Cubs (Assad) vs Rays (Rasmussen): 4/7/26, 5:40pm

[Brock Beauchamp]

This season isn't going to plan. But whatever, it's less than two weeks into the season. What are you all expecting of Assad today?

	THU	FRI	SAT	SUN	MON	TOT
Brown, B	0	0	0	42	0	42
Milner	0	10	0	14	0	24
Webb, J	0	29	0	20	0	49
Maton	0	0	0	0	19	19
Thielbar	0	0	0	28	0	28
Harvey	0	30	0	0	0	30
Palencia	0	0	0	13	0	13
Rea	0	57	0	0	0	57
Roberts	0	0	0	13	0	13
Martin	0	0	0	0	10	10

[Derwood]

Assad will be good for his usual 3 1/3 innings. Get the bullpen ready

[chibears55]

Assad will probably get them 4 innings and hopefully 2 runs or less. 

It the bats that concerns me, they need to get out of this rut 

[PeanutPunch33]

Well, we all knew this day was coming eventually.  But Cam Smith looks like he's becoming one of the best outfielders in the game and a cornerstone. 

I don't blame Jed for that trade.  He wouldn't be the current GM if the Cubs missed the playoffs last year.  I just wish they pulled that trade off without including Smith.  

The Cubs are a middle of the order bat away from being truly elite.  

 

[Jason Ross]

21 minutes ago, PeanutPunch33 said:

Well, we all knew this day was coming eventually.  But Cam Smith looks like he's becoming one of the best outfielders in the game and a cornerstone. 

I don't blame Jed for that trade.  He wouldn't be the current GM if the Cubs missed the playoffs last year.  I just wish they pulled that trade off without including Smith.  

The Cubs are a middle of the order bat away from being truly elite.  

 

Cam Smith had a 90 wRC+ last year. He's had a fun start to the year, but Ryan O'Hearn has a wRC+ over 200. So if Cam Smith is on the way to bring one of the best OFers in baseball with a 190 wRC+, than O'Hearn is on the way to being the NL MVP. 

That's not a shot against Smith, sincerely hope he does well. But it's 10 games. We can probably hold off on any hyperbole so far. 

[squally1313]

Well, we all knew this day was coming eventually. But Ronald Acuna looks like he's becoming one of the worst outfielders in the game and a total deadweight on the Braves roster. 

[Jason Ross]

4 minutes ago, squally1313 said:

Well, we all knew this day was coming eventually. But Ronald Acuna looks like he's becoming one of the worst outfielders in the game and a total deadweight on the Braves roster. 

Yeesh. Hasn't paid attention to his start.

Hope he figures it out; he's had a long road back. 

[squally1313]

2 minutes ago, Jason Ross said:

Yeesh. Hasn't paid attention to his start.

Hope he figures it out; he's had a long road back. 

Eh. Walk and K rates are still elite, xwOBA is over 100 points higher. Wasn't specifically trying to call out someone with a long injury history. Just the insanity of looking at a 10 game sample. 

[PeanutPunch33]

I get the point that's being made about sample size, but Cam Smith is 23 years old, what if he's turning a corner as a lot of 2nd year players do?  They could have made that trade without Smith 

[Jason Ross]

1 minute ago, squally1313 said:

Eh. Walk and K rates are still elite, xwOBA is over 100 points higher. Wasn't specifically trying to call out someone with a long injury history. Just the insanity of looking at a 10 game sample. 

Oh, no, I probably should have added context; I follow a lot of the baseball world via socials and the only thing I had seen was he was stealing bags pretty consistently from the spring and on OD. In my head he was having a good year. 

I hadn't noticed the 51 wRC+. But yeah looks like he's healthy and just some bad luck. 

Overall fully agree on all 10 game samples. 

[Jason Ross]

7 minutes ago, PeanutPunch33 said:

I get the point that's being made about sample size, but Cam Smith is 23 years old, what if he's turning a corner as a lot of 2nd year players do?  They could have made that trade without Smith 

Cedric Mullins had the 7th best wRC+ in baseball and Marcel Ozuna had the 8th best wRC+ last year through April. Both were terrible the rest of the way. It's a fact that Cam Smith is young and therefore he could be turning a corner, but every year we see 10-game sample sizes that are just what they are; good 10-games. It happens with even larger samples.

Between May 6th and May 19th last year, a 10 game split, Cam Smith had a 156 wRC+. He had an 85 wRC+ after it. It isn't like he hasn't had a heater before. He was 22-then. Smith needs to prove well beyond 10 games that he's turned a corner into just being a half-way decent corner OF, and a much longer one to show he's on the way to being "one of the best young OF'ers in baseball". For his sake I hope he does! I'm not anti-Smith or anything, just anti-early season hyperbole.

