It’s certainly not the way the Cubs had hoped to vault into the final portion of the July schedule, with their best player and one of the National League’s top MVP candidates–outfielder Pete Crow-Armstrong–hobbled by an injury, as manager Craig Counsell announced. But in Chicago’s blowout loss at the hands of the Royals on Monday night, the breakout star was not in the lineup, and much hand-wringing ensued.
The Cubs manager downplayed the severity of the injury, which apparently occurred on one of Crow-Armstrong’s slides in the Sunday loss to the Red Sox.
“He just banged it up and woke up and felt a little swollen,” Counsell said before the series opener against the Royals. “So, we’re just going to try to give him the day today and hopefully back in there tomorrow.”
Counsell was noncommittal as to whether Crow-Armstrong would have been able to pinch-hit or pinch-run on Monday, but it did not much matter in the 12-4 loss to Kansas City, which saw then Cubs nab an early 4-1 lead before falling apart from there.
Pete Crow-Armstrong Developed Into Instant Star
Crow-Armstrong, of course, has been one of the best players in baseball this season, with a .270 batting average, a .306 on-base percentage and .556 slugging mark, plus 27 homers, 78 RBIs, 28 steals and five times caught. He also has a 13.3 defensive rating from Fangraphs, the top rating among all centerfielders in MLB this year.
The injury to PCA is a good reminder for the Cubs, though, of just how reliant on him they are, and how thin the rest of the roster is behind him. Crow-Armstrong had played in 98 of 99 games before Monday night, and is well on his way to playing more games in a single season than in any other year of his career.
Though his current injury has been downplayed as a bruise, given how hard he plays, the Cubs should have some concern about Crow-Armstrong wearing down, either through fatigue or injury. He leads the National League in wins above replacement, but that number is probably deceptive, because the Cubs do not have a league-average replacement on hand.
Cubs Badly Need Depth
The starting outfield of Ian Happ, Kyle Tucker and PCA have combined to miss only 30 games total entering Monday. The Cubs can move designated hitter Seiya Suzuki into the field in a pinch, but he is a very poor fielder, and the Cubs don’t have a worthwhile bat on the bench to replace him at DH.
Utilityman Vidal Brujan is the Cubs’ top option to fill in at multiple positions, which is useful except that Brujan is not much of a fielder, and he is batting .179 on the season.
With 10 days to go before the MLB trade deadline, the Crow-Armstrong injury should be a reminder that finding a decent backup outfielder should be a serious priority. Even before Monday, GM Jed Hoyer acknowledged depth is an issue.
“You’re going to have injuries in the second half, and you have to be able to address those,” Hoyer told reporters. “We’re also looking to kind of raise our replacement level and raise our talent level. And that’s really the challenge, I think, acquiring guys that provide depth. I know we can do that. …
“If we find guys I think are better than our current alternatives, and that’s how you actually get better as a team. You know that that’s a little bit more difficult.”
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