Craig Counsell's baffling Owen Caissie comments fuel Cubs dysfunction

The Chicago Cubs made the surprising decision to promote the organization's top prospect, Owen Caissie, to the majors ahead of the final game of their series against the Toronto Blue Jays. This move wasn't shocking in the sense that Caissie didn't deserve it — he most certainly did — but it was surprising because the Cubs seemingly had no room for him in their lineup. They found a way to squeeze him into the lineup in Toronto, starting him at DH, but he hasn't started a single game since. He was on the bench and did not appear in games on Friday or Saturday against the Pittsburgh Pirates, and he's on the bench once again on Sunday.

Counsell's reasoning for benching Caissie makes sense. He essentially said that the Cubs have a loaded outfield group, which is true, and with Seiya Suzuki taking up the DH at-bats, there really isn't much room for Caissie to play.

The end of the quote also sticks out. Counsell said he plans on playing the best guys he has every single day, and because of that, the Cubs wrestled with the idea of promoting him. They figured he'd be on the bench a lot, and that's never a good thing for a young player. Despite that, they chose to promote him anyway? That doesn't make much sense.

As if this initial quote wasn't weird enough, Counsell said Caissie "will be involved tomorrow." It's obviously exciting to hear that Caissie will play, but when looking at the schedule, the Cubs are set to face off against the Milwaukee Brewers on Monday.

So Counsell sat Caissie for all three games against the 52-72 Pittsburgh Pirates only to plan on playing him in at least one of the team's doubleheader games against the 78-44 Brewers who are currently on a franchise-record 14-game winning streak? Counsell says he's going to play the guys he deems are his best, which hasn't included Caissie all weekend against a last-place team, but includes Caissie against the best team in the sport? Why does that make sense?

All of this reeks of Cubs dysfunction.

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Owen Caissie debacle suggests Cubs dysunfction is prevalent

To me, and I must preface this by saying I have no sources of any kind, this suggests that Jed Hoyer wanted to promote Caissie and did not communicate with Counsell what the actual plan was. Caissie deserved a promotion, but why else would he be on the team only to not play much at all? Why would he not play against the Pirates but then play against the Brewers? Why is it a good idea to let Caissie play against the Brewers after not playing for three days?

Playing Caissie one out of every four games isn't going to help his development or the team. I'd argue it'd only hurt. How is Caissie supposed to get into a groove if he isn't playing regularly?

The simple reality is that Counsell must either find time for Caissie to play, or the Cubs must send him down to the minors. There might be some value in having him stick around the team and learning from veterans, but he'd gain much more by playing regularly, even if it's in Triple-A.

Cubs should find playing time for Owen Caissie in the majors

Sending him down would make more sense than sitting him on the bench most days, but what the Cubs really should do is find room for Caissie. I'm not going to say that the outfielders and DH the Cubs have aren't extremely talented, but all four of them, along with the rest of the Cubs offense, have really struggled.

Caissie isn't a center fielder so Pete Crow-Armstrong shouldn't be benched much, and Tucker is a bonafide superstar so he shouldn't be benched much either, but why can't Caissie give guys like Happ or Suzuki more days off when they aren't hitting?

Counsell's job is to find the lineup capable of scoring runs, much like the Cubs were for the first three-ish months of the season. Right now, it feels like there's a better chance that Caissie, a guy who has strafed Triple-A pitching, helping the Cubs' reeling lineup than a guy like Happ who, while solid, doesn't have Caissie's upside.

The only way for us to find out, though, is if Caissie actually plays games. Hopefully, Monday will be the first of several days in a row in which we'll see Caissie playing somewhere for the Cubs.