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

[LBiittner]

Remember the euphoria when we signed counsell to begin the offseason? 

Ain't nuttin was gonna stop us!

[Dmac]

8 minutes ago, 17 Seconds said:

none, that's why I'm seriously hoping they just completely fall apart so I'll lose interest

It happened last year and it was cool not caring about them. Then they went on that stupid run

Why wouldn't you lose interest now?  I don't know how some of you can watch this every day.  I gave up a few weeks ago and just check out the box score after the fact in amazement.  Saves a lot of stress that way. 

[17 Seconds]

Just now, Dmac said:

Why wouldn't you lose interest now?  I don't know how some of you can watch this every day.  I gave up a few weeks ago and just check out the box score after the fact in amazement.  Saves a lot of stress that way. 

because baseball.ia dumb and teams in the cubs position go on weird runs all the time

[17 Seconds]

1 minute ago, LBiittner said:

Remember the euphoria when we signed counsell to begin the offseason? 

Ain't nuttin was gonna stop us!

we made fun of people who thought they were bringing him in to get the most out of a subpar roster. they were right

[Dmac]

1 minute ago, Irrelevant Dude said:

I'm not sold on this logic.  Any GM has to operate under a budget, and ownership sets that budget.  What makes Jed so special?

Their minor leagues are doing well.  The major league roster is awful, but Jed has spent the way Tom likes and he does like that he has built up the farm which is what he really wanted.  I don't think he goes anywhere unfortunately. 

[Cubbies1996]

12 minutes ago, Tryptamine said:

You're far more confident of that than I am.

I think if you go spend a record amount on a manger in year 3 of rebuild that hasn’t gonna that well you’re on the clock…

[Transmogrified Tiger]

13 minutes ago, squally1313 said:

If this doesn’t spell the end of this whole neris as the closer no matter what thing…between that and tauchman being seemingly entrenched at the lead off spot, I’m not very impressed by counsell so far this year. 

Neris has been fine for a while now, his last 15 outings had a 1.80 ERA, and over the last month he's had both excellent ERA and FIP.  I don't think it's tonight's cause, but the pen at the moment is just too thin, Wesneski and I guess Miller being 3rd/4th in the pecking order is putting too much pressure on them and Neris/Leiter to be perfect when the offense isn't consistently creating margin for error.  

[squally1313]

3 minutes ago, Transmogrified Tiger said:

Neris has been fine for a while now, his last 15 outings had a 1.80 ERA, and over the last month he's had both excellent ERA and FIP.  I don't think it's tonight's cause, but the pen at the moment is just too thin, Wesneski and I guess Miller being 3rd/4th in the pecking order is putting too much pressure on them and Neris/Leiter to be perfect when the offense isn't consistently creating margin for error.  

Good points by you and @muntjack. Moment of frustration at counsell seemingly escaping all the criticism for a team with a ton of blown leads late and sloppy base running and defense, which is noticeably different than how things went last year. 
 

Which is mostly just frustration in general. This is a bad run, man. 

[UMFan83]

22 minutes ago, Irrelevant Dude said:

Who else ya got? 

Neris isn't great, but he might still be the best of the bad options.  They can try Leiter, but that just means Neris pitches in the 7th or 8th instead, so what does that really change?

Dude has a 1.58 WHIP this year and literally has just 3 appearances this year (out of 26 games) where he hasn’t allowed a baserunner. I know the options are meager but there is no world where the guy who is the worst on the team at preventing batters from reaching base should be closing games. 
 

You might be able to get by with him with a semi-competent offense but every single game he comes in is a nail biter due to the Cubs complete inability to pull away from teams. 
 

As I mentioned earlier, over the last 41 games the Cubs have won a 9 inning game by more than 2 runs just 3 times. That’s absolutely insane to me. Completely unable to win a comfortable game meaning that unless the Cubs are getting blown out just about every inning the Cubs pitch is high leverage or close to it. 

edit: and of course TT comes up with logic about Neris right before my post. I still think he’s a problem regardless of how he’s pitched over your sample size. The season numbers are the numbers. 
 

But I also agree as I alluded to above that it’s not fully his fault, this game was really on the offense and the stupid errors like Amayas. Yes Neris should have not given up 4 runs but the offense should have put up 5-6 runs today. A normal team wouldn’t have even had to use their closer today

Edited June 12, 2024 by UMFan83

[mfcubs22]

As soon as Tauchman didn’t get PCA in from 3rd with 1 out, I knew the game was over. So predictable. 

[soccer10k]

I’ve been betting against the Cubs over the last 10ish days (minus the two Sox games) and I’ve been enjoying it quite a bit. Keep up the good work, Cubs.

