Cubs (Horton) vs Astros (Walter): 6/27/25, 7:10pm

[JHBulls]

Boog is a little bit into giving us Cam Smith progress reports tonight. He’s an Astros player. Not a Cubs player. Who cares about him. 

[Derwood]

Not going to win many games when you issue 5 walks but your hitters have 0 walks

[gflore34]

37 minutes ago, WhyCantWeWin said:

Alright boys i have to do this.…

Smith > Shaw

Right now, at the plate, a cardboard cutout is > Shaw.  His next at bat I'm calling a 70- GB to SS, we'll see.

Edited June 28, 2025 by gflore34

[chibears55]

12 minutes ago, UMFan83 said:

Realistically he should be a 5th starter or swingman and we can live with up and down performances but with Taillons recent form and Rea he’s needed for 3rd starter production. So getting blown up today means we’re in a 0-1 hole with Rea and Taillon the next 2 days

This rotation been holding together by duct tape the first 3 months and it starting to become undone lately. 

34 yo Boyd been having a career year so far, hopefully it continues. 

34 yo Rea belongs in the bullpen and theres no guarentee he'll be any good there either.

33 yo Taillon is looking more like 2023 Taillon then 2024 Taillon.

Horton has 9 career starts now and is like most rookie pitchers having up and down games, been pretty good but has struggled now in 3 of last 4 starts.

So basically it been Imanaga, Boyd and pray for offense and a good bullpen day.

 

Hoyer will need to decide how much of and who of the current prospects hes willing to give up to upgrade the rotation, they definitely need a TOR guy and it wouldn't be a bad thing if they got another to take Horton spot, more to not over work Horton the final 2 months of season and to limit his innings. 

 

[731.4life]

34 minutes ago, s2obed said:

We traded the wrong 3B ;(

MLB scouts are like meteorologists. Can continue to be wrong and still have a job.

We win trades like Rizzo for Cashner and PCA for 4-5 months of Baez.

We lost trades like Cease/Eloy for Quintana.

It happens, but we're also 80+ games after this trade, let's wait til we're 300-500 games before we make a decision on the beneficiary of the trade...

[Cubbies1996]

Now Shaw looks at 2 sweepers down the middle lol

[gflore34]

Just now, Cubbies1996 said:

Now Shaw looks at 2 sweepers down the middle lol

Does it matter?  Right now, he couldn't hit a BP FB hard.

[PeanutPunch33]

37 minutes ago, Illiterate Scholar said:

To be fair, the Astros may have preferred him anyway. And I think we fired all the scouts.

Yeah, I don't think the Astros had much interest in Shaw.  At least not to the extent that they had in Smith.  Maybe if the Cubs threw in a 4th prospect with Shaw it might have gotten done.  In any event, Smith looks like he would have been a top 5 prospect if he got another year in the minors.  He looks like a star

Edit and of course as I'm typing this out, Shaw finally does something productive 

Edited June 28, 2025 by PeanutPunch33

[731.4life]

Watching Phillies/Braves:

 There's a report in the athletic that MLB has told umpires to tighten up their zone. There's a data/analytic called "strikes looking above average" meaning they call more strikes to the "average" umpire. Last season, there were 40 umpires. This season, there are 3 umpires that went into the positive. Meaning, the strike zones are smaller this season.

[Derwood]

2 minutes ago, gflore34 said:

Does it matter?  Right now, he couldn't hit a BP FB hard.

good call

[Irrelevant Dude]

Didn't hit it hard, but it's nice to not have Arenado at 3B tonight.

[Cubbies1996]

Lefty in to pitch. Rally killed

[Irrelevant Dude]

Damn Ian, not a good at bat.

[Irrelevant Dude]

1 minute ago, Cubbies1996 said:

Lefty in to pitch. Rally killed

Kryptonite 

[chibears55]

7 minutes ago, 731.4life said:

We win trades like Rizzo for Cashner and PCA for 4-5 months of Baez.

We lost trades like Cease/Eloy for Quintana.

It happens, but we're also 80+ games after this trade, let's wait til we're 300-500 games before we make a decision on the beneficiary of the trade...

We might only need 162 games if Tucker don't resign and they dont win the WS, if Cam becomes just an everyday average player for them it'll be a win for Houston. 

[gflore34]

5 minutes ago, Derwood said:

good call

We'll he didn't hit it hard and got lucky.  It just hard watching him almost never square a ball up.  But, seriously, all this nonsense about Smith > Shaw is just that, at some point. Quite probably not anytime this season, still nevertheless, at some point, Shaw will start to look like a top prospect.  He's hit too well at every level to not, at least, be a competent to good player.

Edited June 28, 2025 by gflore34

[731.4life]

Just now, chibears55 said:

We might only need 162 games if Tucker don't resign and they dont win the WS, if Cam becomes just an everyday average player for them it'll be a win for Houston. 

But what if Shaw has a productive career? But the same logic is what happened to PCA/Baez trade. 

Look at the Padres/Nationals trade with Soto and Abrams/Wood.

If we're not wanting to pay Tucker $400-$500 Million, then I feel bad for Jed because he's limited because Ricketts is not willing to open the check book.

[PeanutPunch33]

From a 6.5 game lead to being reduced to rooting for the Rockies to win, in a matter of 2 weeks

[PeanutPunch33]

That last 3 run bomb really killed... this would actually be a good game otherwise 

[PeanutPunch33]

So much for my prediction that the Cubs would sweep.. never take gambling advice from me guys 

[Stratos]

1 hour ago, We Got The Whole 9 said:

Wasting a leadoff triple is so painful 

No greater crime in baseball.

[PeanutPunch33]

10 minutes ago, gflore34 said:

We'll he didn't hit it hard and got lucky.  It just hard watching him almost never square a ball up.  But, seriously, all this nonsense about Smith > Shaw is just that, at some point. Quite probably not anytime this season, still nevertheless, at some point, Shaw will start to look like a top prospect.  He's hit too well at every level to not, at least, be a competent to good player.

Suarez makes too much sense for the Cubs to not strongly strongly consider.  At this point I'd consider that as much of a necessity as acquiring some pitching.  The Cubs are getting nothing from the position offensively 

[UMFan83]

2 minutes ago, PeanutPunch33 said:

Suarez makes too much sense for the Cubs to not strongly strongly consider.  At this point I'd consider that as much of a necessity as acquiring some pitching.  The Cubs are getting nothing from the position offensively 

I'd get Suarez simply so he doesn't end up on another NL Central team to torture us the rest of the season.

[Andy]

I know our bullpen has been good but man it makes a guy jealous when it's not even a close game and the other team can just pop out a guy I've never even heard of who strikes out a third of his opponents

[cubfansince77]

1 minute ago, PeanutPunch33 said:

So much for my prediction that the Cubs would sweep.. never take gambling advice from me guys 

Meh, hope always springs eternal...especially as a Cubs fan. We played damn good ball in April despite losing Steele. May's schedule got soft and we fattened up on it. Now the rotation looks like swiss cheese and June has been crappy. Shota and Boyd and nothing but question marks after them. I'd take a healthy Assad back at this point but haven't heard a peep about him since he reaggravated the oblique injury a couple months ago.