Cubs stay average. White Sox excited about prospect help.

      The Chicago Cubs experienced a lot of the same this week as last.  This time it is Mathew Boyd heading to the injured list, joining Cade Horton from the pitching staff.  As Javier Assad was already brought up from the minors to fill the gap created by Horton's injury, the Cubs will likely need to fill the next spot from within their current roster.  Colin Rea will likely fill the spot in the rotation as he was a successful starter last season.  His departure from the bullpen however, may leave the Cubs short on experienced arms to bring in the middle innings. Eventually Jaxson Wiggins might have to come up to bridge the time before Justin Steele returns. 

     Cubs offense continued to struggle, and they were really lucky to finish the week with three wins and only three losses.  The lineup as it is currently constructed contains an abundance of streak players.  When streak hitters are cold together, a team can really struggle to put runs on the board.  Nico Horner and Carson Kelly are the only two players in the Cubs lineup hitting higher than their career averages.  Michael Busch, Pete Crow-Armstrong, and Alex Bregman are all hitting at least 45 points below their career numbers.  Even Ian Happ is roughly 35 points below his average. The return of Seiya Suzuki to the middle of the order, along with improvement in the four Cubs previously mentioned, should allow the Cubs offense to improve dramatically. This Cub team may be one of those squads that runs off a 13 or 14 game win streak somewhere in the season.  Being only two games back of first place allows manager Craig Counsel time to be patient.   

     The White Sox came off  their big weekend sweep of the Blue Jays only to get swept by the Orioles early in the week.  More importantly for the White Sox however, was their four game split with the Royals.  Winning games in the division is very important for any team trying to improve to the point of being competitive.  The Sox currently are only 1 game out of third place in their division and 3 back of first place.  A lack of hitting on Friday and Saturday lead the Sox to getting shut-out in back to back games.  I still think their offense will improve from last season, as players like Colson Montgomery and Chase Meidroth get more seasoned.  The big news on the Southside is the Sox have decided to bring up Noah Schultz, a 6'11 power lefthander, who throws 100 MPH. He will start on Tuesday night against Tampa Bay.  I believe in the very near future the Sox will also call up Hagan Smith and those two arms will solidify a true rotation that can compete nightly.  Staying in the race for the Central Division as long as possible while developing young talent should increase the speed of the White Sox rebuild.