Jason Ross

One thing we have to keep in mind; the Cubs are *very* big on the soft skills. This includes things like letting rookies come up and spend time with players and the club that they plan on being there next year. They have been, at times, more than willing to let a rookie hang out with the club on the bench for a few weeks (much the chagrin of fans). Getting Ayers up in September is likely as much about 2026 as it is about their 2027 plans; getting him to work on the side with pitchers that he will catch. It's not the same, but it's been reported that Tatsuya Imai has struggled in Houston, in part, to adjusting to the organization. Maybe that's an Imai thing, but the Cubs have very much valued ensuring their Japanese players come over and get the all-star experience in how they adjust to life in a new part of the world. It very much could also be a Houston thing, too. It's these soft skills the org believes in. So while there are some roster ramifications if the organization is telling you that they are more interested in getting Ayers here for a month than worrying about a fringe 40-man add...it's probably worth seeing that to them, that month for Ayers is more valuable. And likely signals how they feel about him once again. And considering that the Cubs have done a great job bringing along young players recently, probably worth it to defer to them on this. To be fair I didn't expect him to be on the 40-man by September myself a bit ago. Based on how the club acted at the deadline, however and how they treated him in trade talks, this isn't that shocking any more. I'm fairly convinced this organization is very, very high on him.

If the Cubs aren't likely to give him five years today, then they were almost assuredly not going to offer him a five-year extension anytime before today. Nothing he has done in 2026 changed the math on what teams were going to offer him, either. He hasn't had some transformative year. In fact, it's not even, really, a career year at this stage. So to wrap it all up succinctly; there was probably never an opportunity in which the Cubs were going to be able to sign Suzuki to a contract that was below his market value will be this offseason.

I understand that there is a possibility that the MLB season simply doesn't happen. It is an outcome that is within possibility. But I also think it's a very unlikely one and if we take a step back we begin to see how much the MLB ownership has a vested interest in making sure that isn't the case. They are a group who has constantly cared about now more than future dollars. Losing a full season, even in the name of a cap is just not how these people operate.

Don't they know that I need the statcast data on his slider?! How could the Cubs do this to me?

It's Field of Dreams day. Just a guess but they may have moved him around a day to ensure that the MLB guy doesn't soak up that experience.

Sprint speed is only considered for "topped" and "weak" contact on the infield, correct. So while it can add things in to it's equation it is only very specific hit types and in a general sense it's widely agreed that players who are fast will tend to out wOBA their xwOBA, regardless. (You just happened to stumble upon a subject I did a decent amount of research on today as I worked on a piece about Pedro Ramirez)

What a wild ride he's been on.

The Athletic doesn't really mention anything about who the Cubs discussed, but if I had a guess, the Cubs were hoping that the Blue Jays, fresh off dealing Nimaala to the Angels, preferred Rojas to Nimaala and could scoop up Soriano. Doesn't sound like it went too far, but based on how the day went, that feels like a reasonable guess.

Zumach had suggested that perhaps it wasn't that the Cubs were scared Kepley would get exposed at Double-A but that that they were actually high on Kepley and didn't want him to jump to Double-A and put up impressive numbers/data.

There were zero outs, in a game in August, in a game that was anything but "must win". What if the pinch runner never scores? You want to just have James Triantos throw the gear on? It's easy with hindsight to know Pete gets a single, but we didn't know. One strike out, a ground out and a fly out later and it wouldn't mean anything. C'mon. We know that's a bad idea. There's a reason every team has an emergency catcher but a tied game in the bottom of the 11th in early August isn't an emergency.

Josiah Hartshorn Hartshorn is the clear #1 after the TDL. Possible top-50 in baseball. Bat so good 1b threat might not matter. Owen Ayers Cubs treated him like a top-50 prospect at the deadline, so I'll treat him close to that. If you believe in the defense and aren't scared off by the age, he's a great prospect.Cade Townsend 1st round pick, shiny new toy syndrome. With Wiggins looking rusty I'll give him the nod.Jaxon Wiggins Hasn't really pitched much for a year. Looks rusty. Stuff is taking baby steps back to where it was, control needs dusting off.Kane Kepley Need to see him do it against Double-A. Think maybe the Cubs like him more than I do. Ethan Conrad 1st round pick, derailed with injuries. Upside there.Kaleb Wing IDK the injury extent yet, but the stuff popped. High praise in the ACL. Caden Sorrell Love the power and the swing looks pretty but very uppercut forward. K's are the questionBrooks Caple Back end rotation upside. But looks like he could get there?Myles Bailey 80-grade power, major hit concerns. Power and EVs will have to carry the K rate should add walks.James Triantos Jack-of-all-trades master of none (better to be than a master of one). Bench type but has valueWill Sanders Kitchen sink approach could get him to be an MLB starter. Reminds me of Colin ReaCarson Jasa Big time body, big time upside big time control questions. He's fun though.Jose Escobar A little older than you'd like for his level but the data jumps off the page. Sneaky value.Grant Kipp He's in Triple-A and a step away from being an MLB reliever.Derniche Valdez Glasses may have saved him. K% still real, but you can see the tools.Dominick Reid Pedigree and early look save him. Not over powering but could be a BORPBrandon Birdsell I want to believe. Come back from TJS and show the upside and he'll shoot back up. Trades save his spotDylan Blomker High priced prep arm signed away from LSU. Yeah, you get a token spot on my list.Juan Cabada 18 year old with solid approach. Lottery ticket but has pedigree with IFA signing status and I think he's not far off from a breakout. System is a little less exciting today than a week ago, and that's okay. Enough draftees can pump up this list next year. Still have plenty of upside prospects bandied about. Feels like the top-spot is pretty defined with Hartshorn, the next-6 can be a "list 'em how you want" and then things get pretty fluid. But it remains a system with the arrow pointing up compared to where we thought it'd be.

