UMFan83

0 or 1 run in 7 of the last 11 games. 3 runs or less in 14 of the last 16 games. Weeeeeeee

The schedule has been fairly difficult so there's a possibility the team is better than the 54-108 pace they are currently on. But at the same time this team is clearly going to be dismantled at the deadline so it might even get worse, though I find it hard to believe it can get worse.

There's barely 25,000 there You can tell I'm watching intently. Of the 10 mins I watched I saw the backdrop of the bleachers and it looked packed.

Another 40,000 paying customers are enjoying bad baseball at Wrigley. Cubs are winning 1-0 somehow. Steele has pitched his 2 great innings and now his velo will drop and he’ll get shelled (prove me wrong!)

Opposing starters the last 8 games Kyle Wright - 1.74 ERA Adrian Houser - 3.42 ERA Eric Lauer - 1.82 ERA Corbin Burnes - 1.86 ERA Michael Kopech - 1.17 ERA Lucas Giolito - 3.20 ERA Clayton Kershaw - 1.80 ERA Tyler Anderson - 2.78 ERA Burnes, Giolito, and Kershaw are legit stars. Wright and Lauer are the breakouts of the year, and the other three are all solid while just kind of on a heater right now. The Braves, Brewers, Sox, and Dodgers also rank 3rd, 2nd, 6th, and 5th in bullpen WAR, so things didn't exactly get easier in the late innings. I’d buy that more if they didn’t get completely shut down by every pitcher they’ve faced in that stretch. They can’t be anything but a bad offense if they can only hit bad pitching.

Do we just not know how to teach offense? I know our players are garbage but it seems like no matter what we do a Cubs offense can’t help but fail with RISP. At least our strikeout numbers are (slightly) down? Good stuff Jed

Sure that’s fine. Do one of those things instead of having Schwindel play 18 innings at 1B in one day.

Dodgers started two lefties yesterday. Rivas has generally taken Ortega's PA's since he came back up. I get that Ross is still managing like the Cubs are competing but with the way things are trending he needs to shake up things up. 3 runs or less in 13 of 15 games, you’d think you want to try to give extra ABs to one of the few players hitting well instead of giving them to AAAA players who had 2 good months last year and turned back into pumpkins

3 runs or less in 8 straight games and 13 of the last 15

I haven’t really watched the team in a couple weeks but isn’t Rivas one of our hottest hitters? How does he not start either game on a DH and only takes on PA (where he of course got on base)? Is he injured?

2022 Chicago Cubs - Led Dodgers for 1 inning once

Meh we would have screwed him up

How many picks are drawn? At least it gives us a chance at number 1 if the Reds keep up their pace. They haven’t played us yet though so there’s time flip us in the standings

Can we go back to 7 inning doubleheaders for bad teams? Would prefer this one just end and the next start

Looks like that is going to be the case. About Damn time. This spring has been miserable. I prefer it to weve had lately but of course it’s going to go straight up to mid to upper 80’s. I need some mid-70s and sunny days for my sanity

Just trying to make sure I understand, are you suggesting that Happ likely will not accept a team friendly extension below his potential market value due to his ties to the MLBPA? I think that's what you are saying but wanted to verify. If so, I hadn't thought about that component of it but I guess it makes sense.

I don't think it is a quickie rebuild despite what has been said in the past. This year has a long way to go and time to prove that they're on the right track, but right now it doesn't look like there are a lot of signs that the Cubs have enough pieces in place to feel like they can have a big offseason and compete in 2023. I wouldn't trade him for a non-premier prospect package either but I would in no way consider him untouchable when teams come calling. I just don't think the conversation makes sense right now. He had a really good 2020, but a pretty mediocre 2021, and a month of elite discipline isn't going to bring his profile up that much. What's the concern, that we pass up a middling package and have to settle for a lottery ticket next summer? The Sox blurb already rules out the top three prospects of the worst farm system in baseball. Daz Cameron should probably just be DFAd, Gage Workman had a .302 OBP last year in high A with a 35% K rate and is doing worse this year, Reese Olson has thrown 22 good innings so far this year in AA but has never recorded an ERA before 4 anywhere. If Happ is the one shining gem in a team of garbage from late June (somewhat likely!), and raises his profile enough to get something beyond that, maybe. Obviously he's not 'untouchable', but the potential of what he can give us, and even the baseline of what he already provides, is worth more than what he can get now. ok i was responding to the general idea of trading Happ. Do you start extension talks with him after this season then if he continues on his current pace? Or hang onto him and trade him for a small package in 2023 or let him walk after 2023

I don't think it is a quickie rebuild despite what has been said in the past. This year has a long way to go and time to prove that they're on the right track, but right now it doesn't look like there are a lot of signs that the Cubs have enough pieces in place to feel like they can have a big offseason and compete in 2023. I wouldn't trade him for a non-premier prospect package either but I would in no way consider him untouchable when teams come calling.

