It’s been a tough week for the Chicago Cubs.
Their season reached a low point Monday night with a blown three-run lead in the ninth inning against the San Francisco Giants and the next day, the news only got worse.
Veteran outfielder Mike Tauchman, who has been one of the most pleasant surprises for the Cubs in 2024, left Monday’s game early after experiencing discomfort running out a ground ball. Tauchman has been a spark plug at the top of the Cubs’ order, but now it appears the team will be without him for a significant stretch of time.
Cubs manager Craig Counsell said on 670 The Score’s Parkins and Spiegel Show that Tauchman is headed to the Injured List with a groin strain, which will take at least four weeks to heal. Utility man Miles Mastrobuoni is expected to take Tauchman’s place on the active roster.
The timing could not be worse for Chicago, which has lost 22 of its last 32 games to fall to last place in the National League Central division. After losing a pair of key starting pitchers in Ben Brown and Jordan Wicks to the IL over the weekend, the injuries are starting to overwhelm the big league roster.
Tauchman was having arguably his best season ever, posting a .741 OPS/111 OPS+ while playing nearly every game for the first time in his Major League Baseball career. He has played in 66 of the Cubs’ 73 games to this point, whereas his career high for games played in a 162-game season is just 108, set with the Cubs last season.
At 33, Tauchman has had a journeyman career. He was traded by the New York Yankees, released by the San Francisco Giants, and ended up with the Hanwha Eagles of the Korean Baseball Organization in 2022. He succeeded there and landed himself a deal with the Cubs, where he has largely revitalized his career–though this injury puts a damper on the momentum he has built individually.
Meanwhile, the Cubs’ offense, which has already been floundering, will need to find a way to replace one of their few reliable contributors. Mastrobuoni, who is 5-for-40 with just one extra-base hit this season, likely isn’t going to be the answer.
Veterans like Dansby Swanson and Nico Hoerner will need to step up in a major way, or the Cubs’ season is going to slip out of their fingers. Sitting at 34-39, they have just a few weeks left to convince general manager Jed Hoyer this team is worth investing in at the trade deadline. And if they stand pat or even sell, the future of this team will look a lot more confusing than it did just a month ago.
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