UMFan83

Yeah even though I'm not sure coaching changes does much, those are numbers that make you question what the coaching staff is doing with these guys. Teams will have ebbs and flows over the course of the season but it doesnt feel like this team should be so bad for so long. But ask me 2 hours after the game is over and I might feel differently. I tend to overreact during games.

100 wRC+ is average. I don't create the statistics, but wRC+ is a pretty good measure of how effective a hitter has been. Of course there are other statistics out there that do not make him look anything close to average so he's probably bad....just slightly less bad than like 7-8 other regular Cubs hitters. He absolutely does not pass the eye test though.

It's actually pretty incredible this team won 2 games on this homestand hitting collectively like Mastrobuoni

...as Busch strikes out feebly on 3 pitches with 2 on and 2 outs lol

That was exactly my original point yeesh lol. I never said he was hitting well right now, though 102 wRC+ is basically average.

3 feet short of a HR for Morel...just how things are going right now.

Broken down into .133/.177/.167/.343 between April 21 and April 30 followed by .200/.323/.364/.687 in May. Neither are good but one is unplayable, the other is bad but sadly one of the better hitters on this Cubs team in recent weeks which was my point.

Sorry budget only allows them to send the starters to Greek Isles on Halstead.

And yet somehow hes just one of 5 Cubs to have a wRC+ of over 100 in the month of may (Wisdom, Nico, Bellinger, and Morel being the other 4)

This fing team wide slump is so freaking annoying. Just looking for any sign of life. We're not even getting like the one random feel good outlier offensive game right now.

Cubs batting line in this homestand coming into today: .152/.239/.239/.478 Don't think its gone up so far today

The Cubs have scored 9 runs in the last 4 games: -Single (Knocked the ball out of catcher's hand on play at the plate) -Sac fly -Sac fly -Single -Passed ball -Single -IF Single -Ground out -Wild pitch

lol. Love the reference but not quite in either case

The Cubs have not played with the lead in over a week now. Last time was the 7-1 win in Atlanta last Wednesday. Their 2 wins over that timespan were walk off wins where they never led beforehand. Not that this means anything at all or says anything we don't already know about the Cubs slump

Those are the ones...or were the ones. Cardinals devil magic is back

Meanwhile our next opponent the Cardinals are 8-2 in their last 10 games having just finished off a sweep of the Orioles.

Cubs run differential for the season is now +2. When I said I hoped the Cubs would make up for last year by overachieving their pythag record, this isn't quite what I had in mind.

Make that 5 ER. ERA sitting at an ugly 5.68 now after giving up 16 runs in his last 3 starts (thanks Cuas)

Ugh not sure why Steele went out for another inning I liked 6 IP, 2 ER better than 6.1 IP, 4 ER

Glad they got a hit. Now we can resume the parade of strikeouts and weak grounders

Normally even though I can be pessimistic whenever the cubs are being no hit in a game I reason that they’ll find a way to get a hit. Today they just look so overmatched it almost feels like a foregone conclusion. Prove me wrong you horsefeatherss

Look if we benched everyone who was looking lost at the plate we’d have to forfeit games.

Cubs offense getting mowed down damn. Fried only at 33 pitches through 3 too. Come on guys

6 home runs allowed in his last 12.2 IP yikes. No he’s not cooked but it’s definitely a bit concerning in the short term.

There's definitely something there when it comes to Jed strategy for building bullpens and yes they typically figure it out most years, but its not foolproof either. The Cubs missed the playoffs by 1 game last year and as pointed out overuse played a big part in the late season collapse. Why? Guys like Fulmer and Boxberger battled injuries but in general while they ended up piecing together a solid 7-9 with Merryweather, Leiter and Alzolay, they had issues with depth beyond that, thus Ross felt like he needed to use his horses over and over again. That overuse can be blamed on Ross, but also because the Cubs fell way off the pace in the early part of the season (at least somewhat due to bullpen struggles) and needed to win so many of those close games in July and August to play themselves into playoff positioning. Basically what I'm trying to say is that while Jed's piecemeal bullpen did become effective for a big chunk of the season, I don't consider the strategy as successful last year because bullpen issues in April, May and September contributed to the Cubs falling 1 game short of the playoffs. If the Cubs fall 1 game short again this year, the 6-7 blown games in April and May this year will be a contributing factor. I'd say that by nature of how Jed builds bullpens, we should expect some struggles early season most years and build that into our expectations, but when those struggles affect our play in September or the struggles are directly affecting the outcome of such a high percentage of games early in the season, I think its fair to criticize while still acknowledging that Jed and co. have done a solid job overall building bullpens from scraps.