Theo Epstein acknowledges Cubs aren’t good enough right now

Cubs president of baseball operations Theo Epstein says Chicago still has “a lot of work to do” in 2020

The Chicago Cubs are sitting at the top of the NC Central, two games ahead of the St. Louis Cardinals with 25 wins to their name.

Theo Epstein isn’t exactly content with where his team sits even so.

On Thursday, Epstein made it clear he’s looking for a whole lot more.

“We’re atop the division but we have a lot of work to do,” the president of baseball operations was quoted by ESPN’s Jesse Rogers. “Still a lot of work remaining to accomplish one of our goals and win the division. We haven’t really played all that well for a while now so feel fortunate to be in the spot that we’re in.”

The Cubs are lucky to be where they are, according to Theo Epstein

Chicago is doing fine relative to their division competition. Only the Cardinals are above .500 on the season. In that sense, it’s not unreasonable to ask why they aren’t doing significantly better in the division standings.

With a collective ERA of 4.24, the pitching staff hasn’t exactly lit the world on fire. That’s the second-worst ERA among teams with 25 or more wins this season.

Nor are the Cubs making up for it with their bats. They’re averaging just 4.48 runs per game. That’s below the league average.

Winning the division remains a reasonable goal, but that might be the only thing the Cubs win this year if they don’t kick it into gear with 16 games to go.

The good news is there’s room for improvement within the lineup. No current Cubs batter has an average above .300.

Meanwhile, Yu Darvish is still a monster pitcher and Kyle Hendricks has held his own so far. The rest of the starting lineup pulling their own weight would go a long way. And if they don’t? Well, Epstein will know what kind of personnel moves are needed going forward.