The Chicago Cubs entered their weekend series against the St. Louis Cardinals feeling much better after finally snapping their 10-game losing streak and walking away with a four-game split against the Pittsburgh Pirates, including a win over Paul Skenes. The team has been ridiculously streaky since the middle of April, and while the Cubs probably won’t truly find stability until the starting rotation gets healthy, there are at least a couple of changes Craig Counsell should make now to avoid more slumps.
Move Nico Hoerner Down in Lineup
First, Nico Hoerner has already been moved off the leadoff spot, but he should probably go back to hitting sixth in the lineup. The talented second baseman was at one point the team’s leading hitter through the first three weeks of the regular season, but Hoerner has been really bad for the past 1.5 months.
Through his first 19 games of the year, Hoerner recorded a slash line of .342/.420/.553, sporting a 176 wRC+ in 88 plate appearances. He hit three home runs and seven doubles through April 17, but since then Hoerner has been a liability at the top of the batting order.
From April 18 through Friday night’s 6-5 loss, when Hoerner was 0-for-4 with a walk, he’s only posted a .556 OPS, ranking 12th worst among all MLB-qualified hitters and barely ahead of Dansby Swanson’s .552 OPS in the same stretch.
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That’s 38 games of Hoerner hitting .204/.293/.263, with one home run and six doubles. The one guy fans could almost always count on with runners in scoring position is 6-for-37 with five strikeouts and four walks since April 18. Whatever the issues are, Counsell isn’t giving the team the best shot with Hoerner batting so high up in the lineup right now. Move him down and find a new mix.
No More Phil Maton in High-Leverage
Secondly, they’re not going to DFA Phil Maton, but for the love of god, stop using him in any high-leverage situations. The veteran reliever signed a two-year deal after his great 2025 season, but Maton has been a flat-out failure for the Cubs. Maton now has a 7.64 ERA in 20 games, and he’s not fooling anyone. Opponents are hitting .310/.412/.535 against Maton this year.
Mop-up duty, that’s where Maton should be firmly slotted into right now and it doesn’t matter what the bullpen looks like right now, he should not be pitching in any close games for the Cubs right now in late, high-leverage situations.
