mikeyt34

This didn't take long... Jenifer Langosch‏Verified account @LangoschMLB 1h1 hour ago #STLCards roster plans have changed: Trevor Rosenthal will begin season on DL (right lat strain). Sam Tuivailala recalled from Memphis. And Grichuk got hit on the middle knuckle by a pitch today, don't know the severity but seems to be some concern. What is it about Cardinal hitters getting hit in the hands so much? http://m.mlb.com/news/article/221444434/randal-grichuk-hit-by-pitch-will-sit-out/

I don't really think it's going to be a platoon, per se, the way things have been playing themselves out in spring. Going in, I thought Jay would primarily play vs. righties and Albert vs. lefties (at least, to start), but I'm thinking Albert is going to be more or less the starter, while Jay will play against the tougher righty matchups. That's just my read on it now. So maybe 100-120 starts is a possibility? If he starts anywhere near 120 games I'd be thrilled, that would mean he's playing really well. As far as Jersey Cub Fan mentioning his injury history, I know he's had a few dings and small set backs throughout his career but would he be classified as injury prone? Not sure I'd go that far, he's just a kid and heals quickly.

Anyone think there's a shot that Albert takes over the CF duties full-time by say the all-star break? Probably not, but if he can just show a consistent approach at the plate his glove could justify abandoning the platoon with Jay. This is what I'm hoping for sooner rather than later, his glove is game changing much like Javy's. Joe already said he's going to get some starts against right-handers to see how he performs, so maybe Joe is thinking this is a possibility too.

I love this. Every time I hear the "tanking" argument I cringe. This is a great point to make.

I hope that's not a blind squirrel finding a nut but yeah that looks ten times better than last year. I like what Maddon said the other day, that he's happy Jason is hitting the ball in the air more consistently.

Like most teams it probably all depends on how well their pitching performs. They have a ton of question marks in their rotation ranging from guys coming back from injury to under performing last year, Martinez is the only sure fire bet. Their bullpen is pretty good so not too many issues there. They shouldn't have too many problems scoring and should be a top ten scoring offense. The defense is going to cost them dearly several time this year, they are just awful defensively, their range is atrocious. I agree with you Duke, they may be lucky to win 81 games if their rotation falters. If their rotation steps up they'll be in the fight for at least a wild card.

I've seen that clip a hundred times and this is the first time I caught that. I just though Rizzo said something about his emotions, I didn't notice he was quoting the "Glass case of emotion" scene.

Carp at 1st, Gyorko at 2nd, Diaz at SS, and Peralta at 3rd. That's gotta be the worst defensive infield in the league by a long shot right? I can't think of any worse.

@#18 Got to give some credit to Gary Wayne at 3rd for having the guts to send him. IIRC, Bryant said Wayne told him to go.

I was thinking about this the other day. What players in the Cubs organization do you deem "Untouchable"? Meaning, there's no way that player should ever be traded and preferably their contracts extended for several more years. Personally I came up with 4 and three quarters players. The three quarters player in question I define as I need to see what he does this year but he's almost certain to become untouchable. 1. Kris Bryant- Can you imagine what he's going to get on the open market? Lock him up please before that happens and may he never don another uniform in his career. 2. Anthony Rizzo- He signed an extension once, maybe he'll do it again. 3.Addison Russell- This kid has the makings of a superstar if his bat continues to improve, can we dream that he could reach Bryant's level in WAR? 4. Kyle Hendricks - 27 years old in his prime and with his pitching style can be a 200 inning workhorse year in and year out. I didn't consider him untouchable until after his performance in Game 6 of the NLCS, now I do. 5. Willson Contreras- This is my three quarter untouchable player, I want to see one more full year of him to deem him untouchable. We all know how hard it is to find a great catcher, let alone having the potential to be another Yadier Molina but with more power. Just on the cusp of being untouchable: Javy Baez and Eloy Jimenez. I would love to list Schwarber as untouchable, but with Eloy on the horizon I could see Schwarber dealt to an American League team for pitching in a year or two. Javy is the heir apparent to Zobrist at 2B and could take over full-time sooner rather than later. Once he captures the job full-time, meaning his play earned it, I would probably consider him untouchable. Does Ian Happ's impressive play make Javy expendable if the need arises for another top starter say like Chris Archer? I doubt it, the Cubs would look to try and deal Happ and Candelario before Javy but stranger things have happened.

