‘FLEX’ THEIR MUSCLE

Cubs’ versatility one of their strong suits

THREE GAMES into the season the Cubs experienced the kind of devastation that could make an organization — especially this organization — feel hexed.

Kyle Schwarber slammed into Dexter Fowler and tore the ACL and LCL in his left knee. With 159 games to go, Chicago had lost its fifth-place batter and what many of its executives felt already was the Cubs’ best hitter.

But rather than go to DefCon 1, the Cubs turned crisis into success. The full mad scientist tendencies of manager Joe Maddon were unleashed. The MVP candidacy of Kris Bryant was burnished. And perhaps a revolution of creating and deploying multipositional assets was sped up.

The Cubs no l onger had Schwarber, but what remained was the majors’ most versatile roster and the manager most willing to exploit the versatility by, say, using a third baseman (Bryant), catcher (Willson Contreras) or second baseman (Ben Zobrist) in left to generate favorable matchups at a few positions.

“Joe really deserves a lot of the credit,” Cubs general manager Jed Hoyer said by phone.

Maddon has been a chess master, moving pieces all around the board. There were 21 play- ers who had started at least 10 games at three different positions, and the Cubs had two (Bryant, Javier Baez). Plus, in June they re-acquired Chris Coghlan, who is the only player to start at least 10 games at four positions (none of this includes DH and all stats were provided by Bob Waterman of Elias Sports Bureau).

And it does not end there. Contreras was promoted to play left, first and catch — the same trio expected for Schwarber. Zobrist, a Swiss Army knife during his career, has started at second, left and right. Baez has started at all four infield positions. Jason Heyward flips from right to center when needed. Heck, Maddon has used three pitchers in the outfield to exploit a platoon advantage with another reliever, but not lose the previous pitcher from the game. The athletic Travis Wood, in particular, is used in this manner.

Maddon is not the first to try any of this — remember Davey Johnson flip- flopping Roger McDowell and Jesse Orosco, for example, between the mound and outfield. But he is the first to do this on such a massive level for a highly visible contender. Many managers make more conservative decisions because they are easily explainable to the media. Maddon does what he believes is right to play best and keep his team loose, and if it doesn’t work he doesn’t blink in the glare.

By doing this so well — the Cubs have been the majors’ dominant team pretty much all year — and so often, Maddon now provides been-done cover for others. And, really, many clubs already are seeing what it means to have maneuverable players.

The Orioles were able to move Manny Machado from third to short during an extended injury loss of J.J. Hardy. Former Nationals shortstop Ian Desmond became the Rangers’ All-Star center fielder. Theoretic Nationals shortstop of the future Trea Turner has solved Washington’s center-field conundrum.

The versatility of Matt Carpenter and Jedd Gyorko, in particular, has been critical for the Cardinals. Jose Ramirez’s ability to flip between third and left has been vital in the Indians overcoming the loss of Michael Brantley.

And Bryant’s skill to not only play third, left and right, but do it where there is no drop off, allowing, say, Baez’s high-end infield skills to be utilized more favorably, is bolstering Bryant’s MVP candidacy. By being versatile, Bryant is making the Cubs better by helping to cover for injuries, provide rest for others or capitalize on favorable matchups.

Organizations are noticing. The Yankees, for example, are moving players around more in the minors. One example is sending middle infielder Tyler Wade to the Arizona Fall League to play the outfield.

“It is just smart to use athleticism to give your manager more flexibility,” Cashman said.

Again, this is not new. A player such as Tony Phillips made a career on versatility. But it is more valuable now than ever because:

1. There are more injuries. Even before Sept. 1 roster expansion, every team had used between 38 and 55 players en route to what certainly is going to be a record number of players used this season. Stricter testing for PEDs has led to more players wearing down. The ability to replace injured or exhausted players from within the roster without decline in performance is huge. Again, think of what Bryant does for Maddon at several positions.

2. There are more pitchers. Teams now routinely carry 12 and sometimes even 13. That limits positional maneuverability for a manager, unless he has player(s) who can make it feel like he has more than 25 players available by being able to capably move around.

3. There are more shifts than ever. The idea, for example, that someone is a third baseman who will play just at third base is gone. That player will often shift to short, maybe move to second. The Cubs can be aggressive spotting Baez where they want within a game because he is such a good fielder. If players no longer are playing traditional spots, then it only makes sense to train them to play several.

4. There are more attempts to play matchup than ever. Maddon, for example, might want to play Tommy LaStella against a righty, but to do that LaStella has to play second or third. Thus, to keep Bryant and Zobrist in the lineup, too, one has to go left. When David Ross catches Jon Lester and the opponent starts a lefty, Maddon probably still wants Contreras’ bat. So he has to go to left. Keep in mind left is where Schwarber was going to mainly play.

The loss of his elite young bat could have been destructive. Instead, it was instructive as a reminder that injuries and underperformance are coming for every team, and the best ones — like the Cubs this year — will find solutions. Chicago is doing it with what feels like a wave of the future: Having as flexible a roster as possible.