5/2 Cubs (Hammel) @ Pirates (Cole) 6:05 CSN/ESPN

[Tim]

I think if we settle on Javy as an everyday player, we'll eventually move to Zobrist to left. I agree: Javy is a stud and needs to play in the infield, preferably up the middle. Bryant is a plus defender at third. Let him stay there. Zobrist is the weak link defensively on the infield. And he's played left a lot. But, the pact makes sense, for now. Zobrist's coming off of an injury. He's getting older. He doesn't need to be a super utility player, and he probably shouldn't be anyway. Let's keep him nice and comfortable at the one spot, get him settled in, and maybe we'll move him later on. Bryant playing half his time in left isn't going to kill his value or anything. And the difference between him or Zobrist playing in the infield really isn't too much.

 

Ideally we would rather have Zobrist out in left. But, we'll cross that bridge when we need to do so. But, I just don't think they are going to move him to left until it is clear that he is only going to play left. Make Javy force our hand.

I think the desire to give Zobrist a consistent spot makes giving him LF harder. They still want to give Soler a decent number of at bats. That becomes very difficult if Zobrist is in the OF. With Zobrist at 2B, it's easier to shuttle guys in and out.

[Cubswin11]

The other thing to consider with moving Zobrist to LF, or the OF in general, is he did have a knee problem last year and playing the OF has a far greater impact/wear and tear on the knees than the INF. Not to mention that with the knee issue last year and his age, he likely has pretty limited range wherever he plays in the OF.

[Aaron_Kennelly]

I think if we settle on Javy as an everyday player, we'll eventually move to Zobrist to left. I agree: Javy is a stud and needs to play in the infield, preferably up the middle. Bryant is a plus defender at third. Let him stay there. Zobrist is the weak link defensively on the infield. And he's played left a lot. But, the pact makes sense, for now. Zobrist's coming off of an injury. He's getting older. He doesn't need to be a super utility player, and he probably shouldn't be anyway. Let's keep him nice and comfortable at the one spot, get him settled in, and maybe we'll move him later on. Bryant playing half his time in left isn't going to kill his value or anything. And the difference between him or Zobrist playing in the infield really isn't too much.

 

Ideally we would rather have Zobrist out in left. But, we'll cross that bridge when we need to do so. But, I just don't think they are going to move him to left until it is clear that he is only going to play left. Make Javy force our hand.

I think the desire to give Zobrist a consistent spot makes giving him LF harder. They still want to give Soler a decent number of at bats. That becomes very difficult if Zobrist is in the OF. With Zobrist at 2B, it's easier to shuttle guys in and out.

 

True. In which case, Jorge either goes away, or he rights the ship and we just have awesomeness everywhere and Zobrist gets told to suck it up and switch back and forth like he has his whole career. I'm just not too worried about it this early in the year. Maybe someone -- gasp -- gets injured, or Jorge doesn't improve, or whatever. It will fix itself eventually. And if it doesn't, then around mid-season you tell Zobrist tough horsefeathers.

 

That Russell-Baez DP combo up the middle is so damn enjoyable, though. I hope we saw more of it at some point, with Bryant at third. But I can wait.

[jersey cubs fan]

Knew we were getting garbage Hammel today. Predictable.

we should start every game thread with that statement about you

[squally1313]

Pretty much everyone is making reasonable points on the playing time discussion, and man they are so fun to read. Do we play our 6 WAR plus third baseman at third or should we move him to left, where he's also probably plus, to get our former top donging infield prospect who's maybe figured it out some at bats? If not, then we have to 'worry' about making the best utility player of the last 10 years actually become a utility player, and no matter what you've got two top prospects fighting for limited at bats, and that's before the other two dudes on bench both OPSing about 1000. And part of the reason ABs are so limited are because you have the best defensive right fielder in baseball playing next to the best player in baseball so far this year.

 

Oh yeah, and this is all with our swaggiest donger, all of 23 years, chilling on the DL for the year.

[Banedon]

http://mlb.nbcsports.com/2016/05/03/and-that-happened-mondays-scores-and-highlights-156/

 

I dunno, but there was plunking here, starting with Jason Hammel hitting Starling Marte to lead off the sixth followed by Kyle Lobstein hitting Ben Zobrist in the seventh. Hard to deny that Hammel hitting Marte wasn’t retaliation for Tony Watson hitting Jake Arrieta in the Wild Card Game last year, though I’m sure everyone denied it.

