UMFan83

Cubs have the 6th best road record in the NL Cubs have the 14th best home record in the NL

Hendricks is either really bad or really good these days. What an up and down pitcher.

Bad offense last 2 nights. Cubs now 6-13 at home

https://www.nbcsports.com/chicago/bulls/lavar-ball-says-bulls-lavine-will-sign-lakers-free-agency lmao I cant even being to comprehend how the Lakers would be able to fit LaVine onto their roster. LaVar likes to run his mouth and say crazy stuff, but you can't completely discount it as he has a direct connection to the Bulls in Lonzo. In the interview he said Zach did not like being the second fiddle to DeMar last year and that's why he's looking to leave. 99% sure its BS though.

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if that includes that 21-0 game, the sample size is blown up No crap that’s the entire point of my post. The Cubs have blown the Pirates out 3 times by a combined 37-0 and lost to them 4 times by a combined score of 15-10. It’s strange and quirky.

3-4 in our last 7 against the Pirates with a +32 RD. Their pythag record over those games should be 6.3-0.7 To put it differently: the Pirates are averaging 2.1 runs per game over their last 7 with the Cubs. The Cubs are averaging 6.7 runs per game and the Pirates are 4-3 in that stretch

That is probably the rub. If you have a bottom 5 MLB team and a bottom 5 farm system, how good are your odds of swaying his opinion in 2 years? And the opportunity cost is pretty significant because we've seen even elite players don't command enormous packages as they get closer to FA. Not anymore, but that might be different for Juan Soto because he's so special. Yeah, the Nats have to trade Soto because they won't be good enough in a couple years to convince him to stay long-term. You can't just lose him for a draft pick like Bryce Harper (and the team did try to move him in a trade to Houston before ownership vetoed it). Jed and this FO have been preparing for this moment by making those trades last year and trying to boost the farm system... I just don't think the farm system is good enough to beat other teams when comparing potential trade packages. Mike Rizzo is an old-school GM and that team likes the well known, shiny Top 100-type prospects in trades/MLB draft. They go more quality over quantity, unlike Cleveland who takes the opposite approach. So a trade for Juan Soto would have to start with Brennen Davis and 4-5 more pieces. The Cubs are not trading Seiya Suzuki + prospects to get Juan Soto btw (that's dumb). Suzuki is a big part of the core going forward. Plus Suzuki doesn't really fit their timeline that well either if they aren't going to be good in 2-3 years. Not that he's going to be bad at age 30 but not really a franchise cornerstone at that point either.

Click over to settings and change the sound to the Cubs radio team. It’s synched up perfectly with the gave video - no delay. It took a couple of minutes of no announcing (just ballpark sounds) but alas, Pat (and Ron). Whaaaa? That’s incredible thanks And if this game gets out of hand I can switch to the Pirates radio for laughs

Cant say that I have. Maybe I'm just a cynic but I doubt you'll have any sort of meaningful interaction with him. Seems like a closed off dude. But prove me wrong! Maybe if you get him talking about MJ....

On one hand, I see one system ranking have the Nationals at 27th, and Soto is one of the few great assets you have to improve the long term outlook of the team which is currently really bad. On the other hand JUAN SOTO IS 23 AND A TOP 5 PLAYER IN BASEBALL. Why in the hell would you even consider trading him? Even if you don't think he'll sign an extension, you play it out as long as you can and hope you can build a team that convinces him to stay long term. I don't know what things are like behind the scenes between the Nationals and Soto, but players of his caliber don't fall from trees.

