General Cubs Chit-Chat

[Regular Show]

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“When I’m at the ballpark I’m happy, I enjoy my teammates and every second here,” Contreras told me during spring training. “But once you leave, everything that comes to my mind is Venezuela. How are the people doing there and when is going to be the end?”

 

Contreras’ 2019 resurgence – including a monster home run Wednesday night in Seattle – is even more remarkable when you put in perspective everything he’s dealing with on a daily basis outside of baseball.

 

This isn’t managing some prolonged slump at the plate or a 2-7 start to the season. To Venezuelans, this is a matter of life or death.

 

“I went down to Venezuela... it’s hard to see kids from 5 to 8 years old looking in a trash can for food,” he said. “It’s hard to see people dying because they don’t have medicine at all. Nowadays, it’s hard to go down there because you watch all of that.”

 

Great video and I feel for Willson. Pretty painful watching him cry in the clip. It's amazing that he's playing so well with everything happening in his home country. I really hope the situation improves in Venezuela and that Maduro steps down. You can also help by buying these 'Freedom for Venezuela' T-shirts (100% of profits go to help the people of Venezuela).

 

https://obviousshirts.com/collections/new-arrivals/products/freedom-for-venezuela

[Cubswin11]

[Bull]

I'm here for the punishment. Chatwood, Heyward and Maples are all basically fixed (not perfect) and will be good contributors from here on out as the Cubs win the Central and the Series this year.

Maples ain’t but I’m buying low on the other guys

I bought low on Heyward 2 years ago. That, uh, didn’t exactly work out. Nothing to do but hold on and hope.

[BigSlick]

I'm here for the punishment. Chatwood, Heyward and Maples are all basically fixed (not perfect) and will be good contributors from here on out as the Cubs win the Central and the Series this year.

Maples ain’t but I’m buying low on the other guys

I bought low on Heyward 2 years ago. That, uh, didn’t exactly work out. Nothing to do but hold on and hope.

Three years of bad seasons, but each season he improved on it. Now he's got a very different batting profile (a 17% swing in direction of where the ball is going) so we'll see what happens.

 

Chatwood.....we'll see. Its almost impossible for him to duplicate how bad his control was last year, its huge to ask him to cut his walks in half, but he's already cut his BB/9 by 2. This is unfortunately accompanied by a decline in his strikeout percentage. We shall see. He's only thrown 14+ innings.

[Aaron_Kennelly]

Cubs with RISP this year: .271/.385/.494

 

3rd highest OPS in the majors with RISP.

 

On pace to finish above 20th in BA with RISP for the first time since 2010!

[Bull]

Cubs with RISP this year: .271/.385/.494

 

3rd highest OPS in the majors with RISP.

 

On pace to finish above 20th in BA with RISP for the first time since 2010!

Somehow, you fool!

[Bertz]

So...Brad Brach averaged 94.9 on his fastball yesterday.

Brach has shown throughout his career that 95 is his sweet spot. He broke out in 2015 when his velocity jumped up there, and then struggled in the first half of last year when he was back down at 93-94 (he clearly doesn't have the command to survive with diminished stuff)

 

With how dependent he is on velo, and how normal it is for guys' velo to be down in April for various reasons, it's not crazy to think he's about ready to work his way back into the circle of trust.

[Bull]

Unpopular Opinion (or not, I dunno):

 

The way this team is playing validates Theo's perceived inactivity this offseason. I really think this team is this good and now (hopefully) has the flexibility to add at the deadline or pick up Kimbrell after the draft.

[jersey cubs fan]

Unpopular Opinion (or not, I dunno):

 

The way this team is playing validates Theo's perceived inactivity this offseason. I really think this team is this good and now (hopefully) has the flexibility to add at the deadline or pick up Kimbrell after the draft.

 

yeah sure fine

 

 

I still wanted more dammit

[Banedon]

Unpopular Opinion (or not, I dunno):

 

The way this team is playing validates Theo's perceived inactivity this offseason. I really think this team is this good and now (hopefully) has the flexibility to add at the deadline or pick up Kimbrell after the draft.

 

What's the significance of waiting till after the draft, if they were wanting Kimbrell?

[Cubswin11]

Unpopular Opinion (or not, I dunno):

 

The way this team is playing validates Theo's perceived inactivity this offseason. I really think this team is this good and now (hopefully) has the flexibility to add at the deadline or pick up Kimbrell after the draft.

 

What's the significance of waiting till after the draft, if they were wanting Kimbrell?

The draft pick compensation goes away on him if you wait until after the draft, which it’s not even that punitive. We either lose a second round pick or our first pick drops down like 3-5 spots or something.

[CubinNY]

Unpopular Opinion (or not, I dunno):

 

The way this team is playing validates Theo's perceived inactivity this offseason. I really think this team is this good and now (hopefully) has the flexibility to add at the deadline or pick up Kimbrell after the draft.

 

yeah sure fine

 

 

I still wanted more dammit

 

Marginal improvement is still important. If the playoffs are a "crapshoot", it's best to tilt the odds in their favor. The problem is marginal improvement doesn't translate into marginal financial gains.

 

"We're good/great" isn't a justification for not getting better.

[Bull]

Unpopular Opinion (or not, I dunno):

 

The way this team is playing validates Theo's perceived inactivity this offseason. I really think this team is this good and now (hopefully) has the flexibility to add at the deadline or pick up Kimbrell after the draft.

 

yeah sure fine

 

 

I still wanted more dammit

 

Marginal improvement is still important. If the playoffs are a "crapshoot", it's best to tilt the odds in their favor. The problem is marginal improvement doesn't translate into marginal financial gains.

