White Sox (TBD) vs Cubs (Gausman): 08/18/26, 7:05 PM

[UMFan83]

And we have Clay Holmes starting tomorrow?

 

[Snott]

Who the hell sent assad to Iowa. He is the no 1 inning guy in the bp. And a compent starter. 

[We Got The Whole 9]

Bregman finding his prime form suddenly for the 2nd half is one off the most interesting storylines of our season. I mean that was a crappy bit of contact but he's been outstanding, like 60% above average 

 

Scoring on that hit with Kelly running is a miracle lol

[soccer10k]

58 minutes ago, chibears55 said:

Yep, that ball was lined up the middle,  I wonder if he would of sent him if there was less than 2 outs

No way they send him with less than 2 outs. For one, Kelly would have hesitated on the hit rather than taking off on contact.

[soccer10k]

1 hour ago, abuck1220 said:

what the horsefeathers was that throw 

LOL I had the same thought. Wasn't that deep and barely made it past the dirt after 2nd base.

[Geographyhater8888]

13 walk off wins is insane for a team with a +103 run differential in August. 

Edited 12 hours ago by Geographyhater8888

[Jason Ross]

5 hours ago, Snott said:

Who the hell sent assad to Iowa. He is the no 1 inning guy in the bp. And a compent starter. 

Welcome to NSBB.

It's a numbers game. You might not like that, but it is. He has options, others don't. Post deadline, the Cubs have next to no options to acquire more pitching. So to keep that depth for when players get hurt, they have to be creative. 

Assad is a fine long-man out of the bullpen. Maybe even a good one. But he also is the best option the Cubs may have if a rash of injuries hit the rotation and keeping him stretched out, while also preserving their depth required. 

It's a bummer for him, but we can probably take a step back and realize the club isn't run by idiots and that there is a rational and logical reason behind it.

[Geographyhater8888]

Kind of funny how Busch and PCA hit first inning bombs against a lefty when a year ago Turner would be batting 4th and PCA would be batting 6th or 7th. 

Edited 12 hours ago by Geographyhater8888

[Soul]

1 hour ago, Jason Ross said:

Welcome to NSBB.

It's a numbers game. You might not like that, but it is. He has options, others don't. Post deadline, the Cubs have next to no options to acquire more pitching. So to keep that depth for when players get hurt, they have to be creative. 

Assad is a fine long-man out of the bullpen. Maybe even a good one. But he also is the best option the Cubs may have if a rash of injuries hit the rotation and keeping him stretched out, while also preserving their depth required. 

It's a bummer for him, but we can probably take a step back and realize the club isn't run by idiots and that there is a rational and logical reason behind it.

Assad is definitely the guy to clean up the mess when Cabrera lays another turd on the field.  For that, I am thankful.

[Jason Ross]

9 minutes ago, Soul said:

Assad is definitely the guy to clean up the mess when Cabrera lays another turd on the field.  For that, I am thankful.

I still think there's a guy there for Cabrera. I do think 2026 has been a rough year for him; whatever they're working on him with hasn't taken. But the Cubs have already said he's coming back in a relief position, so not sure Assad will be cleaning up much there.

[Bertz]

1 hour ago, Geographyhater8888 said:

Kind of funny how Busch and PCA hit first inning bombs against a lefty when a year ago Turner would be batting 4th and PCA would be batting 6th or 7th. 

I suspect there is extra value for lefties who can hit lefties that doesn't show up in WAR.  That's not to say it's some mystical black box, but just needs to be accounted for elsewhere.  

I remember seeing an analysis that utility guys were worth an extra ~half a win per year.  I suspect this is of similar magnitude.

[CubUgly]

9 minutes ago, Jason Ross said:

I still think there's a guy there for Cabrera. I do think 2026 has been a rough year for him; whatever they're working on him with hasn't taken. But the Cubs have already said he's coming back in a relief position, so not sure Assad will be cleaning up much there.

I have not given up on Cabrera long term, I still think the ceiling is high, but I don't think it's happening this year.  Whatever our pitching guys tried did not really work, I think they will need to re-calibrate next year. 

[Soul]

25 minutes ago, Jason Ross said:

I still think there's a guy there for Cabrera. I do think 2026 has been a rough year for him; whatever they're working on him with hasn't taken. But the Cubs have already said he's coming back in a relief position, so not sure Assad will be cleaning up much there.

Ah, I didn’t know they said he’s moving into relief.

[We Got The Whole 9]

Cubs have 4 position players in the top 11 for 2nd half fwar 

[Geographyhater8888]

57 minutes ago, Bertz said:

I suspect there is extra value for lefties who can hit lefties that doesn't show up in WAR.  That's not to say it's some mystical black box, but just needs to be accounted for elsewhere.  

I remember seeing an analysis that utility guys were worth an extra ~half a win per year.  I suspect this is of similar magnitude.

Perhaps. Would you prefer this version of Busch as a more well rounded splits guy over what they had last year with Busch and Turner, if his drop in slug is a result of changing his swing path? 
 

PCAs jump from a 59 wRC+ to a 168 versus lefties is unfathomable.

Edited 9 hours ago by Geographyhater8888

[Geographyhater8888]

49 minutes ago, CubUgly said:

I have not given up on Cabrera long term, I still think the ceiling is high, but I don't think it's happening this year.  Whatever our pitching guys tried did not really work, I think they will need to re-calibrate next year. 

I still think he could be an effective reliever. 

[Derwood]

Second half Bregman: .302/.382/.560/.942, 9 2B, 7 HR, 20 RBI, 14 BB, 22 K

[Derwood]

Second half Nico: .371/.393/.491/.885, 20 RBI

[Derwood]

Second half Seiya: .284/.405/.569/.973, 10 2B, 7 HR, 26 RBI, 21 BB, 32 K

[Old Style]

Third game this season and I finally got a win. 

