Chicago Cubs Lineup

Chicago Cubs Lineup (9/21/24): Wisdom at DH for Third Straight Start, Hendricks Pitching

Photo of Evan Altman Evan AltmanSeptember 21, 2024

Of all the little storylines playing out as the Cubs toddle toward the end of the season, the most inexplicable to me is Patrick Wisdom suddenly getting starts all over the place. He was at first base on Thursday, third base yesterday, and now DH. It would be one thing if he were taking the place of struggling players, but Michael Busch is the reigning NL Player of the Week, Isaac Paredes has 14 hits in his last 11 games, and Seiya Suzuki has been excellent since moving into the primary DH role.

On the other hand, Nats did have a lefty on the mound to start the series and Paredes went hitless in his last three games. And I suppose Suzuki getting hit on the right wrist while stealing second base on Friday, so it makes sense. There’s also a lefty going for the Nats in this one, hence Mike Tauchman not getting the start. But that is totally contrary to their performances because Wisdom has pretty significant reverse splits and Tauchman has been better this year against southpaws and righties alike.

Plus Tauchman had the game-winning hit on Friday while Wisdom is mired in a 1-for-19 slump stretching back to August 25. The only thing I can come up with is that Wisdom is a super good dude and the Cubs are doing their damnedest to get him a little shine here at the end of the season before he’s eventually DFA’d. The same should probably be true for Tauchman too, especially with those outfield prospects getting ready for a shot.

The Cubs made a late lineup change this afternoon, scratching Isaac Paredes and moving Wisdom up to the cleanup spot. Miguel Amaya moves up to seventh and Luis Vázquez gets his first MLB start playing third and batting last.

Alas, it matters not at this point with the Cubs effectively out of contention. Watch Wisdom go out and hit three bombs now to provide Kyle Hendricks with all the offense he needs as he too winds down his Cubs tenure. I have to imagine Hendricks will retire rather than trying to hang on for one last go-round with another organization, but I guess we’ll see. He was outstanding in Colorado the last time out and it would be awesome to see him end on a high note.

The Cubs are facing 25-year-old MacKenzie Gore, who came over with CJ Abrams, James Wood, and others in exchange for Juan Soto. I’d say the Nats got the better end of that deal regardless of what any of these players do moving forward. Gore could still get a lot better, but he looks for now to have settled nicely into a mid-rotation role.

Speaking of Abrams, the Nationals just demoted him after it was discovered that he was out all night at the Bally’s casino in The Loop following Thursday’s game. Mark Grace never would have made it as a big leaguer if Chicago had had casinos in his day. Of course, he always said it was the day games after day games that got you in trouble.

Back to Gore, who boasts a 96 mph fastball with good ride, though it tends to stay over the middle of the plate a little too often. Gore’s curveball is his best pitch and he throws it about 20% of the time, using a combination of horizontal and vertical break to get lots of whiffs. His slider and sweeper have not been nearly as effective, and his changeup has been downright awful.

Most of his pitches move glove-side and tend to find the zone quite a bit, hence his reverse splits. Gore is good at busting right-handed hitters in, but lefties are slashing .304/.383/.507 with six of the 14 homers he’s allowed. And that’s with just 167 lefty batters compared to 519 from the right side. Though his career numbers aren’t quite as disparate, they’re still backwards and should spur managers to keep lefties in there.

Guys like, say, Tauchman. Whatever, the Cubs stopped asking me for lineup advice a long time ago. First pitch is at 1:20pm CT on Marquee and 670 The Score.

Photo of Evan Altman Evan AltmanSeptember 21, 2024
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