YOU CAN’T HANDLE THE TRUTH
BRYANT SPRAINS ANKLE TRIPPING AFTER GRAB
WASHINGTON — It’s late June in an already rough baseball season. Do you know where your Cubs are?
If not, you’re about to find out very fast.
On a day the Cubs took another victory lap with a second White House visit, they also watched their reigning National League MVP get helped off the field with an ankle injury and cut ties with veteran catcher Miguel Montero in a move that looked more statement than substance as they try to stay relevant in the NL playoff picture.
Then they lost to the NL Eastleading Nationals 8- 4 to drop back to .500.
“We just came to the conclusion that now more than ever we really need to be a team,” Cubs president Theo Epstein said Wednesday after designating Montero for assignment the morning after he blamed Jake Arrieta for allowing seven stolen bases. “This was an example of someone being a bad teammate publicly, and we’d be better off moving on and not standing for it.
“There aren’t that many opportunities for people out of uniform to try to positively impact the group or nudge it in the right direction, or to underscore the importance of team or emphasize the values we try to embody as a group.
“It screamed out as something that we should do.”
Add to the to- do list filling a sizeable hole at third base, with Bryant suffering a “mild to moderate sprain” after turning his right ankle on the base when he caught a foul pop- up in the fifth inning. The Cubs aren’t ruling out putting him on the 10- day disabled list.
“Hopefully, it’ll just be a couple days,” manager Joe Maddon said. “Let’s hope it’s not too bad.”
Meanwhile, the message to the clubhouse the front office sent by cutting Montero also costs them the only catcher in the organization with even a full year in the big leagues.
“It’s going to put more on our plate, for sure,” said veteran starter John Lackey ( 5- 9), who gave up three homers in 5 „ innings. “There’s a learning curve coming into the league, I don’t care who you are.”
Team officials admitted the unusually swift action might not have been taken if Montero wasn’t a backup, if his ability to throw to the bases wasn’t as big an issue ( 0- for- 31 on steal attempts), if the team was performing better and maybe even if they didn’t already consider him an occasional agitator.
That personality edge also played roles in the development of Albert Almora Jr. ( when Montero got in his face as a brooding Class AA player) and in Arrieta’s 2015 Cy Young season through some tough- love counsel. Last season, Montero took rookie catcher Willson Contreras under his wing and often spoke up for teammates too young or new to the team to do it themselves.
“I’ve got the utmost respect for Miggy,” Almora said. “He helped me a lot.”
Contreras declined to talk with reporters before Wednesday’s game.
Arrieta, who accepted Montero’s apology by phone late Tuesday, said he was “sad” to see Montero go.
Arrieta and Anthony Rizzo — who during his weekly paid radio gig called out Montero for calling out Arrieta — both said the Cubs’ clubhouse chemistry would have been fine without cutting Montero loose. “We’re grown men,” Rizzo said. Said Arrieta: “I don’t think either way it would have fractured the clubhouse. Certain things are handled [ best] behind closed doors. But Miggy wears his heart on his sleeve, and that’s one of the main reasons we all liked him.”
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