Cubs snooze their way through the 2018 season

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When it comes to the worst preseason prediction for the 2018 MLB season, we have a leader in the clubhouse. Some of you might remember Jason Heyward said he would be the NL MVP this season. That's not happening. The only thing more unlikely than Jason Heyward being the is season's NL MVP is him opting out of his contact.

In Jason's latest installment

Heyward took a firm hold on the goat horns in last night's 14 inning 4-3 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals. Heyward misplayed a line drive into a triple that allowed the Cardinals to tie the game at two in the sixth inning. After that, the Cubs made outs at a breakneck pace until Javy Baez put the Cubs up 3-2 in the top of the 14^th on a home run over the center field wall. In the bottom of the inning Luke 'Why am I not in Iowa' Farrell gave up a two run, walk-off homer to Dexter Fowler to complete the Cardinals three game sweep of the Cubs.

Reminds me of the bad old days

The Cubs have been playing like the Cubs I grew up with. Not only do they lose, but they lose in excruciating fashion. There's too much talent for this too keep happening. The Cubs admitted to a World Series hangover last season, I'm not sure what the excuse is this season. Like everybody else, I have some ideas about what needs to be done.

For starters....

As I've said before, Jason Heyward needs to grab some bench. I know the company line, great glove, good base runner great teammate, yadda, yadda yadda. What isn't said is the $128 million dollar contract. I wonder if doesn't factor into the equation. Put Ian Happ or Ben Zobrist in right and use Heyward for defense, though that's become iffy recently.

Albert Almora needs to be in center field on a regular basis. If defense is important enough to require Heyward to play in right field, why doesn't Alomra need to be in center? 

Addison Russell, Willson Contreras and Anthony Rizzo have all started off slowly. There seems to be no sense of urgency on the team. Some of that's on Joe Maddon.

About Joe

Maddon manages the Cubs like he's still managing the Tampa Bay Rays. It seems to be hurting the progress of the Cubs younger players. The Cubs are at a different stage of development than they were when Maddon took the helm. Maddon doesn't seem to have changed his managerial style. It's like a football coach not changing his system to accommodate the talent he has on hand.

Joe pulled off something truly amazing. He took a team that hadn't won a world series in 108 years to a championship while simultaneously hurting his managerial reputation. His use of the bullpen in the last two games of the world series was a atrocious. It's like the moment got too big for Joe. 

Some Cubs fans may feel Joe gets a pass because he managed a Cubs team that won a world series. I'd hate to think the bar is that low for Cubs fans. I loved the fact the White Sox won the 2005 World Series, but you can only live off that carcass so long. Some White Sox fans think Ozzie Guillen should get a shot at managing the White Sox because he managed the team during that 2005 run. They forget Guillen quit on the team while under contract to go to the Marlins. The point being, managing team to a world series doesn't mean a manager should get to manage that team in perpetuity. 

Does this mean anything?

Joe Maddon has expressed an interest in managing the Cubs beyond his current contract which runs thru 2019. I haven't heard anything about current negotiations, so I'm not sold on Theo Epstein sticking with Joe long term.

The Cubs window might not be open as long as generally believed. The Jason Heyward contract, along with the Yu Darvish contract and Cubs young players escalating salaries could put the Cubs in a salary cap crunch fairly quickly.

Maybe a sense of urgency is appropriate.