I believe this game is exclusively available on YouTube, not Marquee

Jed's on the score. Didnt see a tweet on this but he talked a little about Contreras but he danced around the topic. zzzzzzzzzzz

What do you disagree with? Poles inherited a bad team and made no effort to make it competitive in 2022. They required bare minimum upgrades and didn't even try. yea, I dont know how anyone can look at what Poles has done (or more importantly not done) and think anything other than he doesn't believe in Fields I see it as one of 2 things: 1) They don't believe in Fields and/or putting him in a position where if he's elite he'll show enough despite being hamstrung by resources or he'll prove to be a bust in which case they can justify dumping him and picking their own QB 2) They do believe in Fields and/or are natural on him and think that having a superior coaching staff/offensive gameplan and their handpicked scrap heap guys they added will make a giant difference. If its the second one, then either they are really smart and have proven they have a strong ability to identify coaching and player talent, or they suffer from the same 'smartest guy in the room' syndrome that has been the downfall of so many other executives and coaches throughout the NFL. I don't believe they are outright sabotaging him though necessarily. If Fields sucks so they trade him off and he becomes a star elsewhere, all the sudden Poles looks like a moron and his seat starts getting warm. You can count on one hand the number of 1st round QBs that fail on their original team and then become a star elsewhere. Brees...Favre...probably 1 or 2 I'm missing. Technically Favre was in the 2nd round but he was one of the first few picks of that round. Tannehill improved moving to Tennessee but is hardly a star that made the previous GM look bad for letting go. Cutler probably had his best season with the Broncos though was mostly solid with the Bears, again hardly a star. Alex Smith became a borderline star in KC but that was after several years in SF with adequate to good QB play. I can't find anyone else even close going back to 2000. So yeah if Poles was really sabotaging Fields and then dumped him and he became a star elsewhere it would be pretty unprecedented and would immediately make him look like a complete moron.

You just killed my buzz. But looking at his minor league numbers prior to this start that seems spot on. Maybe we can trade him for a new Aramis. The part that killed my buzz was the "for those who remember him" line. I was going to let that one go haha

He also told David Ross during the Spring that he would see him at Wrigley this year. Considering he was called up from Double A that's a fairly bold proclamation. Dude is nostradamus

You just killed my buzz. But looking at his minor league numbers prior to this start that seems spot on. Maybe we can trade him for a new Aramis. And to be clear that's not a terrible outcome! For most of his Cubs tenure Hernandez was a league average player or slightly below, and having someone of that caliber able to eat up playing time at multiple positions helps raise a team's floor. Plus he could always figure something out and be more of a Contreras or a Chris Taylor in terms of value. I just remember he hit for power but drove me nuts because he struck out so much. Even in today's baseball he'd be top 10 in the league in K%. But yeah for a guy who was maybe a top 20 prospect coming into the season Jose Hernandez would be a solid outcome.

You just killed my buzz. But looking at his minor league numbers prior to this start that seems spot on. Maybe we can trade him for a new Aramis.

Geez Morel might be able to replace Javy and Willson in swag

Keegan Thompson is totally on track to be our All Star representative isn’t he?

I’m at the game in the Bleachers and when the Pirates walked back to the pen after the skirmish they were booed loudly. One of the pitchers (I have no idea who because it’s a Pirates relief pitcher) responded by pointing up at the standings flags where the Pirates are apparently 0.5 games above the Cubs.

Looks like Heyward is going on the IL and a guy I didn't know was on the roster (Conner Menez) is going to Iowa.

Cubs now 3-4 against the Pirates with a +23 RD

FO torches the Bears new regime’s offseason regarding Fields: https://www.footballoutsiders.com/walkthrough/2022/reckless-abandonment-justin-fields

Nooo Everton has to stay up. I'd be pissed. Hopefully they can take care of business on Thursday and then the weekend results won't matter. If that Sunday game matters for Everton, their best bet might be to try and keep it 0-0 for the first half and hope Spurs go up like 4-0 on Norwich so Arsenal knows their done. Yeah, and hopefully at that point Brentford is beating Leeds. All Everton needs is at least 2 points from their 2 games OR for Leeds to not beat Brentford (also scenarios involving Burnley but since they have 2 matches left, its less clear). Sounds pretty likely but Everton seems cursed this year so who knows.