Sammy Sofa

Yeah, Bote sucks. Whatever; who cares. But man, the other two just really make me wonder what happened, and how did the Cubs get it SO wrong? The completely fail to turn Heyward into the dongsmith everyone hoped he could be and wreck him for life...and then seemingly try to turn everyone into scrappy singles slappers? What the horsefeathers? Mallee and Davis (and, probably, Joe) are horsefeathering monsters. Almora has always been a tweener between AAA-quality and MLB quality. That's just how draft picks go sometimes. Heyward hurt his wrist and sometimes you hurt a key joint and you can never swing a bat the same again. Sorry, Kris. Heyward hurt his wrist in between the 2015 and 2016 seasons?

Yeah, Bote sucks. Whatever; who cares. But man, the other two just really make me wonder what happened, and how did the Cubs get it SO wrong? The completely fail to turn Heyward into the dongsmith everyone hoped he could be and wreck him for life...and then seemingly try to turn everyone into scrappy singles slappers? What the horsefeathers? Mallee and Davis (and, probably, Joe) are horsefeathering monsters.

If Zobrist is back next year, he's perfect to lead off when he's in the lineup. Besides that, if they do sign Harper, really any combo of him, Rizzo and Bryant going 1-2-3 when Zobrist isn't in is likely the best option. No need for them to chase something like a "leadoff hitter."

The Cubs' team slugging numbers didn't shift THAT much between last year and this year for it to arguably be the result of much more than Bryant, Russell and Contreras being such disappointments in that regard...but still, it just seems SO glaring. And combined with FORTY games where they scored 1 or 0 runs... This is a truly perplexing 95-win team. To also be so hapless for long stretches without power, or just scoring at all. And then the weird ongoing stuff with stranding guys in scoring position with less then 2 outs. This team should just be varying degrees of a hitting beast, even with injuries and long stretches without off days, not a conglomerate of slap-hitting and walks with the occasional power stroke. Something is wrong there.

I’m ok with this. Gore is not going to do anything. Might as well see if Bryant can end it with a dong. It’s a long shot, but so is Gore doing anything productive with the bat. i think bryant’s hr rate on sliders low and out of the strike zone is probably like -40. And that's when he's actually hitting like normal Bryant.

No, the idea would be to leverage Rizzo into helping make improvements throughout the roster. Realistically, I don't think it's possible, but this isn't a strong 1st base market, and there's several teams that could look to upgrade. I don't love the constant lineup machinations, so if you could construct a deal where Rizzo nets you two key assets, and then subsequently move Schwarber to first, I don't know if it's the worst idea. To put it into a bit more specificity, say you could land a starting OF/top of the order type hitter and a 2nd baseman for Rizzo, both guys being relatively young-ish (that is, we aren't talking about 30+ year old guys) would you do it? If you could lop in Bryce Harper after that ... Again, I don't think it will happen, but it has nothing to do with last night's loss. wtf lol this isn't baseball mogul. Anyway. You gotta prioritize one of the two bats. If you get one of them, preferably harper, our floor is probably "really good" offense and our ceiling (bryant and contreras bouncing back) is super elite. Plus if there's enough teams out there looking to spend to try and upgrade 1B, then it would make more sense to try and sell them Schwaber as a 1B than for the Cubs to move Rizzo and then gamble on Schwarber as an everyday 1B themselves.

The hell? I'm not opposed at all to the idea of moving Rizzo in the right circumstances; the part that really jumps out at me is "Schwaber's bounce back season." The dude's...fine. As a platoon player. He didn't really do anything to show he should or needs to be in the lineup almost every day, which he'd have to do to effectively replace Rizzo.

Thanks. Wish we could have ridden a few more streaks. Those records are pretty ugly!

It's not hard to find a manager that players like; players have mostly loved playing for Dusty over the years, so I think it's overstating things to think that Joe is special in regards to creating an environment that draws players in, or makes them want to stick around. I think it was obviously the right move to do what they did to get Joe given the collection of players they had in the stages of their careers they were in, but at this point I'm not really worried about whether they have the right guy for the party planning committee. His approach to the Russell situation is garbage, his constant lineup tweaking is practically useless besides an ongoing exercise in too clever for the room wankery, he can't manage a bullpen, and his input in putting together a coaching staff is beyond suspect at this point. I have zero problem with them going with someone else; I'm confident they wouldn't go with some kind of meatball, regressive dork or a Girardi-like hardass. Try for a new approach to try and better maximize what they have. The guys who gushed over Dusty were veterans and many past-their-prime guys who got a ton of playing time. Let’s not understate how many positive reviews Joe gets from the entire 25-man roster. Players like playing for Dusty, for better or for worse; it's not a veterans-only thing. Acting like Joe is this rare bird in terms of players getting behind him isn't realistic at all.

Absolutely. So many free agents want to come here now because of the culture he's built. The camaraderie and how close the players are in this clubhouse is special. I'm glad Jesse Chavez feels that way. Yup and sure it’s more than Joe, it’s the amenities, character of the players here and the FO’s doings as well but they’ve trusted Joe to guide and oversee it all. The wrong manager with all this still could make it a spot guys don’t want to be. It's not hard to find a manager that players like; players have mostly loved playing for Dusty over the years, so I think it's overstating things to think that Joe is special in regards to creating an environment that draws players in, or makes them want to stick around. I think it was obviously the right move to do what they did to get Joe given the collection of players they had in the stages of their careers they were in, but at this point I'm not really worried about whether they have the right guy for the party planning committee. His approach to the Russell situation is garbage, his constant lineup tweaking is practically useless besides an ongoing exercise in too clever for the room wankery, he can't manage a bullpen, and his input in putting together a coaching staff is beyond suspect at this point. I have zero problem with them going with someone else; I'm confident they wouldn't go with some kind of meatball, regressive dork or a Girardi-like hardass. Try for a new approach to try and better maximize what they have.

Because we're still going to be giddy over Maddon and his band of dingbats getting the boot?

I bet Khalil Greene would lead this team in dongs. Somewhere out there, meph just popped a halfie and doesn’t know why.

yes. clock is just over 11 minutes on the review now

I bet Khalil Greene would lead this team in dongs.

Man, they're so good at getting guys on base, and then so bad at doing anything with them.

Nobody should be able to get away with a mistake pitch like that against Bryant. He makes me sad.

Cubs gonna activate dong power, like:

OK, Cubs' turn.

Guys, Lester was flat out missing; Gameday doesn't have him getting robbed at all.

Lester's approach so far:

FJM, by any means necessary.

Has the top 3 ever been that close? Thanks, Southpaw!

Now, if Cubs fans are pissed at Puig because Theo and co. can't figure out Cuba to save their lives, OK, THAT I understand.

Man, I wish Puig was my dad.