Bryants Disco Ball

I came here tonight, I didn't know what to expect when it came to what people were saying about Almora. I seen a lot of people hate him and I didn't know what to feel about that, so I guess they didn't like much nothin' either. During that at-bat, I've seen a lot of changing, the way you felt about Almora, and in the way he probably felt about you. On that diamond, there were two guys killing each other, but I guess that's better than 20 million. I guess what I'm trying to say, is that if Albert can change, and you can change, everybody can change.

I think because there were two outs and the game is still pretty early, and you probably don't want to burn a bench bat in a situation where the percentages say you won't end up scoring a run.

Thoughts?

Haha. First time in Wrigley history the wind is howling out and we are all cheering for fly balls.

I keep thinking these are going to be double plays. Crazy.

Tie game now. I'm sure it's because I notice it more with them than others, but it sure seems like the Brewers can erase early, rather large deficits within a few innings. I find it really, really annoying.

Not really for a game thread, but do we take a chance and sign Addison Reed and see if he somehow becomes a decent Addison Reed again?

And now his spine is going to fuse together, you hideous jinx. It was worth it.

Happy Birthday to Weis21. Also friendly reminder: Anthony Rizzo would have been eligible to come off the IL tomorrow.

The good news is that they will be fun to watch again. The bad news is that they will at some point be a chore again. But the good news is....

I think somebody the other day mentioned we are all just reactionary morons. They included themselves in that. I think they are probably in large part correct.

That just sucks.

Keeping Len and JD is the biggest part of all this. As for the extra money, if true, it's going to have to be used for extensions, right? Like, the free agent crop is going to suck if I remember correctly. Unless Betts is a free agent after this season? I guess Rendon, but he seems to be a lucrative free agent Theo signing that would immediately get hurt or start to regress/suck.

To be fair to the Cubs, I wouldn't necessarily call this a "misdiagnosis" because hairline fractures can be very difficult to discover. Sometimes a person doesn't even realize they have one or had one -- they just endure the pain (which can vary from moderate to severe). Nico probably started swinging the bat in light workouts and started noticing the pain from swinging in his wrist, but otherwise felt fine. This news sucks, but he should be fully healthy in like a month. Plenty of time left in the season at AA and we were never planning on calling him up this year. I also seriously doubt we'll include him in any trade package. The worst part for me is that this probably eliminates any chance he had of making the team out of Arizona next spring and Russell being punted away. Question: Doesn't Nico have enough time still in the the second half of the season that they would be comfortable bringing him up after they screw with the service time issue? Because if Russell sucks like he did last season, I could see them not tendering him as his salary figure goes up even more for 2020.

I think your cause is noble. The one thing I can't figure out is why you help put money in the evil empire's pockets then. Why are you paying money to actually go to games and give Ricketts what he wants? I know you've remarked you have been to games this season or are going to be going. If I'm mistaken, I apologize. Nope, I've been to a game this season, but I didn't buy the tickets, and they weren't bought for me; they were part of someone else's season ticket package that would have been bought regardless of whether I went to any games or not. I don't buy any official MLB merch, I don't spend any money in the parks, and I don't subscribe to their streaming service. I maintain it is very, VERY easy to follow the team, watch/listen to the games, and even go to the games, and not give one damn dime to them. I respect this. Good answer. Just as long as you didn't buy any food and/or drink while at the game, damn it.

I think your cause is noble. The one thing I can't figure out is why you help put money in the evil empire's pockets then. Why are you paying money to actually go to games and give Ricketts what he wants? I know you've remarked you have been to games this season or are going to be going. If I'm mistaken, I apologize.

Yeah, I now realize we are having two different conversations. I love your idea Sofa. Never going to happen, but love it.

This is right squally, at least for me. I'm not just doing a good enough job articulating it. I live in Brewers Country, and it sucks. And if I'm having a discussion among a bunch of their fans today, I can't come at them with "You guys blow. If my team spent more money we'd be way ahead of you right now." I need a better argument. What’s your favorite Brewers championship team? That should end the discussion. Or tell them the Cubs have made the playoffs more in the last 4 years than the Brewers have in the last 35. Haha. Yeah. What's funny, based on this larger discussion we are having, is that they always counter that we bought that title or that "It must be easy when you spend all that money." I'm always prepared to say that we won the WS based on trades and draft picks, which is mostly accurate even though we had the fourth-highest payroll that season.

This is right squally, at least for me. I'm not just doing a good enough job articulating it. I live in Brewers Country, and it sucks. And if I'm having a discussion among a bunch of their fans today, I can't come at them with "You guys blow. If my team spent more money we'd be way ahead of you right now." I need a better argument.

THIS. Effectively applauding the Cubs for keeping with the pack of cheap bastards blows. They're choosing to be the big spenders of the cheap bastards, not the actual big spenders we longed for. Well, yes. This is a baseball problem, not exclusive to the Chicago Cubs. We can complain about it and every other fan should, too. What I don't think we can do is use as it as an excuse if our team blows, because we aren't a team like the Pirates who are spending $100 million less than the top spenders.

Counterpoint, no, we really do not have to. They've owned the team for a decade and spent half that decade bargain hunting and not trying to win. They finally started to spend and then suddenly slammed on the brakes. You boot lickers might be happy with one year of a spending out of a decade, but I'm not. They don't get the benefit of the doubt until they've spent the vast majority of their ownership actually putting money back into the team and trying to win. They aren't anywhere close to that yet. I'm very much willing to give Theo the benefit of the doubt that he wanted to tear things down and don't really look much at those years. If the Cubs moving forward aren't in the top 5 payrolls in baseball every single year or damn near close to it, I will revolt with you. ETA: We have had a top 4 payroll three of the last four seasons. It's not totally accurate to say "we might be happy with one year of spending out of a decade." ETA2: Please don't take this as me saying we SHOULDN'T spend more money, as all owners could and should. I'm saying we can't use it as an excuse, because we are spending enough to be better than everyone else.

I'm going to give 17 Seconds a little slack because at least his frustration is coming from his annoyance with the Brewers, and anybody who hates the Brewers or are annoyed with them is good in my book. Here are the things I disagree with. 1. I know people will call this boot licking, but we really have to stop acting like the Cubs are cheap. Yes, it's fun because the Ricketts have now become even more frustrating than the Tribune Company and, even worse, they are crappy people. But we have the second-highest payroll in baseball and the highest in the National League, according to Spotrac. The Cubs spent their wad the past four seasons, and this was always going to happen. We have easily spent enough money to be a great club, whether it was allocated well enough certainly can be part of the discussion. But spending money really shouldn't be. That said, hell yes, of course I'd love for them to just throw 15 million at Kimbrel for the rest of the season. But I'd ask you to consider, unless you are talking to a Boston Red Sox fan, don't bring up spending money if you are at talking to a fan of any other team. They picked a team to cheer for that is even cheaper than yours. 2. I always look at the loss columm no matter what month it is. Sure, it doesn't mean as much on May 21, but as Cubswin11 said, neither do the actual standings. 3. I still don't understand the people who think we should somehow be five to eight games ahead of the Brewers right now. Maybe they are lucky, maybe not. But they have one of the best records in the National League. Expecting the Cubs to not only have one of the best records in the league but to be that far ahead of another team with one of the best records just isn't real fair. It's often about what division you are in. If you switch the Cubs into the Dodgers' division and the Dodgers into the Cubs', suddenly, the Cubs are looking a whole lot better. Thanks for taking the time to read, even if you don't agree with all three points or any of them.

I think Monty going 3-0 with a 10-run lead.

I really need to go delete some of my posts from April.

But if he could stay healthy.....