MESA, Ariz. — Some new faces are roaming the complex at Sloan Park these days, but even after some subtractions this offseason, the Cubs’ core of Javy Baez, Kris Bryant and Anthony Rizzo remains.
After the Marlins swept the Cubs in the postseason, Cubs players were almost in shock that their season ended so abruptly and that a team that was so talented could have such a disappointing ending.
But after unsatisfactory finishes in the last three seasons, should people still believe in this core that had so much early success? First baseman Rizzo knows how much is riding on this year and that it’s time for the group to put up or shut up.
“I think we got to go out and earn it and prove it,” Rizzo said. “I don’t think anyone should [just] believe in it. We haven’t done what we were capable of doing the last few years.
“Last year hit hard just because of how connected our team was and that whole COVID year. Just the connection, it was so strong. It just hurts ending your season like that after two games. But it’s up to us to go out and prove it every day, every year. Just because you do one thing one year doesn’t mean you’re entitled to anything the next year.”
Baseball has been and will always be a performance-driven industry, and despite all of the outside factors surrounding the team the last few seasons, the fact is that they haven’t produced together in some time.
Whether it was last season being the COVID year, loss of video or a combination of several factors, the team’s primary run producers never found a way to get on track in 2020.
“Looking at it a little bit through a different lens for me and for us, each guy is unique,” manager David Ross said. “Each guy is different. Each guy performs differently, whether that’s a guy that goes up there and sees a lot of pitches and grinds an at-bat or has a good two-strike approach or there’s guys up there a little more free-swinging, and they want to get their A-swing off on 0-0, and how that couples with trying these guys trying to play team baseball, winning baseball.
“I think sometimes those lines can get blurred. So the message for me is each individual guy gets back to being themselves. These guys are such pros that they’re always willing to sacrifice for the betterment of the group and I think sometimes selfishness in this game can be a good thing.”
When the Cubs were at their best, the core didn’t just include Baez, Bryant and Rizzo, but due to the offensive drop-off in production, other members of the core like Kyle Schwarber and Albert Almora Jr. are now elsewhere.
The onus remains on Baez, Bryant and Rizzo to find themselves, not only to help the Cubs compete for a National League Central title, but as the trade deadline gets closer, it could be the difference between another postseason run or saying more goodbyes in July.
“There’s a lot of guys that are coming off the years that they [had],” Rizzo said. “Just a weird year and you hear all this stuff and once you get in this clubhouse and in there with the boys, it’s just nothing better. There’s no better feeling and all of that outside noise just goes away.
“Being experienced with all the outside noise as all of us are, you can either choose to read into everything that’s written or not, but we control the narrative. We control how we go about out business every day.”