Josiah Hartshorn Hartshorn is the clear #1 after the TDL. Possible top-50 in baseball. Bat so good 1b threat might not matter. Owen Ayers Cubs treated him like a top-50 prospect at the deadline, so I'll treat him close to that. If you believe in the defense and aren't scared off by the age, he's a great prospect.Cade Townsend 1st round pick, shiny new toy syndrome. With Wiggins looking rusty I'll give him the nod.Jaxon Wiggins Hasn't really pitched much for a year. Looks rusty. Stuff is taking baby steps back to where it was, control needs dusting off.Kane Kepley Need to see him do it against Double-A. Think maybe the Cubs like him more than I do. Ethan Conrad 1st round pick, derailed with injuries. Upside there.Kaleb Wing IDK the injury extent yet, but the stuff popped. High praise in the ACL. Caden Sorrell Love the power and the swing looks pretty but very uppercut forward. K's are the questionBrooks Caple Back end rotation upside. But looks like he could get there?Myles Bailey 80-grade power, major hit concerns. Power and EVs will have to carry the K rate should add walks.James Triantos Jack-of-all-trades master of none (better to be than a master of one). Bench type but has valueWill Sanders Kitchen sink approach could get him to be an MLB starter. Reminds me of Colin ReaCarson Jasa Big time body, big time upside big time control questions. He's fun though.Jose Escobar A little older than you'd like for his level but the data jumps off the page. Sneaky value.Grant Kipp He's in Triple-A and a step away from being an MLB reliever.Derniche Valdez Glasses may have saved him. K% still real, but you can see the tools.Dominick Reid Pedigree and early look save him. Not over powering but could be a BORPBrandon Birdsell I want to believe. Come back from TJS and show the upside and he'll shoot back up. Trades save his spotDylan Blomker High priced prep arm signed away from LSU. Yeah, you get a token spot on my list.Juan Cabada 18 year old with solid approach. Lottery ticket but has pedigree with IFA signing status and I think he's not far off from a breakout. System is a little less exciting today than a week ago, and that's okay. Enough draftees can pump up this list next year. Still have plenty of upside prospects bandied about. Feels like the top-spot is pretty defined with Hartshorn, the next-6 can be a "list 'em how you want" and then things get pretty fluid. But it remains a system with the arrow pointing up compared to where we thought it'd be.

Not sure I see anything that suggests dead-arm. Velo was pretty fine (fastball was like half a tick down, but his curveball was 1mph up so I think it's just normal flux). He went a little fastball heavy yesterday so that is a little something but that's about it. One thing to note specifically about yesterday: KC isn't a heavy K% team; they rank bottom-5. They also rank bottom-5 in walks. They're a swing-heavy team. I won't speak for the entire time of his return but I do think yesterday may have just be an aggressive team's output.

Nice.

Fangraphs splits tools will allow you to sort splits by date. Just create a custom start and end date for what month you'd like. You can find that on any player page on FanGraphs. Should be on the left side. It's not under the normal splits tab, so it's easy to miss if you aren't looking for it.

Very real chance he can stick in CF. Obviously he's missed time here, but prior the athleticism was a selling point. I don't think the Cubs are going to put too much on him defensively as he returns from the back, so expect less premium positions for a while still.

Jacob Webb has been a fantastic pick up. And he has a super cheap option for next year.

He has played a little OF. It's not going to be a 2026 thing, I would guess. But maybe he gets a Shaw-like conversion over winter.

Yes and no. Gausman is like, Shota on steroids in many ways. He's fastball-splitter, and instead of a sweeper throws a slider. He gives up a lot of fly balls, and because of that will give up his fair share of home runs. However, he's better than league average when it comes to how many flyballs turn into home runs. So it kind of evens itself out in that sense.

That's a great story. Appreciate that share.

I think that's a measured take, too. I sincerely hope Mo does well. And I hope he does catch; that would be a great outcome for him. I do think the Cubs don't feel they can get him there, and if there's one thing the Cubs have done well lately, it's identify and work with catchers defensively. They've done great work with Kelly and Amaya, as well as Ayers. And behind the scenes many rave about their catcher work. All of that has me fairly confident he'll be far more "DH" than "C" but it doesn't make the Cubs' infallible there either.

I don't think you can ever consider 9 of 12 as a minimum. That's an incredible winning percentage. I'd certainly love it, but even the best record against sub .500 teams in baseball is a .667 winning percentage. It's Milwaukee. Because of course it's Milwaukee.

An emergency catcher is there for an emergency. It's in the name. An emergency is not "pinch running with zero outs in the 11th inning of a regular season game in the beginning of August".

Can we please add Jose Escobar, Fernando Cruz and Dylan Blomker?