Great moment for Miggy, the team, the fans, etc. It probably lead to some of his frustration about his post season playing time knowing he can still produce, but regardless Joe made the right call favoring Willson the majority of the time. Miggy said his frustration came about because Joe didn't explain his role for the post-season, which I kinda get where he's coming from, but Joe probably didn't think it was going to be an issue or he would have sat him down to talk. Sounds like it's all water under the bridge now and hopefully Miggy will understand his role going forward, he's the back up. Does anyone know if Miggy is going to be Jake's "personal catcher"? That's 30 starts right there. I heard him in an interview last week express some frustration about not having caught Lester or Lackey all spring, bullpen sessions included. He's probably got a good point that he should be catching everybody even if it's in the bullpen, but with Willson getting a crash course in everything that is Lester, I'm sure it's tough to squeeze him in.

I've lived in Phoenix since 1991, moved out right after I graduated from SIU Carbondale, so it does limit my trips to Wrigley. However I see our boys in blue out west quite often either in Spring Training, Chase Field, Dodger Stadium, or Petco/Qualcomm. I've been fortunate enough to plan trips back to Chicago well in advance and gotten lucky to see the Cubs clinch twice at home in 08' and 16', although this year was a faux clinch because the Cardinals lost the night before. 9/20/08 @ Wrigley VS Cardinals- Cubs clinch the division against the Redbirds. I was sitting in the left field bleachers and still remember the players doing a lap around the stadium spraying champagne up into the stands. Still have a great picture of me and my friend in front of the marque that said "2008 Central Division Champs". Who knew only a few weeks later they would be swept by the Dodgers in ugly fashion. I always compared this moment and what happened later to getting married and having a great honeymoon, then you come home a few weeks later and you find your wife banging the neighbor in your bed. 9/18/08 @ Wrigley VS Brewers- Cubs were down by 3 with 2 outs and 2 on in the bottom of the ninth. Geovany Soto cranks a 3 Run HR into the left field bleachers only 20 feet away from where I was sitting to tie the game. Wrigley went nuts. Cubs won later in the 12th. 9/16/16 @ Wrigley VS Brewers- The Cubs had clinched the division the night before because the Cardinals lost on the west coast. Still it was fun because the players got to celebrate a walk off HR by Miggy. I do remember being a little disappointed the players didn't do a lap around the stadium like they did in 2008, but these guys had bigger fish to fry is what I told my friend at the time. The celebration was much less subdued than in 2008 probably because 2008 was an actual division clinching game, but you also felt 2016 it was just the first step so nothing to get overly excited about. Some other random games out west... 7/28/98 @ Chase Field (formally know as Bank One Ballpark) VS Diamondbacks- Sammy Sosa hits his first career grand slam, Cubs win 6-2. 9/16/98 @ Qualcomm VS Padres- Sammy hits second career grand slam his 63rd of the year. Memorable because it was during the Sosa/Big Mac HR race and the fans were really into seeing Sammy at every plate appearance. They even set off fireworks when Sosa hit his 63rd, which the next day the stadium was criticized by many for catering to a road team even though 75% of the people there were rooting for the Cubs. 2007 post season games 1 and 2 @ Chase Field- Even though the Cubs didn't play well, it was the first time I'd ever seen the Cubs in person in the post season. Yes, I was at the game when Diamondback Chris Young hit the HR off of Ted Lilly and Lilly famously slammed his glove on the mound in frustration. Brutal two days. 10/04/08 @ Dodger Stadium Game 3 of the NLDS- The Cubs were already down two games to none in the series. The Dodgers scored 2 runs in the bottom of the first and cruised to a 3-1 win. I've never seen a team give up the way that team threw in the towel and could be the most disappointing game I've ever attended. Still it makes it memorable but for the wrong reasons. Off topic sporting event: 10/16/2006 Chicago Bears @ Arizona Cardinals University of Phoenix Stadium- Yes, I was in attendance for the famous Monday Night Football game when the Bears staged an incredible comeback down by 20 and capped by the Devin Hester punt return in the 4th Quarter followed by Cardinal's head coach Dennis Green's famous post game tirade: "The Bears are what we thought they were. They're what we thought they were. We played them in preseason—who the hell takes a third game of the preseason like it's [expletive]? [expletive]! We played them in the third game—everybody played three quarters—the Bears are who we thought they were! That's why we took the damn field. Now if you want to crown them, then crown their ass! But they are who we thought they were! And we let 'em off the hook!" — Cardinals head coach Dennis Green

