Cubs (Taillon) vs Pirates (Chandler): 5/27/26, 5:40pm

[Brock Beauchamp]

Not a lot to say. Here's another baseball game.

	FRI	SAT	SUN	MON	TUE	TOT
Trent Thornton	0	14	0	21	0	35
Ryan Rolison	0	16	0	0	32	48
Phil Maton	22	0	13	0	0	35
Jacob Webb	15	0	0	23	0	38
Hoby Milner	8	0	0	0	20	28
Ethan Roberts	32	0	16	0	0	48
Daniel Palencia	0	0	0	0	14	14
Caleb Thielbar	0	0	13	0	0	13

[Brian707]

Streak will end tonight, they will start a 3 game winning streak and then lose 10 in a row. They like to do things in 10's.

[Jason Ross]

Nothing says "guy who's going to break the losing streak" like the SP who's got the worst fWAR in baseball right now.

[Stratos]

They need to rip off an 8 out of 10 win streak or something to get back into this season. Maybe when Boyd gets back.

[Tangled Up in Plaid]

[CubinNY]

They were on an unconscious tear earlier and are now hungover (or hun’over as one of my college roommates used to say).

All they need is a couple cups of coffee and some Advil and they’ll be right as rain. 

[NorthsideAvenger]

Forget it NSBB. It's Cubs baseball. 

[muntjack]

It's been a bizarre year.  If you had told me in March that Dansby Swanson would have a higher wRC+ than:

Manny Machado

Trea Turner

Cal Raleigh

Bo Bichette

Jackson Merrill

I would assume he would be in line to start the All-Star game. 

[PeanutPunch33]

if Hoyer and/or Counsell were in the final years of their contracts, I don't think there is any doubt that they'd be on their way out of Chicago. 

I wonder how much worse this needs to get before they consider pulling the plug anyways.  12 losses in a row?  15?  20?  A lot of these games aren't even competitive.   

[Jason Ross]

46 minutes ago, PeanutPunch33 said:

if Hoyer and/or Counsell were in the final years of their contracts, I don't think there is any doubt that they'd be on their way out of Chicago. 

I wonder how much worse this needs to get before they consider pulling the plug anyways.  12 losses in a row?  15?  20?  A lot of these games aren't even competitive.   

Maybe. But there comes a point when you have to ask: what exactly is Jed Hoyer or Craig Counsell doing wrong the last 10 games? Neither have an IP or a PA. Counsell has: kept a similar lineup to let guys work out of it and gave guys day(s) off - neither have worked. Under almost any situation, having Jordan Wicks need to start a game with how he's performed in Iowa (mediocre-ish) before June 1st is a worst-case injury scenario. He's what, 10th on the "best case" depth chart right now? It isn't like Craig or Jed busted these guys arms. And we can say that the team always had guys who might get hurt, and that's a fair assessment, but there also isn't much you can really do when everyone gets hurt at the same time. 

Like I get we're frustrated but this just isn't really on Jed and Craig as much as it is the players who are struggling. And if we want to say it is on Jed and Craig, the then the bigger picture matters: they should get the same credit for winning 10+ games twice in just a handful of weeks, too.

Firing Jed Hoyer isn't going to make the line drives that Pete Crow-Armstrong hit on Monday land (despite having xBA's over .600 on all three). Firing Craig Counsell isn't going to make Justin Steele or Cade Horton get healthier, or Dansby Swanson get out of a funk. The team is already pressing; you can see PCA try to do too much. This sucks, but it isn't as simple as "blame someone like a coach" or "pull the plug". They'd lose the games right now regardless of who the manager is.

[mul21]

7 minutes ago, Jason Ross said:

Maybe. But there comes a point when you have to ask: what exactly is Jed Hoyer or Craig Counsell doing wrong the last 10 games? Neither have an IP or a PA. Counsell has: kept a similar lineup to let guys work out of it and gave guys day(s) off - neither have worked. Under almost any situation, having Jordan Wicks need to start a game with how he's performed in Iowa (mediocre-ish) before June 1st is a worst-case injury scenario. He's what, 10th on the "best case" depth chart right now? It isn't like Craig or Jed busted these guys arms. And we can say that the team always had guys who might get hurt, and that's a fair assessment, but there also isn't much you can really do when everyone gets hurt at the same time. 

Like I get we're frustrated but this just isn't really on Jed and Craig as much as it is the players who are struggling. And if we want to say it is on Jed and Craig, the then the bigger picture matters: they should get the same credit for winning 10+ games twice in just a handful of weeks, too.

