Pirates (Skenes, 0-0, 6.75 ERA) vs. Cubs (Hendricks, 0-3, 10.04 ERA) 1:20 CDT

[17 Seconds]

getting close to .500 where they belong

[CubinNY]

Look out, here comes the miraculous come back.

[CubinNY]

Chris going yard here would really be something. 

[chibears55]

Nothing like getting a few runs late to make a blowout close 😏😏😏

[gflore34]

Tomorrow it's the Cubs turn to be on the plus side of a pitching mismatch, not quite the mismatch today was but, close.  For day, at least, I predict the Cubs' bats will come alive vs. Falter.

[Bull]

Great diving catch by the gold glover in LF. I know it’s crazy, but like to see them try him out back at 2B as long as he’s hitting like a middle infielder and both our middle infielders are unavailable.

[Rcal10]

56 minutes ago, Tryptamine said:

I'm starting to believe, the Cubs might not be very good. Injuries have obviously been a huge issue, but if Steele doesn't find himself soon and if both the pen and Kyle continue to be dumpster fires, then this team is going to hovering around the 80-82 win range.

Edited May 17, 2024 by Rcal10

[Rcal10]

50 minutes ago, Tryptamine said:

I'm starting to believe, the Cubs might not be very good. Injuries have obviously been a huge issue, but if Steele doesn't find himself soon and if both the pen and Kyle continue to be dumpster fires, then this team is going to hovering around the 80-82 win range.

Well coming into today they were 25-20. That is a 90 win pace. They have accomplished this with a crazy amount of injuries. I would say they are doing fine. Get healthy, the schedule softens up a bit and they stay the course of a  high 80’s to low 90 win team. If you expected more than that, then sure you should be disappointed. Steele has had 4 starts. And really yesterday he was more unlucky than bad. He will be fine. As for Kyle, I think he is done. But they have enough pitching behind him to take his place. 

[17 Seconds]

i think 80 wins is a lot more likely than 90 wins

[Derwood]

I'm starting to think that PCA doesn't have a good eye at the plate.

Final strike was begging to be hit 450 feet

[UMFan83]

1 hour ago, Tryptamine said:

I'm starting to believe, the Cubs might not be very good. Injuries have obviously been a huge issue, but if Steele doesn't find himself soon and if both the pen and Kyle continue to be dumpster fires, then this team is going to hovering around the 80-82 win range.

Nah we're fine.  Every season in Cubs history has had a stretch like this and there are numerous legitimate reasons why the Cubs are struggling.  And we'll see how the next week plays out but this stretch of struggling?  8-12 over a 20 game stretch.  Not great at all but its not like we're free falling (yet).

The hitting is the only thing that concerns me as it seems like we've been in a funk for awhile but there is still quite a bit of room to improve there.  

I don't think the Cubs are going to win 95 games or anything but they're probably in the 83-88 win range IMO (which actually means we'll play at a worse pace than we've played so far the rest of the year)

Edited May 17, 2024 by UMFan83

[Rcal10]

11 minutes ago, UMFan83 said:

Nah we're fine.  Every season in Cubs history has had a stretch like this and there are numerous legitimate reasons why the Cubs are struggling.  And we'll see how the next week plays out but this stretch of struggling?  8-12 over a 20 game stretch.  Not great at all but its not like we're free falling (yet).

The hitting is the only thing that concerns me as it seems like we've been in a funk for awhile but there is still quite a bit of room to improve there.  

I don't think the Cubs are going to win 95 games or anything but they're probably in the 83-88 win range IMO (which actually means we'll play at a worse pace than we've played so far the rest of the year)

Agreed. And the same thing happens every year.  They start playing bad and suddenly everyone overreacts. I said at the start of the season they are a mid to high 80’s win team. And nothing that has happened up until now has changed my mind. No, they aren’t great. But they are pretty good and most likely a playoff team. 

[17 Seconds]

fangraphs will have them down to 83 wins after this loss. I only see high 80s wins if they get lucky or make significant moves

[UMFan83]

4 minutes ago, 17 Seconds said:

fangraphs will have them down to 83 wins after this loss. I only see high 80s wins if they get lucky or make significant moves

I'm also certain unless they really fall off a cliff that they will make significant moves.  I know Jed is pretty conservative and all that but he's not going to let this team fall 1 game short of the playoffs again.

[17 Seconds]

Just now, UMFan83 said:

I'm also certain unless they really fall off a cliff that they will make significant moves.  I know Jed is pretty conservative and all that but he's not going to let this team fall 1 game short of the playoffs again.

I said the same thing to convince myself we were going to have a cool offseason

[UMFan83]

9 minutes ago, 17 Seconds said:

I said the same thing to convince myself we were going to have a cool offseason

I just don't think Jeds the guy who is going to give you a flashy offseason unless things fall into his lap.  He's gonna build a mid-80s win team, assess where their holes are midseason and go out and try to fortify the roster.   I'm guessing his long term hope is that the top prospects eventually come up and give him cheap star level production and right now he's just biding his time by putting out playoff caliber teams (albeit incomplete ones).

Things are never as bad as they are at their worst and never as good as they are at their best.  And if this is their worst (going 8-12 in a 20 game stretch) then they're probably pretty decent.  But we havent seen whether we've hit the low point of this funk yet I suppose.

