https://northsidebaseball.com/news-rumors/chicago-cubs/page/61/?d=7enhttps://northsidebaseball.com/news-rumors/chicago-cubs/the-cubs-may-be-could-be-fine-without-justin-steele-r1678/The following are objective statements:  Justin Steele is one of the Cubs' players most crucial to their success in 2025.  The Cubs can find success in 2025 without Justin Steele.  Isn't it neat that two things can both be true? The news that Steele will miss the remai...1678Tue, 15 Apr 2025 11:35:00 +0000https://northsidebaseball.com/news-rumors/chicago-cubs/week-in-review-cubs-adjust-to-swirling-changes-keep-winning-r1672/Even the best, most vibrantly memorable seasons of our favorite game, at times, bring more adversity than triumph. That will have to be the case here as Justin Steele is out for the season with his latest elbow injury with surgery forthcoming. Retroactively, in the wake of what was thought to be...1672Mon, 14 Apr 2025 13:10:01 +0000https://northsidebaseball.com/news-rumors/chicago-cubs/matthew-boyds-same-old-all-new-arsenal-has-him-tapping-familiar-brilliance-with-novel-consistency-r1673/First things first, no one throws harder than ever at 34 years old, but here's Matthew Boyd, throwing harder than ever at 34. His 93.1 mph average fastball velocity is a full tick faster than he was throwing last year, and 0.5 mph better than his previous career high, achieved in both 2017 and 2...1673Mon, 14 Apr 2025 11:43:01 +0000https://northsidebaseball.com/news-rumors/chicago-cubs/news-justin-steele-to-undergo-elbow-surgery-miss-rest-of-season-r1674/Like Death, Tommy John surgery (and its cousin, the internal brace procedure that performs the same reconstruction but permits slightly faster healing) can be put off, but once you're on its cosmic to-do list, your box will eventually be checked. So it went for Justin Steele, who weathered an el...1674Sun, 13 Apr 2025 21:09:30 +0000https://northsidebaseball.com/news-rumors/chicago-cubs/dansby-swanson-and-his-new-friend-the-torpedo-bat-r1671/He's not (yet) technically the best version of himself. We've gotten excited about Dansby Swanson before. It never lasts. I wrote about his start to the 2023 season on April 4th of that year. At this point in last year's calendar, he had a 139 wRC+ while reaching base at a .367 clip. By Septembe...1671Sun, 13 Apr 2025 11:53:01 +0000https://northsidebaseball.com/news-rumors/chicago-cubs/is-matt-shaws-plate-discipline-purposeful-or-a-symptom-of-a-larger-issue-r1670/The 2025 Chicago Cubs have, thus far, proven to be a much more offensively-adept team than their predecessors from last year. Even with cold temperatures attempting to pin down the offense, they still sit 10th in ISO (.163), are walking at the league's second-highest rate (12.4 percent), and mig...1670Sat, 12 Apr 2025 11:50:02 +0000https://northsidebaseball.com/news-rumors/chicago-cubs/justin-steeles-injury-highlights-cubs-razor-thin-margin-for-error-r1667/Despite having a deeper bench, the Cubs have several positions that lack adequate replacements if injury strikes. The bullpen has been shaky. The rotation is down two projected starters. The offense to this point has carried the team, of course, and the outlook of the season continues to be posi...1667Fri, 11 Apr 2025 14:06:01 +0000https://northsidebaseball.com/news-rumors/chicago-cubs/pete-crow-armstrong-is-a-scintilla-of-plate-discipline-from-superstardom-r1669/It's rarely this simple, even for the exceptionally talented big-league ballplayer. Baseball is complicated, and the interaction between the best hitters and pitchers alive is endlessly complex, heaped with layers of adjustments and counter-adjustments; cues and red herrings; incredibly fast and...1669Fri, 11 Apr 2025 11:11:35 +0000https://northsidebaseball.com/news-rumors/chicago-cubs/the-cubs-are-the-best-baserunning-team-in-baseball-r1665/The 2024 Chicago Cubs weren't a bad offensive baseball team. They were 12th in the league in runs scored (736), eighth in steals (143), and were top 10 in on-base percentage (.317). But they also lacked impact. Their team ISO (.151) sat 21st, while they made contact at the league's 16th-best rat...1665Thu, 10 Apr 2025 15:14:02 +0000https://northsidebaseball.com/news-rumors/chicago-cubs/jameson-taillons-kick-change-is-kind-of-awesome-r1666/An early season peak at some of Jameson Taillon’s pitch data suggests a different, more effective pitcher. His overall Stuff+, a metric that evaluates the quality of a pitch based on its physical characteristics like velocity and movement, has bumped from 93 to 97, with 100 being average, accord...1666Thu, 10 Apr 2025 11:54:02 +0000https://northsidebaseball.com/news-rumors/chicago-cubs/is-it-time-to-press-the-panic-button-on-ryan-pressly-r1660/Chicago made a pair of deals with Houston in the offseason. One landed the Cubs Kyle Tucker, who has been sensational so far this season. The other saw the Cubs scoop up Ryan Pressly, and he was quickly anointed as the closer in Chicago. The Cubs rode a roller coaster every time Hector Neri...1660Wed, 09 Apr 2025 22:33:01 +0000https://northsidebaseball.com/news-rumors/chicago-cubs/chicago-cubs-bench-guys-aura-rankings-april-9-edition-r1658/1. Jon Berti: After the Monday night game, can there be anyone else in the top spot? Berti scored a run by himself. He was hit by a pitch, stole second, stole third, and scored ahead of Jake Burger's throw against a drawn-in infield. That's truly game-changing stuff.  Berti can play every i...1658Wed, 09 Apr 2025 17:07:01 +0000