 

Oh....ok.

[Banedon]

A story from pregame yesterday....

 

As the Cubs took the field for batting practice, Pirates' in-game host Joe Klimchak was practicing for some type of drawing that will take place in the park tonight. Over the PA system he excitedly announced the mock winner, "Congratulations, Janet!" The Cubs' players played right along and, in unison, celebrated fictional Janet's good fortune: "Janet!", "Awesome, Janet!", "Love you, Janet!" "We knew you could do it!" This went on for ten minutes. Later, a group of about 150 PNC Park workers started to chant "Let's go Bucs!," as they always do just before the park opens. The Cubs players were insulted, "Hey, we were being nice and now you had go and do that," "That's cold, man."

 

http://www.bucsdugout.com/2016/5/2/11572334/pregame-cubs-come-to-town-for-big-err-non-routine-series

[ScrubMD]

A story from pregame yesterday....

 

As the Cubs took the field for batting practice, Pirates' in-game host Joe Klimchak was practicing for some type of drawing that will take place in the park tonight. Over the PA system he excitedly announced the mock winner, "Congratulations, Janet!" The Cubs' players played right along and, in unison, celebrated fictional Janet's good fortune: "Janet!", "Awesome, Janet!", "Love you, Janet!" "We knew you could do it!" This went on for ten minutes. Later, a group of about 150 PNC Park workers started to chant "Let's go Bucs!," as they always do just before the park opens. The Cubs players were insulted, "Hey, we were being nice and now you had go and do that," "That's cold, man."

 

http://www.bucsdugout.com/2016/5/2/11572334/pregame-cubs-come-to-town-for-big-err-non-routine-series

 

Our team is just objectively cooler than other teams. Their dorks are sitting around like obsessive ex-bf's thinking about retaliation from last year and our cool dudes are cheering on Janet.

[UMFan83]

A story from pregame yesterday....

 

As the Cubs took the field for batting practice, Pirates' in-game host Joe Klimchak was practicing for some type of drawing that will take place in the park tonight. Over the PA system he excitedly announced the mock winner, "Congratulations, Janet!" The Cubs' players played right along and, in unison, celebrated fictional Janet's good fortune: "Janet!", "Awesome, Janet!", "Love you, Janet!" "We knew you could do it!" This went on for ten minutes. Later, a group of about 150 PNC Park workers started to chant "Let's go Bucs!," as they always do just before the park opens. The Cubs players were insulted, "Hey, we were being nice and now you had go and do that," "That's cold, man."

 

http://www.bucsdugout.com/2016/5/2/11572334/pregame-cubs-come-to-town-for-big-err-non-routine-series

 

I'm surprised you didn't post the next blurb about the Pirates player watching the Cubs-Braves game on TV and outwardly acting annoyed seeing the Cubs score 5 runs in the 8th to win. We're in their heads and its only May.

[David]

A story from pregame yesterday....

 

As the Cubs took the field for batting practice, Pirates' in-game host Joe Klimchak was practicing for some type of drawing that will take place in the park tonight. Over the PA system he excitedly announced the mock winner, "Congratulations, Janet!" The Cubs' players played right along and, in unison, celebrated fictional Janet's good fortune: "Janet!", "Awesome, Janet!", "Love you, Janet!" "We knew you could do it!" This went on for ten minutes. Later, a group of about 150 PNC Park workers started to chant "Let's go Bucs!," as they always do just before the park opens. The Cubs players were insulted, "Hey, we were being nice and now you had go and do that," "That's cold, man."

 

http://www.bucsdugout.com/2016/5/2/11572334/pregame-cubs-come-to-town-for-big-err-non-routine-series

 

I'm surprised you didn't post the next blurb about the Pirates player watching the Cubs-Braves game on TV and outwardly acting annoyed seeing the Cubs score 5 runs in the 8th to win. We're in their heads and its only May.

 

Understandable. It's only May and they already might have to, at best, resign themselves to a one game playoff yet again.

[UMFan83]

More BucsDugout:

 

The Cubs were back in Pittsburgh, and their the blue-jersey-clad fans had popped back out of their hell holes. Before the game they milled about Federal Street, sipping PBR, another thing they totally were just as into five years ago.

 

Is this implying that the Cubs fans are bandwagoners? If so, that's an awfully rich claim on a night when the paid attendance was 18,000 last night. When is the last time the Cubs had a paid attendance of 18,000? The 80s?

