Zach Davies, Chicago Cubs (Photo by Patrick McDermott/Getty Images)
The Chicago Cubs’ 2021 season has been full of letdowns, but some have been worse than others.
What started as the last run for the 2016 World Series core, ended in trade deadline chaos and another playoff-less season for the Chicago Cubs. Fans on Chicago’s North side expect better, and Wrigleyville will remain silent for the third straight postseason.
But what can the Cubs do to return to postseason glory? A good place to start would be not repeating the same mistakes they made in 2021, especially as they enter a rebuild.
The Cubs have borderline ruined several key contributors with their decision-making in 2021. This isn’t to suggest those players won’t return to form moving forward, but doing so will not be easy.
Chicago Cubs: Zach Davies was unacceptable return for Yu Darvish
The Cubs return for Darvish doesn’t look promising right now. In what now looks more like a salary dump than a real trade of talent in any form, Zach Davies has been utterly unacceptable in the Cubs rotation.
Yet, he continues to get outings, as the Cubs are on the hook for his contract and they might as well see if he can ‘figure it out’ in a sense. Davies has a 5.49 ERA with the Cubs, and he’s gone from bad to worse late in the season. With the Padres last year, his ERA was less than half that.
He’s not the only Cubs pitcher struggling, and it lends itself to the question if this is more a Davies problem, or an organizational issue.