I have 0 problems with any player on this current team getting traded for the right price. Happ has been a solid MLer but has probably hit his ceiling as a solid MLB starter that can average up to 2 wins per season. He'd be a great piece for a contender but is not a cornerstone player thus the Cubs have no need for him as he's 2 years away from FA anyways. They should be looking to trade him if he keeps up his solid start.

Yay no losing 2 days in a row. Boo losing 2 times tomorrow

As a Cubs fan, I can only think of a few times where we had a pitcher that was so dominant that I woke up excited on the days they started because I knew the Cubs were going to win that game. Second half 2003 Prior and Second half 2015 Arrieta are really in a class of their own. I never would have imagined that he'd be out of baseball 2.5 years later Rich Harden in 2008 was also up there for me like that. I almost mentioned Rich Harden, but the problem with Rich was that half of his starts were under 6 IP. Hard to have unflinching confidence in the Cubs ability to win when other pitchers have to cover the last 3-4 innings. Alas the Cubs were 9-4 in his 13 starts that year vs. 10-1 in Prior's stretch and 12-0 during Jake's stretch BTW when looking at up, I again looked at that stretch by Jake. 4 ER in 12 starts. Here are how the 4 ER scored: -IF single, regular single, walk, and GIDP scores the run -HR by some Phillies guy I only vaguely remember -Ground ball double that sneaks by 3B -Justin Grimm inherited a 1 on, 2 out situation and promptly throws a WP and gives up a single. -

As a Cubs fan, I can only think of a few times where we had a pitcher that was so dominant that I woke up excited on the days they started because I knew the Cubs were going to win that game. Second half 2003 Prior and Second half 2015 Arrieta are really in a class of their own. I never would have imagined that he'd be out of baseball 2.5 years later

Just googling more on this and I found an article from a couple years ago about the effect losing has on revenues. It's interesting: https://www.blessyouboys.com/2020/5/18/20900958/mlb-baseball-detroit-tigers-economics-of-baseball-revenue-profit

Help me understand the bolded. Is this due to having ticket prices that change based on demand as opposed to set pricing while STH pay a flat rate for the entire season?

Yeah i don't think he'd be ok with the Cubs being bad forever but the fact that he can charge the highest ticket prices in baseball (though to be fair they are a lot cheaper in April and May) and still fill almost 80% of the park despite the team being bad and people generally angry with the team says a lot about how inelastic the demand for Cubs tickets is. People may be less willing to buy an entire season up front, but go to Wrigley for a weekend game in the summer and there will be a minimum of 32k. Plus the Cubs payroll is about 2/3s of what it was 3 years ago, so if attendance is 80% of what it was in 2019 he still comes out on top (I think?). My thought, and maybe I'm misunderstanding how these numbers are being put together, is that a lot of the 31k so far (and hypothetical 32k this summer) are people scooping up $9 tickets on Stubhub from the full slate of season ticket holders, and it's my understanding that they ran through a huge portion of the season ticket wait list in this offseason between people dropping tickets and peoples name getting called and passing on buying them. It seems outrageous that would it would get to a point where there would be no wait list, not a full amount of season ticket holders, etc, but...maybe it wouldn't? Pretty much everyone knows how to use the secondary market websites now, and they're all seeing how cheaply they can go to the game if they use those and let STHs subsidize the Cubs for the rest of the ticket price. But those people showing up for $9 a ticket aren't going to walk up to the gate in a couple years and pay the face value if the thousands of season tickets available on Stubhub for every game starts to dry up. Aren't the attendance numbers based on paid tickets? I know back in the day the NL used to base it on gate attendance but I thought that changed (or maybe I have it in reverse)