8/4 Royals (Singer) at Cubs (Professor) 7:15 CDT Marquee

[Gilby]

Kyle Ryan is totally cooked

[itisallpartoftheplan]

IL trip for Kimbrel on Thursday?

[Tim]

:flythew: :flythew: :flythew: :flythew: :flythew:

[UMFan83]

With the Brewers losing, we’ve managed to build a 4 game division lead within the first 11 games of the season. Not bad.

[Cubswin11]

#WeAreGood :flythew:

[Brian707]

KB

 

Our RD sucks for a 9-2 team

 

In a short season, I don't care. I'd rather be 9-2 with a horsefeathers RD, than 5-6 with a +15 RD. Sox beat the Brewers again, and the Cardinals went to a casino.

[Regular Show]

They really need to place Kimbrel on the IL with a fake injury. I'm worried Ross thinks Kimbrel can get this turned around and remembers his golden years in Atl too fondly. He isn't that dude anymore...

 

I think Kimbrel is a lost cause in this shortened season. Every game is so important and he's broken.

[Brian707]

With the Brewers losing, we’ve managed to build a 4 game division lead within the first 11 games of the season. Not bad.

 

I think the magic number is 49 to win the division.

[UMFan83]

https://twitter.com/crayestout/status/1290856004968681475?s=21

[David]

https://twitter.com/crayestout/status/1290856004968681475?s=21

 

deleted...what was it?

[Brian707]

https://twitter.com/crayestout/status/1290856004968681475?s=21

 

deleted...what was it?

 

Cubs taking a bus to KC

[soccer10k]

They really need to place Kimbrel on the IL with a fake injury. I'm worried Ross thinks Kimbrel can get this turned around and remembers his golden years in Atl too fondly. He isn't that dude anymore...

 

I think Kimbrel is a lost cause in this shortened season. Every game is so important and he's broken.

 

Only reason I don’t think that Ross feels that way is the quick hook. If he really felt that way, he leaves him in for another batter.

[soccer10k]

KB

 

Our RD sucks for a 9-2 team

 

We’re at +13 now. The 2016 Cubs were at +14 through two games and +42 through 11 games.

[Cubswin11]

KB

 

Our RD sucks for a 9-2 team

 

We’re at +13 now. The 2016 Cubs were at +14 through two games and +42 through 11 games.

We’re at +24 without shitty and broken Kimbrel and Wieck and garbage ass Brothers.

[bukie]

KB

 

Our RD sucks for a 9-2 team

 

In a short season, I don't care. I'd rather be 9-2 with a horsefeathers RD, than 5-6 with a +15 RD. Sox beat the Brewers again, and the Cardinals went to a casino.

Despite the Cardinals having their season postponed for a week, they've lost more recently than the Cubs.

[The_Achiever]

Keep it going baby

[Regular Show]

[tweet]

[/tweet]

[tweet]

[/tweet]

[ConstableRabbit]

KB

 

Our RD sucks for a 9-2 team

It’s a 60 game season. Who — and I can’t stress this enough — cares?

[Sammy Sofa]

Especially since the Cubs of the previous two seasons did their damndest to show that RD is a crock of horsefeathers.

[ConstableRabbit]

i can't remember ever seeing anything like this

 

Remember when Carlos Marmol completely lost it?

There have been a ton of relievers who've had 1-2 good years and gone to complete horsefeathers. You can't compare Marmol -- who had a couple of good seasons and 1-2 spectacular ones -- to guy on a HOF trajectory like Kimbrel. It's baffling.

[David]

Especially since the Cubs of the previous two seasons did their damndest to show that RD is a crock of horsefeathers.

 

it's definitely not a crock of horsefeathers and how did they do that?

 

the 2018 team (95 wins) was one game off their pythag (94 wins) btw so i'm not sure how that's even an example of anything

[Sammy Sofa]

Especially since the Cubs of the previous two seasons did their damndest to show that RD is a crock of horsefeathers.

 

it's definitely not a crock of horsefeathers and how did they do that?

 

the 2018 team (95 wins) was one game off their pythag (94 wins) btw so i'm not sure how that's even an example of anything

 

It was a tongue in cheek callback to the delightful Vaunted RD-type grousing as they either biffed it completely in the home stretch, or were overtaken by sham frauds.

[Bertz]

I'd believe anything with Kimbrel. His velocity and his spin are both down, but not by a crazy amount. So I'd believe a minor mechanical issue will at some point have him right as rain.

 

I also saw some screengrabs where his glove is not up as high as it used to be. Could simply be that hitters are seeing the ball out of his hand way early? Add a little bit of deception back in, and maybe he's at least back to 2018 Kimbrel?

 

At the same time, he appears to have literally no command. He's the rare occurrence of control but not command. He can throw strikes, but they're all right down the middle. Anytime he tries to finesse a pitch at all it goes wild. I haven't seen this since late career Dontrelle Willis. It seems very much like a "he's irreparably broken" sort of thing.

 

So yeah, I just hope that the offense keeps going nuts and giving us 5+ run leads for him to work with while they figure it out.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

I have nothing to back this up, but I suspect that Kimbrel's incredible pre-Cubs career made it less likely that he'd go off the deep end, but now that he clearly has, I'm not sure how much likelier it makes him to climb out of it. Having consecutive seasons start in the summer with significant layoffs is one thing that is at least consistent in his Cubs tenure that hopefully won't happen next year, so that gives some future optimism to cling to, but that won't help with this season.