 

"We're good/great" isn't a justification for not getting better.

 

 

But (maybe?) its justification for waiting until the deadline to see which needs rise to the surface.

 

Admittedly, this does not at all fit the narrative that every game is important. It's probably just me shifting my (false?) hopes for improvement to the trade deadline.

[CubinNY]

 

yeah sure fine

 

 

I still wanted more dammit

 

Marginal improvement is still important. If the playoffs are a "crapshoot", it's best to tilt the odds in their favor. The problem is marginal improvement doesn't translate into marginal financial gains.

 

"We're good/great" isn't a justification for not getting better.

 

 

But (maybe?) its justification for waiting until the deadline to see which needs rise to the surface.

 

Admittedly, this does not at all fit the narrative that every game is important. It's probably just me shifting my (false?) hopes for improvement to the trade deadline.

It is justification, you never know what injuries are going to happen and resources are finite. I'm still sore about Harper.

[Bryants Disco Ball]

 

Marginal improvement is still important. If the playoffs are a "crapshoot", it's best to tilt the odds in their favor. The problem is marginal improvement doesn't translate into marginal financial gains.

 

"We're good/great" isn't a justification for not getting better.

 

 

But (maybe?) its justification for waiting until the deadline to see which needs rise to the surface.

 

Admittedly, this does not at all fit the narrative that every game is important. It's probably just me shifting my (false?) hopes for improvement to the trade deadline.

It is justification, you never know what injuries are going to happen and resources are finite. I'm still sore about Harper.

 

Super Unpopular opinion: I'm now happy we didn't sign Harper for 13 years.

[Cubswin11]

This seems like a quick return to action for him already

 

[tweet]

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[TruffleShuffle]

https://twitter.com/bobbybigwheel/status/1126097830689615873

[Bertz]

The Cubs' Offense is currently:

 

-1st in Runs per Game

-2nd in wRC+

-4th in average

-1st in OBP

-4th in slugging

-1st in Walk Rate

-15th in strikeout rate

-4th in ISO

-4th highest in Groundball Rate (thanks a lot Albert)

-6th in BABIP

-3rd in HR/FB rate

 

Phenomenal numbers. A tad lucky looking at those last two, but neither number is high enough to be that big of a red flag. For instance last year in the first half the Cubs were running a super high BABIP, which probably somewhat explains the second half crash.

 

The Cubs pitching is:

 

-10th in runs allowed per game

-7th in ERA

-13th in FIP

-4th in xFIP

-11th in K rate

-27th in BB rate (thanks Yu)

-1st (by a decent margin) in groundball rate

-12th in BABIP

-4th worst in HR/FB rate

 

Good numbers, and that last number indicates they are likely a bit unlucky to boot. Not as sexy as the offense, but clearly they are an above average pitching staff.

 

Basically Super Cubs are back, and if Yu gets his horsefeathers together we'll have to figure out some new name to indicate that they've ascended beyond Super Cubs. Super Cubs Blue or something.

[woodchip2153]

https://twitter.com/bobbybigwheel/status/1126097830689615873

 

When did this become a white power symbol? When I was younger we made this symbol for horsefeathers.

 

*not arguing this isn't a white power symbol. Anyone that's watched any news the last few years, should know it's a white power symbol. Just wondering if it's always been that way, so I'm the horsefeathers.

[Old Style]

.

[jersey cubs fan]

https://twitter.com/bobbybigwheel/status/1126097830689615873

 

When did this become a white power symbol? When I was younger we made this symbol for horsefeathers.

 

*not arguing this isn't a white power symbol. Anyone that's watched any news the last few years, should know it's a white power symbol. Just wondering if it's always been that way, so I'm the horsefeathers.

[Old Style]

https://twitter.com/bobbybigwheel/status/1126097830689615873

 

When did this become a white power symbol? When I was younger we made this symbol for horsefeathers.

 

*not arguing this isn't a white power symbol. Anyone that's watched any news the last few years, should know it's a white power symbol. Just wondering if it's always been that way, so I'm the horsefeathers.

As kids we did that symbol and when someone looked at it you got to punch them. If they put their finger in the circle before you noticed they got to punch you.

[GaryWoods]

https://twitter.com/bobbybigwheel/status/1126097830689615873

 

When did this become a white power symbol? When I was younger we made this symbol for horsefeathers.

 

*not arguing this isn't a white power symbol. Anyone that's watched any news the last few years, should know it's a white power symbol. Just wondering if it's always been that way, so I'm the horsefeathers.

 

It's not. For it to be the "white power" symbol it would have to be held upright so that the third, fourth, and fifth fingers form a "W" and the thumb, index finger, and wrist form a "P".

 

This dude is obviously playing the circle game. We used to play it at Menards all the time. You hold your hand in that position and try to get someone to look, and if they do you get to punch them in the shoulder or something. By getting everyone who tuned in to the broadcast to look this guy won in a big way. He should get season tickets rather than being the subject of an investigation.

[UK]

That symbol evolved into a white power symbol. If there was anyone deserves the Bartman treatment, it's this guy.

 

I can't believe he's doing it as its previous meaning before white supremacy became mainstream again.

[jersey cubs fan]

It's not. For it to be the "white power" symbol it would have to be held upright so that the third, fourth, and fifth fingers form a "W" and the thumb, index finger, and wrist form a "P".

 

This dude is obviously playing the circle game. We used to play it at Menards all the time. You hold your hand in that position and try to get someone to look, and if they do you get to punch them in the shoulder or something. By getting everyone who tuned in to the broadcast to look this guy won in a big way. He should get season tickets rather than being the subject of an investigation.

You're wrong. You're being ridiculous.