USSoccer

Oh yea? Wtf did we do to deserve this? This team sucks out loud anyway; it's better for Bears fans to have them bottom out. Karrrrrrmmmaaaaa Jay.

Good, I hope Jay throws all the interceptions. Serves him right for supporting a monster.

Its very irritating to see a US team not take advantage of Mexico losing composure and failing to capitalize on momentum like this. Past US teams had either the nous or coaching or grit to grind out a result in games like this. We had Wood and Altidore and an 18 year old trying to do this and everyone else falling over in failure

That's what you get for trying to play for a tie in the opening game at home. Ridiculous management. We wasted a half on a garbage tactical setup, earned the momentum back and then our coach just handed it back with the Orozco sub.

This has been the worst week

The Marquez tackle that we got an "advantage" call that wasn't actually called back was worse

Nothing says proactive, attacking soccer than subbing on a defender in a tied game at home

FJ gets the Jason Heyward "take him out because this is starting to get painful to watch" award

Those were probably both PKs.

For some reason he trusted Chandler as opposed to the good option at the position. He got suckered by BL form and forgot that Chandler isn't good and that Yedlin is playing well under a better coach than anyone else in the pool bar maybe Pulisic

What's the alternative, Bedoya and Williams? Also thank goodness for an early equalizer It depends; if Bradley is going to be the Rooney of our player pool you'd be better off trying to play a midfield 3 with Sacha, because Jones is only 60 minutes fit and Bradley has looked cooked ever since he hurt his foot before Brazil. You probably also shouldn't have tried to play a 3-5-2 with a half fit midfield 2, because even if the wing backs don't play like headless chickens that's still a lot of space to cover. The fact that Jones has had to expend so much energy covering for how bad Chandler and FJ were hasn't helped.

I don't see how playing a half fit Jones and a clearly diminished Bradley made any sense to Klinsmann.

-We just have too many blank spots on the field. Bradley looks like his legs are shot. Chandler is bad and leaving too much space on the right. FJ is all rep based on his club play. Jones is having to cover too much space. -We really miss Dempsey as an outlet, and a guy Mexico has to account for in the final third

Holden giving credit to JK for recognizing that his setup was a tire fire after 30 minutes has TBS execs thinking maybe he'd be the perfect guy to replace Ron Darling in the booth

Fabian Johnson is the most overrated player in our pool and it's not close

Why do they bother having an anthem singer?

This is the first time I've ever felt something approximating indifference toward a WCQ in the Hex. I don't know if the Cubs just sucked all the "care about sports" out of me, or the trauma of Tuesday still hasn't abated, but I think about this game and I cannot muster more than a cursory interest, and have more than a little dread that the crowd will chant/display something stupid tonight.

I'd just as soon not trade for Sale, who makes John Lackey seem like a likable person. I'd imagine the WS would probably make the cost to acquire either guy pretty prohibitive anyway.

That would make the team 100% more unlikable, so there's that.

Trading Baez for some garbage MN pitcher would be not optimal.

Good thing he a) has the ability to improve and b) provides immense value elsewhere to offset his growing pains even with that slash line. Here's a visual that might be interesting. Against LHP this year Baez's wOBA + defense was roughly equivalent to having Ian Kinsler(a near 6 win player) in the lineup. Against RHP this year Baez's wOBA + defense was roughly equivalent to having Darwin Barney(a 1.5 win player) in the lineup. Could the Cubs deal with a slightly below average player at 2B against RHP to be a defensive specialist with the potential for more offensive production? Almost certainly. And I certainly expect Baez to get his share of at bats against RHP, if only because he's the primary backup at SS and 3B so any Russell/Bryant days off or any injury to Russell/Bryant/Zobrist means Javy in the lineup every day. The other side is that no one has keener insight into how likely Javy is to make the necessary improvements than the Cubs, and we also know that the Cubs place a ton of value in approach at the plate. To illustrate, only about 40% of MLB hitters have a BB% of 9+, but Baez(3.3%) and Almora(4.3%) were the only Cubs(min 100 PA) out of 15 to miss that mark. So unlike, say, Soler, even if Baez improves he's still not the archetype the Cubs are hoping for, so they might be more pessimistic(and therefore more likely to trade him or plan on him not improving) than us. I can't imagine a FO as smart as this one ignoring the strides he's made to conclude that he has more value to trade for some eventually-will-break pitcher. I would be personally really irritated that they'd trade such a dynamic, disruptive, exciting player with a ceiling that high. Without Javy we could easily be talking about how much it sucked to get bounced by the Giants. In short I hope they don't trade him.

Is that slash line against righties that terrible considering his elite D and baserunning? I feel like even if he doesnt improve against RHPs he still deserves a spot in that lineup and my guess is hes going to improve a bit. That slash line with the K/BB rates are horsefeathering terrible regardless of defense and base running Good thing he a) has the ability to improve and b) provides immense value elsewhere to offset his growing pains even with that slash line.

I feel there's a higher chance that Bryant goes in FA than there is that both Javy and Schwarber aren't Cubs in 3 years' time.

How protected does he really need to be vs. non-elite RHP? He hit .258/.288/.401 with 4 BB and 83 K against RHP in a season where he was protected against elite RHP, he either needs to get better against them or not be considered an everyday starter against RHP. I guess I see the improvements and adjustments he's made from year to year and have a lot of confidence he can improve those numbers given consistent time.

Well what are your choices? They're gonna play Schwarber. And while Baez may not play every single day at 2B, you've gotta think he'll be there most of the time. RF is really the only other spot for Zobrist at that poiny. I really hope Baez playing every day next year isn't plan A for us. He still needs to be very much protected vs RHP. I know health/others performance don't always allow it but he should really only be getting about ~400 PAs and 120 starts next year. How protected does he really need to be vs. non-elite RHP?