https://northsidebaseball.com/news-rumors/chicago-cubs/page/174/?d=7enhttps://northsidebaseball.com/news-rumors/chicago-cubs/accepting-some-failure-has-to-be-part-of-the-plan-for-matt-mervis-r119/In the first few weeks after his call-up, Matt Mervis was in the Cubs lineup virtually every day. He made his first start on May 5, and started eight of the next nine contests. He was in there at first base for 16 of the first 20, in fact. However, his sluggish start (a frightening .188/.268/.29...119Sat, 03 Jun 2023 14:23:01 +0000https://northsidebaseball.com/news-rumors/chicago-cubs/how-adbert-alzolay-has-morphed-into-a-relief-ace-and-hype-machine-r118/It feels as though it took forever for Adbert Alzolay to matriculate from top prospect status to established big-leaguer. Inconsistency and injury conspired with the COVID pandemic to keep Alzolay in limbo until near the end of 2022. After his strong showing in the second half of last season, th...118Sat, 03 Jun 2023 12:20:00 +0000https://northsidebaseball.com/news-rumors/chicago-cubs/the-2023-cubs-cant-win-without-an-elite-defense-and-they-dont-have-one-r117/The focus of most Cubs writers and fans, coming into this season, was on the spine of a great defense that the Cubs have constructed up the middle. That has panned out exactly as hoped, and might be the most exciting and compelling thing about this team thus far. Yan Gomes continues to look like...117Fri, 02 Jun 2023 12:20:02 +0000https://northsidebaseball.com/news-rumors/chicago-cubs/personal-cheeseballs-first-basemen-r116/It’s not that it never works out. It’s that it almost never works out. Prince Fielder (7th overall in 2002) is an exception. Adrian Gonzalez (1st overall in 2000) is an exception. Beyond that, it’s been pretty brutal.  Matt LaPorta, the 7th overall pick in 2007, was a complete bust.  E...116Thu, 01 Jun 2023 15:18:51 +0000https://northsidebaseball.com/news-rumors/chicago-cubs/how-the-cubs-playoff-hopes-tumbled-in-may-and-what-they-mean-r115/Even at their early apotheosis, the Cubs weren't exactly favorites in the NL Central. Everyone knew, even as the Cubs fought to keep pace with the Brewers' hot start and to take advantage of the Cardinals' woefully slow one, that those two teams were deeper and more likely to contend than the Cu...115Thu, 01 Jun 2023 12:05:14 +0000https://northsidebaseball.com/news-rumors/chicago-cubs/this-is-the-seiya-suzuki-who-was-promised-r114/Against one of the best pitchers on the planet Tuesday night, Seiya Suzuki collected two hits in his first two at-bats. The batted balls both had an exit velocity north of 111 miles per hour, and the second of them (at 113.2 miles per hour) was the hardest-hit ball of his career. It helped that...114Wed, 31 May 2023 12:09:36 +0000https://northsidebaseball.com/news-rumors/chicago-cubs/five-hitters-the-cubs-could-target-with-the-number-13-overall-pick-r110/We’ll start by profiling some hitters, before looking at pitchers next week. For each installment, we’ll use the positions of players on the Consensus Board as a proxy for who they might take, as opposed to trying to predict what each team will actually do. The goal is to give a flavor of the ki...110Tue, 30 May 2023 14:18:01 +0000https://northsidebaseball.com/news-rumors/chicago-cubs/what-a-marcus-stroman-extension-could-look-like-r113/Already this season, we’ve seen multiple reports that Marcus Stroman would prefer to sign an extension with the Cubs, rather than either being dealt at the trade deadline or hitting free agency this fall. That probably shouldn’t shock us. For one thing, Stroman is already 32 years old. It makes...113Tue, 30 May 2023 12:22:01 +0000https://northsidebaseball.com/news-rumors/chicago-cubs/david-ross-and-the-peeps-in-the-chili-pot-r112/  It feels, for all the world, like the 2023 Cubs are doomed to another season of untenable irrelevance. In fact, there's a real and lethal sense of existential dread settling over Cubdom, and it's not unearned. It's heavy, and it's impenetrable, and it's not just in the heads or the itchy...112Mon, 29 May 2023 12:23:01 +0000https://northsidebaseball.com/news-rumors/chicago-cubs/will-the-cubs-bullpen-look-completely-different-in-a-week-r111/  It's no secret that the Cubs' relief corps is a mess. They not only lack effective pitchers, but don't seem to have any idea how to deploy the guys they do have. David Ross looks lost. Cornered by a long outing Friday that made Javier Assad unavailable Saturday night, Ross turned to Jerem...111Sun, 28 May 2023 12:20:00 +0000https://northsidebaseball.com/news-rumors/chicago-cubs/jed-hoyer-is-not-getting-fired-before-david-ross-period-r107/A couple of weeks ago, after another close and winnable game slipped away for the Cubs against the Cardinals at Wrigley Field, I wrote a column saying that David Ross will not be able to get the team back over the hump and into contention. Many people responded to that piece by saying that the f...107Sat, 27 May 2023 12:35:01 +0000https://northsidebaseball.com/news-rumors/chicago-cubs/bad-luck-wasnt-the-culprit-in-kyle-hendrickss-rough-return-r108/It would have been wildly unfair to expect vintage Kyle Hendricks on Thursday night. In his first appearance on a big-league mound since last July, Hendricks was bound to be a bit less than dominant. He was, but he also showed flashes of the good version of himself. His velocity was fine, and th...108Fri, 26 May 2023 12:29:01 +0000