Rob

I was at one of the worst of those kinds of games. July 20, 2004. St. Louis scored one in the first, but the Cubs scored 7 in the bottom of the second off Matt Morris. I thought we had that one in the bag and I was enjoying a beautiful day at the ballpark. The Cardinals clawed their way back thanks to Pujols going 5-5 with 3 HR. Cubs lost 11-8 after LaTroy Hawkins gave up 3 in the 9th. That was a painful one.

Drop Issac Parades ($50) Add Cody Bellinger ($50)

C for me. If Matt Shaw is truly coming around (and I think he is) then the price on Eugenio Suarez was too high to get such marginal improvement. In such an environment, Willi Castro probably was the best position player available to fit our needs. So getting him is a big plus. I'd have also liked a Harrison Bader or Ramon Laureano as a lefty-mashing bat for the OF. But that's going to be a very marginal thing over the remaining games. Our big need though was pitching. I like Soroka more than most, seeing him as a bad #3 or good #4 in a rotation. But our playoff rotation now looks like Boyd - Imanaga - Taillon - Horton. That's probably a fine if unspectacular playoff rotation. But two of those guys have been dealing with injuries this season, and the other two are already way past their recent workloads. If any two of them drop and we're seeing Soroka/Assad/Wicks as our #3/4 in a playoff series, we are in real rough shape. With respect to the bullpen, I anticipate our biggest add will be Ben Brown. I like his stuff playing up in short relief. If the rotation somehow stays healthy and Soroka spends time in the bullpen, he could make a difference as well. I'm just not counting on that. I don't think much of Kittredge or Rogers, but they should hopefully limit the blowups and give Counsel a little bit more ability to rest guys like Keller, Thielbar, Brasier, etc... So I'm okay with the pen. Would have liked to add Bednar or somebody, but honestly Ben Brown could be that guy.

I'm higher on Soroka than most and basically see him as a bad #3 or good #4. We needed more than that.

I feel like Jed's deals are often some of the last ones to come out. Maybe I'm imagining that, though.

It's actually anti-social media.

Ke'Bryan Hayes is one of the worst hitters in the major leagues, and still manages to put up above-replacement value thanks to his defensive prowess. If the Reds think they've got an idea for a mechanical change that can make him even a below-average hitter, he can be a real asset.

Jed did trade for Kyle Tucker this offseason. It's not like he's incapable of making a big trade when he feels it's called for.

As somebody who normally has much better control than that, that's certainly something. That said, I can't help but sit here and think how horsefeathered Carlos Marmol would have been by this type of analysis.

My childhood idol. This sucks.

Some people had their numbers buggered up when it switched systems.

Devers is clearly the biggest name dealt. But granted, it was early and about things other than the typical deadline shenanigans.

The expanded postseason makes the playoffs an even bigger crapshoot. Which means that the "smart" strategy is to shoot for 88 wins and a wild card spot while spending as little as possible. Tanking can be approached in other fashions, such as the draft lottery MLB instituted. That's why the White Sox picked 10th this year despite a historically awful 2024 season.

Rumor is Steele Hall

Chatter of Kade Anderson to the Mariners.

Willits @ #1.

Also, that makes PCA the first in the NL to 5.0 fWAR. Trailing Judge (7.2) and Raleigh (5.8) in the AL. Next closest in the NL is Ohtani at 4.2.

PCA up to 5.0 fWAR, tying him with Corey Patterson's 2004 for the best season by a Cubs CF in my lifetime. We aren't yet at the all-star break. Hack Wilson's record 8.0 in 1930 is potentially in danger. And PCA would only need to clear 6.6 to reach second place.

I don't mind a challenge system so much. But I dread this becoming an every-pitch system. I like the human element. And no, I'm not here for the ump show. But I like watching catchers try to frame a pitch. Additionally, I think that framing as a practice increases the value of pitches that trail back towards the zone -- as those are the ones with a higher probability of being successfully framed. A lot of damage can be done on those pitches when they trail a bit too far back into the zone. I worry that with a fully-automatic system, we'd be looking at a lot more pitchers trying to nick the edge of the zone with pitches trailing away -- sliders mostly. I don't want every plate appearance to look the way pitchers faced Javier Baez.

I looked him up and saw he put together 16.4 fWAR in 928.1 career innings. I thought such a lofty figure in under 1000 career innings was reasonably impressive. So I decided to check the list and see if there were any other guys in that range who did that in so little time. At 16.3 fWAR with a mere 657 IP was Mark Prior. I made myself sad. (Side note, apparently both Zac Gallen and Freddy Peralta are pretty good overall comps right now for Rich Harden's career. Albeit with different paths to get there. But the best is probably Matt Harvey with 16.0 fWAR in 966.1 career innings).

Bench move: Drop Josh Jung, add Ronald Acuna Jr.

PCA has cleared 4.0 fWAR this season. Now at 4.1. Since 2000, the only Cubs position players with a seasonal fWAR greater than PCA's 2025 are: Sammy Sosa (peaked at 9.9 in 2001) Kris Bryant (peaked at 7.5 in 2016) Derrek Lee (peaked at 7.0 in 2005) Alfonso Soriano (peaked at 7.0 in 2007) Moises Alou (peaked at 5.9 in 2004) Javier Baez (peaked at 5.8 in 2018) Anthony Rizzo (peaked at 5.2 in 2014) Corey Patterson (peaked at 5.0 in 2004) Dansby Swanson (peaked at 4.9 in 2023) Aramis Ramirez (peaked at 4.8 in 2007) Cody Bellinger (peaked at 4.4 in 2023) Nico Hoerner (peaked at 4.3 in 2022) Dexter Fowler (peaked at 4.3 in 2016) Mark DeRosa (peaked at 4.2 in 2008) There's a pretty long list of current and former Cubs who never had a season this good with us. Ian Happ, Seiya Suzuki, Willson Contreras, Kyle Schwarber, Geovany Soto, Ben Zobrist, Addison Russell, Starlin Castro, etc... And we're not even at the All-Star Break.

2004 was that way a good chunk of the time. CF - Corey Patterson SS - Nomar Garciaparra / Alex Gonzalez LF - Moises Alou RF - Sammy Sosa 3B - Aramis Ramirez 1B - Derrek Lee 2B - Todd Walker / Mark Grudzielanek C - Michael Barrett Even when it was Alex Gonzalez instead of Nomar, that offense could pop off at any moment. Likewise, 2016 was crazy. I'm not going to try to post a standard lineup since the Zobrist / Baez / Bryant stuff had people rotating around constantly. But the lineup was consistently great.

That's what they used in spring training to initiate the ball-strike challenges.

I wonder if the Rangers might be willing to move DeGrom. They're in 3rd place in the AL West, 4.5 back of the Astros and 4 back of the Mariners. They're also 4 games out of the wild card, and would have to pass 5 teams in the standings to sneak in there. DeGrom was signed from 23-27 at $37M per year. He gave the Rangers a combined 41 IP in 23-24, but he's already at 69.1 IP this year. The underlying metrics indicate he's lost a step but is still an above-average starter. Still, with the Rangers quickly going nowhere this might be their only chance to have somebody else eat a big chunk of the remaining money on the contract.