CHICAGO -- With the boos raining down on Kyle Tucker at Wrigley Field, Cubs manager Craig Counsell floated a plan to bench the All-Star outfielder in the hopes of removing him from a career-worst slump.
"We're going to have to take a little step back here, for sure, and just give him some days off to reset," Counsell said following Monday afternoon's 7-0 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers. "We're not coming up with solutions for him, and he's not coming up with solutions. So sometimes you have to take some steps back to go forward again."
After an outstanding first half that helped push the Cubs into first place, Tucker's spiral has contributed to the club's plunge in the standings.
Though Chicago's wild-card probabilities remain high, the Brewers now hold a nine-game lead over the Cubs in the National League Central. Without Tucker making an impact - at a time when other hitters are also struggling - Chicago's offense appears lifeless.
"The fans are frustrated and Kyle's frustrated," Counsell said. "It's unfortunate, because when you make outs, it doesn't look great. But he's trying. It's just not clicking."
How long Tucker's mental reset will last is unclear. Heavy storms rolled into Wrigleyville after Counsell met with the media in between games of a scheduled doubleheader, though the manager left it at this: "He's not going to play the second game and we'll kind of figure out what's going on from there."
Monday night's game was subsequently postponed and rescheduled as part of a Tuesday doubleheader. Until these moments of frustration started spilling out, the idea of benching Tucker against a division rival the Cubs are chasing would have seemed unthinkable.
"He's healthy," Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer said before Monday's loss, which saw Tucker go 0-for-4. "You always try to think of what things can help. We've had a lot of conversations."
Acquiring Tucker from the Houston Astros last offseason represented an unusually risky and aggressive move for Hoyer, who went into this season as a lame duck and recently signed a contract extension for an undisclosed length.
To get Tucker for his final season before he could become a free agent, the Cubs gave up 14 potential years of club control over Cam Smith, Isaac Paredes and Hayden Wesneski. For months, Tucker demonstrated his skills as a five-tool player and energized teammates with his easy confidence, living up to all the hype.
All the talk about Tucker's megadeal is quieting down. He has produced only one home run since the beginning of July. He has one RBI and zero extra-base hits so far in August. His slamming of equipment is out of character.
"It's not for a lack of effort from either the coaching side or on Kyle's side," Hoyer said. "He just hasn't slugged in quite a while. The balls aren't in the air. The exit velos aren't high. I do think a lot of it is mechanical. When you look at the swing earlier in the year versus now, it's less connected, and therefore less powerful."
The Cubs are hoping that Tucker will snap out of this funk. They just don't know when that will happen. There's also no way to know how much the contract situation is weighing on Tucker at this moment.
It didn't seem to bother Tucker at all during the first half of the season. His track record in Houston -- as a homegrown Gold Glove and Silver Slugger winning outfielder and a World Series champion -- was nearly impeccable.
"He's too good a player for it not to click," Hoyer said. "Obviously, when there's clear mechanical changes to be made, you work really hard on those things. People underestimate how hard that is to make changes and then face a guy throwing 97 (mph). It's hard to make those changes in season when you fall into bad habits. You have to work on those mechanical things. But, ultimately, water usually finds its level."