Reds (Lodolo) vs Cubs (Soroka): 8/4/25, 7:05pm

[Derwood]

Oof, Happ

[Hot Sauce]

That is not going to help this forum’s opinion of Happ.

[Rex Buckingham]

2 straight check swing hits and a Happ misplay... Brown is snakebitten

[Irrelevant Dude]

Infield single followed by a check swing double down the line.  That happens to the Brewers too, right?

[UMFan83]

At least the Brewers trailed today and only won by 2.  That's like a loss

[Stratos]

28 minutes ago, Jason Ross said:

Right shoulder discomfort. Not great.

Jed needs to be asked about the velo drop.  They can't not have known about it.   Somebody in the FO might need to be fired for this, and it won't be Jed re: extension.

[sweetpeteman]

Great recovery Brown.

[Rcal10]

4 minutes ago, Rex Buckingham said:

2 straight check swing hits and a Happ misplay... Brown is snakebitten

So much a Ben Brown inning. He can’t catch a break.

He did well to keep his composure. 

Edited August 5, 2025 by Rcal10

[JBears79]

So we gave up 2 good propsects for 2 innings. Great work Jed. 

[Stratos]

9 minutes ago, Irrelevant Dude said:

"Shoulder discomfort" is rarely minor.

Hopefully mild shoulder reconstruction surgery.

[Jason Ross]

4 minutes ago, Stratos said:

Jed needs to be asked about the velo drop.  They can't not have known about it.   Somebody in the FO might need to be fired for this, and it won't be Jed re: extension.

The Cubs and the Marlins both didn't like the medicals on the Miami trade, so the Cubs do look at these things. Matt Trueblood wrote an article explaining how the velocity drop had a mechanical and a pitch shape change to go with it as well as using the fastball differently. That suggests intention. One thing I mentioned a few times; he raised his arm slot and raising an arm slot brings more load into the shoulder area. Mike Soroka has shoulder discomfort.

We can believe a few things here. It's possible that the Cubs, the day before the trade deadline, basically ignored all of the velocity drop, didn't perform a decent physical and bought a pitcher who was clearly hurt. I'll be honest with you and say that I don't buy that. He may have gambled a little on the medicals, but I think with as much time as he had left on Thursday, feel like he probably felt good enough with everything.

I know that the velo drop seems like it has to be tied to this, but I'm not as sure as others. Jed didn't just ignore it. I think it's very, very, very likely that if you and I can pull this up on a Savant page, Jed probably can too. 

We'll see what comes of this. We may never know exactly what happened and when. But Hoyer isn't so incompetent to have entirely ignored this.

[Irrelevant Dude]

2 minutes ago, JBears79 said:

So we gave up 2 good propsects for 2 innings. Great work Jed. 

Hey, that may be 2 more innings than those prospects ever give anyone!  Who is to say it was a bad deal?

[chibears55]

These bats look so lifeless

[BigSlick]

I’m gonna need like 8 to 9 more runs to feel good about this game 

[Cubbies1996]

Just now, chibears55 said:

These bats look so lifeless

Making this terrible Reds bullpen look pretty dang good

[Jason Ross]

7 minutes ago, JBears79 said:

So we gave up 2 good propsects for 2 innings. Great work Jed. 

We gave up two prospects. Neither were particularly "good".

One is a backup OF'er at the MLB level and the other is 19 and is a developmental prospects who is about to turn 19 and has a 91 wRC+ in the ACL. Franklin will have a good shot at a career and could be a nice guy to have on a roster, but shouldn't be hard to replace. And Cruz is a lottery ticket. I liked following Cruz, but he's probably going to flame out.

[sweetpeteman]

I don't mind the Soroka trade, but it couldn't be your only move for a starter. 

[chibears55]

4 minutes ago, BigSlick said:

I’m gonna need like 8 to 9 more runs to feel good about this game 

Be lucky to get half that

[Geographyhater8888]

Can’t hit ****** pitching either. 

[BigSlick]

This game is giving me bad vibes. Feels like an annoying loss is incoming. 

[DYMNO]

This offense sucks right now. Badly. 

[muntjack]

This has the feeling of a Reds-solo-HR kind of inning. 

[Jason Ross]

Just now, sweetpeteman said:

I don't mind the Soroka trade, but it couldn't be your only move for a starter. 

100% this. Two things can be true: what we gave up for Soroka was totally fine and the Cubs still didn't do enough. I would even take Soroka as the starter had the team went big on the pen! 

I thought it would be a bad deadline if the Cubs didn't trade for any player who required one of their six best prospects go back, and the Cubs top-10 is essentially untouched (depending on where you had Franklin). 

[TarzanJoeWallis]

It seems like the Cubs never try to steal anymore. They are way more passive on the base paths than they were. You’d think they’d keep running with the offense scuffling so badly. 

[chibears55]

5 minutes ago, Jason Ross said:

We gave up two prospects. Neither were particularly "good".

One is a backup OF'er at the MLB level and the other is 19 and is a developmental prospects who is about to turn 19 and has a 91 wRC+ in the ACL. Franklin will have a good shot at a career and could be a nice guy to have on a roster, but shouldn't be hard to replace. And Cruz is a lottery ticket. I liked following Cruz, but he's probably going to flame out.

Should be gave up 2 assets that could of been add ons in a better deal