Sammy Sofa

You could say that about any player that has a terrible season. When you put it that way then why should anyone bother letting him play professional baseball ever again? Teams convince themselves to take chances on risky players all the time. Plus you see inconsistent players picked up by other teams all the time; the idea of a change of scenery or that they KNOW they can fix him or what have you is strong with baseball FO's. As bad as his bad seasons have been, his good seasons have been good enough and he's young enough that teams are going to be tempted, whether it's the Cubs keeping him or a team trading for him or the Cubs putting him through waivers. What did you think he was going to do coming in to this season?

So what is so different this year? Is he similarly bad this year as he was in 2013? He just seems to have so much trouble making any kind of major adjustment in-season. I mean, most players are going to have trouble with major changes to varying degrees, but it seems like he just keeps trying to pull the ball to duplicate what happened last year, but when that doesn't work he just can't try anything else.

I'm mainly just wondering if anyone saw discussion or an article or something in the offseason that called out any red flags or warning signs. If anything it seemed like the opposite and I only remember a few things about why the Cubs SHOULDN'T trade him in the offseason. Most of my "defense" of him stems from the simplistic approach of, "OK, if he was able to rebound so well in 2014 from 2013, why can't he do that again?"

Can someone smarter than me explain why Castro's 2014 is sometimes talked about like it was smoke and mirrors and merely just a blip in what's apparently been a now 3 season decline? I've seen that season dismissed here a few times and looking at both BR and FG I don't get it. FG seems to think it was his best season offensively, and BR arguably has it as his second best. I don't see an obvious in-season decline at first glance, so what gives? My desire for them to hold on to him is largely hinged on not seeing that season as a fluke, so I'd genuinely be curious to have someone breakdown for me what the warning signs are from that season.

Eh, he's been kinda wild this inning and was laboring (well over 20 pitches at the point he hit him) plus he just threw a slider in the dirt Bryant offered at. Seemed like he was just coming back at him hard on the hands and missed the spot. Oh, I have no doubt that he's wild, as per usual, but he's also Garza, who is a notorious dick. Put the two together and voila.

Granted, I can't see the game, but I'm going to assume that Garza kindasortamaybe did that on purpose.

Holy hell, Rizzo is making up for lost time like an animal.

Nicely done, Hendricks.

The H is O, Rizzo.

(And yes, I know Rondon's been better)

... So have Strop and Grimm. Be cool.

Eh, you're right. Forgot about that for some reason. -- Maddon says no Rondon tonight. Please don't be a 2-1 game going into the 9th. They still have Strop and Grimm.

Like, if they have a draft and, say, only 2 guys are initially any good out of it do you hate the next season, but then if down line it turns out they got, like, 5 good players out of it would you retroactively go back and de-rage over it?

Sometimes you don't know if a draft resulted in "multiple impact starters" until you're well beyond that draft.

people aren't insanely optimistic because we've got a .500 pythag i guess you can sort of point to the '06 Cardinals, but they had Mark Mulder's half-season of 7+ ERA and Marquis's full season of 6+ ERA they could happly ignore in the postseason and 3 HOF players in the prime of their careers (all with DL stints, i believe?) meanwhile our 2nd-best player/hitter is a guy who strikes out 30% of the time and is sub-.800 OPS Please, I'm the last guy who anyone can accuse of being overly optimistic about the Cubs. I'm just tired of the talk like it's even a longshot for them to just make the playoffs at this point, or that they're all but a lock to be annihilated even if they did make it.

Honestly I wish Lester gave up his David Ross blankie and we could do without another extreme hole in the lineup with him I'd have agreed with this more before Lester went beast mode his last start. Lester can still have Montero; I highly doubt Ross made any kind of real difference if you're comparing him and Miguel.

I'm really not trying to pick on this so much, but you say "considered one of the best in the NL" like it's a thing in the future when they have the 5th best record in the NL right now. If a top 5 team isn't one of the best, then what is? That's fair. This is a horrible answer and you deserve better, but it's like porn. I don't know how to truly define what the Cubs being one of the best means, but I will know it when I see it. We all will. And it will even better than watching porn. I mean, I assume it would be. I don't watch porn. I'll watch enough for the both of us.

There are, coincidentally, only 7 teams with a better record than the Cubs right now. Odds are there's always going to be better teams out there.

They should all have glowing eyes.

I'm really not trying to pick on this so much, but you say "considered one of the best in the NL" like it's a thing in the future when they have the 5th best record in the NL right now. If a top 5 team isn't one of the best, then what is?

I keep seeing this mentioned like it's a bad thing, when in fact it's a very smart thing and by design. I like it, but I can see a failure condition. I sometimes wonder if the Cubs aren't focused on the kinds of hitters that would thrive in the 00s, but might not translate well to the 2010s pitching environment. To me it seems like the kind of the thing that can run really hot and cold to extremes.

I keep seeing this mentioned like it's a bad thing, when in fact it's a very smart thing and by design. I agree, but I think many are expecting too much. It's not a bad thing at all, but I don't think it's too likely they end up with some kind of nu-Murderer's Row that's just taking advantage of everyone. Pitching is still going to dominate.

The way some people talk I'm kinda convinced they'd just assume the Cubs would fail in the playoffs if they face any team that technically has a better regular season record.

All the more reason to bolster a team eyeing the playoffs. Established players like Rizzo, Fowler, Castro and Montero have had extended horrendous stretches this year, so it's not as though not being a rookie means that that won't happen. Like stupid babies, teams that are right there fighting to get in are the ones that need the most help. If you're assuming they're going to go out there and regularly dominate, you're likely going to be disappointed. They're tied up in a ton of ways financially for years to come, they've focused on creating an offense-first team in a very offensively depressed environment, and they're in a division that is likely to remain competitive for the foreseeable future. I think it's very likely that they're going to be very good, but I don't think they're going to be coasting very often. Besides, if the Cubs actually did end up being THAT good, why would they need to make key deadline moves more than teams who are fighting? The Cubs bets young players were pretty much untouchable going into the deadline, so this fear that they would have in any way gutted what they've tried to build up over the last few years is ridiculous. The assets they have left in the farm at this point are, quite frankly, pretty average with a few exceptions. Most of them will go on to do bupkis and their primary avenues of impact are, quite honestly, as trade bait. Plus isn't one of the main things that is appealing about our FO is that they'll continually be able to draft and sign talent to replenish the farm system?

That letting Castro go on August waivers would be a defensible opinion. You don't even have to agree with it, you just have to not think it's utterly crazybuckets. But it would be an overreaction at this point; he has a decent chance of rebounding and at least being serviceable next season. He's not making a ton of money next season and there's really not a better option they need to seek out, especially if they keep him in a backup role. Like I said, technically anything that frees up money for the relatively budget-strapped Cubs is defensible; that doesn't actually mean it's automatically the best decision.