And to say things like "they could have made that trade without Smith" ignores that the Cubs didn't make that trade without Smith. The Cubs aren't a charity. Either: 
1. There wasn't a way that trade could be made without Smith that made sense for both sides
2. The Cubs were a-okay including Cam Smith

[Tangled Up in Plaid]

Josh Naylor is slashing .167/.194/.200

Jose Ramirez is slashing .146/.239/.268

but yeah, let's declare Cam Smith an MVP after 10 games (again)

[squally1313]

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/the-last-place-cubs-are-injured-but-all-is-nowhere-near-lost-yet/

This is good for talking Cubs fans off the ledge while still pointing out some of the flaws. Cubs were projected to have the 19th best rotation in baseball going into the year. With Horton on the shelf for presumably 2026 but Boyd likely expected back, they fall all the way to....21st. It wasn't a good situation before, it's a slightly worse situation now, but this team, for better or for worse, was always going to live and die by the offense and the defense. 

That said, the first ten games count, and we've got to make up 4 games. Positive regression here, negative regression up there, hopefully both. But probably puts us on pretty even playing ground going forward. 

[Geographyhater8888]

23 minutes ago, Jason Ross said:

Cedric Mullins had the 7th best wRC+ in baseball and Marcel Ozuna had the 8th best wRC+ last year through April. Both were terrible the rest of the way. It's a fact that Cam Smith is young and therefore he could be turning a corner, but every year we see 10-game sample sizes that are just what they are; good 10-games. It happens with even larger samples.

Wasn’t Carson Kelly number 1?

Edited April 7 by Geographyhater8888

[Jason Ross]

2 minutes ago, Geographyhater8888 said:

Was Carson Kelly number 1? 

Kelly would have been first had he had enough PA's to qualify. 

[Derwood]

Which one of you was this?

[CubinNY]

1 hour ago, Derwood said:

Which one of you was this?

My guess would be Michael Bush Lover.

[Tangled Up in Plaid]

[Tangled Up in Plaid]

No Ian, hope he's okay 

[Stratos]

3 hours ago, PeanutPunch33 said:

Well, we all knew this day was coming eventually.  But Cam Smith looks like he's becoming one of the best outfielders in the game and a cornerstone. 

I don't blame Jed for that trade.  He wouldn't be the current GM if the Cubs missed the playoffs last year.  I just wish they pulled that trade off without including Smith.  

The Cubs are a middle of the order bat away from being truly elite.  

Can't judge anything based on a week or 2.  Also can't judge much from last year given he was only 22 and had only around a month of PA in the minors

Cam Smith has always been a really good prospect and athlete.  I think the trade was stupid regardless of how he turns out.

[Jason Ross]

Feel free to join us live. We're reacting to Horton, and previewing the game tonight. 

 

 

[BKHoo]

4 hours ago, PeanutPunch33 said:

Well, we all knew this day was coming eventually.  But Cam Smith looks like he's becoming one of the best outfielders in the game and a cornerstone. 

I don't blame Jed for that trade.  He wouldn't be the current GM if the Cubs missed the playoffs last year.  I just wish they pulled that trade off without including Smith.  

The Cubs are a middle of the order bat away from being truly elite.  

 

Uh, no we are not.  Our three best pitchers are on the shelf, we are way further than that from being elite. 

[chibears55]

2 hours ago, Tangled Up in Plaid said:

Bottom of order gonna be a tough watch tonight...

Will they get 5 hits overall 

4 hours ago, PeanutPunch33 said:

 

The Cubs are a middle of the order bat away from being truly elite.  

 

Elite ?  They're not even close to being very good yet, this is basically the same group that struggled for most part of second half last year.

Theyre obviously going to be much better then this 10 game start, but unless they all start clicking on a higher level then normal,  theyre far from a bat away to being an elite group.

[Rcal10]

1 hour ago, Stratos said:

Can't judge anything based on a week or 2.  Also can't judge much from last year given he was only 22 and had only around a month of PA in the minors

Cam Smith has always been a really good prospect and athlete.  I think the trade was stupid regardless of how he turns out.

Cam Smith had a worse year than Shaw last year. He started well and came back to earth. And yet, here we are again discussing how  good he will become after a hot start. Please stop it, until he does actually prove to be a good major league player. 

[We Got The Whole 9]

Theres no reason to challenge this team with fastballs. They will chase them and simply cannot do any damage to secondary pitches. Mo has fallen right into their pattern.