[jersey cubs fan]

More BucsDugout:

 

The Cubs were back in Pittsburgh, and their the blue-jersey-clad fans had popped back out of their hell holes. Before the game they milled about Federal Street, sipping PBR, another thing they totally were just as into five years ago.

 

Is this implying that the Cubs fans are bandwagoners? If so, that's an awfully rich claim on a night when the paid attendance was 18,000 last night. When is the last time the Cubs had a paid attendance of 18,000? The 80s?

Pirates fans aren't bandwagoners, they don't support a winning team as much as they don't support a losing team.

[Banedon]

More BucsDugout:

 

The Cubs were back in Pittsburgh, and their the blue-jersey-clad fans had popped back out of their hell holes. Before the game they milled about Federal Street, sipping PBR, another thing they totally were just as into five years ago.

 

Is this implying that the Cubs fans are bandwagoners? If so, that's an awfully rich claim on a night when the paid attendance was 18,000 last night. When is the last time the Cubs had a paid attendance of 18,000? The 80s?

 

All winning teams must be accused of having bandwagon fans. It is sports law.

[itisallpartoftheplan]

http://mlb.nbcsports.com/2016/05/03/and-that-happened-mondays-scores-and-highlights-156/

 

I dunno, but there was plunking here, starting with Jason Hammel hitting Starling Marte to lead off the sixth followed by Kyle Lobstein hitting Ben Zobrist in the seventh. Hard to deny that Hammel hitting Marte wasn’t retaliation for Tony Watson hitting Jake Arrieta in the Wild Card Game last year, though I’m sure everyone denied it.

 

Oh....ok.

 

If only Addison Russell wasn't hit prior to Marte....

[Andy]

More BucsDugout:

 

The Cubs were back in Pittsburgh, and their the blue-jersey-clad fans had popped back out of their hell holes. Before the game they milled about Federal Street, sipping PBR, another thing they totally were just as into five years ago.

 

Is this implying that the Cubs fans are bandwagoners? If so, that's an awfully rich claim on a night when the paid attendance was 18,000 last night. When is the last time the Cubs had a paid attendance of 18,000? The 80s?

Probably at some point in the late 90s (wasn't the Wood 20K game a sparsely attended one?), but your point is well-made nonetheless.

[David]

More BucsDugout:

 

The Cubs were back in Pittsburgh, and their the blue-jersey-clad fans had popped back out of their hell holes. Before the game they milled about Federal Street, sipping PBR, another thing they totally were just as into five years ago.

 

Is this implying that the Cubs fans are bandwagoners? If so, that's an awfully rich claim on a night when the paid attendance was 18,000 last night. When is the last time the Cubs had a paid attendance of 18,000? The 80s?

Probably at some point in the late 90s (wasn't the Wood 20K game a sparsely attended one?), but your point is well-made nonetheless.

 

We did have a game in those dark dark days of 2013 (September vs the Marlins) that got as low as 20,696.

 

I wonder if that's the lowest since 2000 or maybe early in 01...I'm guessing the tide officially turned on that in like 01.

[UMFan83]

More BucsDugout:

 

 

 

Is this implying that the Cubs fans are bandwagoners? If so, that's an awfully rich claim on a night when the paid attendance was 18,000 last night. When is the last time the Cubs had a paid attendance of 18,000? The 80s?

Probably at some point in the late 90s (wasn't the Wood 20K game a sparsely attended one?), but your point is well-made nonetheless.

 

We did have a game in those dark dark days of 2013 (September vs the Marlins) that got as low as 20,696.

 

I wonder if that's the lowest since 2000 or maybe early in 01...I'm guessing the tide officially turned on that in like 01.

 

I looked this morning, we had ~18,500 to a game in early 2002. I think 2003 was the start of the modern era of Cub fandom, but even then under 20k at a game was a rare well into the 90s

[jersey cubs fan]

I looked this morning, we had ~18,500 to a game in early 2002. I think 2003 was the start of the modern era of Cub fandom, but even then under 20k at a game was a rare well into the 90s

I believe 1998 was the beginning. Starting that year it became a hotter ticket. They set an attendance record the next season despite sucking, the whole buying online in February idea was born and while they stayed bad a couple more years the mood was set. Bleachers seats on weekends were $100, and bleacher expansion ideas began to get kicked around, so that going into 2003, it was the stage was set.

[Banedon]

Yeah, surely it was 98.