Brewers (Myers) vs Cubs (Assad): 7/22/24, 7:10pm

[Brock Beauchamp]

[CubinNY]

Assad needs to keep the ball down tonight. The Brewers ain't horsefeathers. 

[KCCub]

Couple huge NL Central series - Brewers trying to eliminate us at our place and Cards @ Pirates, both fighting to stay within striking distance of the division and battling for the last couple spots in the WC. 

[Rex Buckingham]

I wouldn't be surprised at a Milwaukee sweep, finally bringing this season to the fiery crash and burn we have all seen coming for 2 months

[Rcal10]

2 minutes ago, Rex Buckingham said:

I wouldn't be surprised at a Milwaukee sweep, finally bringing this season to the fiery crash and burn we have all seen coming for 2 months

Since the Cubs haven’t been swept in a 3 game series all year, a sweep would surprise me. But honestly to even consider getting back in some sort of race the Cubs are the ones that need to sweep. Not going to happen, but that is the reality if it all. As for the crash and burn scenario you are suggesting, what do you think that looks like once it happens? Are the Cubs selling? Who? TBH, I don’t see much movement in the roster whether they are in the race or out of it. Maybe out of it they move Bellinger, a bench guy, a pen arm? Deciding not to sell doesn’t mean they will buy, IMO. I can’t see them buying, even with a sweep, and going over the LT for this team. If they buy they will also have to sell some salary. 

[Derwood]

8 minutes ago, Rex Buckingham said:

I wouldn't be surprised at a Milwaukee sweep, finally bringing this season to the fiery crash and burn we have all seen coming for 2 months

I could also see the Cubs with a sweep, prompting them to make a foolish, short-sighted trade that doesn't actually get them to the playoffs but weakens them in the long term

[CubinNY]

The Brewers haven't exactly been world-beaters lately. I wouldn't be surprised by a Cubs sweep. If I were betting, I'd bet a 2-1 series win for the Brewers. 

[Bertz]

Pitching matchups don't really scream Brewers sweep.  I think the Cubs win 2/3 to keep themselves right in the most awkward middle ground possible leading into the deadline.

Edited July 22, 2024 by Bertz

[Andy]

28 minutes ago, Derwood said:

I could also see the Cubs with a sweep, prompting them to make a foolish, short-sighted trade that doesn't actually get them to the playoffs but weakens them in the long term

FWIW Mooney said in The Athletic today that the Cubs aren't planning on buying. I think this roster is pretty much what we'll see in August.

[Tryptamine]

21 minutes ago, Bertz said:

Pitching matchups don't really scream Brewers sweep.  I think the Cubs win 2/3 to keep themselves right in the most awkward middle ground possible leading into the deadline.

Just to win 84 games with 61 games remaining they'd have to go 36-25. Any investment, solely for 2024 would be madness. 

[NorthsideAvenger]

If I am not mistaken this is the last Cubs/Brewers series of the year, barring a playoff match up. 

[WhyCantWeWin]

21 minutes ago, Andy said:

FWIW Mooney said in The Athletic today that the Cubs aren't planning on buying. I think this roster is pretty much what we'll see in August.

He also said they could consider trading Steele if a crazy offer comes in. Also that he doesnt sense any urgency for them to duck under the luxury tax. 

Wonder if the dodgers or orioles just say horsefeathers it and offer a crazy deal, they are balls deep on Crochet and Skubal. 

[Brock Beauchamp]

1 hour ago, NorthsideAvenger said:

If I am not mistaken this is the last Cubs/Brewers series of the year, barring a playoff match up. 

That is correct. Strange.

[NorthsideAvenger]

43 minutes ago, Brock Beauchamp said:

That is correct. Strange.

I'm fine with it, tbh.

[Rcal10]

2 hours ago, Andy said:

FWIW Mooney said in The Athletic today that the Cubs aren't planning on buying. I think this roster is pretty much what we'll see in August.

I think that is the correct decision even if they win every game until the break. I don’t see them making moves and going over the LT this year. Now, if they can do a buy and sell sort of thing, maybe that happens. Sell guys like Smyly and Neris and buy guys a little less expensive. But even that would only happen if they went on a winning streak. And I am not counting on that. 

[KCCub]

3 hours ago, WhyCantWeWin said:

He also said they could consider trading Steele if a crazy offer comes in. Also that he doesnt sense any urgency for them to duck under the luxury tax. 

Wonder if the dodgers or orioles just say horsefeathers it and offer a crazy deal, they are balls deep on Crochet and Skubal. 

I would be extremely sad if Steele were no longer a Cub. If the deal was massive and included Mayo, I would be less sad.

[LBiittner]

14 minutes ago, KCCub said:

I would be extremely sad if Steele were no longer a Cub. If the deal was massive and included Mayo, I would be less sad.

I will not be happy. Steele is good, cheap, and controllable for 4 years. He's exactly who we need going forward. I'm praying jed is Switzerland 🇨🇭 this trade deadline

[Rob]

In the infamous words of Branch Rickey, I'd always rather trade a player a year too early than a year too late.

Steele is great. But he's 29 and he's already operating at the peak of what his skillset has to offer. The simple fact of the matter is that he's got a lot more downside remaining than upside.

If the offers are there, the Cubs would be fools not to consider it.

 

[LBiittner]

2 minutes ago, Rob said:

In the infamous words of Branch Rickey, I'd always rather trade a player a year too early than a year too late.

