10/17 - NLCS Game 3 - dodgers (Darvish) @ World Champs (Prof. Hendricks) - 8:00

[r_mack]

the cubs are playing poorly (and frankly they didn't play too well against the nats either), but the dodgers also really seem to be at the top of their game. need to give some credit to them.

 

Yeah, this bothers me less than the Mets series. The Dodgers are a legitimately great team this year. The Mets were a mediocre team that had four good pitchers happen to stay healthy for a year and Daniel Murphy.

The 2015 team was pretty awesome in the NLDS. This team skated by with some great pitching and luck.

[Hawk4Hall]

#notouryear

[squally1313]

You'd pay Jake what he's going to demand?

Jake should be gone unless we can somehow get him frontloaded for 3 years or less (so...no). Wade yes, but need to figure out either different personnel or a different approach for the guys in the pen, if not both. Zobrist has a no trade clause and is from here, so doubt he's going anywhere, but Happ, Baez, and Almora need to be getting the majority of ABs in second and in center next year. Jay/Avila, whatever.

 

Do whatever you can to get Otani, or at least keep the Dodgers from getting him. If not, I'll trust Theo to pick from Schwarber/Baez/Happ/Almora to get us a starter.

 

Looking at the NL Central, another year like this, which was basically a disappointment, should be more than enough. Only so much you can do to maximize your chances in the playoffs, so no need to blow a ton of cash on anyone not named Otani or Harper.

There’s plenty of playing time for everyone, especially if Jay is gone that we shouldn’t really trade anyone unless we completely whiff on FA pitchers or a advantageous trade pops up but I’d just rather spend money on pitching than deplete the young bats.

I know there are other creative ways to 'spend money' on pitching, but just looking at the free agent market going into this winter, it's pretty unless you think we should go after Darvish. He's the top name, then you go Cueto/Arrieta, then all of a sudden you're in Michael Pineda territory.

[cubsclapp]

Think about the talent we gave up to go for it this year and stick with Russell and Baez - we may have had better talent in the minors we traded away.

 

The heck?

[cubsclapp]

the cubs are playing poorly (and frankly they didn't play too well against the nats either), but the dodgers also really seem to be at the top of their game. need to give some credit to them.

 

Yeah, this bothers me less than the Mets series. The Dodgers are a legitimately great team this year. The Mets were a mediocre team that had four good pitchers happen to stay healthy for a year and Daniel Murphy.

The 2015 team was pretty awesome in the NLDS. This team skated by with some great pitching and luck.

 

They were playing the Cardinals and facing No. 3 starters (Wacha, Garcia, and Lackey). This team had to face the nastiest starting pitcher in baseball right now twice and Max Scherzer (including out of the bullpen in Game 5). They scored 6 runs over 8 innings against Gio Gonzalez (owner of a sub-3 ERA himself).

 

The offense is definitely slumping and pressing, but this was an elite unit for the entire second half. It still is an elite unit. One that isn't on top of their game at the moment... and largely because they're facing aces and nasty relievers every single game.

 

The opposition in both series has been doing very little against the Cubs' starting pitching as well, because those are actually good pitchers. The bullpen walking the world and serving up more meatballs than Chef horsefeathering Boyardee makes it look much worse than it's really been. This offense didn't all of a sudden become horsefeathers. They ran into awesome pitchers that are executing and that's what is usually gonna happen. Notice how the Cubs actually had a rally going when Ross Stripling was in the game and Kenley Jansen came in and quickly ended that. Stephen Strasburg, Max Scherzer, Gio Gonzalez, Sean Doolittle, Ryan Madson, Clayton Kershaw, Rich Hill (who we knew was an awful matchup for this group), Yu Darvish, Brandon Morrow, Kenley Jansen... even if the Cubs were on top of their game at the plate, they'd likely be doing very little against these pitchers if the pitchers executed, which they have been.

[UMFan83]

So I've been on a cruise this week. Been able to watch the games but not follow on NSBB or twitter. All I got is: what the hell?

 

Go out there and kick some ass in your (likely) last Cubs start Jake!

[LeonDurham]

Frustrating. But this could happen to any team. I don’t think the team is overmatched in terms of talent with th dodgers. They are just getting outplayed.

 

Improvement is going to have to come from within. Not with crazy moves that Theo is magically going to make with no real impact free agents and no real prospects in minors. Next years team will be more or less the same with some tweaks to the pen and changing out Jake for another pitcher who may or not be as good.

 

Offense lost the series. What needs to happen is the guys in their early 20s have to improve like guys that age tend to do. Russell, Baez, happ, schwarber. Even Bryant hasn’t hit his peak producing age.

 

This year I think the whole organization blew off any sort of preparation with the objective of recovering from a WS hangover.

[toonsterwu]

I'll be honest - I thought this was a flawed team, and never liked the matchup with the Nationals ... but I thought they could handle this matchup. The lack of offensive productivity is as much a testament to the Dodgers as it is about our key guys slumping. It happens. This was a flawed team that made it back to the NLCS.

 

Looking ahead, barring a miracle ... for all the focus on the rotation, I'm not that concerned about it. Don't get me wrong - we definitely need another starter, and probably 2 (some sort of reclamation project type for the 5th starter is fine), but we shot our minor league bullets to get our TOR for next year already, and Lester/Hendricks are fine. I think Arrieta's gone. The market for the top tier guys is going to be costly, and I'm not sure if we're ready to dip in that financial pond. I'm not setting high expectations on the rotation front - if we do somehow land Otani or Darvish, awesome.

