cubsclapp

Made-up catchers hitting dongs, relief pitchers getting hits and scoring runs. Make it stop.

They're 31-13 vs non-Cubs teams. That's a .704 winning percentage, which would be the best in baseball. Like, okay, we knew they were a solid team and maybe they're a little better than that, but come on. This would be like the Astros being 41-3.

AJ Ramos = Justin Wilson

Lmao he went after me apparently

So let's say Baltimore were to take most/all of Heyward's contract (and his weak pop outs to the SS behind 3B)....how much more in layer compensation would the Cubs need to come up with? For instance, if Addy, Monty and Alzolay is a huge overpay straight up...is it a huge overpay if they took all/most of Heyward's contract with those three? And would that make Machado as a rental much more appealing knowing it frees up tons of years/cash, most likely for Harper? I'm not relly good with the contract/$$$ stuff. Thoughts? Guys, I want Heyward gone just as much as everyone else (if not more), but he has a no-trade clause in his contract. I believe after this season it becomes a limited NTC so the window to trade him opens up this offseason. I don't think there is any possible way to get Heyward to waive his NTC to go to horsefeathering Baltimore of all places... Sorry about killing the dream. Yeah. It's only 12 teams that he can block a trade to in the offseason. And maybe he'll even want a change of scenery... the media and fans are unlikely to get any kinder with him the longer this goes on (though there are obviously so many factors at play with this, like his family/happiness in Chicago).

The Brewers collapse this year is going to be extra fun They're now 17-2 vs sub-.500 teams which is just a tad unsustainable, especially when you consider their true talent isn't much better than most of them. But good lord are they annoying right now. And I've never seen an MLB team look more helpless than the Twins did against Hader in this game. Their pen has to be in for some regression though. Jeremy Jeffress has a fuckin 0.36 ERA, for example.

I keep seeing the "2017 was disappointing" stuff and I don't get quite get it. They won 92 games and went to the NLCS, a year after playing into November and hardly having a day off in the offseason. They won a playoff series with Max Scherzer and Stephen Strasburg pitching in 80% of the games. That's a great baseball season, as ugly as it was for half the season. I think you hit on it with your last sentence. When people look back and just see the win total and the NLCS, hell yeah that is and will be considered a great season. It was just such a dogfight to get to that point, being two games under .500 at the break, that made it not quite as fun for people who were anticipating another dominant season. It wasn't good, fun baseball for six months. It was like, four just blah months and two really awesome ones. And that's certainly fair. But 162 games also has a way of sorting these things out, usually. The 2016 team before the All-Star break was far and way the worst baseball this team has played for a 2-3 week stretch in the four-year run. Imagine if they started like that, for example. Sequencing can cloud our judgment sometimes.

Yeah, I was just gonna share that in here as well. I'd honestly feel a little better if it was a dead arm period and this isn't just who he is now out of nowhere (though he's thrown 200+ innings if we include the postseason for five straight years, and we know pitchers break, so who knows). Making matters worse, this is a horrible week to give a guy rest with the 7 games in 6 days. But I do think it's at least partly factoring into his command issues as you said. And giving up a homer to the first batter with your 90-mph fastball has to only put that thought into your head more. He probably doesn't trust his stuff right now, for good reason. His walk/9 numbers are over double what they were with the Cubs last year. His walk percentage is well above any season. His whole game is locating his fastball on the edges or elevating it, and mixing in the curveball. He can afford to make more mistakes at 92-94 but at 90-91 a lot more are gonna get cranked. And hitters are catching up to the pitches on the corners and letter high now more at 90 mph. So naturally he's just nibbling/getting further and further off the plate. It's definitely concerning, but hopefully it's just a dead arm or early-season weirdness where it takes time to make the velocity jump (like we've witnessed with Arrieta and Hendricks).

For the millionth time, they've won 292 games the last three years, been to three straight NLCS, and won the World Series. What the horsefeathers are you talking about? well we've already discussed how the 2017 season was oddly disappointing, and how we were supposed to be great again this season, so we don't really need to do that again. you're lying if you say things haven't been on a downward trend since the world series, but i understand that there should be more leeway since they've accomplished so much but really you guys should at least admit that bitching about game thread bitching is just a different (less annoying) way of venting frustration over the cubs losing games I keep seeing the "2017 was disappointing" stuff and I don't get quite get it. They won 92 games and went to the NLCS, a year after playing into November and hardly having a day off in the offseason. They won a playoff series with Max Scherzer and Stephen Strasburg pitching in 80% of the games. That's a great baseball season, as ugly as it was for half the season.

Yeah, I would hate to get swept this series just because it would feel like the cushion/room to dick around like this too much would be about gone (and it would give the Cardinals more confidence to make a deadline splash, perhaps). But odds are this team has an ass-kicking stretch coming up, as hard as that seems to believe when you watch them try to hit or catch the baseball right now. Good lord is it frustrating as horsefeathers to watch right now though, and who knows when that changes (I wouldn't bet on this weekend, but we know they can flip the switch at any moment).