Firing Jed Hoyer isn't going to make the line drives that Pete Crow-Armstrong hit on Monday land (despite having xBA's over .600 on all three). Firing Craig Counsell isn't going to make Justin Steele or Cade Horton get healthier, or Dansby Swanson get out of a funk. The team is already pressing; you can see PCA try to do too much. This sucks, but it isn't as simple as "blame someone like a coach" or "pull the plug". They'd lose the games right now regardless of who the manager is.

Something I've been wondering in the midst of this slump and the one we saw last year is if there's an adjustment that's been made to how these guys are being pitched and have the coaches missed or been slow to getting these guys to adjust to that?  Or are the players just missing hittable pitches, swinging at the wrong ones and looking at good ones? 

[SpongeWorthy]

15 minutes ago, Jason Ross said:

Maybe. But there comes a point when you have to ask: what exactly is Jed Hoyer or Craig Counsell doing wrong the last 10 games? Neither have an IP or a PA. Counsell has: kept a similar lineup to let guys work out of it and gave guys day(s) off - neither have worked. Under almost any situation, having Jordan Wicks need to start a game with how he's performed in Iowa (mediocre-ish) before June 1st is a worst-case injury scenario. He's what, 10th on the "best case" depth chart right now? It isn't like Craig or Jed busted these guys arms. And we can say that the team always had guys who might get hurt, and that's a fair assessment, but there also isn't much you can really do when everyone gets hurt at the same time. 

Like I get we're frustrated but this just isn't really on Jed and Craig as much as it is the players who are struggling. And if we want to say it is on Jed and Craig, the then the bigger picture matters: they should get the same credit for winning 10+ games twice in just a handful of weeks, too.

Firing Jed Hoyer isn't going to make the line drives that Pete Crow-Armstrong hit on Monday land (despite having xBA's over .600 on all three). Firing Craig Counsell isn't going to make Justin Steele or Cade Horton get healthier, or Dansby Swanson get out of a funk. The team is already pressing; you can see PCA try to do too much. This sucks, but it isn't as simple as "blame someone like a coach" or "pull the plug". They'd lose the games right now regardless of who the manager is.

If the bar is not actively hurting the team during a big slump then there ought to be a track record of putting a great product on the field 

Edited Wednesday at 07:40 PM by SpongeWorthy

[Jason Ross]

10 minutes ago, SpongeWorthy said:

If the bar is not actively hurting the team during a big slump then there ought to be a track record of putting a great product on the field 

Last I checked the Cubs won 90 games last year, won a playoff series and were one game away from the NLCS. I'm not going to sit here and say "this is the end goal" but let's take a few moments and realize it isn't like the Cubs have been losing a lot of baseball games over the last couple of years.

[Derwood]

Boyd is set to start a rehab assignment

[gflore34]

19 minutes ago, mul21 said:

Something I've been wondering in the midst of this slump and the one we saw last year is if there's an adjustment that's been made to how these guys are being pitched and have the coaches missed or been slow to getting these guys to adjust to that?  Or are the players just missing hittable pitches, swinging at the wrong ones and looking at good ones? 

For certain they've been missing on meat balls, how many times has Suzuki rolled over hanging breaking balls?  Seems like every at bat he gets pitches to crush and makes a feeble out.  It's not like their facing high quality pitching.  They didn't vs Houston and haven't against Pittsburgh, just not hitting anything period.

[SpongeWorthy]

12 minutes ago, Jason Ross said:

Last I checked the Cubs won 90 games last year, won a playoff series and were one game away from the NLCS. I'm not going to sit here and say "this is the end goal" but let's take a few moments and realize it isn't like the Cubs have been losing a lot of baseball games over the last couple of years.

we are like a .500 ball club in the aggregate since Covid with one Covid division title, no real division titles and no LCS or WS appearance 

[Jason Ross]

5 minutes ago, SpongeWorthy said:

we are like a .500 ball club in the aggregate since Covid with one Covid division title, no real division titles and no LCS or WS appearance 

You can paint whatever picture you want. Another way of saying is that the Cubs have had a winning record in 2023, 2024 and 2025. They most recently won 90 games and a playoff series. In terms of "what have you done for me lately?" they've done generally fine and are fresh off their best season. 

None of this necessitates an immediate firing of Counsell or Hoyer because of a ten game losing streak. We can be frustrated, annoyed and upset at the losing streak. Totally fair. I'm struggling to enjoy baseball right now. But it doesn't mean changing out Hoyer or Counsell for someone else with fix anything or solves the actual issues right now, either. 

