July Has Arrived, Hendricks’ Bad Inning, Happ’s Miss, Roberts’ Return, and Other Cubs Bullets

Jul 01, 2024

July has arrived. The decision month. We won’t really see teams fully commit to buying or selling until after the mid-month draft, but you’re in a better position to execute well on your decision if you decide earlier than that …

Even at this point, not every game can be a referendum on the rest of the season, but each loss does make it all the more difficult to imagine the Cubs making enough of a run by late-July to justify avoiding a sell-off. That yesterday’s loss wasn’t even competitive made it all the more bothersome.

Kyle Hendricks’ day was obviously quite bad, though I don’t know if it’s “proof” of anything (at least not any more than his previous successful outings were “proof” of anything in the other direction). He was looking good for three innings, and then the wheels came completely off – though it’s worth considering that the disaster inning included a swinging bunt and a total whiff on a fly ball. If either of those plays are made, the whole thing looks entirely different. That doesn’t excuse the mistakes that Hendricks did make in the inning, but it wasn’t all on him. I’ll be curious to see how he looks in his next outing.

Speaking of the whiff on the fly ball, I’d assumed that Ian Happ lost it in the bright sun, but it doesn’t sound like that was the case:

“Not my best moment out there.”

Ian Happ on is misplay in the 4th inning. pic.twitter.com/uZjPwNo0BM
— Marquee Sports Network (@WatchMarquee) June 30, 2024

So that’s just a really, really bad play. Props to Happ for wearing it, though, and being honest about what happened.

Craig Counsell on Hendricks’ outing, and on the bats once again being quiet:

The one great thing from the game was the re-appearance of Ethan Roberts after a long, long rehab process:

Ethan Roberts records his first Major League strikeout in 794 days 👏 pic.twitter.com/KS8MYyxY1T
— Marquee Sports Network (@WatchMarquee) June 30, 2024

Ethan Roberts makes his first appearance with the Cubs since April 29, 2022. That was also against the Brewers. pic.twitter.com/5vd7vqqbD7— Aldo Soto (@AldoSoto21) June 30, 2024

The outing wasn’t entirely clean, though it was scoreless with two strikeouts. You might expect a little wildness on the return to the bigs, and you can see in his refined repertoire – he’s now cutter-sweeper exclusively – the bones of a very good reliever. Here’s hoping the Cubs find the right spots for the 26-year-old righty, and have a good sense by the end of the year what his role could be going forward. His sweeper gets among the most movement in baseball.

Recent bullpen success, if nothing else:

Confirmed it is. A few other three game streaks. Warning – those other 3 game stretches were followed by the stretches of bullpen explosions. Be careful out there.— CubsVikes (@StealthyJim) July 1, 2024

Although it’d been a challenging start to his pro career, Wyatt Langford is finding his footing. The rookie hit for the cycle last night:

✅ Single
✅ Double
✅ Triple
✅ Home run

All 4 hits from Wyatt Langford's first career cycle ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/i85VqxaCzc
— MLB (@MLB) July 1, 2024

Langford, 22, was the 4th overall pick last year, though considered by many to be the best offensive prospect in the draft. An absolute monster at the plate. He showed it right away, rocketing up through the minors, and it was immediately clear that no level shy of the big leagues was going to offer a challenge. And yet EVEN HE found the adjustment to the big leagues very difficult (it’s just a particularly difficult time for that adjustment right now, for a range of reasons). It has taken Langford nearly 250 plate appearances to get close to an average overall big league slash line. And he was about as good as an offensive prospect can get!

Home Run Derby changes are coming, with less emphasis on a frenetic pace, and a little more per-swing importance. Details here.

Blackhawks getting to work:

Report: #Blackhawks To Sign Forward Tyler Bertuzzi https://t.co/BFLq6TSRbH
— Bleacher Nation Blackhawks (@BN_Blackhawks) July 1, 2024

Bulls getting to … annoying everyone:

Andre Drummond Leaving the Bulls to Sign with the 76ershttps://t.co/Vr3F8R5JMV
— Bleacher Nation Bulls (@BN_Bulls) June 30, 2024

The MLB Shop has a sitewide 25% off sale going:

Heads up to a 25% off sitewide sale at the MLB Shop: https://t.co/QrUZfxuW9w #ad pic.twitter.com/i1F6GuCghQ
— Bleacher Nation (@BleacherNation) July 1, 2024

written by

Brett Taylor

Brett Taylor is the Lead Cubs Writer at Bleacher Nation, and you can find him on Twitter at @BleacherNation and on LinkedIn here. Brett is also the founder of Bleacher Nation, which opened up shop in 2008 as an independent blog about the Chicago Cubs. Later growing to incorporate coverage of other Chicago sports, Bleacher Nation is now one of the largest regional sports blogs on the web.

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July Has Arrived, Hendricks’ Bad Inning, Happ’s Miss, Roberts’ Return, and Other Cubs Bullets

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