Question of the week: are you optimistic?

[CubinNY]

agree. I'm optimistic for the season. When the playoffs start, that's a horse of a different color. 

Let's see what Jed can find at the deadline. If the farm boys keep going off there will be a lot talent to deal. 

You know at some point Busch and Seyia will find their stroke. 

[Bertz]

31 minutes ago, macarthur31 said:

Overall, I'm optimistic.  

During this winning stretch against NYM and PHI, what resonates is the "high floor" of the Cubs: we've got professional ABs from 1-9, a very solid pitching rotation, terrific defense and very good speed.  Counsell has shown he can cook a hobo stew out of the bullpen, as well as deftly weave in the bench to invite contributions from the whole roster.

And as stated in other threads, this has been achieved in spite biblical levels of pitching injury and with Busch, Suzuki and PCA yet to really hit to the "back of their baseball card."  

Finally, the corps of Swanson, Bregman, Hoerner just exude a steady, commit to the grind, type of leadership.   Perhaps some fans want more performative angst in down times (Cue short video of Justin Steele yelling into his mitt "WAKE THE F___ UP"), but over the course of 162+, those are the types I'd want to roll with.

Yeah I feel like this was really on display last night.  Playing against the Phillies with our pre-season #6 starter on the mound with our top 5 relievers out (3 on the IL two just down for the day) and we still win a comfortable 5-1 game.

Questions about the top end talent on the roster are fair but it's hard to see how they don't continue to pile up wins.

[macarthur31]

16 minutes ago, CubinNY said:

agree. I'm optimistic for the season. When the playoffs start, that's a horse of a different color. 

Let's see what Jed can find at the deadline. If the farm boys keep going off there will be a lot talent to deal. 

You know at some point Busch and Seyia will find their stroke. 

I went back to the original framing of the question/survey, and realized that I didn't consider the playoffs in my assessment.  Perhaps its due to the "stay in the now" mentality I hold even as a fan - it's hard for me to envision playoff matchups/performance as I don't know how our players (or our opponents) are trending, as well as the actual roster construction given injury.  Overall, I see that Jed has built a team that can win 90+ in the regular season, but will likely need higher ceiling starting pitching to grind through the knockouts.

I do wonder about 1) the actual trade market at the deadline and 2) Jed's (Tom's) willingness to really go for it - in terms of willingness to spend more and/or give up talent from that Cubs 2032 team.  I tend to lean pessimistic just because that's what I've seen so far in Jed's tenure, but who knows - it's a new year - and we may not even have baseball in '27.  Flags fly forever, blah blah blah.

Another consideration - the Cubs farm team was rated in the pre-season as on the low end; however, it seems to me that there are some pleasant surprises emerging in the low minors (Owen Ayres, Cole Mathis, etc), as well as seeing our majors adjacent guys like Kevin Alcantara getting homer happy earlier - that also inspires optimism as well.

 

 

[Rcal10]

11 minutes ago, macarthur31 said:

I went back to the original framing of the question/survey, and realized that I didn't consider the playoffs in my assessment.  Perhaps its due to the "stay in the now" mentality I hold even as a fan - it's hard for me to envision playoff matchups/performance as I don't know how our players (or our opponents) are trending, as well as the actual roster construction given injury.  Overall, I see that Jed has built a team that can win 90+ in the regular season, but will likely need higher ceiling starting pitching to grind through the knockouts.

I do wonder about 1) the actual trade market at the deadline and 2) Jed's (Tom's) willingness to really go for it - in terms of willingness to spend more and/or give up talent from that Cubs 2032 team.  I tend to lean pessimistic just because that's what I've seen so far in Jed's tenure, but who knows - it's a new year - and we may not even have baseball in '27.  Flags fly forever, blah blah blah.

Another consideration - the Cubs farm team was rated in the pre-season as on the low end; however, it seems to me that there are some pleasant surprises emerging in the low minors (Owen Ayres, Cole Mathis, etc), as well as seeing our majors adjacent guys like Kevin Alcantara getting homer happy earlier - that also inspires optimism as well.

 

 

Very hard to predict the playoffs. Do the Cubs have the horses in the rotation? Maybe they do. Does anyone really know what Cabrera will become in the playoffs? Is Shota for real this year? How well will Steele pitch when he comes back? Will Boyd hold up this year with less innings during the regular season? Even if 3 of the 4 answers are positive responses, that would give the Cubs a solid playoff rotation. And maybe they add a starter in a trade. 

[We Got The Whole 9]

Im feeling good about the last week's outcomes as a team but honestly Busch, PCA, and Seiya are worrying me a lot. The lack of damage is stunning, and for Seiya and PCA it continues the trend from the 2nd half last year. They have not been able to asjust to the adjustments and it doesn't look like a corner is being turned any time soon. When our other guys taper off, it could get ugly again. 

 

Starting pitching has been extremely solid and the defense is putting on a clinic. Feeling really nervous every time the pen comes on but they have been getting the job done just fine.

 

Cant complain about a month where they might get close to 20 wins.

[Illiterate Scholar]

We're really doing Seiya concern, 10 games in with his track record?

[Rcal10]

21 minutes ago, Illiterate Scholar said:

We're really doing Seiya concern, 10 games in with his track record?

To a lesser extend, the same can be asked about Busch. He is coming off a year where his OPS+ was 148. The year before it was 118. That was his first full season. Yes, he has started poorly. But I am not worried about him YET. Unless there is something physically wrong with him, he will come around. 

[Backtobanks]

4 hours ago, JBears79 said:

Yeah, id say im pretty optimistic about this season. We need to shore up pitching depth at the deadline and I think we will have the pieces in the minors to do it. Hopefully PCA gets going here and Busch gets back to normal and we have a pretty great offense imo.

All of the stories about the Mets struggling suggest that they might be sellers.  If that happens, Peralta would be a nice addition to the rotation.