[Cubs206]

Who else is analyzing the talent on the team and the people they pick up/call up or trade for. Fire them too they’re blind.  

[chibears55]

This is how bad it been, and the only difference is the 2 games they beat them.

 

The Chicago White Sox have a record of 8-22 in their last 30 games

 

The Chicago Cubs have a record of 10-20 in their last 30 games

 

Welcome to baseball in Chicago 

[Stratos]

2 hours ago, chibears55 said:

Wasn't Amaya touted as a good defensive catcher with a strong arm ?

Yeah.  His arm is below average in mph and the pop-time is terrible.  Framing is below average, blocking is above average.  He can't hit this year and can't run.  I'm not sure if he has any tools that would rate as above average.

[Cubs420psd]

David Ross is probably laughing his ass off.

 

 

[NorthsideAvenger]

5 hours ago, 17 Seconds said:

because baseball.ia dumb and teams in the cubs position go on weird runs all the time

Cubs have not won 2 in a row against a non White Sox team since beating the Brewers are May 4-5. The Cubs have not won more than 3 games in a row since April 23-26 (Houston sweep plus first game of the Boston series). Cubs longest winning streak of the season happened between March 31 and April 5. 

With this crap bull[pen doing it's best to keep the Cubs from going on a run, I don't see how this team can go on said run. The Cubs are caught in baseball's form of quicksand. I don't see an end anytime soon. 

[Stratos]

6 hours ago, Cubbies1996 said:

I think if you go spend a record amount on a manger in year 3 of rebuild that hasn’t gonna that well you’re on the clock…

I don't think you judge Hoyer or any GM based on the results, you judge them based on all the decisions they made at the time.  That's what they have control of, not the results.  Hindsight is 20/20.

We knew the pen wasn't much improved going into 2024 and a key injury or 2 away from being bad, we knew Busch was a solid gamble.  Nobody knew guys like Happ, Morel, and Swanson were going to hit like crap or the team was going to be this bad with RISP, or Hendricks was going to put up a 9.07 ERA.  Nobody thought Amaya/Gomes were going to be this terrible.  We knew Imanaga seemed like a solid value buy but nobody knew how good he would be and i'm sure Hoyer didn't think he'd put up a 1.96 ERA.  Everyone thought Counsell was a very good manager and a good signing.

I do blame Hoyer for the crappy pen and some crappy signings last year that are eating some salary, but much of the other stuff like the underperforming offense just bad luck.

[thawv]

10 hours ago, UMFan83 said:

4-6 to start the 25 game stretch against sub .500 teams with all 4 of the wins coming by 1 or 2 runs

But they are in that same group of teams.  It's not like they are a good team playing bad teams.  They are a bad team playing other bad teams.

[CubinNY]

3 hours ago, Stratos said:

I don't think you judge Hoyer or any GM based on the results, you judge them based on all the decisions they made at the time.  That's what they have control of, not the results. 

What?

[gflore34]

Think I'm going to check out until I go to Cubs-Brewers on 7/23 maybe, I'll be delightfully surprised.

[mul21]

I get the criticism of Jed and while he was here the whole time, the Theo led regime not producing a prospect worth a damn outside of Happ and Nico since 2016 is really what's killing this team right now.  The need to fill all the holes in the roster with acceptable talent from outside the organization at market rates has made it nearly impossible to actually go after the big star this lineup really needs to anchor it without exceeding the perceived payroll limitations from ownership.  It's also tough to fault him for assembling a roster who are almost top to bottom having the worst season of their careers and all at the same time.  If everyone regresses to the mean by the end of the season, this team is going to average 8 or 9 runs a game from July on, but that may well be too late.

[CubinNY]

This is supposed to be the easy part of the schedule. 

[CubinNY]

CB Buckner's K call on Suzuki was 5 inches off the plate. The 2nd worst strike call this year. 

[731.4life]

Part of the blame does still go on the offense for only scoring two runs last night. I'll also say this, and I'll use Mason Miller's name as an example since he is on the trading block from Oakland. If Craig wants Mason to be his closer for years to come (I believe Mason is a free agent after 2029 season), then the deal is going to get done whether if the team is in the race or not. I have a good feeling Craig is going to demand a great bullpen for next year because I have a feeling he's tired of seeing this.

[CubinNY]

5 minutes ago, 731.4life said:

Part of the blame does still go on the offense for only scoring two runs last night. I'll also say this, and I'll use Mason Miller's name as an example since he is on the trading block from Oakland. If Craig wants Mason to be his closer for years to come (I believe Mason is a free agent after 2029 season), then the deal is going to get done whether if the team is in the race or not. I have a good feeling Craig is going to demand a great bullpen for next year because I have a feeling he's tired of seeing this.

Doesn't he work in Boston now?