6/8 - Cubs (Symly) vs Angels (Detmers): 8:38pm, Marquee

[Brock Beauchamp]

Two ugly losses in a row, hopefully the Cubs can salvage a win in this series before moving on to San Francisco.

[muntjack]

I know he's struggled, but is there really no room in this lineup for a 23 year-old who is slugging .639?  

 

[Transmogrified Tiger]

14 minutes ago, muntjack said:

I know he's struggled, but is there really no room in this lineup for a 23 year-old who is slugging .639?  

 

There's a lot of not great options at the end of the lineup/bench right now.  Since his HR streak ended, Morel has a .251 OPS and 36% K%, plus he hasn't looked MLB caliber in the OF which narrows the ways he can be used.

[Nolansomebody]

 

I don't really look at stats much, but dang, Tauchman's having a good streak. He has a .333 batting average in his last 10 games.

[muntjack]

Tauchman is slugging .318 and has a .419 babip.  Get ready for:

1. A precipitous descent.

2. Ross to hang on to him far too long. 

 

[CubinNY]

1 hour ago, Transmogrified Tiger said:

There's a lot of not great options at the end of the lineup/bench right now.  Since his HR streak ended, Morel has a .251 OPS and 36% K%, plus he hasn't looked MLB caliber in the OF which narrows the ways he can be used.

At this point does it matter? He needs to play almost every day. Same with Mervis. If they aren't going to do that, they might as well send them down. They're obtaining the same amount of information. 

[Transmogrified Tiger]

16 minutes ago, CubinNY said:

At this point does it matter? He needs to play almost every day. Same with Mervis. If they aren't going to do that, they might as well send them down. They're obtaining the same amount of information. 

I would be fine with swapping Morel for Madrigal, but Morel doesn't exactly have a ton to prove with more AAA time.  Mervis I think will get more PA with how often he's squaring up the ball even if results aren't coming, he's been more a victim of circumstance with a weird stretch of LH SP and the team doing its best to value the season and play to win.

[TomtheBombadil]

28 minutes ago, CubinNY said:

At this point does it matter?

Of course it does. Even this super version of Morel has a .318 OBP, 36% K rate, more chase, whiffs than last year, and bad defense 

Tbh I hope they pick their spots with his playing time and do one of those Sell Highs at the TDL 

Edited June 9 by TomtheBombadil

[PackLandVA]

Hot Take

Cubs know they're basically out of it already because they just don't have the talent (let alone depth).  So they're gonna ride Wisdom, Mancini, a few of the relievers, maybe even Madrigal hoping they get lucky one gets on a mini heater.  More trade value.  No trade value sitting on the bench not getting ABs. Cubs go young immediately following the ASB.

[Andy]

Maybe if Boog and Doug mention a few hundred more times how terrible Detmers is the 3rd time through the order we'll do something

Edited June 9 by Andy

[UMFan83]

15-30 in their last 45 after they lose this one. That’s playing at a 54 win pace for almost 30% of the season

[Tryptamine]

If Mancini puts any hustle at all into that trot, he's sitting at 1B. The 3B actually had time to lob it over and still beat Mancini to the bag.

[Tryptamine]

22 runs in the last 9 games, good for 2.44 runs a game. 7 of those 22 came in 1 game. 

[PackLandVA]

They aren’t in a slump. They’re just bad. What could they get in a trade of Dansby?

[champaignchris]

51 minutes ago, UMFan83 said:

15-30 in their last 45 after they lose this one. That’s playing at a 54 win pace for almost 30% of the season

In those 15 wins, opponents only scored 20 runs,. Basically, unless the pitching completely shuts the opponent down, the Cubs don’t win. 

[Tryptamine]

On pace for 68-94 despite the hot start. 100 losses seems very doable. 

[CubsLeaf]

Went from "we're too reliant on the home run" to "we can't hit any home runs".  

[Andy]

5 hours ago, CubsLeaf said:

Went from "we're too reliant on the home run" to "we can't hit any home runs".  

That was a spectacularly predictable development. In retrospect the fact that Jed targeted Madrigal in that Kimbrel trade was a horrible sign of what was coming

[UMFan83]

Yes I'm using an arbitrary start date, but the Cubs offense since April 22nd (42 games):

Runs scored - 150 (Last)

BB% - 10.4% (2nd)

K% - 26.5% (28th)

ISO - .140 (27th)

AVG - .224 (29th)

OBP - .310 (19th)

SLG - .364 (29th)

wOBA - .299 (25th)

wRC+ - 86 (25th) - If you move the start date to May 2nd its 82 and dead last.

 

 

 

 

 

[TomtheBombadil]

Ftr this big offensive slump has dropped then from a top 3 OBP into mid-late May to 12th with just 7.1 fWAR from position players (top 10 to 16)…Which is to say things are bad and ugly but I’m not pooping my pants just yet. 2023 was never really going to be pretty (actually part of why I wanted Swanson’s makeup vs one of the fancier names used to cleaner/safer conditions), and last year’s NL WS rep was no better (14th in OBP, 7.4 fWAR from position players) on this date

It’s almost literally a 600 team playoff field and they’re single digits behind in every race. They’re still not tanking…if anything the FO should be looking for The Next possible Brandon Marsh and Jose Alvarado level acquisition, get Taillon patched up…maybe graduate a SP if Wesneski isn’t as plug and play at the position as hoped 

Edited June 9 by TomtheBombadil