Dates user r_mack has posted here: 5/4: Loss 5/1: Loss 4/17: Loss 4/14: Win 4/10: Loss 4/9: Rainout 4/3: Rainout 4/2: Loss 4/1: Loss So the only time you've posted in a game thread when the Cubs won, it was because they were losing 10-2 at the time of your posting. You should probably just quit following baseball, dude. Seriously.

I think generally it’s definitely Hendricks, but for Cubs fans it may be Pedro Strop.

we knew this, and nobody had/has a problem with it. the problem is that there will be times when there isn't a save opp for a while, and if maddon is completely unwilling to use him in a tie game on the road (even against the brewers/cardinals), then it goes from sub optimal to wasteful. even if it means he's unavailable tomorrow, he should have pitched the 9th tonight. I 100% agree (and wanted Morrow in for the 17-inning game as well), but am just saying that I don't know if this one is as much on Joe. He's doing as told with Morrow's usage. The good news is that, over a full year, it's not going to be as big of an issue. This has been an unusually weird stretch with no save opportunities, this is a deep bullpen with a few very good options and two guys capable of going several innings, the starters are going to go deeper, etc. Montgomery is also usually going to be able to get through that inning (and it took a slow-roller and blooper for him not to). Joe's bullpen management can drive me bonkers sometimes but I had no problem with it tonight.

Theo said before the season this was going to happen: Morrow is going to be a save situation-only guy and they particularly want to be careful with his injury history. They mainly got him to be a weapon in October. And sure, you have to get there first, but we know that's unlikely to be an issue despite how annoying they are so far.

Really? Anthony Bass is the guy they take? I think I'd prefer Eddie Butler for that last spot. I'm guessing they want Butler to stretch out in case they need a spot start. But yeah, Bass is... hmmm... Butler is out of options. I think it should be Butler for that reason, and he's arguably the most valuable choice anyway. We're talking a bottom of the bullpen guy and someone that isn't going to be in many big situations. Butler at least gives you the ability to throw multiple innings, which can be very useful in games that are out of hand or games that go into extras. It also lets them use Montgomery however they want. Plus, Butler still has some nice upside and maybe Hickey can work his magic there. I just feel like there's more value in keeping Butler around for at least a little bit rather than some rando like Anthony Bass, who is 30 and bad.

lol - he's going to suck. How do you have a K/9 of 4 when you throw mid 90s and have decent secondary stuff? That seems impossible for a number of reasons, especially with the current strikeout heavy environment. I mean Uehara had a K/9 of 10 throwing 78 MPH fastballs last year. Eno wrote about this today https://theathletic.com/242833/2018/02/15/sarris-why-andrew-cashners-fastball-has-never-played-as-big-as-it-should-have/

They got an .889 OPS from Aguilar vs lefties though too (granted, in only 115 PA). And this is another example of how flawed the "Well they won 86 games and added these guys!" reasoning is for why the Brewers will be good. They got crazy production from guys like Aguilar and Sogard up and down the roster. They got 3.3 fWAR from Santana, which will be hard for both Cain and Yelich to top (and even if they do it won't be a substantial upgrade). They got 14-WAR from four pitchers currently projected for half that. Etc etc.

Yeah, passing on 26 year olds that have already had a 9.5 fWAR season and just had a better OPS than a dude that cranked 59 dongs seems like a great idea. Also, the Cubs are likely set at SP for 3 years, next year's FA SP market (assuming Kershaw goes nowhere) doesn't even seem all that good, and they're going to have prospects develop that are going to allow for trades.

Rapid, uneducated thoughts and opinions. Rizzo looks a little slimmer than where he was at end of year last year, Schwarber is gonna be a monster, Heyward’s swing and mechanics look the same more or less, that sound off of Happ’s bat :shock: Yeah, it's hard to take anything at all away from that... but that's smoother than I ever remember Happ's swing looking from the right side last year. Heyward is still doing the dip and rise stuff where he then finishes his swing standing straight up. His mechanics have always been weird though even when he was good, so who knows. Hopefully Chili can help him find something there.

I tweeted this three years ago and apparently he still hasn't upgraded it.

Charlie Blackmon is one guy I have my eye on with the Rockies potentially flopping, and he'd also be the easiest positional fit if there aren't any big injuries. Now obviously it would be great if Almora/Happ/Heyward are just fine in CF, but if not, Blackmon would make a lot of sense as a rental (though his defense may be a little bit of a downgrade in CF). But yeah, for teams trying to clear up salary and bad teams with free agents to be, there should be some intriguing names this July.

https://twitter.com/High_Heat_19/status/962418681564356609 Lol at everything about that tweet.

Yeah, he said after the Duensing addition, "That really completed our bullpen moves."

I'd be fine adding another arm into the bullpen mix, but Theo made it sound recently like the Cubs were done shopping there.