Sammy Sofa

I'm not saying they're supposed to magically know which guys aren't going to pan out; I'm saying the assumption should be that some of those guys weren't going pan out because that's baseball, and the prudent thing to do is to take the inherent gamble on who they think that guy or guys might be and try to bolster another part of the team. To not utilize ANY of them as a trade asset is what bugs me. Maybe the right time never was there, but it just seems kinda glaring to glom onto essentially everyone of note you've promoted when the FO is supposed to be so good at being able to continue to spot and develop talent. But...they did? They turned Eloy into a starter who was top 10-top 20 in fWAR oover the previous few years with a bunch of control. They turned Vogelbach into a swing guy with a ton of team control. They turned Gleyber into the best closer for 2016, then they turned Soler into an elite closer for 2017. They clearly prioritized trading people who were still in the minors vs players that had shown some level of major league success, but we've been in 'win now' mode for 4+ seasons now...it's not exactly surprising they chose to deal from the minors than take away from talent that was (at the time) producing in the major leagues for a contending team. I never slammed them for not being willing to trade prospects like Eloy, Vogelbach and Gleyber; Soler is the only guy along the lines of what I'm talking about. And trading guys like him doesn't take them out of win now-mode; I would have preferred for 1-2 more moves to happen along those lines to bolster the pitching more. I would have much rather gone after another Quintana-type of target than having to sign someone like Darvish.

The damage Chili Davis wrought upon KB’s swing may be irreversible. Chili Davis sounds like a name a warlock would choose if he was trying to blend in with society.

And I looked up Zobrist after UMFan's post because I hadn't thought of there being anything off with him...and I'm still thinking there isn't despite him not having a single XBH so far this year. The guy's getting on base at a .407 clip with a BA of .295, and it seems like he is making some loud outs...so I'm kinda fine with it?

We won 95 games with a garbage KB last year. Who gave them about a .930 OPS in April and May and a .280 .384 .482 .867 line in the first half.

I'm not saying they're supposed to magically know which guys aren't going to pan out; I'm saying the assumption should be that some of those guys weren't going pan out because that's baseball, and the prudent thing to do is to take the inherent gamble on who they think that guy or guys might be and try to bolster another part of the team. To not utilize ANY of them as a trade asset is what bugs me. Maybe the right time never was there, but it just seems kinda glaring to glom onto essentially everyone of note you've promoted when the FO is supposed to be so good at being able to continue to spot and develop talent.

That, and it applies potentially to multiple guys on the team. I get the video game appeal of fielding a team of almost nothing but homegrown stud bats, but that's not something likely to pan out, and it's not like the pitching issues were ever going to be something to take them by surprise with the way the team was constructed and how their drafting went. They won a WS and have the most wins in MLB since all these guys were up together. I’d say it has panned out. The WS was in 2016. Running the team since then like they figured everyone they promoted was going to pan out in the long run is some completely unrealistic video game nonsense. Again, it's about dealing from a position of strength for a position of weakness; it's been obvious for a while that pitching development wasn't panning out AND that the Cubs had a starting rotation that needed some work. I simply would have preferred they had moved to bring in pitching prospects and/or established starters instead of hoarding all of Their Guys. Sure, maybe the moves simply weren't there, or the timing didn't line up. And I'm not saying they should have traded all or most of those names. But to act like keeping them all was some kind of, "well, what do you expect, ah-doy?!?"-move doesn't track.

Or for not trading him when his value was high? That, and it applies potentially to multiple guys on the team. I get the video game appeal of fielding a team of almost nothing but homegrown stud bats, but that's not something likely to pan out, and it's not like the pitching issues were ever going to be something to take them by surprise with the way the team was constructed and how their drafting went. It's just long bugged me how seemingly every single significant minor leaguer they developed or drafted who got called up seemingly became untouchable once they arrived. I know a lot of it is hindsight, but it can't help but annoy me that between Baez, Russell, Contreras, Happ, Almora and Schwarber, NONE of those guys were traded when they would have brought back or helped bring back a really good return in an area of weakness from an area of strength.

Actual fun with arbitrary endpoints: the Cubs have have won 4 of their last 5 games.

Huzzah.

Man, stuff is coming together, but this gigantic Bryzzo-shaped hole in the lineup is bumming me the horsefeathers out.

Go, Q, go.

Mike Trout's slash is 382/593/882 - 563/272 and he's doing it with a 308 BABIP. He's turning into Bonds (4:1 BBK). Its absolutely nuts. I think everybody knew there was much room to grow still but if he can keep something like this up, holy horsefeathering horsefeathers. Sorry to derail the thread but I peeped his page a bit ago and Almora is so boring to talk about. The FO must still have enormous hopes for him. Yeah, well, I peed on Almora's page.

So it's a warlock's curse then.

What are Bryant's now, o wise Yoda Penis?

I think this was actually the vaunted gyroball: [tweet] [/tweet]

He will be joining Happ in Iowa when Russell comes back. I've been a big Happ defender, but I'm going to need to see pretty significant improvement in his AAA numbers before I want him back in Chicago. Striking out in 1/3rd of his ABs and getting on base at a .292 clip isn't going to cut it anywhere. Almora looks at that OBP and marvels at how anyone could possibly have one that high.

Those last few pitches were pretty baller, and he is definitely showing small signs of improving. But he is, IMO, a pretty far way off from being fixed. Personally, I'd still have little to no confidence in him facing a not terrible team.

I'm not angry at him; I'm annoyed with the FO.

[tweet]https://twitter.com/sung_minkim/status/1117976752729378816[/tweet]

Darvish was just OK. It's the freakin' Marlins, and the dude has already shown he can still rack up the k's while also still getting shellacked and/or walking everyone else.

I like Willson being back.

MORE LIKE SPEW BARFISH AMIRITE.