[Bertz]

17 minutes ago, Geographyhater8888 said:

Perhaps. Would you prefer this version of Busch as a more well rounded splits guy over what they had last year with Busch and Turner, if his drop in slug is a result of changing his swing path? 
 

PCAs jump from a 59 wRC+ to a 168 versus lefties is unfathomable.

Assuming he's got another hot streak in them that gets his wRC+ to more like 120, I would much rather have split neutral(ish) Busch than premium platoon player Busch.

[UMFan83]

2 hours ago, Jason Ross said:

Welcome to NSBB.

It's a numbers game. You might not like that, but it is. He has options, others don't. Post deadline, the Cubs have next to no options to acquire more pitching. So to keep that depth for when players get hurt, they have to be creative. 

Assad is a fine long-man out of the bullpen. Maybe even a good one. But he also is the best option the Cubs may have if a rash of injuries hit the rotation and keeping him stretched out, while also preserving their depth required. 

It's a bummer for him, but we can probably take a step back and realize the club isn't run by idiots and that there is a rational and logical reason behind it.

I don't agree with the logic.  The advantages of winning the division are huge (assuming they stay in the top 2).  Even if you bring him back up in a couple weeks when rosters expand, purposely having a worse roster could potentially cost the Cubs wins that they need to catch Milwaukee.  At the same time the Cubs are pretty secure right now in terms of a playoff spot and that 4 seed to ensure HFA so even if they do continue their rash of pitcher injuries, not having Civale or Rea on the roster isn't going to kill them.  

And in terms of keeping Assad stretched out in case of a starter injury, we're talking what 2 weeks until rosters expand where he'll be called up and put in a long relief role anyways? 

[Geographyhater8888]

18 minutes ago, Bertz said:

Assuming he's got another hot streak in them that gets his wRC+ to more like 120, I would much rather have split neutral(ish) Busch than premium platoon player Busch.

I wonder if the lack of rest is draining him a bit. He’s been remarkably consistent all season outside of his April slump, the complete opposite of Happ. I wonder if there’s more value in that by raising your offensive floor through an entire season as only a 115<> guy this year. 

Edited 9 hours ago by Geographyhater8888

[Jason Ross]

14 minutes ago, UMFan83 said:

I don't agree with the logic.  The advantages of winning the division are huge (assuming they stay in the top 2).  Even if you bring him back up in a couple weeks when rosters expand, purposely having a worse roster could potentially cost the Cubs wins that they need to catch Milwaukee.  At the same time the Cubs are pretty secure right now in terms of a playoff spot and that 4 seed to ensure HFA so even if they do continue their rash of pitcher injuries, not having Civale or Rea on the roster isn't going to kill them.  

And in terms of keeping Assad stretched out in case of a starter injury, we're talking what 2 weeks until rosters expand where he'll be called up and put in a long relief role anyways? 

I think we're well overrating Javier Assad if we think the Cubs are significantly better on the field with Assad in the bullpen or in Iowa. I like Assad, but let's be real about how long relief works; you use them in games where you're already losing. Now, that isn't to say there isn't value there; if you follow the podcast you'll hear me talk about the "designated loser" pretty often, the concept of keeping the game close when you're behind to allow your offense to catch up. We saw it last night! But I'm not sure Assad is a massive, game changing upgrade on Rea, and there's a reason that when you're behind it's still unlikely to come back to win. Anecdotally it helps, but let's not over value this too much, either. 

The point is that the Cubs can have their cake (depth) and eat it too (Assad will be used). If the Cubs had DFA'd Aaron Civale a few days ago to keep Assad, then who's coming up for Cabrera? We can't ignore this aspect. 

I want to make it clear: I like Javier Assad. The Cubs have needed Assad this year. But I also think the Cubs need Colin Rea right now. And they need depth. We saw what May looked like when we were scraping at the very bottom of the barrel. Cabrera is on the IL with a blister. Last night Guasman had a weird cramp which, let's be real, we all probably held our breath a little on. Clay Holmes spent time on the 60-day this year. Matthew Boyd has plenty of injury history. As much as we want to just forget May and say "it won't happen again", it's pitching and it can happen again. The division is almost assuredly not going to be decided by whether or not Assad is in Iowa versus Chicago if everyone is healthy. But it may be decided by the Cubs' deciding that depth doesn't matter all of a sudden. We finally have depth - let's not throw it away because we're impatient.

[Rcal10]

15 minutes ago, UMFan83 said:

I don't agree with the logic.  The advantages of winning the division are huge (assuming they stay in the top 2).  Even if you bring him back up in a couple weeks when rosters expand, purposely having a worse roster could potentially cost the Cubs wins that they need to catch Milwaukee.  At the same time the Cubs are pretty secure right now in terms of a playoff spot and that 4 seed to ensure HFA so even if they do continue their rash of pitcher injuries, not having Civale or Rea on the roster isn't going to kill them.  

And in terms of keeping Assad stretched out in case of a starter injury, we're talking what 2 weeks until rosters expand where he'll be called up and put in a long relief role anyways? 

I agree they could just dump Thornton, Civale (for Palencia) or Thielbar (when Milner) comes back. Then when Cabrera comes back he could be the pitcher added when the roster expands. Or if he comes back sooner than that, you drop whoever you didn’t drop when Palencia came back (Thornton or Civale) Maybe Brown becomes the pitcher added when roster expands.
But I do understand what the Cubs are doing with Assad. It sucks for him and he deserves to be in the team, but the fact is he is down for 3 days, minimum now. So if they want a fresh arm to replace an arm they won’t use he would have to go down.