Cubs Hitting Coach Doesn’t Sound Confident Star Slugger Will Re-Sign
The hitting coach for the Chicago Cubs, Dusty Kelly, has provided no upbeat update on this lineup as of yet. The Chicago Cubs needed to either re-sign Cody Bellinger or find a replacement for his output going into the summer.
Although there weren’t many players available who could perform at Bellinger’s level, a substitute was nonetheless required.
In an attempt to bring a star to a community that has been aching for one, many thought early in the offseason that the Cubs had a chance to sign one of them.
Instead, Soto was traded to the New York Yankees and the Los Angeles Dodgers signed Ohtani. The two biggest markets in baseball didn’t just try to get a deal done, they made sure that they’d land the stars they wanted.
Chicago’s front office should take note.
With spring training starting and the regular season about a month away, the Cubs’ offense is significantly worse than last season.
Bellinger hasn’t re-signed, Matt Chapman doesn’t appear to be walking through the door, and Jeimer Candelario left in free agency.
There’s still time to land one of the remaining free agents, and that would change the perspective of the offseason, but as currently situated, this offseason was inexcusable.
What was the point of making Craig Counsell the highest-paid manager in baseball?
Was it to give him another average team like the Milwaukee Brewers did and lose in the early rounds of the playoffs every season?
Recent comments from Dustin Kelly, Chicago’s hitting coach, weren’t encouraging on the Bellinger front.
He had the following to say about the offense without the former MVP, according to Patrick Mooney of The Athletic.
“There’s plenty of guys (here) to fill in some of that power stuff. It’s not like we’re out there searching for 26 more home runs, right? It doesn’t work like that. When you go into the offseason, you’re not adding those up. (Bellinger) was a big part of that lineup. But we have enough guys that are in this group who could surprise us.”
Entering the offseason, the plan wasn’t to have guys “surprise us.” The plan was for the Cubs to make moves that could win them a World Series. That hasn’t happened, and from what Kelly has to say, it doesn’t sound like it will shortly.
