Cubs (Wicks) vs Rangers (Gray): 3/31/24, 1:35pm, Marquee

[PackLandVA]

2 minutes ago, Rob said:

The rule has always been if you post a thread and they win, you continue to post until they lose.

By rights, you're up for the next one.

Agree.

Not much fun taking turns, game by game. Was always nice to have a little "standings" set up, at least early in the season.  See who the "hot" posters are when a losing streak needed to be broken, etc. 

[Brock Beauchamp]

Okay fine, I'll take tomorrow.

[Stratos]

2 hours ago, PeanutPunch33 said:

He's got all the tools to succeed in LF, if I recall Happ wasn't always the best defensive player out there and then he grew into the role.  Morel has way better physical tools to grow into that role than Happ did and certainly a better role for him than 3rd base. 

Happ is just a guy.  

Happ has 2 gold gloves, is a good hitter, and seems like a gamer/competitor.

Morel sucks at fielding and I don't see it changing any time soon.  Lots of speed and agility but no instincts or skills, and a very powerful arm but can't throw a ball where he wants.  He probably needs to spend literally years at one position for any hope to just be anywhere near average defensively.  Corner OF and 2B might be his best bets but the Cubs nerfed his career by moving him around positions in the minors and leaving him with no skills or instincts anywhere.

[We Got The Whole 9]

OMG the Cubs are 1-2 😭

[Stratos]

3 hours ago, Rcal10 said:

Just a guy with a WAR of 4.4 in 22 and 3.0 in 23. Happ is not just a guy. He is a good ballplayer. Morel should not take Happ’s spot. Maybe he is just the DH. 

He's either a DH on the Cubs or he needs to go to crappy team where he can move around and find some position where he's comfortable and not terrible and just stay there to develop.  I'm fine with him as DH.  They just need a solution at 3B until Shaw is ready.  Cubs should hit enough for Madrigal to be ok there.

This rotation puts balls in play so I can't see Morel working there if he keeps being this bad.  Nothing has changed over the last month in ST, he's still terrible and still has no idea what he's doing and he's not going to suddenly get a lot better.

[Stratos]

2 hours ago, Rcal10 said:

Maybe Wicks isn’t going to be that. But he was actually good today. Defense let him down. Had swing and miss stuff today and was throwing 94-95 up in the zone. If he continues to do that and maybe the Cubs catch the ball, he will be fine. 
Also, doesn’t Steele count as good young pitching talent? 

They're playing the Rangers too.  WS champs and had the best offense in AL last year and now have Langford also.  Not worried about Wicks/Hendricks/Brown at this point.

[Derwood]

23 minutes ago, We Got The Whole 9 said:

OMG the Cubs are 1-2 😭

This is really going to hurt their chances to make the College Football Playoff

[Bertz]

Good win, and honestly good series.  On the road against a team of this caliber you're happy with 1/3.  A few things that stood out for me:

- Morel made A TON of contact and still hit the hell out of the ball.  He might have leveled up from good bat to special bat

- The defense has uhhh.... not leveled up accordingly

- Good god Michael Busch has a good plate approach

- Not a great outing overall, but a ton of swing and miss from Wicks today.  Very encouraging 

- Aside from the modest velo spike, Hendricks outing was about as concerning as one outing can be

- Luke Little absolutely attacked the zone during his outing.  If he continues throwing strikes combined with Leiter looking fixed here early the pen could end up dominant

[Stratos]

2 hours ago, Rcal10 said:

Don’t misunderstand me, I also think he is good and will be a very solid starter. My comment was to the poster who suggested otherwise. Obviously he isn’t impressed.

Wicks only gave up 2 ER today due to the errors.  6K in 4 IP is pretty good vs Texas.

[Illiterate Scholar]

In addition to the bad defense, another downside of Morel starting at 3B is you potentially lose his bat late in close games. 

[Southpaw19]

Gray road set: 1-0
Stupid, ugly blue road top: 0-2

Just saying...

[Irrelevant Dude]

Tomorrow looks like a rough day weather-wise for the home opener.  Does anyone know, historically, how the Cubs have handled similar home openers?  The wise thing to do would be to call the game early tomorrow and play it when the weather is nicer, but are they going to try to milk the opening day crowd for as long as possible and try to find a cold, wet window somewhere during the day?

[Tryptamine]

Just now, Irrelevant Dude said:

Tomorrow looks like a rough day weather-wise for the home opener.  Does anyone know, historically, how the Cubs have handled similar home openers?  The wise thing to do would be to call the game early tomorrow and play it when the weather is nicer, but are they going to try to milk the opening day crowd for as long as possible and try to find a cold, wet window somewhere during the day?

Granted it's been a while so it's a bit hazy, but I was at opening day with Fukudome in 2008 I believe and despite lots of rain, they just kept having delays and then resuming the game during the times when we were between storms. 

[mfcubs22]

Not like Tuesday or Wednesday look any better. 

[Jason Ross]

Yeah, I went in...2012? Or was it 2011? Either way, it was Cubs vs Pirates. The weather was rainy, cold, and generally miserable. That game happened.  They cared very little that it sucked outside. 

[JunkyardWalrus]

37 minutes ago, Southpaw19 said:

Gray road set: 1-0
Stupid, ugly blue road top: 0-2

Just saying...

The only stats that matter. 

[Irrelevant Dude]

43 minutes ago, Southpaw19 said:

Gray road set: 1-0
Stupid, ugly blue road top: 0-2

Just saying...

Those blue shirts should have been fired into the sun a long time ago.  They can go with the grays, the old blue tops, the baby blue pinstripes... any of those are significantly better choices.

[WhyCantWeWin]

Kris Bryant is 0-10 with 7 k's this year, how far he has fallen. The Cubs should be able to stack some wins against that crap team

[Andy]

2 hours ago, Irrelevant Dude said:

Those blue shirts should have been fired into the sun a long time ago.  They can go with the grays, the old blue tops, the baby blue pinstripes... any of those are significantly better choices.

I like the current blue tops but I would have no arguments at all if they went to the old pullover blues.

Other than this dumb ass name font thing, but apparently that's out of the Cubs' hands

[Derwood]

Last home opener I attended was pitched by Frank Castillo. All I remember was I was upper deck behind home plate and had a constant freezing wind blowing straight in my face.

EDIT: Not Frank Castillo, I guess....maybe Bullinger?

[PackLandVA]

I went to the second game of the season against the Brewers in 2008.  Day game, sunny but cold, wind blowing in, Lilly on the mound, It was all Brewers, and I froze my ass off.   Sat right behind home plate, about 12-15 rows up.  Hot chocolate was the "beer" of the day.