https://northsidebaseball.com/news-rumors/chicago-cubs/page/131/?d=7enhttps://northsidebaseball.com/news-rumors/chicago-cubs/cubs-make-a-surprising-roster-move-dfa-garrett-cooper-in-favor-of-matt-mervis-r755/This was not akin to the abortive Luis Torrens stint last April, or to the Cubs' doomed effort to resurrect the hype around Clint Frazier in 2022. Garrett Cooper didn't blow any doors off, but in 41 plate appearances distributed raggedly across the first 22 games of the season, he batted a respe...755Tue, 23 Apr 2024 19:35:00 +0000https://northsidebaseball.com/news-rumors/chicago-cubs/matt-mervis-returns-to-the-cubs-will-he-mash-this-time-r754/On Tuesday afternoon, the Cubs recalled first baseman Matt Mervis to Wrigley Field. Long rumored to be on the trade block (especially after the Michael Busch acquisition), the Cubs held onto the lefty masher throughout the offseason and are giving him his second shot at MLB relevance. I wrote ea...754Tue, 23 Apr 2024 18:10:00 +0000https://northsidebaseball.com/news-rumors/chicago-cubs/hayden-wesneskis-new-arsenal-looks-good-but-will-it-work-long-term-r747/The book on Hayden Wesneski is well-known by now: he completely owns opposing righties, but he gets owned by lefties. In 134 at-bats against opposite-handed batters in 2023, he gave up a .313/.374/.649 slash line. That’s a 1.023 OPS. In other words, lefties facing Wesneski had a higher OPS than...747Tue, 23 Apr 2024 14:39:01 +0000https://northsidebaseball.com/news-rumors/chicago-cubs/the-march-of-michael-busch-continues-r752/I’m still waiting for Michael Busch to come back to Earth. I don’t think that even the biggest Busch optimist, coming into the 2024 season, could claim to have predicted the level of production that he has given the Chicago Cubs to this point. He has a glowing .309/.385/.618 batting line, good f...752Tue, 23 Apr 2024 12:11:01 +0000https://northsidebaseball.com/news-rumors/chicago-cubs/with-long-season-left-craig-counsell-has-learned-a-lot-about-his-pitching-staff-r750/Just as a prison bid only lasts two days, a baseball season only lasts 90. The problem is, you have to earn the right to cross off each of those 90 days. Every win draws a contending team more than 1% closer to its goal, but every loss is a day lost, without progress. A hot start is a wonderful...750Mon, 22 Apr 2024 14:22:09 +0000https://northsidebaseball.com/news-rumors/chicago-cubs/wesneski-taillon-path-of-two-minds-trailer-mmns-cubs/The Chicago Cubs won their series against the Arizona Diamondbacks to finish a long road trip, before splitting a four-game set with the Miami Marlins at home. It was a promising result (against the defending NL pennant winners), followed by a disappointing one (against the National League’s wor...748Mon, 22 Apr 2024 11:15:01 +0000https://northsidebaseball.com/news-rumors/chicago-cubs/this-week-in-cubs-baseball-the-more-things-change-the-more-they-stay-the-same-r749/Record Last Week: 4-3 Runs Scored: 37 Runs Surrendered: 32 Standing: 2nd in NL Central (2 GB) Transactions 04/15/24 -Chicago Cubs recalled LF Alexander Canario from Iowa Cubs 04/15/24 -Chicago Cubs placed OF Seiya Suzuki on the 10-day injured list. Right oblique strain 04/17/24...749Mon, 22 Apr 2024 00:10:00 +0000https://northsidebaseball.com/news-rumors/chicago-cubs/jameson-taillons-encouraging-return-and-outsized-importance-to-the-2024-cubs-r746/  Jameson Taillon was the Chicago Cubs’ biggest offseason pitching addition in the 2022-2023 offseason, signing a four-year, $68-million contract to serve as a mid-rotation arm and insurance in case of Marcus Stroman opting out of his contract and departing in free agency. In retrospect, hi...746Sun, 21 Apr 2024 15:15:02 +0000https://northsidebaseball.com/news-rumors/chicago-cubs/where-did-the-cubs-plate-discipline-go-r745/The early reputation of the 2024 Chicago Cubs centered heavily around their plate discipline. It was covered here on multiple occasions in the early going, highlighted by growth from the likes of Ian Happ, Christopher Morel, and Dansby Swanson. The flashing upside of a low-turnover lineup under...745Sat, 20 Apr 2024 11:45:02 +0000https://northsidebaseball.com/news-rumors/chicago-cubs/fangraphs-national-league-projections-chicago-cubs-milwaukee-brewers-st-louis-cardinals/The Cubs are currently in second place in the NL Central, behind the Milwaukee Brewers. They just finished a successful west coast trip where they faced the Padres, Mariners, and Diamondbacks. They blew two games due to a poor bullpen performance, which I could argue is still a good sign, showin...744Fri, 19 Apr 2024 14:11:01 +0000https://northsidebaseball.com/news-rumors/chicago-cubs/destination-the-show-episode-33-r743/In episode 33 of Destination: The Show, Jeremy and Jamie sit down with Twins Vice President of Amateur Scouting, Sean Johnson. Sean details his journey with the Twins, walks through the scouting calendar and details some of the work that goes into putting a draft board together. He offers insigh...743Thu, 18 Apr 2024 15:20:01 +0000https://northsidebaseball.com/news-rumors/chicago-cubs/jordan-wicks-changed-his-fastball-but-is-it-better-r742/For the Chicago Cubs, however, fastball usage is way up. After throwing 29.3 percent fastballs last season, the Cubs’ pitching staff is now throwing 37.5 percent of their pitches as fastballs, good for sixth in all of baseball.  Shota Imanaga is one of the main culprits for this rise in fas...742Thu, 18 Apr 2024 13:06:27 +0000