Twins (Matthews) vs Cubs (Imanaga): 7/19/26, 1:20pm

[Tangled Up in Plaid]

24 minutes ago, Rcal10 said:

I can’t imagine this place if and when the Cubs do that. 

not quite as bad but there was the game a few weeks ago (?) against the blue jays when they were up 5-0 late and blew it

[Rcal10]

57 minutes ago, Tangled Up in Plaid said:

not quite as bad but there was the game a few weeks ago (?) against the blue jays when they were up 5-0 late and blew it

Right. I forgot about that one. 

[Bertz]

I wonder what a Gausman/Hoffman package from Toronto would cost

I similarly wonder what a Peralta/Weaver package would cost

I REALLY wonder what buying low on Hunter Brown would look like

[Derwood]

43 minutes ago, Bertz said:

I wonder what a Gausman/Hoffman package from Toronto would cost

I similarly wonder what a Peralta/Weaver package would cost

I REALLY wonder what buying low on Hunter Brown would look like

If I'm trading with Toronto, I'm talking Varland (though he'd cost a fortune).

Problem with the AL is that it's so awful that the under .500, last place Blue Jays are only 4 1/2 out of the wildcard

[Derwood]

Stupid Red Sox have won 13 straight and are in a wildcard spot, so Sonny Gray is now a pipe dream

[Geographyhater8888]

Anyone else see a smidge of Luis Arreaz in Pedro? 

[CubUgly]

12 hours ago, Wilson A2000 said:

 

Yeah, I bet that first walk of shame into the clubhouse and/or interview room was very awkward for him. 

Everyone See the tee-shirt Theo was wearing Friday!!  Hilarious. 

[cl smooth]

fun fact: nico hoerner hasn't hit a home run in 3 months. 

[Jason Ross]

1 hour ago, Geographyhater8888 said:

Anyone else see a smidge of Luis Arreaz in Pedro? 

Not really. I like Pedro Ramirez, he makes a lot of contact. His lowest K% above DSL in full season ball is 15.1% against Double-A pitching. Luis Arraez is under 5% this year against MLB pitching and the last time it was above 5% was in 2023. In 71 PA's Ramirez has 10 K's this year. In 416 PA's Luis Arraez has 18.

Luis Arraez is an anomaly. There's no comparison other than "they both play 2b". Nico Hoerner has the second lowest K% in baseball and it's over 8%. He's the closest other thing to Arraez around.

[Geographyhater8888]

11 minutes ago, Jason Ross said:

Not really. I like Pedro Ramirez, he makes a lot of contact. His lowest K% above DSL in full season ball is 15.1% against Double-A pitching. Luis Arraez is under 5% this year against MLB pitching and the last time it was above 5% was in 2023. In 71 PA's Ramirez has 10 K's this year. In 416 PA's Luis Arraez has 18.

Luis Arraez is an anomaly. There's no comparison other than "they both play 2b".

Sure. I think Pedro’s vulnerable to whiffing on high heat. is that correct?, Arreaz is a throwback from the pre analytics era and I enjoy it to be honest.

Edited 18 hours ago by Geographyhater8888

[Derwood]

30 minutes ago, cl smooth said:

fun fact: nico hoerner hasn't hit a home run in 3 months. 

A dude built like him having not power is a wonder of modern science. Dude is twice as buff as a skinny ass like Kyle Tucker, but can't hit the ball more than 325 feet

[Jason Ross]

2 minutes ago, Geographyhater8888 said:

Sure. I think Pedro’s vulnerable to whiffing on high heat. is that correct?, Arreaz is a throwback from the pre analytics era and I enjoy it to be honest.

Arraez is fun. But I don't even think he's a throw back to before analytics. Dude has a 125 wRC+ this year; he'd be a good player in any era.

Ramirez has chased up and in a bit, but it's 71 PA's and chasing up is common. With current bat paths, up in the zone is the place you want t live with your fastballs. So it's kind of just "whatever".  Probably don't have enough data on a rookie with 71 PA's either way, most numbers are just beginning to stabilize before we even add in the context of "rookie". But he looks like he belongs at the MLB level in curated PA's so far. And I'll take that. For someone most people thought of as a bottom-of-the-top-10 in a system that looked to be bad in March and starting in Knoxville, to being a top-75 prospect and a guy you like seeing at the MLB level in three months? Massive.

 

[Geographyhater8888]

13 minutes ago, Jason Ross said:

Arraez is fun. But I don't even think he's a throw back to before analytics. Dude has a 125 wRC+ this year; he'd be a good player in any era.

Ramirez has chased up and in a bit, but it's 71 PA's and chasing up is common. With current bat paths, up in the zone is the place you want t live with your fastballs. So it's kind of just "whatever".  Probably don't have enough data on a rookie with 71 PA's either way, most numbers are just beginning to stabilize before we even add in the context of "rookie". But he looks like he belongs at the MLB level in curated PA's so far. And I'll take that. For someone most people thought of as a bottom-of-the-top-10 in a system that looked to be bad in March and starting in Knoxville, to being a top-75 prospect and a guy you like seeing at the MLB level in three months? Massive.

