Cubs (Peterson) vs Cardinals (TBD): 7/27/26, 6:45pm

[mk49]

1 minute ago, squally1313 said:

This is a good horsefeathers team. 

as long as, Nico and Bregman hit, like they should.  I'm OK with either Detmers or Hancock.  We need someone like that.  Plus, like you said, someone like last year's Kittredge.

[Tangled Up in Plaid]

8 minutes ago, squally1313 said:

Go get Detmers and Adell. Trade Alcantara, trade one of Shaw/Ramirez, or both I don't care, trade a couple guys from the top 10. Find another cheap starter and the 2026 version of Kittredge. Let Adell feast against lefties (like, say, the Sanchez/Luzurdo combo we might see in a wild card series), let Counsell cook with 2.5 good starters and Brown/Steele/Cabrera all going balls to the wall for extended relief appearances. This is a good horsefeathers team. 

What are we doing with Adell? Platoon with Happ?

[Irrelevant Dude]

4 hours ago, Irrelevant Dude said:

I have been stuck at LAX since this morning and have another 4 hours to wait before my rescheduled flight takes off.  I've been sitting here waiting for the Cubs game to start so I have something to do, and now a weather delay...

Good news: The Cubs won and I got to watch the whole game on my tablet. 

Bad news: I live at LAX now.

[Soul]

5 minutes ago, Irrelevant Dude said:

Good news: The Cubs won and I got to watch the whole game on my tablet. 

Bad news: I live at LAX now.

I feel you.  When LAX goes bad, it goes REALLY bad.

[squally1313]

5 minutes ago, Tangled Up in Plaid said:

What are we doing with Adell? Platoon with Happ?

Mostly. 161 wRC against LHP this year. 

[Geographyhater8888]

6 hours ago, squally1313 said:

Mostly. 161 wRC against LHP this year. 

Only a 64 versus righties too with an 84 and 148 wRC+ splits since 2023. It feels more like a luxury than a big need but I’d love his bat platooning in the DH spot, especially with team control through 2027. 

Edited 3 hours ago by Geographyhater8888

[NorthsideAvenger]

15 minutes ago, Geographyhater8888 said:

Only a 64 versus righties. Those are insane splits. I love it. Since 2023 he’s at a 148 in 352 PAs versus lefties and an 84 versus righties in 1168 PAs. horsefeathers it, go get him. 

I love the idea of Adell but if you can't get Adell what about Tyrone Taylor of the Mets? Taylor also kills lefties.

[Geographyhater8888]

4 hours ago, NorthsideAvenger said:

I love the idea of Adell but if you can't get Adell what about Tyrone Taylor of the Mets? Taylor also kills lefties.

Taylor is having an outlier year. He has a 137 wRC versus lefties this year, a 62 in 2025 and he’s a career 100 guy. I’m not sure what to make of that. 
I would hope there’s a better options if it becomes a need by trading Shaw. 

Edited 4 hours ago by Geographyhater8888

[Geographyhater8888]

3 hours ago, mk49 said:

It's official.  He's back.😃

I don’t think he ever left. 

[mk49]

Yeah, I found that out 2 weeks ago.  His xwOBA hasn't been bad the whole year.  

[CubUgly]

6 hours ago, squally1313 said:

Mostly. 161 wRC against LHP this year. 

Yeah, Happ's RH plate appearances are starting to look like Taillon's starts unfortunately.  It's hurting the team.  Now granted when they bring in a righty in the 6th or so he can turn around and his defense has been as good or better than it's ever been - so there is somewhat of an argument against platooning him for those reasons, but man he's been bad RH. 

[Geographyhater8888]

1 minute ago, CubUgly said:

Yeah, Happ's RH plate appearances are starting to look like Taillon's starts unfortunately.  It's hurting the team.  Now granted when they bring in a righty in the 6th or so he can turn around and his defense has been as good or better than it's ever been - so there is somewhat of an argument against platooning him for those reasons, but man he's been bad RH. 

That’s the thing. There’s so many loud outs and hard hit balls to the outfield that you could argue that his glove is a net positive, despite his inability to hit left handed pitching. I can’t prove it but If we had the 2023 version of Justin Steele then maybe you’d sit him.

[squally1313]

There's also the DH spot. PCA/Adell/Suzuki/Kelly/Bregman/Busch/Dansby/Nico/Happ is plenty solid, and you can put Shaw or Ramirez out there over Happ to avoid Adell's (very bad) defense.

The last part is probably the biggest knock against him. He's got another year of control and is somewhat of a tweener in that he's probably too good of a player to 'only' use as a short side platoon guy (37 HRs last year), but definitely doesn't seem like the kind of guy the Cubs want in the mix given their clear preference for defense and flexibility.

[Bertz]

The 2027 outfield is a really interesting puzzle to think about.  

- Seiya and Happ are leaving, and while they're still good players and good dudes they're both at an age where you shouldn't give them the 3-4 years they'll require

- The best free agent alternatives are Randy Arozarena and Taylor Ward.  Two guys strikingly similar to Seiya in both age and production

- There's a small army of platoon outfielders available, even some Id consider premium (JJ Bleday, Trent Grisham)

- Trade market doesn't have any obvious solutions unless Byron Buxton surprisingly comes available 

- The Cubs' best prospects are generally LHH outfielders you're eying for a 2028 ETA

So I do wonder if the best move is to hodgepodge it for a year.  E.g trust that you can get good production out of a Shaw / Bateman / Adell / Bleday quartet even if you're not positive in what proportions.