The Chicago Cubs are on a 3-game winning streak, with three straight impressive victories over the first place Milwaukee Brewers to claw back to 6 games behind in the NL Central Division.
The only real difference between this recent version of the Cubs and the languishing one just a couple of days ago is the absence of right fielder Kyle Tucker.
The four-time All-Star was benched by manager Craig Counsell for a “reset” after an extended career-worst slump that has seen him post a .148 average with just 1 RBI in the month of August. Since July 1, he’s batted .189 with only 1 home run and a total of 10 RBIs.
With rumors of a lingering injury denied and deflected by the Cubs organization and Tucker, himself, fans and media simply resorted to scapegoating Tucker for his sudden feebleness at the plate. On a few occasions, the Cubs faithful at Wrigley Field voiced their displeasure with a shower of boos directed at the outfielder.
Kyle Tucker had suffered a hairline fracture
However, a report on Wednesday from ESPN’s Jesse Rogers revealed that Tucker was, indeed, dealing with a hairline fracture “on the top of his hand, near where the pinkie and ring finger meet.” The injury, as many had speculated, was suffered following an awkward slide into second base on June 1.
After the Cubs’ 4-3 win over the Brewers on Wednesday night, Counsell was asked about the report and confirmed its veracity.
“He was sore for a little while, but was able to play,” Counsell told reporters. “We did some more imaging and it showed a small fracture that was healing. And that’s it. Is it possible that this, through the playing through it, changed some things? Yeah, absolutely. I think it’s probably likely that at some point that happened. But, he wanted to play.”
Why did the Chicago Cubs not act on that injury?
And that begs the gigantic, possibly season-altering question of why Tucker was allowed to play after it became crystal clear that his injury had somehow hampered his ability to perform. Did Counsell and company really need a month-and-a-half of Tucker grounding out to the right side of the infield before being moved to action? Did we need to fall 8, 9 games behind the Brewers before anybody addressed a root cause of the Cubs’ offensive collapse?
Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer had skirted around the issue of Tucker’s injury earlier this month when addressing whether a finger injury was the culprit for their star player’s offensive drought.
“I know it did bother him for a while,” Hoyer said. “I don’t know whether it still bothers him, whether it created some bad habits along the way with compensating and things like that.
“There’s no question that, when you look at his numbers, it’s had an impact on him, for sure. That’s the nature of these small injuries. They can do that.”
Even the Brewer’s manager had stated his belief that Tucker was dealing with an injury.
“I think Tucker’s hurt,” Pat Murphy said in an interview with 670 The Score, before the report on the hairline fracture was made public. “He’s playing through it. He’s such a class kid that he probably doesn’t mention it to anyone. That kid, I don’t know him. But everything I hear, and watching him play the game, he’s first class.”
The blame game
As things have turned out, though, the Cubs DID know about his injury, but opted to not do anything about it…because Tucker “wanted to play.”
Given what we know now, the fault in all of this now shifts from Tucker to Counsell. It’s basic little league protocol that the coach is the coach and that, sometimes, the coach will do things, for the good of the team, that a player doesn’t agree with.
Tucker should’ve been given 10 or 15 days to “reset” back when he really needed the reset– when he was healing and simultaneously developing the mechanical hiccup that killed his output.
Counsell has put Tucker back in the lineup for Thursday’s game with the Brewers and everyone swears that the right fielder is healthy. But how much confidence should anyone have in the word of those working the North Side?
And when/if Tucker continues to struggle, how much heat will the fans and media be heaping on the shoulders of the Cubs organization rather than on Tucker?
Chicago Cubs gain one important leg up on the Brewers
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