Steele is great. But he's 29 and he's already operating at the peak of what his skillset has to offer. The simple fact of the matter is that he's got a lot more downside remaining than upside.

If the offers are there, the Cubs would be fools not to consider it.

 

Wait, I thought it was already determined, cubs are fools?

[Tryptamine]

So things I'm noticing. Steele is massively underrated by other fans. Also, other fan bases think Happ is a contract the Cubs would have to eat part of to get rid of him. I found both of these things absolutely baffling. By the end of 2024 Happ will probably have put up around 10 fWAR over the last 3 yeas. In that time span amongst LFers with at least 300AB, Happ's 8.6 fWAR puts him 6th. 

[Transmogrified Tiger]

2 minutes ago, Rob said:

In the infamous words of Branch Rickey, I'd always rather trade a player a year too early than a year too late.

Steele is great. But he's 29 and he's already operating at the peak of what his skillset has to offer. The simple fact of the matter is that he's got a lot more downside remaining than upside.

If the offers are there, the Cubs would be fools not to consider it.

 

Steele is 7th in MLB in ERA since the start of 2022, he doesn't need more upside and his current level can decline and still be very valuable to a competitive Cubs team.  Trading Steele would be for players with much larger downside risk as well.

I continue to not understand so many people's thinking about how to approach the deadline.

[Tryptamine]

13 minutes ago, Transmogrified Tiger said:

Steele is 7th in MLB in ERA since the start of 2022, he doesn't need more upside and his current level can decline and still be very valuable to a competitive Cubs team.  Trading Steele would be for players with much larger downside risk as well.

I continue to not understand so many people's thinking about how to approach the deadline.

I have no issues with dangling Steele and I don't think Hoyer is going to make a move unless it's an undeniable win package. If a team like the Orioles decides to go all in on a pitcher with control, since they'll be losing Burnes this offseason, and throws a package headlined by Mayo+Kjerstad then of course you talk. I think the reality is that no one is going to offer up the kind of package that moving Steele would actually make sense. 

[Rob]

7 minutes ago, Transmogrified Tiger said:

Steele is 7th in MLB in ERA since the start of 2022, he doesn't need more upside and his current level can decline and still be very valuable to a competitive Cubs team.  Trading Steele would be for players with much larger downside risk as well.

I continue to not understand so many people's thinking about how to approach the deadline.

Don't get me wrong, I'd need to be blown away. But Steele isn't prime Clayton Kershaw or Max Scherzer. He's incredibly valuable, but he's not dragging this ****** team into contention. I'm always inclined to listen on players like that.

I'll admit it though. I have little idea how to approach this deadline.

• We suck, which usually indicates a sale. But we have no significant assets on expiring contracts which might actually drum up interest.
• Buying short-term guys doesn't make much sense, as it probably doesn't get us anywhere. And there's not a lot of great options available at the spots where we need them.
• Buying long-term guys might make some sense, but I'm not seeing much available.

So what's left is sell long-term guys or stand pat. Both options suck. And I'm bored. So I'll talk about trading Steele.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

11 minutes ago, Tryptamine said:

I have no issues with dangling Steele and I don't think Hoyer is going to make a move unless it's an undeniable win package. If a team like the Orioles decides to go all in on a pitcher with control, since they'll be losing Burnes this offseason, and throws a package headlined by Mayo+Kjerstad then of course you talk. I think the reality is that no one is going to offer up the kind of package that moving Steele would actually make sense. 

Mayo + Kjerstad would be a short term step back for the window that this roster has.  If you're trading Steele you ought to be firing Jed and trading *everyone*, but instead we seem to be of the mind that the 2025-26 Cubs can be better by trading Steele, which is a very poor assumption.  

 

Let's say this another way, no one had any interest in trading Steele prior to this season, and I would bet a lot of fake money that anyone who as eyes on being competitive in the upcoming 2 years will not be very interested in trading him in the offseason either.  But since being a "Seller (tm)" demands getting rid of players and we don't have a classic rental to haggle over the cost of trading, we offer Steele because he 1) could get a large return and 2) is potentially desirable to a "Buyer (tm)".  But it doesn't actually help towards the goals that make you decide to sell to begin with, again unless you're on team 'nuke the roster', which I don't really see in any significant number.

[Tryptamine]

9 minutes ago, Transmogrified Tiger said:

Mayo + Kjerstad would be a short term step back for the window that this roster has.  If you're trading Steele you ought to be firing Jed and trading *everyone*, but instead we seem to be of the mind that the 2025-26 Cubs can be better by trading Steele, which is a very poor assumption.  

 

Let's say this another way, no one had any interest in trading Steele prior to this season, and I would bet a lot of fake money that anyone who as eyes on being competitive in the upcoming 2 years will not be very interested in trading him either.  But since being a "Seller (tm)" demands getting players, we offer Steele because he 1) could get a large return and 2) is potentially desirable to a "Buyer (tm)".  But it doesn't actually help towards the goals that make you decide to sell to begin with, again unless you're on team 'nuke the roster', which I don't really see in any significant number.

I don't see it as nuking the roster when one guy, who was a top 30 prospect, is already in the big leagues putting up a 156 wRC+ and the other is a top 20 prospect in AAA putting up a 143 wRC+ and who is MLB ready right now. Yeah you lose the certainty of Steele, but you gain two potential all-star level bats, one of which comes at a position of extreme need.