[Outshined_One]

Who's who by fWAR since 2023?

[Geographyhater8888]

2 minutes ago, Outshined_One said:

Who's who by fWAR since 2023?

Boggarts has been a dud. 

[SpongeWorthy]

2 minutes ago, Jason Ross said:

You can paint whatever picture you want. Another way of saying is that the Cubs have had a winning record in 2023, 2024 and 2025. They most recently won 90 games and a playoff series. In terms of "what have you done for me lately?" they've done generally fine and are fresh off their best season. 

None of this necessitates an immediate firing of Counsell or Hoyer because of a ten game losing streak. We can be frustrated, annoyed and upset at the losing streak. Totally fair. I'm struggling to enjoy baseball right now. But it doesn't mean changing out Hoyer or Counsell for someone else with fix anything or solves the actual issues right now, either. 

there’s no other kind of firing than an immediate firing if firing jed hoyer with his track record of never putting a great team on the field is considered immediate

[Outshined_One]

7 minutes ago, Geographyhater8888 said:

Boggarts has been a dud. 

One of them hasn't been, and that one apparently decided to pay a visit to the Springfield Mystery Spot over the offseason.

[Post Count Padder]

Ok Jed is pranking us signing a guy named Bummer during a 10-game losing streak.

[PeanutPunch33]

1 hour ago, Jason Ross said:

Maybe. But there comes a point when you have to ask: what exactly is Jed Hoyer or Craig Counsell doing wrong the last 10 games? Neither have an IP or a PA. Counsell has: kept a similar lineup to let guys work out of it and gave guys day(s) off - neither have worked. Under almost any situation, having Jordan Wicks need to start a game with how he's performed in Iowa (mediocre-ish) before June 1st is a worst-case injury scenario. He's what, 10th on the "best case" depth chart right now? It isn't like Craig or Jed busted these guys arms. And we can say that the team always had guys who might get hurt, and that's a fair assessment, but there also isn't much you can really do when everyone gets hurt at the same time. 

Like I get we're frustrated but this just isn't really on Jed and Craig as much as it is the players who are struggling. And if we want to say it is on Jed and Craig, the then the bigger picture matters: they should get the same credit for winning 10+ games twice in just a handful of weeks, too.

Firing Jed Hoyer isn't going to make the line drives that Pete Crow-Armstrong hit on Monday land (despite having xBA's over .600 on all three). Firing Craig Counsell isn't going to make Justin Steele or Cade Horton get healthier, or Dansby Swanson get out of a funk. The team is already pressing; you can see PCA try to do too much. This sucks, but it isn't as simple as "blame someone like a coach" or "pull the plug". They'd lose the games right now regardless of who the manager is.

So you are saying this mess isn't Jed's fault because.... the guy that HE drafted gave up 8+ runs?  The guys that HE gave huge contracts to are.... not playing very good?  Who else's fault can it be?  

If I squint hard enough, I can maybe see what you're saying about Counsell.  He has a track record of success when given good players.  It's not his fault that his 3 best starting pitchers are injured, or that he's been given a lineup that has 0 slug or star talent.  I get that.  

But he has his share of blame for this mess too.  He's stubborn with lineup decisions and too slow to take struggling veteran pitchers out of the game.  He's also butchered the development of young players on this team.  Why is Ballesteros basically a bench warmer at point when he was the team's best player in April?  They will bench a young stud like Ballesteros after he has 1 bad slump across 5 games, but they won't bench Ian Happ after he's been terrible for about 30 days.  What has he done to help PCA take that next step as a player?  You don't think that a young player forgetting how many outs there are in an inning on multiple occasions isn't a reflection of the manager?  What about his base running gaffes or his immaturity? (Sox incident, Dodgers fan comments, slamming his helmet after every strikeout etc.).

You also say that firing Counsell won't make the Cubs suddenly play better.  The Phillies would like to have a word.  Probably the best team in baseball next to the Brewers ever since they fired their manager.  Coaching makes a difference.  Roster construction makes a difference.  There are a lot of problems with this team right now and it can't just be chalked up to injuries.  

 

Edited Wednesday at 08:38 PM by PeanutPunch33

[Tangled Up in Plaid]

Aaron Bummer has pitched 15.1 innings this year with an 8.62 FIP. This is what it's come to

[Jason Ross]

17 minutes ago, SpongeWorthy said:

there’s no other kind of firing than an immediate firing if firing jed hoyer with his track record of never putting a great team on the field is considered immediate

Did Jed Hoyer deserve to be fired when the Cubs were 29-16 this year?