Irrelevant Dude

Me too, but we're getting the crippled challenge system rather than full ABS.

Willie Mays started his career 1-for-26. Giants message boards were all over him, posting that he stinks and needs to go back to AAA. Stay the course!

How is that?

That sucks. After an off day, Busch should be in the lineup against all but the toughest lefties. Spoiler alert: Quintana does not qualify as one of those.

And when/if the Yankees decline that option, then what? How many teams are going to be banging down the door for an injury prone 35 year old first baseman? As much as I would have loved him to come back to the Cubs to finish out his career, there simply isn't a fit here anymore. Not even at the league minimum, should it come to that.

I have no idea who that is, but if they are actually going to tear it down I'm all for it. Narrator: "They didn't tear it down." I hate to say it, because Ayo is easily my favorite player on the team, but I think it might be a wise move to sell extremely high on him as well. He is on a very team friendly contract and has a lot of value, but I'm not sure they are going to be able to afford him when his current deal is up in 2 years.

I have been enjoying the game and all the stories. 99 year old Bill Greason (former Negro League World Series pitcher and Iwo Jima veteran) throwing out the first pitch was awesome too. And I like not seeing the strike zone graphic on the screen. I have gotten used to it being there, but this is better.

Can we start implanting Hyper Shoulder's in Cubs hitters immediately?

Not watching, but I hope Kyle got a nice ovation coming off the field. Really nice to see a good outing from him.

Someone give us the charts and tables!

Don't pay for past home run derby performance. Isn't that Theo's motto?

Reminder that Yan Gomes is another $6M flushed down the toilet. Not huge dollars by itself, but there is a lot of dead money on the aggregate when accounting for all the other Yan-like deals the Cubs have had to eat. To be fair though, Yan's option looked like a no brainer going into the season, so I can't really fault the Cubs for this one. At worst, he was going to be an experienced backup catcher, but it turns out that experience is the only thing he has left.

<insert obligatory complaint about the Transactions forum that nobody uses>

The last true baseball legend? There is nobody else still living that is even close to him. As a kid, I considered players like Willie Mays, Ted Williams, Mickey Mantle, Hank Aaron, Ernie Banks, etc. to be the All-Time baseball greats. Some of those guys were around for a long time, but sadly, I don't think there is really anyone who has taken their place over all those years. Who do today's kids see as the living legends of baseball? Ken Griffey Jr.? Cal Ripken Jr.? Barry Bonds & Roger Clemens, even with their tarnished reputations?

Keegan for closer! No, not really, but he got the job done tonight.

Noooo, not Willie.

Not for birthday parties, no.

Even out of spring training in 2025 he HAS to be on the Opening Day roster, since he can't be optioned to AAA again.

Bah, that TOOTBLAN???

I must have misread that somewhere, or more likely heard it on The Score and took it as fact. So he is out of option YEARS, but can still be recalled and sent back to Iowa (within the limit) for the remainder of 2024.

Canario is out of options. If they call him up for a short stint as a replacement, they put themselves in a situation where they have to keep him on the roster or risk losing him (or having to trade him for less than what he is worth). For Davis, I imagine they would rather have him keep getting at bats instead of coming up to mostly sit on the bench. I wouldn't mind seeing him, but I can't really argue with leaving him in AAA for now. And yes, they are also both hurt 😄

All is right with the world again. Mastrobuoni is back!!!

Of course MLB is going to screw this up... What was the problem with the full ABS system? Why not do it right rather than implement another stupid challenge system? https://bleacherreport.com/articles/10125274-mlb-memo-all-triple-a-games-will-use-abs-challenge-system-starting-on-june-25?ref=upstract.com

Any explanation for why Demidov is listed 3 inches under his measured height?

That is the "problem" with the farm system. While very deep and highly rated, which prospect actually projects as a superstar hitter? There are a lot of potential supplemental roster pieces and likely some solid Major League starters. Those are very nice to have, but I still don't see where the top end talent comes from. MAYBE Caissie ends up being one of those guys if he continues to progress, but I just dont' see any other true impact bats. On the other hand, there aren't many Soto's or Ohtani's around. IF Soto does hit the free agent market this offseason, the aggressive non-Jed thing to do would be to go all out and pay him whatever it takes to bring him to Chicago. The Cubs minor league depth is a significant asset that grants them the ability to work around a massive contract, should they choose to go that direction. Outside of trade possibilities, they can hopefully count on two or more of the group of Caissie, Shaw, Alcantra, Triantos, Ballasteros, etc. as cost-controlled Major League starters in the near future, joining other guys on the roster like Busch and Morel. They have the ability to fill several positions cheaply so that they can spend big at one position to get a true superstar bat. Do I think that type of move is on Jed's radar? Not at all. He is unlikely to go anywhere near Soto's price tag, and will instead spread that money around to multiple guys that are only marginally better (if at all) than the Cubs' cheaper internal options.