7/21 - Cardinals (Flaherty) vs Cubs (Steele): 1:20pm, Apple TV+

[Nolansomebody]

The Cubs won and Mastrobouni hit a home run?

That's horsefeathers right there.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

Someone added today's game to the Controversies section of Kulpa's wikipedia page, which uh, does not include incidents of similar magnitude

 

[JD94]

Why is Fulmer starting tomorrow and not Smyly?

[Irrelevant Dude]

2 minutes ago, JD94 said:

Why is Fulmer starting tomorrow and not Smyly?

Whaaaaaa?

[JD94]

13 minutes ago, Irrelevant Dude said:

Whaaaaaa?

Yep. Some speculation he will be an “opener” for Wesneski. Wesneski hasn’t pitched since Sunday and isn’t starting tonight, his scheduled start day. I’m not sure if it’s injury related or what. I doubt it’s trade related. I’m guessing injury. 

[UMFan83]

4 minutes ago, JD94 said:

Yep. Some speculation he will be an “opener” for Wesneski. Wesneski hasn’t pitched since Sunday and isn’t starting tonight, his scheduled start day. I’m not sure if it’s injury related or what. I doubt it’s trade related. I’m guessing injury. 

Maybe giving Smyly a breather too since he’s been absolutely terrible lately

[Transmogrified Tiger]

I wouldn't rule out a trade angle.  Smyly has been a capable SP and has another year on his contract that some teams might want over a rental.  More importantly, if Wesneski is coming up to pitch you just start him, there's no need to mess with an opener. So something odd is happening that's related to Smyly, be it a trade, illness, personal matter, or an injury with an unknown severity.

[JD94]

4 minutes ago, Transmogrified Tiger said:

I wouldn't rule out a trade angle.  Smyly has been a capable SP and has another year on his contract that some teams might want over a rental.  More importantly, if Wesneski is coming up to pitch you just start him, there's no need to mess with an opener. So something odd is happening that's related to Smyly, be it a trade, illness, personal matter, or an injury with an unknown severity.

The main reason I don’t think it’s trade related is because I saw somebody say this Saturday was listed as TBD before the series even started. Sure, it’s possible it’s trade related, but if a deal was close enough to go TBD on Saturday, it shouldn’t take 3 days to finalize it. I lean injury. The Cubs probably have known about it, but didn’t see the point in making the roster move until tomorrow. 

[Jason Ross]

I can only hope Smyly gets traded.  He's over performed his xFIP pretty significantly over this last 1.5 years and I don't have much belief in him moving forward.  I was quite disappointed to see the team had resigned him to a two year contract in the offseason.  Strange, however, to see him skipped/paused here.   

Edited July 22, 2023 by 1908_Cubs

[chibears55]

Pretty weird how they would have Fulmer start as an opener considering he struggled today.

 

[Jason Ross]

1 minute ago, chibears55 said:

Pretty weird how they would have Fulmer start as an opener considering he struggled today.

 

Yeah, it's a weird thing.  It'd make sense if they were trying to get out a bunch of hitters that maybe the piggy-backer would struggle with...but both Wesneski and Fulmer are guys who are slider heavy and therefore struggle against LHH...so it's not like there's anything gained here or reverse splits type thing.  I don't get it.

[Jason Ross]

Tommy Birch, beat writer of the Iowa Cubs, just listed Hayden Wesneski as the Iowa Cubs probable starter for tomorrow.  Take that for what it's worth, as well.

Edited July 22, 2023 by 1908_Cubs

[UMFan83]

I was thinking maybe they were opening with a right hander so that the lineup would have more lefties in it or something for Smyly but looking at splits, he's getting hit much harder by lefties this year.  Plus everyone knows Fulmer isnt going more than 1 inning considering he pitched today, so even if that was a valid strategy, you'd just balance your lineup to factor in 1 inning pitched by a RHP.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

7 minutes ago, chibears55 said:

I didn't notice a minor league thread to put this, but I just saw Brailyn Marquez stats so far for 2023, and it looks impressive.

8 games between Rookie ball and AA, 2 starts, 34 Batters Faced, 8+ IP, 4 hits, 1 R, 0 ER, 4 BB, 10Ks

I'd love to see this guy finally stay healthy and be a part of the roster next season 

There's a whole minor league forum here: https://northsidebaseball.com/forums/forum/44-cubs-minor-league-talk/

We do daily threads to follow games but there's other more general convo too.