Getting Isaac Paredes on track is important for Cubs' offensive woes

It’s a good thing the Cubs celebrated the past this weekend at Wrigley Field — Anthony Rizzo’s return and Aramis Ramirez and Kerry Wood’s induction into the Cubs’ Hall of Fame — because the current team gave fans little to cheer about.

Isaac Paredes’ line-drive single in the first inning Sunday scored the Cubs’ only two runs of the game in a 2-1 win over the Yankees.

Despite getting outhit 6-3, the Cubs mustered just enough runs to steal a game after being shut out in the previous two games of the series.

The Cubs (73-70) acquired Paredes before the trade deadline because he still has three years of team control and could help immediately. But he has struggled in his brief time with the team, slashing .167/.284/.275 with a .559 OPS.

“Even though he probably hasn’t had the results he’s wanted, he’s still had tough at-bats,” said starter Jameson Taillon, who threw six innings of one-run ball. “He’s not a free out in the middle of the lineup, even if he’s not getting hits. We’re all well aware of how tough of an out he is and how good of a player he is.”

Adjusting to a team at midseason can be challenging, especially when a player is adjusting to a new league.

“When you’re new somewhere, there’s a lot that goes into it,” Taillon said. “It’s added pressure. You’re in a new environment; you’re on a new team in the middle of the season. I can’t even imagine working with new hitting coaches, different game-planning systems, analytics presented to you in a different way.”

With the victory against the Yankees (82-61), the Cubs moved five games out of the last National League wild-card spot, were the Braves and Mets are tied. But entering Sunday, the Cubs had just a 0.8% chance to clinch a wild-card spot.

The Cubs’ production in the series, which followed a stretch in which they scored at least 10 runs in six of 13 games, continued a trend of inconsistency that has followed them all season. Figuring out which version of the Cubs’ offense is the actual version will be for president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer to decide in the offseason.

“We’ve had these explosions,” Hoyer said Friday. “We were really good in April, then we struggled tremendously mightily for two months. This ballpark makes it that much more confusing to figure out. Depending on how you look at numbers, [the Cubs are] 28th in home offense, and we’re top 10 in road offense. Some of that is probably randomness, and some of that is probably the fact that the wind is blowing in virtually every day this year. And I think that we have to take all those things into account.

“I don’t think you can really take all those things into account until the season’s over and we can really make those adjustments.”

But for the Cubs to be firmly in the playoff hunt next year and not on the outskirts, they have to find a way to improve the offense, and getting Paredes on the right track for the final month of the season would solve one position for the front office.

“It’s a bit difficult,” Paredes said of joining the Cubs at midseason. “But I believe we can adjust, and honestly, I’ve faced difficult challenges and I am happy that I’m going through all of that to learn quicker and how to get out of them.”