The Chicago Cubs cratered against the San Diego Padres after leading 8-0.
A 9-8 loss on the West Coast set the team back a game in the standings but could spell doom far more impactful. For an early April bout, the dire consequences might be overstated for the 2024 season, but opens the door for conversations about the organization’s direction and where they are putting the team’s future.
Cubs Falter on Road in San Diego
Coming off a key series victory vs. the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Cubs were looking good opening the 2024 season. Under new manager Craig Counsell, the team had rebounded after a series loss to the defending World Series champion Texas Rangers. After sweeping the lowly Colorado Rockies, the Cubs had taken down the National League’s preeminent team, the Dodgers.
The early season success left the tepid off-season in the rearview mirror. The roster concerns and underwhelming star power on the north side of Chicago came to the forefront against the San Diego Padres. The Cubs leapt out to an 8-0 lead in the first four innings, with RBI from Ian Happ, Cody Bellinger, Christopher Morel, and Dansby Swanson.
Padres Come Roaring Back
Javier Assad was on his way to another quality outing to start the season through five innings. Jake Cronenworth threw a wrench into that with a two-run home run to end Assad’s night. The move to pull Assad by Craig Counsell seemed like a quick trigger but with a six-run lead, the Cubs bullpen could be relied on to finish the game.
This assumption was tested and debunked over the last four innings Monday night. Jose Cuas came into the game and gave up four runs while only managing to secure one out. Luke Little relieved Cuas, only to give up a home run to Xander Bogaerts. An 8-0 lead was reduced to one run in just half an inning.
Hector Neris, one of the Cubs’ main off-season acquisitions, couldn’t overcome the Padres’ lineup momentum and turned the game over to closer Adbert Alzolay in a jam. Alzolay couldn’t get to see if he could convert the five-out save, as Fernando Tatis Jr. gave the Friars the lead 9-8 with a long home run.
Defeat Comes with a Conversation
Robert Suarez closed the game out in the ninth and secured a devastating loss for the Cubs. The dramatic game on the 20-year anniversary of Petco Park in San Diego opened the door for real dialogue about the Cubs’ organizational strategy.
Jed Hoyer is the main face of the Cubs front office and has differed from Theo Epstein in his organizational strategy and priorities. With more emphasis on building a farm system and being reticent to make large-scale moves, Hoyer’s leadership has paid dividends for the state of the Chicago Cubs but has come with negatives that revealed themselves on Monday night.
Jose Cuas has been an unmitigated disaster for the Cubs bullpen. Acquired in a deadline deal for OF Nelson Velazquez, the decision to get Cuas was the only move made at the 2023 trade deadline. Cuas is now in AAA with the Iowa Cubs and Velazquez is hitting .314 with the Kansas City Royals.
Chicago Cubs Timeline
Fan expectations and pundit anticipations were that the 2023 off-season would catapult the Chicago Cubs firmly into contention in the National League and prohibitive favorites in the NL Central. An uneventful winter added fuel to another conversational chit about where the Cubs front office views the team’s timeline.
The tepid activity of Chicago Cubs brass indicates that the first all-in season for this Cubs team will be pushed back to at least 2025. The skeleton of a bullpen isn’t emblematic of a team looking to make a deep run in the fall. The team opted to not trade Cody Bellinger or Marcus Stroman at the deadline and not building up assets for the future seemed like an indication of a team in ‘win now mode’.
The team with the second-best farm system in baseball has gotten out to a solid start to this new season. In a below-average division, the Cubs might be able to eke out a postseason berth, but 2024 is not going to be the dynamic year Cubs fans had been anticipating.
The Cubs’ unsightly loss to the San Diego Padres only counts for one game in the standings, but it might come to symbolize Cubs management’s view of the entire season and paint 2024 in a different brush for Cubs fans everywhere.
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