UMFan83

Season over

The Cubs came into the season with the following options at starter: Steele, Imanaga, Taillon, Boyd, Assad, Rea, Brown, Wicks, and Horton. 3 of those players are injured long term, Brown and Wicks haven't worked out in a starter role (I question why both of them have both taken a step back after looking really solid at times last year). Flexen was probably always seen as a long relief guy rather than a starter but I guess he was an option too. I can't remember if Assad was the favorite for the 5th starter role before he went down but I would have pegged him in at 5, meaning 3 of Cubs projected rotation has missed significant time. Rea has been better than expected, Horton has had some bumps but has mostly held his own. You really can't ask for better from your 6th and 7th options. The issue is Brown/Wicks have not worked out as an 8th option. Maybe Milwaukee would be fine if they lost 60% of their rotation, their pitching infrastructure makes ours, which I would still consider among the better ones, look amateur. But the fact is, if your ace misses the entire season, your number 3 misses multiple months and your 5 has missed the entire season so far, most teams are going to struggle with depth. The good news is the Cubs have the resources to go out and change that. Jed needs to put on his big boy pants and treat a win now year like a win now year. The other question consideration is, does Craig need to manage with more urgency? I'm not even saying I agree with this, it's just a question I'm asking. He's been elite historically at managing his rotation to keep guys sharp through the season so it's hard to question his methods. But the bullpen game against the Yankees could have been avoided. The off day on Thursday could avoid another one if they wanted. Again, I understand why Craig wants to give guys like Boyd and Horton extra rest and it makes complete sense, I'm just saying that a more aggressive manager might be skipping the 5th spot in the rotation when possible. But the final point is, the Cubs are 28-20 over their last 48 games. That's a 95 win pace, covering roughly 30% of a season. No reasonable person would expect to lose 7.5 games in the standings during a stretch like that. But these questions are coming because the Brewers are playing historically great over that same stretch. If they played in the AL Central instead of Detroit, no one would be complaining about Jed not building more rotation depth or not being more aggressive about swinging a trade ASAP. That doesn't make Matt's points invalid, we play in the NL Central so its very valid, just saying that we can't overreact too much or question Jed's entire team building philosophy with a team that is 1 GB the best record in baseball, they just happen to be behind another NL Central team.

winner! One Pitch Rich. Interesting that he still heavily relied on the curve throughout his career, throwing it just as often as his fastball, however last year he seemed to introduce a sweeper that he used much more often than his curve (albeit limited sample size) If he does throw that curve, the Cubs have the best wRC against curveballs in the league by far this year.

One thought I had about Suarez. The Cubs don't desperately need a bat obviously, though he plays the weakest position and gives us another big bat against LHP. However, you know who does need a big bat and has a strong farm system to fortify the roster? The Milwaukee Brewers. I'm not sure how it would work positionally with Durbin being their 2nd most productive position player by WAR but he played a decent amount of SS in the minors. The question is, given that it is a technically a need for the Cubs, is it worth going a little harder after Suarez to not only benefit the Cubs but prevent the Brewers from getting him? Winning the division likely gives the Cubs a bye to the NLDS. Falling to WC1 gives us a matchup against someone like the Mets or Padres and then the 2 seed (Dodgers/Brewers/Phillies?) in the NLDS if they advance. I don't know if you want to overpay for Suarez to prevent the Brewers from getting him but its at least a consideration.

NSBB Trivia: Does anyone remember the nickname Rich Hill was given on this board while he was on the Cubs?

I'm pretty sure I read that they were going to try to get him in the lineup tomorrow. Doesn't seem like a big deal injury.

So last 2 bullpen games we've lost by a combined score of 23-4

remember when they were up 4-1?

What an implosion

What in the horsefeathers is going on

horsefeathers get a pitcher

Ok I think we got enough innings from Brown today

Just catching up on the game. The results people and expected results people right now:

Apparently PCA has a bruised right knee and that’s why he’s not playing.

Rich Hill joins the illustrious list of 2 active MLB, NFL, NBA or NHL players that I'm still younger than. It's Rich Hill and Justin Verlander (and if Jesse Chavez gets signed at some point there will be a 3rd)

The last time I saw Rich Hill pitch in person I was still walking to my seats as he was giving up a 1st pitch HR in game 3 of the 2007 NLDS. I'll be there tomorrow 18 years later, hopefully he does the same thing lol

Welcome to NSBB! Oh wait you've been here awhile. You should know that's how we roll 😆

Welp, looks like we'll be tied for 1st after today.

Slightly worried that he's both raising his trade value and pushing the DBacks to rethink their selling stance. Though I suppose they are still 5 games out of WC3

They play Seattle next who is about to take 6 straight from the Tigers and Astros. Sucks that they are about to cool off overnight

Was nice thinking the 27 Yankees might lose a game

Dodgers took a 3-0 lead over the Brewers, but Milwaukee already clawing back to 3-2

wRC+ isn't measuring a teams ability to get hits or baserunners, its capturing how well they do at creating runs relative to the rest of baseball. Over the last 30 days the Cubs have a 109 wRC+ with 100 being average. They are above average at creating runs against left handed pitchers. It shouldn't be the only thing we look at, but if we're looking at one all encompassing stat, that's one of the better ones to capture performance. There are other stats we can look at that show the Cubs as more middle of the league vs LHP, but I don't really see anything that suggests that they are towards the bottom of the league in anything. Could they stand to get better vs. lefties? Absolutely. Are there playoff caliber teams that have performed significantly worse against lefties? Yep, several

but...like thats the whole point of being a results guy. You trust the results, not the underlying numbers and what they might suggest. Or maybe Pressly just gives you bad vibes, which makes you a results and vibes guy

Not sure if I can filter by runs per game in games started by lefties, but since the end of May their team SLG against LHP is .420, which is 12th in baseball. There was definitely a dip in May/June but they've been doing well against LHP for the last month or so (just not quite as good as against RHP)