Hopefully Dansby Swanson is Hurt

Otherwise, there’s no real good excuse for Dansby Swanson’s awful defense so far in 2024. It’s mainly been throwing issues and I’d give him a pass if it was only a few bad games, but we’ve been seeing Swanson barely getting the ball over to first base too many times in 2024 and on Tuesday night it cost the Cubs big.

In a 1-1 game in the bottom of the sixth inning, J.D. Martinez hit a ground ball to short and Swanson fielded it cleanly, but then unleashed a two-seamer to first base. Now, I completely understand that a good first baseman is probably making this play or at least getting a glove on it, but guess what Patrick Wisdom isn’t a good first baseman and Swanson is supposed to be a gold glove shortstop.

I’m sorry, but my expectations are much higher for Swanson in these types of plays and he once again put in a terrible effort.

That’s Swanson’s second throwing error in the past three games and his third on the season. He has four total errors already. Bleacher Nation noted that Swanson had a total of 8 errors in 161 games with the Atlanta Braves during the 2021 season and so far in 2024 the shortstop is on pace for 22 errors entering the month of May.

So yeah, hopefully it’s nothing serious and it doesn’t require a stint on the injured list like it did last season, but if Swanson is dealing with something, then good because then we at least know why his throwing has been so bad. And if that’s the case, then Craig Counsell should give Swanson a few days off because he’s also hurting the team on offense.

Anyway, the Cubs team defense has been horrid across the board this season and that was once again the storyline Tuesday night. After Swanson’s error, Adbert Alzolay gave up a single and then with two outs the Mets made the Cubs pay for their bad defense.

I mean, that’s just an awful pitch from Alzolay, who has been giving up home runs at an incredible pace. So, that also sucks for the Cubs.

The Mets won 4-2 and all four of their runs were unearned.

Javier Assad pitched five innings and the only run he gave up came in the first inning after Wisdom threw a ball into left field. Assad had thrown over to first base and had Francisco Lindor picked off, but Wisdom couldn’t get the out and threw the ball away. The Mets ended up scoring on a sac-fly after Lindor ended up at third base on Wisdom’s error.

The Cubs are now 18-12 and well you’re seeing why it’s difficult to overcome injuries. I remain confident that the Cubs will be just fine in 2024, but man oh man do they need Cody Bellinger and Seiya Suzuki back. And please, can we have the old Dansby back at shortstop too.