NOLA

Addison has somehow become the guy I cheer for most now to be a star. Maybe because almost everyone else appears to be there or on their way.

Dusty will win MOY by simply not being Matt Williams and still be awful.

It's still too early for me, but I never left the Almora bandwagon. I'm probably more patient than most, however. I love how this Cubs front office went to a kid who had just hit .329/.376/.466 in Low-A as a 19-year-old and said you need to make adjustments or you're going to be in trouble. Previous regimes would've not intervened saying "he's a natural hitter" and to not "get in his way" only to watch him fail at the upper levels. These guys drafted Almora for his make-up as much as his bat/defense. They knew he had the coachability, mental toughness and work ethic to challenge him to wait for a pitch he could drive, even though all of his previous success was due to his ability to recognize a pitch and make good contact with it whether it was in his wheelhouse or not. They let him get his feet wet in the AZL and he hit well (347/.363/.480) but was very aggressive. He continued his success in Low-A while still lacking selectivity. Looking back, it seems as if they were allowing him to get comfortable and know he can play at this level while waiting for him to struggle. Finally he did. He struggled badly in High-A at first, hitting .241/.262/.318 through mid-June. It's unclear exactly when they asked him to make the adjustment to wait for a pitch he could drive (I have a vague memory of them doing so before the 2014 season began), but reports were when they did, he bought in. The moment he started to hit well in Daytona (.369/.395/.582 in his last 28 games without having become that much more selective), they aggressively promoted him to AA to see how he handled the more advanced pitching. I expect, they did so with an eye towards him struggling again. They knew he could handle the failure and it kept him focused on the need to wait for something he could drive. Years of habit needed to be undone all while facing the best pitching he'd seen in his career to date and being years younger than almost everyone around him. Last August, it seemed to click for him. It wasn't a large enough sample to draw anything conclusive from (.352/.413/.504 with 11 BB/13 K in 140 PAs) but the combination of a higher walk rate and greater power (14 doubles, a triple and a HR in that month) were the exact results the adjustment he'd been working on for about a year and a half were supposed to produce. Now, he's just 14 games and 60 PAs into his first season in AAA, but he's picked up right where he left off hitting .333/.390/.510 with a 10% walk rate and 11.7% K rate while being the 3rd youngest player in the PCL. I still need to see if this continues to believe this level of production is due to him having completed that adjustment, but the early returns are very promising. Thanks. Posts like this (and yes, Mojo's) are why I come here every day.

Let them wallow in the language of losers. "Not home grown. Beating weak teams. They'll fade down the stretch." They sound like miserable sacks. let's enjoy this.

You don't remember Cueto melting down and giving up blasts to Martin and Byrd? yeah kinda Cuuueeeto...Cuuueeeto.

That in itself is an amazing stat. On that note, been day drinking so too lazy to look up, but the BBTN podcast after Jake's no hitter spells out some pretty amazing stTs on the Cubs' start.

This, I want to heart 1000 times.

Yeah, you're in for a looonngg haul, buddy. It's one of their stages of denial. Anger has passed, moving into acceptance.

I almost posted that question when it happened. Being that Lackey was already shaky, I'd have pinch hit. The hit by Lackey in the Cards series maybe gave Joe false confidence.

I'd rather see Javy at 2B and Zobrist at 3B. Zobrist doesn't have as much range as Javy and a Russell/Baez DP combo is a thing of beauty.

I know we shouldn't be alarmed by Heyward's typical slow start, but has he always K'd this much to start a season?

Baez continuing to improve and play a stellar 3B pushes Bryant to LF, which leaves the Cubs with no holes that need shored up, barring injury.

The worst thing about the site crash is not being to recall the WHAT'S WROG WITH THIS SITE thread.

This little nugget from the ESPN writeup: Cubs fans bristled that their "Try Not To Suck" T-shirts weren't allowed at Busch Stadium this week because of the Cardinals' long-standing policy prohibiting shirts with the word. Cubs manager Joe Maddon came up with the slogan and designed the shirt to raise money for his foundation. The dust-up resulted in a spike in sales of the $30 shirts, with $56,000 raised in the last two days. That puts the season total over $500,000 from shirt sales.

Anything that makes the Cardinals have to be [expletive] sellers at the deadline would make me happy I'm kind of hoping they're stupid like the Yankees were for a few years and would rather try to remain as good as possible even when they have no hope of making the postseason. Absolutely this, and I could see that. The fall from grace could be glorious. No rebuild, just fade into suck,

Watching Javy is like: This is the perfect gif for Javy.

Seriously, this team can beat you in pretty much every manner. Small ball tonight? Seriously? No problem.

I'm really starting to love David Ross.

Heyward should have had about 5 more hits this week.

What has scouting seen that has is running like the '85 Cardinals?

Yeah, this guy sucks. He's fallen behind everybody. Javy goes yard tonight.

Well, I mean, it's Ohio cuisine.

WTF is this? THAT is Skyline chili? Chili over spaghetti with cheese?

No words...unreal.

Stats since the 2015 ASB?