{"id":66688,"date":"2024-02-14T10:00:34","date_gmt":"2024-02-14T15:00:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/?p=66688"},"modified":"2024-02-14T13:18:04","modified_gmt":"2024-02-14T18:18:04","slug":"chicago-cubs-starting-nine-2024","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2024\/02\/14\/chicago-cubs-starting-nine-2024\/","title":{"rendered":"Can You Still \u201cLove\u201d the Cubs Starting 9?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>On this Valentine&#8217;s Day, the Chicago Cubs are looking to add to the \u201cheart\u201d of their lineup. But what happens if no one wants to join them? Can they still win the division? Is it still possible to &#8220;love&#8221; this Cubs starting nine?<\/p>\n<h2>Can You Still \u201cLove\u201d the Cubs Starting Nine?<\/h2>\n<p>So far this offseason, the Cubs have not signed anyone to replace several of their starters from last September. Still without <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/b\/bellico01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-02-13_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Cody Bellinger<\/a> and having <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2023\/12\/07\/reds-sign-jeimer-candelario\/\" target=\"_self\">lost<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/c\/candeje01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-02-13_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jeimer Candelario<\/a>, Chicago would be missing 32 home runs, 114 RBI, and 115 runs scored. To this point, only <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/b\/buschmi02.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-02-13_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Michael Busch<\/a> has been signed to fill this void. Not to disparage the former Dodger, but his two home runs last year won\u2019t do the trick. This leads us to the question, what happens if the Cubs fail to sign Bellinger or <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/c\/chapmma01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-02-13_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Matt Chapman<\/a>? Do they still have enough to win the improving National League Central?<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Some BP from yesterday at Sloan Park. <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/Cubs?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#Cubs<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/FZQppQhS8q\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/FZQppQhS8q<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Andy Mart\u00ednez (@amartinez_11) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/amartinez_11\/status\/1757429196497047970?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">February 13, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>The middle of the infield can match up with any team not only in the division but also in the rest of the National League. Both <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/s\/swansda01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-02-13_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Dansby Swanson<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/h\/hoernni01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-02-13_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Nico Hoerner<\/a> have an OPS+ near 100 and <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2024\/01\/10\/cubs-double-play-combo\/\" target=\"_self\">play defense<\/a> well enough to save any runs others may let by. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/m\/morelch01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-02-13_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Christopher Morel<\/a> shared the team lead with 26 home runs and should improve over his sporadic play last season. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/s\/suzukse01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-02-13_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Seiya Suzuki<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/h\/happia01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-02-13_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Ian Happ<\/a> should continue to keep their OPS near or above .800 as they did last season. However, is it fair to expect the same type of seasons out of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/g\/gomesya01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-02-13_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Yan Gomes<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/t\/tauchmi01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-02-13_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Mike Tauchman<\/a>? These two each contributed offensively with an OPS+ at 100 while only playing sparingly throughout the season.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Can the Cubs Win as Currently Constructed?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>The hard truth might be that if the Cubs strike out on Bellinger and Chapman, they may have to overpay for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/m\/martijd02.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-02-13_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">J.D. Martinez<\/a> or <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/b\/beltbr01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-02-13_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Brandon Belt<\/a>.\u00a0 It\u2019s unlikely that the front office would go into the season with the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/teams\/CHC\/2023.shtml\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">current roster<\/a>.\u00a0 The Cubs ranked 15<sup>th<\/sup> in the league in home runs and 12<sup>th<\/sup> in slugging percentage.\u00a0 By losing two of their top sluggers, it\u2019s tough to imagine the Cubs staying in the top half of the league in either category.\u00a0 The pitching staff seems to be an improvement over 2023, but not enough to overcome the lack of runs per game.\u00a0 As currently constructed, this is not a division-winning team.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Photo Credit: \u00a9 Matt Marton-USA TODAY Sports<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On this Valentine&#8217;s Day, the Chicago Cubs are looking to add to the \u201cheart\u201d of their lineup. But what happens if no one wants to join them? Can they still win the division? Is it still possible to &#8220;love&#8221; this Cubs starting nine? Can You Still \u201cLove\u201d the Cubs Starting Nine? So far this offseason, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4995,"featured_media":66702,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[24,1071],"tags":[68,6192,899,488,1284,2693,69,2048,5229,2088],"class_list":["post-66688","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cubs","category-mlb","tag-baseball","tag-christopher-morel","tag-cody-bellinger","tag-dansby-swanson","tag-ian-happ","tag-michael-busch","tag-mlb","tag-nico-hoerner","tag-seiya-suzuki","tag-yan-gomes"],"modified_by":"Matt Graves","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66688","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4995"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=66688"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66688\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/66702"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=66688"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=66688"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=66688"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}