Chicago Cubs bench Dansby Swanson amid ugly team freefall

Well, Craig Counsell and the Cubs have decided to give the struggling Swanson a seat on the bench for Saturday’s day game at Wrigley Field against the San Francisco Giants following an 18-3 drubbing on Friday where the veteran went 0-for-4.

With Swanson sitting, second baseman Nico Hoerner has been moved over to shortstop and Pedro Ramirez will be playing second.

Counsell has done this forced reset with struggling players many times before, most notably with left fielder Ian Happ this season and right fielder Kyle Tucker last year. In Swanson’s case, it could be argued that the move is long overdue.

Despite playing his usual high-end defense, Swanson has been pretty much a guaranteed out for a lineup that is struggling way too much for as good as it should be.

The Swanson/Cubs predicament

The 32-year-old is in the fourth year of a seven-year, $177 million contract and things have never been uglier for the two-time All-Star. Boasting a new, more naturalistic approach to hitting over the offseason, thing have clearly not worked out for him.

Although known to be a streaky hitter, the Cubs shortstop is well past the point where he should’ve snapped out of his doldrums. More drastic measures are clearly needed.

For right now, though, a benching and a forced mental reset are the only potential remedies in Counsell’s medicine chest.

If this doesn’t work out, Chicago will be forced to face the reality that they’ll probably have to keep playing a flatlined bat anyway and just accept the lack of hitting. There are currently no long term backup plans for shortstop and no way to unload the massive salary attached to Swanson.