UMFan83

So do or die series and we are about to lose 3 one run games lol

9 home runs allowed in 19.2 IP for Kimbrel. Holy hell. I remember being happy it wasn’t a 1 year contract for him. He will certainly be better next year but I’d love to not have that contract anyways

Could Kimbrel be the worst of Theo’s terrible signings?

Q coming up huge down the stretch 11.85 ERA in his last 4 starts

Also I don’t care who you are playing, 0 points allowed through almost 2 3/4 games is insane. Badgers are scary

Can I change my answer on the Harbaugh question from a couple weeks ago? Side rant: between the Cubs disappointment, Bulls and Hawks sucking, Bears without a QB, this UM disaster and Beilein leaving, I might need to take a break from sports fandom for awhile!

Runs in each game of the homestand: 17 14 16 8 2 2 4 1 I almost wish we didn’t have that rally in the 9th yesterday so the above could be a perfect encapsulation of the 2018-2019 Cubs offense Edit: I guess you could also say it’s a perfect encapsulation of the 2019 Pittsburgh Pirates

Theo Epstein in December 7, 2018 - “You should judge us on how we play next year.” Ok sounds good Theo!

Cubs are still in control of their destiny but barely

Apparently I'm a moron because that Bryant hit only had a 11% expected hit probability What was the exit velo on it? I, too, would have guessed much higher. Was only like 91 mph

Crazy what a roller coaster this team has been on lately Since August 13th: Lose 4 in a row Win 5 in a row Lose 3 in a row Win 4 in a row Lose 2 in a row Win 3 in a row Lose 5 of 6 Win 5 in a row Lose 3 in a row (and counting)

Apparently I'm a moron because that Bryant hit only had a 11% expected hit probability

Seriously I know people are sick of hearing this but this season really might just be karma for Murphy/Russell/Racist Ricketts. Another ball hit on a line in a key spot that went right to a fielder. 3rd game in a row that has happened with the game on the line.

Prediction: Cubs score a couple here to get everyone excited and then give up 3 in the bottom of the inning

Can we at least put enough pressure on the Cardinals and Brewers so they dont rest their players and come into the postseason fresh?

you get what? my bad juju yes, yours and everyone else's bad juju (if I know this term right i think it means mojo and not the poster). I mean, yes, I'm as pissed and frustrated as anyone, I assure you. But, the team is still winning and they really do hold their fate in their hands. they can't lose much (or much at all) and lol baseball (doesn't seem to apply to STL or Milwaukee (I don't know their capital letter shorthand)) but lol baseball pendulum can just as easily swing to the cubs. Just win today and see what happens tomorrow. They're winning so far and so no reason to really be negative about this game. I'm not being negative about the game per say. That's literally what happened, I threw on the game and the first pitch was a Schwarber inning ending DP. I am quite frustrated though so its not difficult for me to tune out the game so I get where you are going with there.

we get it they're still winning you get what? my bad juju

turn on game. see schwarber GIDP with the bases loaded and 1 out. turn off game.

there's better ways to kill my time. horsefeathers maybe we should suck again for a few years so i can appreciate 85 win seasons again.

I think Theo goes scorched earth on this roster. I think the only untouchables are Rizzo, Javy and Hendricks. Everyone else is various levels of available. Heck Rizzo might even be available but I think they want his clubhouse presence and the Cubs probably value a 30 year old 1B with 2 years left on his deal more than other teams would. I don't think they will dump guys just to upend the roster but I think they will set out to fix some of the lingering issues this team has had the last couple of seasons and will be more willing than ever to trade a Bryant/Contreras/Schwarber. I'd put money on at least 1 of those 3 being gone in the offseason. You guys do roster construction stuff much better than me, I'm just throwing guesses out there. But I think Theo knows that the roster needs more than just a couple of small tweaks.

at least for one shining moment we finally had Rizzo, Bryant, Castellanos, Contreras, Schwarber and Javy in a game at the same time. We did it guys!

They maxed out their 2019 budget in 2018 when Yu was still available late in the winter and was cheaper than they expected and knew they’d have a need for a starter so they went for it. At least that’s the party line, but it seems fairly plausible. I think even with the fickle nature of relievers they didn’t anticipate Carl and Strop being completely worthless, Morrow they should have signed and then assumed we’d get nothing from him due to his injury history. In terms of OF, in the 17-18 offseason they were probably expecting Schwarber to be more like 2nd half 17 Schwarber and possibly improve, Happ to improve to a solid regular etc. They took some risks but ultimately felt they filled all their holes for the next 2 years. That’s not to say there weren’t glaring holes in that logic but I’m guessing that was their thinking if they did actually have a payroll restriction. Cubs took a lot of risks and most of them blew up in their face For me, the Chatwood and Morrow signings are just inexcusably stupid. Darvish makes total sense, and it sucks the first season+ went like it did, but that move makes sense. Shelling out that much for those two mopes if there's ANY inkling that money might be getting harder to come by? Get the horsefeathers out of here. That’s a great point because that reminded me of my reaction of the signing which was basically that it was an overpay but it means we have enough money to take risks like that. I really don’t mind the Morrow signing. Even if he was risky I don’t think we could have expected him to have one injury that kept him out for 75% of his contract. But even in the event of injury I felt the Cubs had a deep bullpen that could handle an injury. Cishek, Carl, Strop, Monty, Justin wilson, Duensing who was actually decent the year before. Didn’t expect all of them besides Cishek to suck and then Cishek to eventually get overworked and also suck. But on the upside, if he can stay healthy you get an elite caliber closer at a discount

If they get credit for the 9th then they get knocked for not showing up until the 9th

Man, I love the PTR meme more than anyone, but I will never believe ever that the FO was suddenly broadsided by out of nowhere financial restrictions by the Ricketts. Yeah, the owners are lame as horsefeathers, but this is largely a repeat of the kind of horsefeathers bad spending Epstein got bogged down by in Boston. I believe he got the rug pulled on him, no way he spent what he did in the offseason going in to 2018 if he knew it would keep us out of last offseasons market entirely. And weren’t the owners in Boston behind some of those big deals? Crawford I think? They hired like a PR firm to dictate targets that would be popular or something. They maxed out their 2019 budget in 2018 when Yu was still available late in the winter and was cheaper than they expected and knew they’d have a need for a starter so they went for it. At least that’s the party line, but it seems fairly plausible. I think even with the fickle nature of relievers they didn’t anticipate Carl and Strop being completely worthless, Morrow they should have signed and then assumed we’d get nothing from him due to his injury history. In terms of OF, in the 17-18 offseason they were probably expecting Schwarber to be more like 2nd half 17 Schwarber and possibly improve, Happ to improve to a solid regular etc. They took some risks but ultimately felt they filled all their holes for the next 2 years. That’s not to say there weren’t glaring holes in that logic but I’m guessing that was their thinking if they did actually have a payroll restriction. Cubs took a lot of risks and most of them blew up in their face

This team not built for Wrigley. Probably 3-4 balls that would have been HRs on normal conditions