[spaincubsfan]

1 hour ago, Rcal10 said:

Agreed. And the same thing happens every year.  They start playing bad and suddenly everyone overreacts. I said at the start of the season they are a mid to high 80’s win team. And nothing that has happened up until now has changed my mind. No, they aren’t great. But they are pretty good and most likely a playoff team. 

I mean I could literally find things to moan about but it's still early for this group. But one thing is for sure, the Prof is toast now. It just makes no sense to run him out every 5th day and toss BP, assuring yourself a loss in the process.

If Wicks or the other pitchers were healthy and Adbert had not blown all those games we'd be seeing a 7-10 game swing. We could literally be between 32-13 to 35-10 quite possibly, but maybe that is too extreme.

Just like I suspected, it is going to be really hard for the Prof to let go:

 

 

Edited May 17, 2024 by spaincubsfan

[Soul]

57 minutes ago, 17 Seconds said:

I said the same thing to convince myself we were going to have a cool offseason

Jed’s not going to pull any rabbits out of his hat.

[Soul]

1 hour ago, Rcal10 said:

Agreed. And the same thing happens every year.  They start playing bad and suddenly everyone overreacts. I said at the start of the season they are a mid to high 80’s win team. And nothing that has happened up until now has changed my mind. No, they aren’t great. But they are pretty good and most likely a playoff team. 

They’re the same as last year.  Some decent starters and a few good bats, but a horrid bullpen and a lot of holes that better teams don’t have.  The most likely scenario then, is what we’ve seen before:  a crash out September.  Maybe they make it this time in spite of that.  The point I’d like to make though is that Jed had all kinds of opportunity to improve this team in the offseason.  For whatever reason he just sat around instead.  And here we are.

[Rcal10]

5 minutes ago, Soul said:

They’re the same as last year.  Some decent starters and a few good bats, but a horrid bullpen and a lot of holes that better teams don’t have.  The most likely scenario then, is what we’ve seen before:  a crash out September.  Maybe they make it this time in spite of that.  The point I’d like to make though is that Jed had all kinds of opportunity to improve this team in the offseason.  For whatever reason he just sat around instead.  And here we are.

He did improve the team. He didn’t spend what people wanted. But he did improve the team. As for the one we are working with the 9th, 10th, 11th and even 12th pen arm. How do you expect the pen to be good with all the injuries. Get Merryweather back, wicks back and even Smyly back and the pen looks different. Wicks takes Hendricks spot in the rotation and Brown and Wesneski stay in the pen. Suddenly the pen looks a lot better. Then Merryweather comes back and it is even better. Almonte too. And finally, if Alzolay was really hurt and that was the cause of his struggles, if he is healthy that also helps the pen. Yes, it has been bad, but it can change very quickly. Just look at the Dbacks from last year. Their pen sucked until the deadline. They made some moves and were very good the rest of they year, including the playoffs. 

[squally1313]

Jed hoyer didn’t do anything this offseason! Please ignore this historically successful starting pitcher and also our really good starting center fielder that he doesn’t get credit for for whatever reason because he…already had the good idea of signing him last year. Also don’t worry about that first baseman who gets paid the league minimum (for two more years after this!) and carried our team offensively for a week and has a 123 OPS+ this year (rizzo for his cubs career: 130). None of that counts. He should have found really good hitters to accept bench roles and then found an extra $60m to spend on bullpen guys, but only the ones who have pitched well this year. 
 

outside shota (again, no one gets credit for signing him) literally every key player besides morel has had injury problems. We’ve been facing a brutal run of starting pitching (hat tip @UMFan83). We’re playing at an 88 win pace, 4 wins above last year. Things could be worse. 

[JHBulls]

5 hours ago, Thusly Boned said:

Yeah, it's been a rough go, and I'm sick of Jones/Skenes already.

In 4 years or so Pittsburgh is going to get a nice haul of prospects for those two.

Exciting times ahead when those prospects kill us for 3 or 4 years, 

[NorthsideAvenger]

Why did the Cubs start Zach Davies? Oh wait, it was Kyle Hendricks? My bad.

I know of the ties to 2016 but how much longer are the Cubs going to keep Hendricks? Cubs have to be nearing the cut bait time for Hendricks.

[WhyCantWeWin]

34 minutes ago, NorthsideAvenger said:

Why did the Cubs start Zach Davies? Oh wait, it was Kyle Hendricks? My bad.

I know of the ties to 2016 but how much longer are the Cubs going to keep Hendricks? Cubs have to be nearing the cut bait time for Hendricks.

Aren’t the Pirates the worst offense against right handed pitching in the entire league? It’s only going to get worse from here for Hendricks 

[Stratos]

8 hours ago, chibears55 said:

This has to be the end for Hendricks..

Eventually Hoyer and Counsell are going to have to dump guys who aren't getting it done and start changing up the roster

Interesting note that Hendricks was good against the Pirates in his last start.  Everything fell in today.  But no walks, 4 k's in 4.2 IP, only 1 HR.  I mean maybe he's circling the drain but not done yet.  But hard to start him over any of the other guys right now.