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

[PeanutPunch33]

1 minute ago, cubfansince77 said:

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. 

I had such high hopes for Brown and Horton going into the year.  One is back in AAA and looks like he might never pan out as a starter, at least not an above average one, and the other... I am still very high on, but not nearly as "MLB ready" as we thought.  

It pains me to watch the Brewers churn out star after star at the position and we can't even turn highly regarded pitching prospects into key contributors (at least not yet)

[Derwood]

It's almost like when you play a bunch of 1st place teams while your division rival plays the Pirates and the Rockies you might lose a few games in the standings ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.

[PeanutPunch33]

8 minutes ago, UMFan83 said:

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

I just don't want to watch Swanson hit cleanup in a key playoff game against a lefty.  They need another masher against lefties and the only position they can do it that makes sense is 3b.   Suarez being cheap and a half year commitment should hopefully appeal to them 

[Derwood]

At least Shaw made them used Hader

[Cubbies1996]

At least Flexen ate up those innings and saved the bullpen. Would like to see him be a 1-3 inning opener every once in a while. 

[PeanutPunch33]

I thought baseball players were supposed to be superstitious.. They pitch two shoutouts in a row wearing the dark blue road uni's and then they go back to the grey 

[gflore34]

Just now, Derwood said:

At least Shaw made them used Hader

Still another dribbler that found a hole but, on the scorecard it looks good.

[Derwood]

Rockies have pulled to within 1 against the Brewers

[cubfansince77]

2 minutes ago, Cubbies1996 said:

At least Flexen ate up those innings and saved the bullpen. Would like to see him be a 1-3 inning opener every once in a while. 

The guy has just been great. He's done everything they've asked of him and then some....hats off. I'd have no issue with him being an opener, he's earned at least that if not a spot start at some point. 

[chibears55]

30 minutes ago, 731.4life said:

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.

Shaw wasn't part of the trade, it was about who had won the trade.

It Jed job if hes still with them this offseason to convince TR to open the checkbook for Tucker.

 

[gflore34]

They'll be facing another below average to crappy starter tomorrow so, the runs will come.  Only problem is the Astros will also be facing a crappy starter.  Maybe, Rea can be less crappy than the Astros starter, it's baseball anything can happen.  Can't believe I just wrote that, it's unreasonable to expect anything other than a blow up game from Rea.

Edited June 28, 2025 by gflore34

[Derwood]

10 minutes ago, Derwood said:

Rockies have pulled to within 1 against the Brewers

Nevermind, Brewers just blew it open

[cubfansince77]

4 minutes ago, gflore34 said:

They'll be facing another below average to crappy starter tomorrow so, the runs will come.  Only problem is the Astros will also be facing a crappy starter.  Maybe, Rea can be less crappy than the Astros starter, it's baseball anything can happen.

True enough...Rea has been a good soldier but man alive I'd like to see him in the  pen where he belongs. Frustrating. 

[gflore34]

7 minutes ago, Derwood said:

Nevermind, Brewers just blew it open

I know everybody wants to crown the Brewers division champs and all but, they're getting a whole lot of production right now from guys who aren't good.  Durbin, Collins, Ortiz and to some extent Frelick, we keep talking about the Cubs and the regression monster.  At some point it's going to hit the Brewers - hard.

Edited June 28, 2025 by gflore34

[Stratos]

2 hours ago, gflore34 said:

I'm a Shaw believer he might even have a good week or two but, holy horsefeathers, his struggles at the plate are getting tiresome.

Yeah he can still come around.  The Cubs have dramatically changed his hitting stance (no longer closed) and leg-kick.  If he's still hitting like arse by the ASB maybe they should just let him him hit however he's comfortable. 

He had a lot of success with his style before, maybe just let him play.  Dramatic tinkering after your first month in the league after having missing most of the Spring might have been a bit extreme.

[Stratos]

1 hour ago, UMFan83 said:

Can Boyd and Shota start every game?

Them + Steele prove command is very important, and velocity doesn't make you a good pitcher, it just makes everything play up.  Velo is the most overrated aspect of pitching by orders of magnitude.

[Stratos]

1 hour ago, PeanutPunch33 said:

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 

It's impossible to speculate.  The Cubs might have preferred Shaw.  I thought Shaw and Smith were about equal as prospects IMO when the Tucker trade was made, I thought they were our 2 best prospects considering Horton's arm issues.  You give the edge to Shaw over Smith at that time because of the extra year, but Smith has always been very toolsy and athletic with high upside.

Shaw will hopefully be a good player for us.  Sucks he's had a bad year hitting though and Smith/Paredes doing well, but that's baseball.

[WhyCantWeWin]

Horton has been pretty meh for a while. Safe to say he needs more development. 

Also safe to say that Cam Smith is very good. 

[We Got The Whole 9]

Smith was totally meh just like 3 weeks ago

[Stratos]

2 hours ago, gflore34 said:

Still another dribbler that found a hole but, on the scorecard it looks good.

Shaw needs a bib for all the dribbles.

[Stratos]

1 hour ago, WhyCantWeWin said:

Horton has been pretty meh for a while. Safe to say he needs more development. 

Hitters have been sitting on Horton and Brown's fastballs and launching them.  Hopefully its a location problem or something.  Guys with this stuff shouldn't be hit this bad.

[CubinNY]

10 hours ago, UMFan83 said:

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

Suarez is a streaky hitter that would make Dansby blush. I’d worry they’d trade for him and he’d go into a funk. 

[Derwood]

18 minutes ago, CubinNY said:

Suarez is a streaky hitter that would make Dansby blush. I’d worry they’d trade for him and he’d go into a funk. 

followed by hitting 8 HR in 12 days

[Geographyhater8888]

11 hours ago, Derwood said:

It's almost like when you play a bunch of 1st place teams while your division rival plays the Pirates and the Rockies you might lose a few games in the standings ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.

That’s because the Brewers took care of these first place teams early on sweeping the Phiies and taking 2/3 from Detroit and Houston. What we’re seeing is either a good cubs team that struggles vs other top teams and or a team that’s been remarkable at playing appropriately to their level of competition.

When the offense has come back to earth and the easy portion of the may/June schedule is over, we’re seeing a pitching staff with too many cracks and expected regression from Rae and Horton with too much mileage and the hard contact allowed finally missing fielders.

Edited June 28, 2025 by Geographyhater8888

[Derwood]

2 minutes ago, Geographyhater8888 said:

That’s because the Brewers took care of these first place teams early on sweeping the Phiies and taking 2/3 from Detroit and Houston. What we’re seeing is either a good cubs team that struggles vs other top teams and or a team that’s been remarkable at playing appropriately to their competition.

When the offense has come back to earth and the easy portion of the may/June schedule is over, we’re seeing a pitching staff with too many cracks and expected regression from Rae and Horton with too much mileage and the hard contact allowed finally missing fielders.

Looking ahead, though, the Cubs' have far fewer remaning games against .500+ teams than either Milwaukee or St Louis