The Cubs Lineup Isn’t Good Enough to Go All-In

[Tryptamine]

26 minutes ago, Brian Kelder said:

Thanks for reading! I should have written that the farm isn’t good enough to get an upgrade, like a real guy for the rotation,  I do think they need a middle of the order bat, not for the season but for October. 

Finding it real hard to take you seriously.  The farm has 4 guys who have appeared in top 100 lists with Rojas, Kepley, Hartshorn and Wiggins along with a guy in Ayers who might hit some end of season lists.  This is not the bottom 10 farm it was to start the year.

[squally1313]

10 minutes ago, Brian Kelder said:

I think my main point of them not having enough top end talent still is a good one

The Cubs, vis a vis the Brewers, have:

• More runs
• More home runs
• A better walk rate
• A better on base percentage
• A better slugging percentage
• A better wOBA
• A better xwOBA
• A better wRC
• A vastly superior defense, which I know was not the thrust of your article

[Brian Kelder]

44 minutes ago, squally1313 said:

But surely you understand how insane it is to include players with a single digit amount of at bats in this metric that you largely just made up to support your narrative that the third to fifth best offensive team in baseball actually isn't good. Or do you think we should get credit for Justin Dean and James Triantos

Fair

[Bobson Dugnutt]

1 hour ago, Brian Kelder said:

Fair, but note that I wrote this on Friday, so the stats obviously changed

Kinda pokes a hole in your entire premise when 8 PAs can swing someone 6 points and the cubs have three guys two points away from your arbitrary cutoff.

[Brian Kelder]

8 minutes ago, Bobson Dugnutt said:

Kinda pokes a hole in your entire premise when 8 PAs can swing someone 6 points and the cubs have three guys two points away from your arbitrary cutoff.

Might undercut the metric more! 

[Brian Kelder]

1 hour ago, Tryptamine said:

Finding it real hard to take you seriously.  The farm has 4 guys who have appeared in top 100 lists with Rojas, Kepley, Hartshorn and Wiggins along with a guy in Ayers who might hit some end of season lists.  This is not the bottom 10 farm it was to start the year.

I am decidedly not a prospect guy to be fair

[mul21]

33 minutes ago, Brian Kelder said:

I am decidedly not a prospect guy to be fair

If that's the case, seems odd to definitively declare they don't have the prospect capital to make the necessary moves.

[Bobson Dugnutt]

42 minutes ago, Brian Kelder said:

Might undercut the metric more! 

No, it doesn’t do that.

[CaliforniaRaisin]

18 hours ago, Named After Maddux said:

It’s a pretty silly level of cherry picking when the Cubs are also 3rd in Team wRC+ at 110. Sure the Cubs look great on position player WAR because of defense but the offense looks just fine. 
It’s obviously not perfect, but come on. There’s plenty of concerns about the team overall. The injuries on the pitching side makes it tricky to address all the holes, but the offense is good enough to justify using resources as the Cubs sit with the sixth best record in baseball and with a clear WC position. 

[Arlen]

14 hours ago, Brian Kelder said:

To me, the issue is that they don’t have a better talent to hit in the middle of the order. 

Seems to me, that is because teams front-end the power hitters in very recent times.

[Arlen]

14 hours ago, Brian Kelder said:

To be fair I never said I wanted a Bregman signing!

Here's to Bregman playing as if he were Santo without diabetes. We're Cubs fans, so hope springs and sprints.

Edited Tuesday at 05:15 AM by Arlen

[Outshined_One]

22 hours ago, Brian Kelder said:

I am decidedly not a prospect guy to be fair

NSBB has some of the best Cubs prospecturbation on the internet, even if you were to ignore the front page articles that get posted regarding the farm.  It's worth reading the daily threads and following along if you're going to be posting articles involving things like the Cubs' trade capital or their future needs at various positions.

[squally1313]

Cubs now up to 6 guys with a wRC at 120 or above. Dodgers have 5. Maybe they'll be sellers?

[Brian Kelder]

3 hours ago, squally1313 said:

Cubs now up to 6 guys with a wRC at 120 or above. Dodgers have 5. Maybe they'll be sellers?

I’ll own that one. Might need to write an update

[Brian Kelder]

3 hours ago, squally1313 said:

Cubs now up to 6 guys with a wRC at 120 or above. Dodgers have 5. Maybe they'll be sellers?

Wait. No. You’re wrong they just have two. Four over 100

[Bobson Dugnutt]

2 minutes ago, Brian Kelder said:

Wait. No. You’re wrong they just have two. Four over 100