Cubs @ TB. June 11. 5:50 Central.

[Rex Buckingham]

The Cubs didn't lose to the Reds Sunday, which was nice. Tonight they play the Rays. The Rays have a worse record than the Cubs. It probably doesn't matter. Jameson Taillon is pitching. I probably won't watch a whole lot of this game, since my son has a little league game at 5:30. His 10U team's lineup is only slightly more disappointing than watching Cubs catchers hit.

[Bertz]

I was looking at some of the under the hood Cubs numbers yesterday and I did not realize how bad things were in Tampa. They are 29th in xwOBA, behind the White Sox.  Like they've never been an offensive firepower team but Arozarena is broken this year and of course there's the whole thing with Wander Franco, and so things have gotten really rough.  The pitching has also been quite bad, with an uncharacteristically awful bullpen.

The starting pitching is a lot better than the ERAs indicate but this should still probably be a take 2/3 deal for the Cubs.  Especially since the they only won one in Cincy.

[Bertz]

Not a slam dunk Hoerner gets IL'd, there's probably a pre-game session today where they make that call, but we should probably lean towards expecting it.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

FWIW I don't know when Vazquez met up with the big league team, but I did notice he has been out of the Iowa lineup since the 6th (the day Hoerner got hit).  You could interpret that as status quo on their understanding of Hoerner's status, or you could read it as the hand hasn't improved enough to send him back to Iowa in 4 days.

[WhyCantWeWin]

Just IL him already, how stupid would it be to force someone to play with a fractured hand

[CubinNY]

1 hour ago, Transmogrified Tiger said:

FWIW I don't know when Vazquez met up with the big league team, but I did notice he has been out of the Iowa lineup since the 6th (the day Hoerner got hit).  You could interpret that as status quo on their understanding of Hoerner's status, or you could read it as the hand hasn't improved enough to send him back to Iowa in 4 days.

Not that anyone can answer this question, but why would the Cubs wait to IL Nico and have Vazquez shadow following the Cubs and not on any roster? 

[Transmogrified Tiger]

4 minutes ago, CubinNY said:

Not that anyone can answer this question, but why would the Cubs wait to IL Nico and have Vazquez shadow following the Cubs and not on any roster? 

If Nico progresses well, having him for an extra week is more valuable than having Vazquez play a couple games in Iowa and/or having Vazquez be the last man on the bench for a couple days.

[CubinNY]

1 minute ago, Transmogrified Tiger said:

If Nico progresses well, having him for an extra week is more valuable than having Vazquez play a couple games in Iowa and/or having Vazquez be the last man on the bench for a couple days.

I guess? But if he's hurt it seems to make more sense to put him IL. I don't see any advantage to playing a 70% Nico with a broken hand. The risk of further injury outweighs the benefit. Obviously, we don't know the full medical diagnosis. 

[Bertz]

3 minutes ago, CubinNY said:

I guess? But if he's hurt it seems to make more sense to put him IL. I don't see any advantage to playing a 70% Nico with a broken hand. The risk of further injury outweighs the benefit. Obviously, we don't know the full medical diagnosis. 

 

 

[mfcubs22]

Damn Brown. 

[PackLandVA]

CHC	G	AVG	R	RBI	HR	BB	K	SB	OBP	SLG
M. Tauchman	59	.261	37	19	5	31	46	5	.365	.397
S. Suzuki	40	.272	23	25	7	12	47	3	.333	.468
C. Bellinger	52	.260	23	29	8	17	38	3	.319	.438
C. Morel	65	.203	31	39	12	34	59	6	.315	.388
I. Happ	61	.222	31	30	6	32	69	5	.329	.376
D. Swanson	55	.226	28	18	6	19	60	4	.300	.374
M. Busch	61	.242	29	23	8	27	73	1	.341	.440
P. Crow-Armstrong	32	.205	5	10	1	4	20	7	.259	.295
M. Amaya	46	.198	11	14	2	9	31	0	.262	.290

[BKHoo]

Whether he is safe or not, why run with two outs?! 

[CubinNY]

Out or safe?

[Transmogrified Tiger]

Just now, BKHoo said:

Whether he is safe or not, why run with two outs?! 

Because PCA is an excellent runner, a single then scores two runs, and teams have largely stopped even throwing down on those plays due to the lower odds of catching the runner combined with risk of the runner scoring from 3rd.

[UMFan83]

Have to say that while I haven’t watched the Cubs a lot lately, when I have it looks like Amaya is hitting the ball with more authority. 

[Bertz]

4 minutes ago, UMFan83 said:

Have to say that while I haven’t watched the Cubs a lot lately, when I have it looks like Amaya is hitting the ball with more authority. 

Yeah he's coming out of it.  I still desperately want catching help to replace Gomes, but I think Amaya's issues were temporary and he was underwater with the newly added defensive responsibility and it affected his bat.

[mfcubs22]

5 minutes ago, Bertz said:

Yeah he's coming out of it.  I still desperately want catching help to replace Gomes, but I think Amaya's issues were temporary and he was underwater with the newly added defensive responsibility and it affected his bat.

Please go get Jansen. I also just discovered today that he’s from my current residence of Elmhurst. 

[Rcal10]

Hard to get a guy out when he yiu have to get to strike 5 on him. Ump missed 2 strikes to a guy and then he got a hit. I have had enough of home plate umpires. 

[BigSlick]

Chris Morel wrenching his OPS back over .700 

[mfcubs22]

Morel is going to be a special hitter. 

[CubinNY]

Jamo come on

[CubinNY]

All right !

[JHBulls]

Huge to get out of the inning with no damage. 

[chibears55]

I was about to write what is it lately with Cubs pitchers giving up runs right after they score...  

[CubinNY]

PCA = Javy Jr