Cubs' Maddon not considering benching Heyward

Even as Jason Heyward limps toward the final month of a brutal first season on the North Side, Chicago Cubs manager Joe Maddon has no intention of benching his scuffling right fielder as his club chases down its first division title since 2008.

Fresh off landing an eight-year, $184-million contract, Heyward has managed the fourth-lowest OPS (.617) among qualified hitters in 2016, but Maddon said there's nobody he'd rather have patrolling the outfield.

"He'd be the first one to tell you he’s not happy with his offensive output," Maddon said, according to Patrick Mooney of CSN Chicago. "But if you're standing in the dugout - and if you don’t know anything else about (his) batting average - you look at our record and you look at him in right field. I can’t be more comfortable with this guy (out there) while we're playing baseball.

"He's such a good baseball player. He's such a great teammate, (plus) all the things he does that I believe are really important to victory, to a winning attitude, a winning team."

Though Heyward's impact in the clubhouse may be significant, the 27-year-old's on-field contributions to the first-place Cubs have been negligible, his plus defense notwithstanding. With only six weeks weeks left in the regular season, Heyward has provided fewer wins above replacement (1.2) than all but 14 qualified outfielders while managing career lows in batting average (.225), isolated power (.088), and hard-contact rate (26.0 percent).

Still, Maddon said, his persistent struggles at the plate are bound to end sometime.

"We'll continue to work through all these moments," Maddon said. "I do believe there’s going to be a tremendous reward at the end of all this, for him and for us. I know it’s difficult, outside looking in, but our record’s pretty good and he's been on the field for most of those games. He's a winner. He's an absolute winner."