As Addison Russell's up-and-down season continues, it begs the question: How much concern is there about the shortstop's finger/hand issue?
He's been dealing with the injury on his left hand for the last couple months and while it hasn't had much of an impact on his play at shortstop, it has affected his swing.
During the weekend homestand against the Padres, Russell shrugged it off, saying his hand felt the best it has in a while and he believes he's gotten better at managing the issue.
But for a guy who hit 21 homers and drove in 95 runs two years ago, his 2018 pace of 7 homers and 53 RBI is noticeably light.
Is that because of the hand?
"His defense is as good as I've seen it," Joe Maddon said. "He's throwing the ball better than I've ever seen him throw the baseball. Defensively — top of his game.
"Offensively, using the other side of the field more consistently well. Power-wise, we're not seeing the same pop we saw a couple years ago and it could be because of his hand right now.
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"...Maybe not the consistency we saw a couple years ago, but I know it's still in there. He's still strong. He doesn't lead on about his hand and how much it may be bothering him, but I know it is."
Russell entered Sunday's game carrying a modest five-game hitting streak and Maddon opted to let the shortstop hit cleanup while Anthony Rizzo, Ben Zobrist and Jason Heyward all had the day off. It made sense, as Russell is a .300 hitter with an .800+ OPS against left-handed pitchers.
Russell finished 0-for-4, but he was twice robbed of a hit by San Diego shortstop Freddy Galvis, and both times would've driven in a run for the Cubs with two outs. Maddon was pleased with Russell shooting a 98mph pitch into the right-centerfield gap in Pittsburgh and took that as a sign that maybe the 24-year-old is coming out of his slump.
Earlier this year, it looked as if Russell was taking major strides as an offensive player, even despite the low power output.
From April 29 to July 3, Russell slashed .318/.381/.468 (.850 OPS) in 195 plate appearances across 51 games. All 5 of his home runs and 25 of his 36 season RBI came during that stretch.
But the bookends of that two-month run are troublesome.
From Opening Day to April 29, Russell hit .215 with a .582 OPS. From July 4 up through Sunday, he was hitting .202 with a .531 OPS.
These aren't small sample sizes. These are 24- and 25-game stretches — a full month of action. That qualifies as a prolonged slump.
Entering the 2018 season, Russell was among the players the Cubs hoped would take a big step forward in their development.
But while Javy Baez, Ian Happ and Albert Almora Jr. have ascended, Russell is still riding the offensive roller coaster.
"He's fine," Joe Maddon said. "His swing is not where it wants to be 100 percent, but the rest of his game, I'm kind of liking right now. I want to be proactive in resting him with all the little maladies he's got going on.
"I just want to keep giving him periodic rest, to make sure that the hand doesn't become an issue. And it's not. But otherwise, I think most of his game is actually getting better."
Maddon is right — Russell has taken the rest of his game to the next level, even with the hand injury.
He's taken some flak over the last week for his baserunning after he was thrown out at third base in Pittsburgh and then did not tag up and score on a tough pop-up Friday at Wrigley Field.
But he actually rates as the 9th-best baserunner in the entire game by FanGraphs' metric, just behind his teammate Javy Baez (6th) and ahead of guys like Mike Trout (10th), Mookie Betts (13th) and Dee Gordon (16th).
Russell also ranks 9th in all of baseball (regardless of position) in Defensive Runs Saved. Among shortstops, Russell is tied with Francisco Lindor for 3rd behind Andrelton Simmons and Nick Ahmed in DRS. Among 13 qualified NL shortstops, Russell has the 5th-highest WAR (2.0).
The postseason is still almost two months away, but as it stands right now, Russell is going to be a big part of what the Cubs do in October.
His presence at shortstop allows Baez to stay at second base and create maybe the best up-the-middle defense in baseball.
But at this point, Russell is a big question mark at the plate, both in terms of production and health.