Sammy Sofa

Btw in 3 ABs he has as many extra base hits as Castro has in his last 22 games. And more total bases as Castro has had in his last 6 This kinda stuff is so sad; I never thought Castro's time as a Cub would end so quickly and so pitifully.

If they keep Baez and he shows up and actually sticks when seemingly everyone else turned into super-aggro hack machines I will no longer have any understanding of the world at all.

I wouldn't be opposed to trying to shake things up a bit by batting Russell higher in the lineup. Bat him 6th, just to mix it up a little.

I know, that's kind of the point; when this many things go wrong it seems like it's either throwing up our hands and saying, "oh those Cobs" or something's not working. I'm not saying they're hopeless, this season or going forward. It's just very, very frustrating. Look at it this way: there's nothing uncommon about a 22-23 year old rookie being called up and playing everyday. More often than not, they're going to have their ups and downs; a learning experience. We have 4 of those in our everyday lineup. So yeah, there's a whole lot of learning going on. And it's painful to watch. But it's infinitely more valuable than sending them to Iowa to tee-off against a bunch of junk ballers. As for the established veterans, Fowler's been breaking out of his slump lately and Coghlan's been mostly consistant. Then there's Castro, who's pretty much trying to survive a dead season, and Rizzo's who's stuck in a major slump. And I know it's easy forget when you look at their lofty credentials, but these guys are both at an age when most guys are just staring to establish themselves in the league, so they too are going to experience growing pains. But I want dongs nowwwwwwwwwwwww!!!

Beating Castro to the punch, I guess. Sigh.

Give it to me, Soler.

Ooooh, that's a lazy beauty.

I know, that's kind of the point; when this many things go wrong it seems like it's either throwing up our hands and saying, "oh those Cobs" or something's not working. I'm not saying they're hopeless, this season or going forward. It's just very, very frustrating.

So many flippin' chances.

Well Rizzo was an all star last year so you'd expect that to continue only he has been sub replacement level for 5 weeks running, castro was an all star last year and had his best hitting season you shouldn't reasonably expect he'd turn into a bottom 5 hitter in all of baseball. Bryant mashed everything in the minors, Soler crushed the ball in the minors and with the Cubs last September, russell was crushing it in the minors. They just all randomly stopped hitting when they spend a prolonged period under Cubs major league coaching. It's failure, plain and simple. It's not just bad luck or "hey, they're a bunch of kids!" It's poor, overly simplistic team construction. Explain? They constructed a team expected to hit for a ton of power and get on base at least an average amount. I guess you could say that it was too prone for low batting average and too any strikeout prone hitters but I don't see what they have done so wrong. They made their long term strategy to build a farm system full of highly regarded power hitters, everyone marveled at them, and so far they haven't hit for power but whether you like it not, they weren't supposed to be a well oiled machine at this point. Heck guys like Russell and Schwarber weren't even supposed to be up yet. I know no one wants to hear the "they're just kids they'll get better" excuse but there's really no better way to put it. This was the plan that we all were on board with. If it doesn't happen this year, the expectations and pressure amp up significantly next year. At this point Schwarber is the only guy who is a surprise to be up, and even then the expectation would be that Baez would be contributing somehow, either via the bat or via a trade.

you cant be serious The biggest problem by far this year is the offense, and they made it very clear that they were putting most of the cards in with the idea that this team, now and going forward, was going to be driven primarily by the bats. I get underperforming and that there's development, and in no way did I expect them to be some kind of offensive juggernaut this year, but to be THIS bad as a team at the plate is hugely problematic. There's a pretty big gulf between being fantastic and how bad they are hitting.

Of course not. But he's not very good and only signed through this year, so he's kind of just an add-on at best.

Well Rizzo was an all star last year so you'd expect that to continue only he has been sub replacement level for 5 weeks running, castro was an all star last year and had his best hitting season you shouldn't reasonably expect he'd turn into a bottom 5 hitter in all of baseball. Bryant mashed everything in the minors, Soler crushed the ball in the minors and with the Cubs last September, russell was crushing it in the minors. They just all randomly stopped hitting when they spend a prolonged period under Cubs major league coaching. It's failure, plain and simple. It's not just bad luck or "hey, they're a bunch of kids!" It's poor, overly simplistic team construction.

18th in OBP, 26th in slugging, 23rd in OPS, 16th in HR.

How the hell did they fail THIS badly to construct a good offense? Wasn't that what they were focusing on above all else?

That was a textbook 2015 Cubs inning.

Starlin, you sack of bones.

Uh, yeah, sure, that's a ball...why not?

Castro, for the love of all of the gods, just get this stupid run in.

Mmmmm, yeah, that's the stuff, Soler.

Are you watching on delay?

The Cubs are the worst team I've seen at scoring men from second with no out. Because you only watch the Cubs.

What happened? Grounded out to 1B.

RARGH. Should be 4-3 right now.

They've never stood pat at the deadline with any of the teams they've run. And making moves only to placate fans when they could pretty easily improve a competitive team seems really pointless and foolish.