Homecoming week ended at Wrigley Field on Thursday, and it was time for the Chicago Cubs to move on with the season and put the past behind.
The return of former Cubs stars Jon Lester and Kyle Schwarber with the Washington Nationals provided reminders of the days when everything was golden and the window to win championships seemingly was wide open.
But as the Cubs head to St. Louis Friday for their first series with the National League Central leaders, it’s a matter of survival for a group of veterans whose futures in Chicago remain uncertain.
“There’s been a ton of success with this group,” team President Jed Hoyer said via teleconference before a 5-2 win over the Nationals. “There have been times we haven’t achieved the level we wanted, but these players are iconic players for the Cubs.
“We’ve seen a couple of these guys come back here and the way they were treated. These guys that we have are absolutely at that level, or even higher. Obviously we’d love to have those players going forward. Nothing has changed that feeling the way this year has started.”
A wide-ranging interview with Hoyer covered the trade deadline, the offense, the Cubs’ failure to get 85% of Tier 1 employees vaccinated and the decision to start Nico Hoerner in the minors, a move Hoyer said he does not regret.
Hoyer voiced optimism about the current state of the Cubs, who’ve been at or near .500 for weeks, while offering no thoughts on the likelihood of retaining impending free agents Kris Bryant, Javier Baez or Anthony Rizzo. There are no ongoing contract conversations with the three, Hoyer said, and he still is unsure of how the trade deadline will play out for the Cubs.
“If we’re in position to be a buyer, we’ll have the budgetary flexibility to do that,” Hoyer said.
If the Cubs are in contention in late July, it will put Hoyer in a difficult position trying to decide whether to keep his stars and go for it or deal one or more of them for prospects to reload in the coming years.
At this point, it probably could go either way.
“Hope we can go down to St. Louis and perform well,” Hoyer said. “I’m trying to keep an open mind about this team and about the deadline. Right now, it’s May 20, there’s a lot of time — two months and 10 days. Of course, you think about these different things. There’s plenty of time before the trade deadline for things to happen. Rushing that decision doesn’t seem prudent.”
The Cubs took three of four from the Nationals, improving to 22-21 and moving to within three games of the first-place Cardinals. Ian Happ homered twice and drove in three runs with the wind blowing out Thursday, Rizzo returned to the lineup after a day off with back issues, and the bullpen turned in 4⅓ innings of scoreless relief while striking out nine, punctuated by Craig Kimbrel’s three Ks in the ninth.
After serving up back-to-back home runs to Josh Bell and Schwarber in the first, Trevor Williams settled down and kept the Nats at bay until Ross removed him after 77 pitches.
Kyle Hendricks will start the series opener Friday at Busch Stadium, followed by Adbert Alzolay and Zach Davies.
The Cubs will play 13 of their 16 games against the Cardinals before the July 31 trade deadline, so every series with St. Louis could factor into how Hoyer approaches the big day. For the time being, the Cubs will be without right fielder Jason Heyward, who was placed on the 10-day injured list with a left hamstring strain before Thursday’s game.
A week of warm nostalgia ended with a Cubs’ win, and now the first big series of the 2021 season begins.
