’t ignore the positives too and yes there are plenty of positives.

Let’s go with the direct opposite of the starting rotation struggles. Jon Lester: bad. Yu Darvish: bad. Jose Quintana: bad. Kyle Hendricks and Tyler Chatwood each pitched six innings, both allowing only one run. So, not really the hot start people expected from what should still be a great rotation. However, the Cubs bullpen has been phenomenal.

It started on Opening Day, when Steve Cishek, Brian Duensing, Pedro Strop, Justin Wilson and Mike Montgomery combined to pitch 5.2 scoreless innings against the Miami Marlins. Eddie Butler then followed with seven innings in the marathon 17-inning game, in which he was charged with one run.

Overall, through the first five games the Cubs bullpen has allowed two earned runs in 26 innings, posting a very nice 0.69 ERA.

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There’s one reliever who I want to specifically point out. Yes, Butler’s performance was great, but the most encouraging start to the 2018 season is that Justin Wilson looks good.

Wilson’s made three appearances so far, striking out five, walking two and surrendering only one hit. Remember, the Cubs traded for him last year and brought him in to be another late-inning, set-up man option for Joe Maddon. Instead, Wilson came to Chicago and completely lost any control he had, walking 19 batters in 17.2 innings and putting up a 5.09 ERA.

There was really only one five-game stretch in 2017, that Wilson looked all right with the Cubs, so to see him look solid through his first three appearances is one positive fans should really love.

OK, so Ian Happ has been, what’s the word, awful ever since hitting the first pitch of the season for a home run. He’s struck out 10 times in 18 plate appearances and to boot Happ had two bad plays in center field on Monday against the Cincinnati Reds. A positive to counter that: Kyle Schwarber is killing baseballs.

Schwarber’s double off Jacob Turner in the Miami series had an exit velocity of 115.7 mph, tied for the third-hardest hit ball of the season so far. He also has a 110.9 mph exit velocity on his second home run of year. He simply looks better at the plate, smashing mistakes compared to last season when there was a lot of pop ups.

You know who else looks good early on? Addison Russell.

He’s been hitting the ball hard as well, but it’s the four walks to two strikeouts in the first five games that is encouraging. We all know about his miserable 2017 season, with personal issues and a bad year in general. If Russell can keep up any semblance of patience at the plate, then watch out because the breakout year we’ve been waiting for from him might just happen.

In 2017, Russell walked 29 times overall and only 24 unintentional walks. So hey, four in five games is a good start.

Let’s keep it rolling.

Ben Zobrist actually looks healthy and he’s smacking the ball. His .553 OPS against lefties in 2017, was brutal, but it seems more obvious now that his wrist injury was certainly a reason why he struggled. He’ll always work deep at-bats, but if he can get back to hitting with some power, then Joe Maddon will really have a good problem with all these options off the bench.

Zobrist is 4-for-11, with three walks so far in the four games he’s played in.

You know who else is really good? Kris Bryant.

I know it’s tough to say he gets overlooked because he’s received the recognition, winning Rookie of the Year and MVP, but sometimes it seems like fans don’t appreciate how amazing Bryant is. All he’s done so far is go 7-for-21, with five walks, including one home run and three doubles, scoring four runs and driving in four runs.

My MVP forever and always.

My MVP pic.twitter.com/u9raFdcWFj

— Aldo Soto (@AldoSoto21) April 1, 2018

Finally, let’s get to Tyler Chatwood.

Yeah, six walks in six innings is ugly, but as some fans put it on Twitter, the control is off, but the stuff is nasty…so basically Jake Arrieta. Not bad for the fifth starter in the rotation.