https://northsidebaseball.com/news-rumors/chicago-cubs/page/10/?d=7enhttps://northsidebaseball.com/news-rumors/chicago-cubs/carson-kelly-for-10th-man-of-the-year-r2743/In the last decade—and especially on this side of the COVID-19 disruption—we've seen MLB teams move from the traditional starter-backup catching arrangement to one much closer to an even timeshare. The Cubs signed Carons Kelly in late 2024 to accommodate their move toward that very model. With M...2743Wed, 15 Apr 2026 16:46:05 +0000https://northsidebaseball.com/news-rumors/chicago-cubs/shota-imanaga-is-better-than-hes-ever-been-in-a-cubs-uniform-r2740/Shota Imanaga is back. Both literally, since he signed a qualifying offer this past offseason to remain with the Chicago Cubs, and performance-wise, as he has  2.81 ERA through his first three starts in 2026.  Of course, the same caveat that comes with every piece of baseball analysis in mi...2740Tue, 14 Apr 2026 17:10:04 +0000https://northsidebaseball.com/news-rumors/chicago-cubs/the-cubs-are-executing-their-plan-at-the-plate-its-not-working-r2741/Last season, no team in baseball topped the Chicago Cubs when it came to lifting the ball to the pull field. The North Siders pulled and elevated 21.8% of their batted balls. It's their signature skill, because they don't like to emphasize raw bat speed and the line-to-line lethality that comes...2741Tue, 14 Apr 2026 16:10:26 +0000https://northsidebaseball.com/news-rumors/chicago-cubs/nico-hoerner-is-approaching-truly-elite-territory-in-terms-of-overall-value-r2732/Anybody who's watched Chicago Cubs second baseman Nico Hoerner play baseball for even a fragment of time knows that he is as close to a complete player as one may find in the sport. "Perfectly solid" is how his blend of contact, defense, and baserunning might be described. You don't necessarily...2732Tue, 14 Apr 2026 11:57:02 +0000https://northsidebaseball.com/news-rumors/chicago-cubs/cubs-week-in-review-carson-kellys-walk-off-salvages-the-record-vibes-r2733/However hard it is to keep a good team down, it's even harder for said good team to find itself in a groove. With eight current big leaguers on the Chicago Cubs' roster currently on the IL, Lady Luck has been less than kind to Craig Counsell's ball club in the early going. With Cade Horton out f...2733Tue, 14 Apr 2026 00:02:22 +0000https://northsidebaseball.com/news-rumors/chicago-cubs/should-the-cubs-make-a-call-to-lucas-giolito-r2737/It isn’t even halfway through April, and the Chicago Cubs’ pitching depth is already noticeably depleted. We got the news last week that the Cubs would be without sophomore starter Cade Horton for the rest of the season, due to a UCL injury. That came after the team placed Opening Day starter Ma...2737Mon, 13 Apr 2026 22:11:01 +0000https://northsidebaseball.com/news-rumors/chicago-cubs/a-failure-on-every-level-how-bad-fundamentals-and-bad-roster-construction-cost-cubs-saturdays-game-r2736/The first problem is that Tyler Austin got hurt. That's outside Jed Hoyer's control, except in that signing a player who was compelled to seek his baseball fortune on another continent half a decade ago and who's now well into his mid-30s was an embrace of some injury risk. Austin's knee injury...2736Mon, 13 Apr 2026 15:48:00 +0000https://northsidebaseball.com/news-rumors/chicago-cubs/cubs-lineup-woes-are-the-result-of-navigating-the-perils-of-a-sequential-offense-r2731/Caveats abound at this early stage of the season, but the Chicago Cubs are, at present and at best, a mediocre offensive team. A number of components will even out as the sample grows, but it's a hard idea to deny for a team that ranks 19th in runs scored, 24th in isolated power, and 22nd in wRC...2731Mon, 13 Apr 2026 11:54:02 +0000https://northsidebaseball.com/news-rumors/chicago-cubs/matt-shaw-is-swinging-slower-and-finally-looks-like-the-top-prospect-the-cubs-were-promised-r2730/Earlier this week, our Matt Trueblood took a look at how a change in stance has allowed Nico Hoerner to tap into more practical power. However, Hoerner is not the only Chicago Cub in 2026 who has bucked conventional trends yet produced much better results based on a stance change. Enter Matt Sha...2730Sat, 11 Apr 2026 19:32:01 +0000https://northsidebaseball.com/news-rumors/chicago-cubs/can-miguel-amaya-be-an-effective-hitter-if-his-bat-speed-never-rebounds-r2728/Hitting is problem-solving. After all, you're standing there in a box, not allowed to move beyond it, armed with a seemingly powerful but unwieldy club, and you've got a projectile coming at you at bone-breaking speed. You can't be sure where it'll be when it passes you, or even that it won't co...2728Fri, 10 Apr 2026 11:38:02 +0000https://northsidebaseball.com/news-rumors/chicago-cubs/the-five-stages-of-relief-r2721/As we await the return of Justin Steele and weather the losses of Matthew Boyd and Cade Horton to the injured list, I considered the grief of being a Cubs fan through this early part of 2026, and recalled the infamous "Five Stages of Grief" in trying to process my feelings. Known as the Kubler-R...2721Thu, 09 Apr 2026 13:35:01 +0000https://northsidebaseball.com/news-rumors/chicago-cubs/how-a-slight-stance-change-has-allowed-nico-hoerner-to-aim-for-the-corners-better-r2725/Back in May 2024, I wrote about Nico Hoerner's potential (or, as I myopically believed back then, lack thereof) to hit more doubles. The issues I noted at the time are still real and salient: that hitting the ball to center and right field, while good for a batter trying to maintain a high conta...2725Thu, 09 Apr 2026 11:56:00 +0000