Rob

Knowing full well how insensitive it is, I was nonetheless a bit sad to see the moniker has run it's course... until I saw this. [tweet] [/tweet] And then suddenly I was over it for some reason.

Yeah, I imagine Len is well enough in demand that he doesn't need to put up with what this franchise has become. But damn this hurts.

Last year aside, he’s largely been a league-average regular. With the DH in the NL, that’s a bat worth keeping around.

If they non-tendering Schwarzenegger, they’re just being cheap.

With the team underperforming and the Ricketts being as shitty as they are, the last few years have been tough. More than once I've found myself thinking "at least we've got Theo" and found respite in knowing that he would do the right thing. He's the reason the draft had the acknowledgment that black lives matter. He's the reason our team didn't have COVID outbreaks while all the other teams had major issues. He's a good part of the reason I was still willing to watch the Cubs.

Well that’s sad. Poor announcer or not, he was a big part of baseball. One of the best 2B ever.

Knuckleballer, of course.

He should get in the Hall of Fame. He's currently 15th all-time in manager wins. 1,892 with a .532 winning percentage. And the next most wins for a non-white manager is Frank Robinson in 56th place with 1,065. The only guys ahead of him on the list who aren't in the HoF are Bruce Bochy (who just left the Giants last year) and Gene Mauch, who had a pretty rough .483 winning percentage. And for as much crap as Dusty deservedly got during his time with the Cubs after his complaints about walks "clogging the bases" and his tendency to overwork his pitchers -- he's seemingly learned his lessons. Too little, too late for the Cubs of course. But while he isn't a cutting-edge sort of manager he seems perfectly willing to adjust his game as he learns more -- albeit he remains a few years behind the curve most of the time. It's not like he's still out there routinely throwing his pitchers 120+ pitches a game, though. When you factor in his long career, Dusty Baker has been a notable part of baseball for north of 50 years. And he may have invented the high five. You can't keep a guy like that out of the Hall forever.

How long before they hire Marty to come back?

Oh, conveniently cutting it off to exclude Zambrano? NOT COOL. Na. Very cool. I feel like this acknowledges how much better Z was than anyone ever. He's the moment in history from which you measure time. I got bored, so here's some numbers for some top "mashers" on the mound from the last few decades. Mike Hampton - .246/.294/.356 ,16 HR, 67 wRC+ Carlos Zambrano - .238/.248/.388, 24 HR, 57 wRC+ Livan Hernandez - .221/.231/.295, 10 HR, 32 wRC+ Zack Greinke - .225/.263/.337, 9 HR, 60 wRC+ Madison Bumgarner - .177/.228/.303, 19 HR, 45 wRC+ Dontrelle Willis - .244/.287/.378, 9 HR, 75 wRC+ and the undisputed champ: Micah Owings - .283/.310/.502, 9 HR, 104 wRC+ Surprisingly low on the list was Kerry Wood, with a .171/.196/.249, 7 HR, 9 wRC+ line. He would occasionally get a hold of one, but didn't do much else. I always thought he was better than that when I was younger. Oh well.

Whelp, looks like I missed a hell of a game today. Stupid sick daughter...

Oh, I really really hope Levine gets fired. But we aren't that lucky.

I still hit fangraphs pretty regularly.

I'm enjoying the Cubs doing a '94 Expos thing in what seems certain to be a lost year.

Yeah. The last couple years I've barely been able to watch a dozen or so games a year due to time constraints. This year, I haven't missed any. I figure I better get my yearly fix squeezed in for the very limited window in which baseball will be available.

The long offseason gave me too much time to forget how much I hate these threads and their hot takes when the Cubs are losing.

We are partway through our second game. And KB had two fantastic AB in the first one. Calm down.

Turns out that relative ranking was pretty accurate, actually.

I would just like to point out that this is the point where in a DH-less game that the Brewers would have to start thinking about whether or not to pull Woodruff when his spot comes up in the order. He's pitching well, but already at 85 pitches. Hendricks is absolutely dealing so far, so the Brewers would really be wanting to put the pressure on offensively, the Brewers bullpen is solid and very well rested, etc... But with the DH, we aren't getting any of that.

lol at Hendricks elevating on these guys

Blackouts are the freaking worst. At least MLB.tv hasn't yet started doing that annoying horsefeathers that Amazon Prime and the like are doing and fighting the VPN market. All I had to do tonight was tune in via Brazil.

They have him moving around more than a lot of other 3B. He'd be 7th or 8th playing 3B full time. And that sounds bad too but keep in mind that 3B might be the deepest position in baseball at the moment, like Arenado is 6th and Manny Machado is 8th. What is their top ten? For the Derwoods of the world who can't be bothered to look it up themselves, here's the top 15: Alex Bregman Matt Chapman Anthony Rendon Jose Ramirez Josh Donaldson Nolan Arenado Rafael Devers Manny Machado Yoan Moncada Kris Bryant / David Bote Justin Turner / Enrique Hernandez Eugenio Suarez Brian Anderson Jeff McNeil / J.D. Davis / Jed Lowrie Matt Carpenter / Tommy Edman Everybody ahead of Bryant has significantly more plate appearances projected at their position. For instance, Moncada is projected for 0.1 fWAR more than Bryant, but in 47 more PA. Machado is 0.3 fWAR more, but in 70 more PA, etc...

Grimm's stuff is entirely too good for his terrible results. I fully anticipate the Brewers making one minor tweak to him and turning him into an All-Star.

Didn't we have him in camp or on a minor league deal or something one year?

I saw a poll on twitter a while back that asked whether it was worth it to have a baseball season was worth it if just ONE person was going to die as a result. Most people, including myself, said no. Of course, there are fatalities that happen due to baseball. A fan might fall trying to catch a ball (or after having too much to drink). Somebody might get hit in the head with a bat or a ball accidentally. These things happen, and it's just the risk we take by going out the door every morning. By going to these places, we are accepting the 1 in a million possibility that it might be us that gets hurt. If it's just a matter of accepting that risk, I'm okay with having a baseball season. My issue is that most of the risk isn't being shouldered by the coaches, players, and fans. Most of the risk is that somebody will get sick at one of these events, and then come home and spread it to their families, their coworkers, etc... and those people will spread it as well. People far removed from the chain of decision-making will be the ones bearing the brunt of the cost. Something about that doesn't sit right with me. I hate this entire line of arguments because everyone *knows* they don't really live their life by the "if there's even a chance one person could die, we must shut it all down" standard, and they're just *daring* me to be the never-diagnosed-but-everyone-knows aspie who points that out. Again, that's not the part that bothers me. The part that bothers me is the one where the people taking the risks aren't necessarily the same people paying the price. I dunno. I'm fully willing to admit that I may be wrong about this one. But as I said, the whole situation just doesn't sit right with me. Maybe that's normal for a pandemic? This is my first, so I'm not entirely sure how I'm supposed to feel.