Breaking News: Alex Bregman Makes Bold Cubs Statement After Ian Happ Avoids Tough Question

Before the Chicago Cubs snapped their horrendous 10-game losing streak on Wednesday, third baseman Alex Bregman delivered a refreshing dose of truth. Instead of leaning on the fact that every baseball team experiences ups and downs over the course of the season, Bregman blatantly pointed out that it’s on the players to fix the problem.

“We’ve got to fix where the holes are in our game. We all need to look in the mirror and figure that out.” Alex Bregman on the urgency needed to correct the mistakes and snap the streak.

It was a stark contrast to Ian Happ’s take on the losing streak, where the Cubs posted a -28 run differential and suffered back-to-back sweeps at Wrigley Field. The Cubs’ left fielder told 670 The Score that it’s rare for the majority of the lineup to struggle at the same time and that they would simply move past the 10-game skid.

While I tentatively agree that the Cubs are going to suffer difficult stretches that are unavoidable, it was hard to find a sense of urgency or accountability in Happ’s comments.

It was a bit disappointing to hear from the longest tenured player on the team, who is thought of as a leader in the clubhouse. Even though Happ was key in the two wins that ended the losing streak, he went into Wednesday’s contest with a .176/.336/.341 slash line over his previous 26 games. For a guy that manager Craig Counsell routinely slots into the top of the lineup, those numbers just aren’t consistent enough, and it was painful watching Happ repeatedly fail to deliver in RBI situations.

The last two wins against the Pirates did see Happ deliver seven RBIs, five hits, and two huge home runs. And that happened after Counsell moved Happ down to the fifth spot in the batting order, which proved Bregman’s point that something needed to change.

Alex Bregman is emerging as the Cubs’ leader

Bregman wasn’t afraid to make that statement, and that’s exactly why the Cubs gave him a $175 million contract. He’s not an MVP-caliber player anymore, but he’s not afraid to point out the fact that the hitters in the Cubs lineup simply need to perform better.

And with that attitude comes an obsession with hitting that he passes along to his teammates. During Bregman’s time with the Red Sox, he was described as another hitting coach, and he’s used that knowledge to help players on the Cubs like Michael Conforto and Pete Crow-Armstrong make adjustments at the plate.

Those leadership qualities seem to extend elsewhere. After Crow-Armstrong’s unpleasant exchange with a White Sox fan and his subsequent struggles on the field, Bruce Levine reported a 40-minute mentoring session he had with Bregman in the clubhouse.

Bregman is a guy the Cubs committed five years to, and it’s easy to see why. He’s not going to smack 40 home runs in a Cubs uniform, but he can elevate the rest of the team in a variety of ways. And that’s going to be incredibly valuable for the foreseeable future.

Craig Counsell just sent a message to Cubs players as losing streak worsens

The onus falls on the Chicago Cubs players. As much as Craig Counsell’s levelheaded approach has irked Cubs fans during the Cubs’ 10-game losing streak, there’s nothing he can say that would prevent Pete Crow-Armstrong from missing the cut-off man, or Ian Happ foolishly attempting to take third base on a sacrifice fly.

After a 12-1 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates on Tuesday night, things are at rock bottom for the Cubs. The tide will need turn soon, otherwise, there’s going to be an uncomfortable conversation about the Cubs potentially selling at the MLB trade deadline later this summer.

There’s only so much Craig Counsell can do

It certainly sounds like Counsell has ran out of answers. He’s moved players around in the starting lineup; given veterans a day off; and even handed out a couple of starts to Pedro Ramirez. Sure, Kevin Alcantara should probably get a start, but if we’re being honest, Ramirez and Alcantara aren’t going to be the two players responsible for turning the Cubs’ season around.

It’s reached the point where the simplest answer to the Cubs’ woes is that the players need to play up to their expectations. That is more or less what Counsell told reporters after Tuesday’s loss.

“It doesn’t matter what they’re doing,” Counsell said. “You don’t deliver every time, but we gotta have some level of production. Pressing? I don’t know. I’m not sure what the answer is to that. The answer is it’s a big-league at-bat with men on base. It’s the at-bat you want in a game. It’s the at-bat you can make a difference for your team. It’s the at-bat you can flip the course of a game. And it’s time for us to deliver.”