Vinestal

Well here we go, I guess if we lose this one it's on Russell. Addison givith and Addison taketh away.

Oh no, hope Dex is ok

Hah nice bunt

Ugh this game blows

Where are the runs?

I asked the same question last year. I was told that he couldn't possibly continue doing what he's doing at higher levels. Most people point to his lack of power as the reason he's not more highly rated. If he continues to hit and get on base at what he has done in previous levels and adds a little bit of power to his game he could shoot up some prospect lists. He does already have 2 HR this year already. He is 1/2 with a SB and a run scored already tonight btw.

Chesny now 4/5 tonight

I have believed in Chesny young for some time now... He is my spirit animal... It feels me with joy that he continues to prove so many people wrong.

Completely different situation. Schwarber was otherworldly with the bat, for one. There was a huge difference between him or another alternative, unlike now. Also, it was in late July, when we were fighting tooth and nail just to get into the playoffs. And, when we called him up, he caught practically every day that Montero was out. Ross is going to be the everyday catcher for the next two weeks. You just said so yourself. Whoever gets called up is going to be his backup and get some starts here and there. Why in the hell would you rush the best catching prospect in the minors up, only to have him be a backup for two weeks? I don't think [expletive] with his development is worth that. Also, Kyle Schwarber had been catching his whole life. And the Schwarber-as-a-catcher thing was probably destined to be him just filling in here or there. Maybe he sticks, but, even then, he's not going to be very special behind the dish. The hope with Contreras is that he can be an everyday catcher, one that can help us out with the bat and by being a solid backstop. You don't want to [expletive] that up, because there is no other alternative. With Schwarber, the alternative is: Well, [expletive], we'll put the catching on hold and stick him in left field and watch him dong. Contreras has to catch. He's not going to come up to the majors to catch until he is absolutely ready. Also, Schwarber being called back up in the second half was inevitable. He was mashing AAA. And we were gonna need his bat in the lineup. It was a matter of time; you might as well start his clock when Montero goes down. Contreras's timeline is a little more murky. It's stupid to start his clock to be a backup for a couple weeks in April when we are playing at a 120-win pace without him. Any other questions? Nah, I disagree with a lot of that, but there's really no point in arguing it. I get what your saying though.

I think the drop off from Wilson to Federowicz is pretty significant. Schwarber had a lot less time behind the plate in the minors than Willson and they were willing to let him do some catching. It just seems like backing up Ross for 2 weeks wouldn't have been that difficult for him. Why not give him a taste?

Also, they got Federowicz in case Willson sucked, which clearly is not the case.

Probably. He's got fewer than 600 ABs above high A. He's probably not ready. Sorry but that's horsefeathering stupid, we have how many other guys that were called up with the same number of ABs? Willson is ready, and this move is stupid as horsefeathers. I hate having catchers that can't hit.

*sigh* screw you guys, he's ready...

Yeah, it's also good that we are 14-5 despite Montero's 66 wRC+. Not even worried. If Montero hits the DL, let Ross handle the load for awhile, call up Federowicz for awhile. No sweat. We'll hardly notice it. What? Hell no! It'll be Wilson Contreras, your table is ready sir. He's an immediate offensive upgrade to Montero.

So are we going to wind up giving him a 6-7 year deal? If not are we just going to let him walk? Giving a 6-7 year deal to a 31/32 year old kinda makes me cringe. Even if it is Arrieta.

Ive been trying to tell you guys that for years now

We getting that run differential back today that we lost yesterday

Gonna take a huge bite off our run differential tonight

What a mess, I hope we can go back to being awesome tomorrow, this game has been brutal to watch

Wtf our pitching....

I think that the defensive improvement of Baez over Zobrist is much larger than Baez over Bryant. Our best defense with those three in the game probably has Zobrist in LF, Bryant at 3B and Baez at 2B. Yup, I completely agree with that. I think they are reluctant to move Zobrist to the outfield though or they would have done this already.

Baez continuing to improve and play a stellar 3B pushes Bryant to LF, which leaves the Cubs with no holes that need shored up, barring injury. If they're up 7-8+ games in the division at the break, there's no reason to make a move even if there's somebody drastically underperforming. It just doesn't move the needle enough to give up any talent. Whatif senario: What if they want to improve the playoff rotation. Isn't it possible that the trio of Lackey/Hammel/Hendricks is winning games but are doing it because of the offense and not because they are performing well. If Arrieta and Lester continue to be awesome but they don't feel as confident in those other guys for the playoffs they could make a play for a ToR starter.

Blake Snell had a nice debut today. His curveball is a thing of beauty. I think I read that they were sending him back down after this start though. Sucks because I have him stashed on my bench on my fantasy team.

If you want crazy weirdo follow his wife on twitter, she always has crazy eyes, in like every picture she's ever posted. I guess she has "resting psycho face".

Is it controversial to say Baez is a significant improvement over Bryant defensively? I certainly feel like that's the case. I'm not saying Bryant is a bad 3rd baseman and he's improved leaps and bounds from where he was a year ago but Baez can do some amazing things on defense. I also prefer him defensively over Zobrist at 2nd he has a lot more range and a stronger arm than Zobrist. I guess they don't want to move Zobrist to LF when they told him 2nd base was going to be his.