I think or hope Heyward's Spring Training numbers are just a by-product of overhauling his swing to muscle memory and assume it's going to take some time to see better results. I know Spring Training stats are nothing we should take too seriously but with Heyward it's a little different isn't it? I think most of us wanted to see some improvement after all the talk about how hard he worked during the off season so it's tough being patient and I"m sure it' s tough on him too. I wonder how long until the natives start getting restless on the North Side? He got a pass for the entire 2016 campaign, but I think the honeymoon might be over by May if he struggles in April, meaning looking as lost as last year. Although it might get ugly from a fan's standpoint I doubt it will effect the team too much. If Jason is strugglingagain all it means from a team perspective is Javy will probably get more time at 2B and Zobrist will see more time in RF. More Javy is always a good thing but I hope it's not a result of Heyward's struggles. I'm not asking for a lot from Jason. Just don't look as lost at the plate as last year and we start to see some progress, just a little light at the end of the tunnel that he can turn things around. If the fans can see some progress they might give him some latitude, but if they see no progress, it could start to get a little uncomfortable.

@ #30 Damn the crowd was deafening when they saw that liner off of Bryant's bat was going to drop to get the first run in. Everyone knew how important it was to get off to a good start against Kershaw and they were pumped.

Being loose and having fun during a series clinching game is not a negative, just for information. Rizzo did no such thing because he was having fun with it too. You completely missed the point of the moment. I didn't miss the point. I get it, the Cubs were loose and having fun during a pressure packed game. All I said was there are probably better ways to show how loose and how much fun they were having. I'm not trying to argue with you. I appreciate this thread more than I can say and thanks for all your hard work.

The sole hit Hendricks gave up was a rocket single to right on the very first pitch of the game causing a bit of uneasiness in the hearts and minds of Cub fans, then on the very next pitch Javy came up with that incredible double play by charging the grounder and tagging out the runner as he fired to first. That seemed to calm people down in a hurry, Hendricks was unhittable after the first pitch. Hendricks performance in game 6 of the NLCS reminded me a lot of Jake's performance in the play-in game against Pittsburgh in 2015.

@ #33 Yeah, Javy's awesome, Rizzo's reaction is awesome, it was an easy play, proved how loose the the Cubs were feeling and playing, etc. However, not to sound like a party pooper, but it was a series clinching game 6 of the NLCS. The biggest game the Cubs had played in since game 7 of the 2003 NLCS. There's a time and a place and that might not be the best time or place for screwing around. You could tell from Buck and Smoltz's reactions they were a bit underwhelmed with Javy's I guess you can call it "showboating". I've got a hunch somebody in the dugout, maybe even Rizzo himself, told Javy to chill out a bit on that kind of stuff. Maybe nobody said anything and they just let Javy be Javy, which could be the case too.