 

I can’t too excited over small sample sizes, and the fact that he’ll likely be traded, but he’s handling ML pitching much better in his first stint than Shaw/Mo/PCA/whoever in his limited at bats. The lack of reps on the bench is atypical for how the Cubs handle their young talent but at least the bench is better.

[cl smooth]

28 minutes ago, Derwood said:

A dude built like him having not power is a wonder of modern science. Dude is twice as buff as a skinny ass like Kyle Tucker, but can't hit the ball more than 325 feet

when kyle tucker signed that deal with the dodgers, someone tweeted that he had "the physique of a booger" and i can never not look at him without thinking he looks like a booger. 

[Jason Ross]

9 minutes ago, Geographyhater8888 said:

I can’t too excited over small sample sizes, and the fact that he’ll likely be traded, but he’s handling ML pitching much better in his first stint than Shaw/Mo/PCA/whoever in his limited at bats. The lack of reps on the bench is atypical for how the Cubs handle their young talent but at least the bench is better.

Well...to be fair to Ballesteros, through 71 professional PA's, he too was great. He had a 143 wRC+ in 66 PA's last year. So that's just revisionist history. Ramirez is getting curated PA's right now and is very similar to have Mo was used last year who came up, then back down, then back up and then a small run at the end of the year. Ramirez has been toted along on the bench a little more than Ballesteros was originally, but it's not too dissimilar, either. 

But it's also what we should expect rookies to do: come up and have ups and downs before a level out. They tend to adjust, then the the league re-adjusts to those changes until they'll settle into an equilibrium.

Lastly, I wouldn't say it's "likely" he's traded. I think it's certainly possible. But he probably is as likely as Matt Shaw or Jefferson Rojas to be dealt in a larger trade and I highly doubt more than one of them are traded. I think it's more likely than not any three of them are dealt. He's more likely than, say, Josiah Hartshorn to go...but I'd expect him to be on the Cubs next year more than I would expect him to be traded. 

[Geographyhater8888]

16 minutes ago, Jason Ross said:

Well...to be fair to Ballesteros, through 71 professional PA's, he too was great. He had a 143 wRC+ in 66 PA's last year. So that's just revisionist history. Ramirez is getting curated PA's right now and is very similar to have Mo was used last year who came up, then back down, then back up and then a small run at the end of the year. Ramirez has been toted along on the bench a little more than Ballesteros was originally, but it's not too dissimilar, either. 

But it's also what we should expect rookies to do: come up and have ups and downs before a level out. They tend to adjust, then the the league re-adjusts to those changes until they'll settle into an equilibrium.

Lastly, I wouldn't say it's "likely" he's traded. I think it's certainly possible. But he probably is as likely as Matt Shaw or Jefferson Rojas to be dealt in a larger trade and I highly doubt more than one of them are traded. I think it's more likely than not any three of them are dealt. He's more likely than, say, Josiah Hartshorn to go...but I'd expect him to be on the Cubs next year more than I would expect him to be traded. 

Holding onto him as a corner outfielder or utility guy? He’s blocked from the infield until 2030. Yes, one of our trio of young infielders will be moved depending on the caliber of pitcher they trade for. And for the record I love a great bench. They don’t win in 2016 without one. The vision isn’t entirely clear no matter how matter how easy it is to speculate. 

Edited 17 hours ago by Geographyhater8888

[Bertz]

Pedro is honestly the platonic ideal of what we'd want a 10th man on this roster to look like.  I'm not going to throw out words like untouchable for him but he's not someone you go to market trying to cash in, he's someone you're willing to listen on for the right return.

I think Rojas and Kepley are the most obvious trade bait in the org.  I also think Jed and co need to take a breather and have an honest convo about Mo's defense.  Because this org suddenly pretty flush with LHH bats with thump. so if Mo's not a catcher or barely a catcher it's probably best to cash him in as well.

[KCCub]

10 hours ago, Bertz said:

I REALLY wonder what buying low on Hunter Brown would look like

[We Got The Whole 9]

29 minutes ago, Bertz said:

Pedro is honestly the platonic ideal of what we'd want a 10th man on this roster to look like.  I'm not going to throw out words like untouchable for him but he's not someone you go to market trying to cash in, he's someone you're willing to listen on for the right return.

I think Rojas and Kepley are the most obvious trade bait in the org.  I also think Jed and co need to take a breather and have an honest convo about Mo's defense.  Because this org suddenly pretty flush with LHH bats with thump. so if Mo's not a catcher or barely a catcher it's probably best to cash him in as well.

Agreed on Mo, pretty much agree with the whole post. I expect Rojas to be a trump card in most conversations for a controlled pitcher. If we're willing to include him I don't see many of those bad teams being able to pass. As far as Mo goes, it sure does not seem like the Cubs expect his defense to be very playable. I'm expecting them to trade him. 

[BKHoo]

Hunter + Brown? Wow.  That’s an intriguing idea but it would cost an amount I can’t fathom.