Cardinals (Gibson) vs Cubs (Wicks): 6/14/24, 1:20pm

[UMFan83]

All season even when things were bad we could say "at least we aren't digging as big of a hole as last year".  Well the 2024 Cubs have a 33-37 record after 70 games, matching the 2023 Cubs.  Lovely.

[NorthsideAvenger]

I am moving ever so close to tank mode.

[WhyCantWeWin]

Sole possession of last place with the pirates winning. 8th worst record in mlb right now. Meaning they would be picking 6th if they didnt move up or down in the lottery, with the Sox and a’s disqualified from a top 10 pick

[UMFan83]

Holy heck, I honestly haven’t been paying close attention in terms of who is pitching for the opponents the last few days because I’ve been trying to avoid watching them. Yesterday’s starter had a 5.13 ERA this year coming into the game. Today’s starter is a 12 year veteran with a 4.51 career ERA.

They combined for 14 innings, 5 hits and 0 ER. 

[NorthsideAvenger]

54 minutes ago, UMFan83 said:

Holy heck, I honestly haven’t been paying close attention in terms of who is pitching for the opponents the last few days because I’ve been trying to avoid watching them. Yesterday’s starter had a 5.13 ERA this year coming into the game. Today’s starter is a 12 year veteran with a 4.51 career ERA.

They combined for 14 innings, 5 hits and 0 ER. 

I know, at best, it would be a superficial move BUT how does the hitting coach still have a job?

[Stratos]

10 hours ago, squally1313 said:

There's something really funny about watching Kyle "the worst pitcher in baseball history" Hendricks just mow down the Cardinals and then complaining about our offense. Offense is broken everywhere guys, league wide OBP is .311, we're bad at it but this is going to happen. 

I'm interested in why hitting is down league-wide.  Also why the Cubs bats all suddenly suck so bad in the same year.

[CubinNY]

7 hours ago, Stratos said:

I'm interested in why hitting is down league-wide.  Also why the Cubs bats all suddenly suck so bad in the same year.

MLB is horsefeathers with the baseballs again is the theory. 
 

The Cubs are bad because they are bad. They’d be bad if the balls were wound with flubber. 
 

They have no power and are incredibly reliant on BABIP to score runs. It’s Jed’s strategy. Get as many Nico Hoerner’s as he can stack together and see what happens. 

[Jason Ross]

8 hours ago, NorthsideAvenger said:

I know, at best, it would be a superficial move BUT how does the hitting coach still have a job?

I know it hasn't been good for two months, but Dustin Kelly was also the hitting coach last season when the Cubs finished 6th in baseball in runs scored. So not only was the Cubs offense just fine last year, as you said, it'd be at best a superficial move and the Cubs know that, too. It won't magically make someone hit better nor would it really be on merit based on how the Cubs overperformed last year (based on expectations). 

[NorthsideAvenger]

13 minutes ago, 1908_Cubs said:

I know it hasn't been good for two months, but Dustin Kelly was also the hitting coach last season when the Cubs finished 6th in baseball in runs scored. So not only was the Cubs offense just fine last year, as you said, it'd be at best a superficial move and the Cubs know that, too. It won't magically make someone hit better nor would it really be on merit based on how the Cubs overperformed last year (based on expectations). 

You can probably guess I'm, no surprise, very frustrated. It would definitely be a panic move and some other team might have already fired the coach already. I just wish we could see some positive results.

[Jason Ross]

33 minutes ago, NorthsideAvenger said:

You can probably guess I'm, no surprise, very frustrated. It would definitely be a panic move and some other team might have already fired the coach already. I just wish we could see some positive results.

No blame. It's hard not to be frustrated right now. The team is pretty hard to watch. They can't hit. They're (seemingly) always hurt. It's getting old.

[chibears55]

19 hours ago, UMFan83 said:

The bad luck is about to change, just wait it'll happen

[chibears55]

18 hours ago, UMFan83 said:

About 2/3rds of their active payroll is going to 6 players:

Dansby

Bellinger

Happ

Seiya

Taillon

Hendricks

They've combined for 3.6 fWAR this year.  Though in terms of how they rank on the team they are 5th (Swanson), 3rd (Bellinger), 7th (Happ), 6th (Seiya), 5th for pitchers (Taillon) and...23rd (Hendricks).

Yep, that why saying they're spending means nothing because the bulk was spent on players that aren't getting the job done.

Those 4 hitters in that group are supposed to be the heart of the offense.