 

I'm more concerned about the areas that we can likely make a bigger impact - the lineup (specifically, a top of the lineup type hitter) and the pen. On the lineup - I think we badly missed Fowler's productivity last year, and I think finding a way to get a more productive bat in there at the top (I mean, Cubs #1 hitters OBP was fairly bleh iirc) would put the dangerous Bryant/Rizzo/Contreras grouping in a better position to do damage. Of course, the areas where we can add guys are fairly limited, and that probably means making long-term decisions on guys like Schwarber/Baez/Almora. I would love someone like Christian Yelich, as I think he would be great leading off, but that might be shooting a bit high, as he'd likely cost a ton. I wonder about someone like Cesar Hernandez - a good glove at 2nd, and a better propensity to work the count at the top of a lineup. Still, is he an upgrade on Jon Jay to justify making these moves? Dunno, I'm not sure what the answer is, other than the revolving door isn't the best option. For all the talk about the Red Sox needing a power bat, I wonder if they'd be open to some sort of Schwarber for Betts type of deal? Probably not.

 

As for the pen, well, I'm not real sure what to do there. I think Wade Davis might be too costly to keep, so I'd like to target someone cheaper, while still building up pen depth. With all the ways that pen arms are "found", I just don't know if spending big on the pen is worth it when the problems clearly run deeper than that. Don't get me wrong - we're going to have to spend on the pen, whether it be with trades or money in FA, but shelling out big bucks has never been my cup of tea. Perhaps Wade Davis' former Rays running mate in Jake McGee, plus another veteran, like Luke Gregerson, could be brought in to compete for the late inning roles. Maples/CJ Edwards will be in the mix next year. Specifically, though, I'd like to see the Cubs make decisions on some arms in the minors and see if they could help for the pen. I'm thinking Trevor Clifton might be a thought - he might be able to ramp it up a bit more and be a bit more electric out of the pen. I'd like to see them move, if he's around, Duane Underwood to the pen and see if there's anything there. There are other guys - do the Cubs feel Alzolay can make it as a starter? If not, fast-tracking him as a pen arm could help, with his strike-throwing capabilities. I still see a bit of Zach Britton in Justin Steele, so I still wonder if Steele might be better off moved. The short of it is this - our window is now, and while in general, you build starters until they can't do it anymore, the Cubs may have to, on certain players, ask if it's worth it for them to keep plugging them along as starters if they could perhaps help in this window.

[toonsterwu]

More I think about it, more I am curious about what it might take to land Cesar Hernandez. I mean, it's a nice surge in the past 1.5 years. He's getting costly, and Scott Kingery just had a huge season in the minors and may be ready to challenge for a spot at 2nd. If it doesn't take an arm and a leg, he'd be a good glove at 2nd and a possible leadoff option. That opens the Cubs up to shop Baez and other pieces for perhaps a young starter. Of course, I may be under-valuing what it might take to get Cesar Hernandez in this scenario.

[squally1313]

I'm open to those two ideas, but I think you're putting them backwards, if that make sense. If the right trade is out there for a young (or really, just effective) starter that requires a Baez/Happ/Schwarber/Almora, I'm all for exploring that option.

 

But I think we're still in an enviable position where we'll go into Opening Day next year as the overwhelming favorite to win the division. And I don't think it's prudent to sacrifice the potential upside of a guy like Baez for a marginal upgrade like Hernandez. I get that Baez has 1300 PAs at this point, but he's shown offensive improvement over last year, and I'd expect his defensive numbers to come back strong next year (mostly because, per FG, he graded out lower than Robinson Cano this year).

 

Reduce PAs for Zobrist and whatever Jon Jay figure we bring in, and give those guys at least 4 months to see what they can show.

[soccer10k]

So I've been on a cruise this week. Been able to watch the games but not follow on NSBB or twitter. All I got is: what the hell?

 

Go out there and kick some ass in your (likely) last Cubs start Jake!

 

I agree. You ignoring your game thread duties probably cost us the series. In the 9th on Sunday Joe was thinking, "Well if UMFan doesn't care, then I don't care either. Hey Bos, get Lackey warm."

[Old Style]

Wait 'til next year.

[UMFan83]

So I've been on a cruise this week. Been able to watch the games but not follow on NSBB or twitter. All I got is: what the hell?

 

Go out there and kick some ass in your (likely) last Cubs start Jake!

 

I agree. You ignoring your game thread duties probably cost us the series. In the 9th on Sunday Joe was thinking, "Well if UMFan doesn't care, then I don't care either. Hey Bos, get Lackey warm."

 

sorry for assuming we would sweep before I boarded the ship

[Sammy Sofa]

So I've been on a cruise this week. Been able to watch the games but not follow on NSBB or twitter. All I got is: what the hell?

 

Go out there and kick some ass in your (likely) last Cubs start Jake!

 

I agree. You ignoring your game thread duties probably cost us the series. In the 9th on Sunday Joe was thinking, "Well if UMFan doesn't care, then I don't care either. Hey Bos, get Lackey warm."

 

sorry for assuming we would sweep before I boarded the ship

 

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[AramFan]

Think about the talent we gave up to go for it this year and stick with Russell and Baez - we may have had better talent in the minors we traded away.

 

The heck?

 

All I can say is Octoberfest, Wine and then Balvenie when it ended....