I'd tend to agree. I mean, the only way he makes the team without injury is if the Cubs decide 100% they're done with La Stella and use him as the backup IF. But based on the franchise generally not wanting to throw away assets in general, plus La Stella's LH bat offering a little balance to the offense, I'd guess the chances of that are slim unless La Stella specifically asked to be let go or moved. You guys are probably right. It doesn't do Jeimer much good to sit on the bench and barely play when he can play everyday at Iowa. The Cubs may want to showcase him at Iowa for future considerations i.e.trade bait come the deadline if a need arises. I will give La Stella credit, he has proven he can be effective coming in cold after sitting for 3 or 4 straight games and produce off the bench. Still doesn't change the fact that I don't particularly like the guy or how he handled his demotion last year.

Like with any position outside C and maybe CF, Baez is the primary backup, it just might not be him playing the position. You can put Baez on the IF and move Bryant/Zobrist to LF and Schwarber to 1B. If not that, then Bryant would likely be at 1B. He started 6 of the 11 games at 1B Rizzo didn't start, and 2 of those other 5 were days Bryant also had off. Candelario would probably be an option too. Speaking of Candelario, I'm really hoping he takes La Stella's spot on the roster and we send Seal Boy on his way and he can go home and cry on his huge pillow. I still haven't forgiven La Stella for that stunt he pulled last year and really can't stand the guy.

Pretty sure he's been in Arizona for a good chunk of the offseason for rehab/working out/training I live in Phoenix, actually Tempe to be precise. My buddy has seen Schwarbs out in public a couple of times over the winter at Papago Golf Course (a popular public course near Scottsdale), most recently about 3 weeks ago. Leads me to believe Schwarbs spent the winter out in AZ. And yes, my friend said he was wearing his knee brace both times he saw him golfing.

Maddon's good decisons out weighed his bad during the post season which is really all you can hope for during an extended playoff run. I'd still take Maddon over any manager in the league right now for this team, the way it's constructed, and the personalities on the roster. I can't think of anyone else I'd rather have so we should keep his decision making in perspective and look at the bigger picture.

I like your line ups, but personally I'm not sold on the Almora/Jay platoon in CF. Baez and Zobrist are both better players than Almora and Jay. Playing Almora and Jay regularly will cut into Zobrist and Baez's playing time, unless the Cubs decide to make Heyward the odd man out. To me it seems the best option is to move Heyward to CF full time, Zo in RF full time, Schwarber in LF full time, and Baez at 2B full time. I want Baez's defense on the field as many games as possible, especially at 2B. Almora and Jay can spot start when the match ups favor them or someone needs a day off. Almora will see plenty of playing time late in games as well. Jay to me is nothing more than a 5th outfielder, probably a tier or two better than Coghlan. Trust me, I'm not in love with the idea of moving a perennial gold glover, Heyward, out of his comfort zone in RF to CF, but to maximize Zobrist and Baez's playing time this seems like the only option. This is where I'm at opening day: Zobrist RF Schwarbs LF Bryant 3B Rizzo 1B Russell SS Contreras C Heyward CF Baez 2B

Dex bet on himself and has 82.5 million reasons to smile today. Seems like a great guy with a very nice family, wish him the best. I hope he balls, but the rest of Cardinals can horsefeathers off.

Seems some Cardinal forums are questioning the veracity of this, but it's been retweeted by Cardinal beat writer Bernie Miklasz who is a trustworthy source. He wouldn't attach his name to it unless it has some truth. Who knows, maybe he gets there and the negotiations break down and he signs elsewhere.

My brother lives in St. Louis and said they are reporting this on sports talk stations all over in just the last half hour. No mention of signing or contract numbers, but having him in for a physical seems like it's headed that way. Happy for him, but wish he'd taken the Toronto offer that was being reported earlier in the week. He'll get a standing ovation at Wrigley, no doubt, then we beat the horsefeathers out of them. I hope it's 5/80, that could tie up some of their funds for a bit.