Jason Ross

Thornton living dangerously tonight.

Happ having a game out in LF

Peterson has been decent. He's thrown a lot of strikes (64%) which is unlike him. Got some babip luck maybe, not a ton of whiffs, but has gotten 5 ground balls. Yeoman's work, but it's useful.

...so you're saying I can't gift the Cubs a starting pitcher because they realize they need it? And instead I have to give them another infielder?!?

Recency bias shouldn't outweigh his 171 wRC+ on the season vs LHP or his 127 wRC+ last year.

Castillo is an interesting case. On one hand, a lot of his numbers are kind of what they've been. His K% is within around 1% of where it was last year, he's not walking guys, his Stuff+ is the same, his arm angle is the same, the velo is fine, he's not giving up a lot of HR's and the LOB% is low for what it probably should be. But then you look at the whole and it's just not working this year. The fastball last lost some shape, which you can see in Stuff+ and it's movement profile on Savant, his K% was down below average last year. He's getting less chase and his savant page last year wasn't sparkling. So is it just the hens coming to roost? With that said, I'm mostly "out" on Castillo. If you can bring the K% up to where it was before last year, or there's some mechanical thing the Cubs really believe in he could be a cheap, controlled SP. But I'd rather just pay up for someone better, Or even a rental.

They updated on him a few days ago. He will begin swinging after TDL.

I'm not. And it's a good sign the Cubs are going to do that. He's not a reliever. He's on the last year of his deal. And outside of Civale, who's going before him? They have Rea. They have Assad. They both do what he'd do better. This is a good sign about the deadline intentions,

Brandon Marsh is one. Taylor Ward you can argue about; his wRC+ is about the same but his approach is wasy better. Rasiel Iglasies got good again in Atlanta. But I think generally, I don't think the Angels are "bad" in that they don't have good players. It's that they never surround their good players with good players (because I think they sold their soul for anyone who can help Mike Trout or Shohehi Ohtani right now). They are a poorly run organization, but one who has good players intermittently. For me, on Detmers, he looks good now. I'd be fine with that guy, who he is, today. If we can squeeze a little extra out of him? That's cool, too.

Per the Athletic.

And how do the Cubs add 3 pitchers off the 40-man roster while carrying Taillon as a phantom-IL? The Cubs have three pitchers, Justin Steele, Shelby Miller and Hunter Harvey who could all, possibly com off the IL-60 and need added as well. The math isn't mathing. The only alternative is a phantom IL-60 injury which, I think the MLBPA would catch and not be super cool with, and just draws attention. A DFA makes the most sense. For the Cubs. For Taillon.

They could, but it also hinges on a lot of things: 1. Do the Dodgers and Brewers like Reid Detmers enough to actually trade a top-50 prospect? 2. Do the Angels, a team who is kind of hard to figure out where Art Moreno starts and stops, value the Brewers' prospects that high? Teams don't operate on the industry rankings 3. Do the Angles prefer the Cubs' offerings? 4. Do the Angels prefer a quantity or a quality offering? Just about any pitcher in the top-75 is either coming with injury history or because they're a pitcher, are an injury risk, so I think that aspect of Wiggins is kind of...negated. Pitchers just do that, and any team is aware of that. But we can glass-half-full or half-empty any prospect. The Brewers aren't trading Jesus Made for Detmers, for example. Or Luis Pena. Those are top-30 prospects in baseball, and that would be a pretty large jump from where the Cubs bought on Edward Cabrera. Even at the deadline it was "Owen Caissie+" and Caissie was not a top-30 prospect. So maybe it's Jefferson Quero, a 23 year old catcher with a sub-100 wRC+ in Triple-A? Would you rather him or Owen Ayers? Brady Ebel or Alexander Frias are tp-75 prospects or so who are both...teenagers. I'm not shitting on the Brewers here, their system is super fun and have big time upside. But the Angels probably have to prioritize teenagers in a Detmers trade from Milwaukee where as the Cubs can offer players who are in Triple-A. So where are the Angles internally?

Hendricks last start with the Chicago Cubs came on August 28th. There was barely a month to go of the season. And Hendricks was, maybe short of a "Cub legend" but more than a "normal player". Arguably, one of the better Cubs in the last-20 years. He made 270 starts with Chicago over a decade of time served. Hendricks was unable to realistically be picked up and added to another roster, especially a team who could even consider rostering him for the playoffs because of the time it would take to sign. He was given a good send-off. Jameson Taillon is finishing up a four-year deal who played over half of his career elsewhere. While I don't think Taillon is a bad guy, he isn't in the ballpark of what Hendricks meant to the Cubs as a player or as an organization. It's also July 27th. It isn't about embarrassing the guy, but like what does Taillon gain from the phantom-IL? Do you think he's at a point of his career where he's fine being a mascot? Because that's what that says. It says "I don't want to pitch this year, and I'm perfectly fine sitting in this dugout, not helping the team on the mound". I would think Jameson Taillon would prefer the chance to continue to throw on the side and hope another organization values him on the mound versus...that. EDIT: Also, the Cubs are going to need 40-man spots. Another reason to DFA him. August 28th was well beyond the Cubs adding players via trade, and a far less reason to worry about the 40-slot. The Cubs are about to add a handful of new players. They need the slots.

What's the point of a fake IL stint? For the Cubs, it isn't like this is a "work through it thing", this is almost assuredly and age/regression thing. For Taillon, sitting on the shelf for two months with a fake injury isn't helping you get a new job. While I doubt any playoff team would be excited about him, it wouldn't be shocking to see a team have a rash of injuries between today and September go grab him as a veteran SP who's at least game-ready in terms of fitness. Especially after the TDL, it's kind of those types or...no one for teams. The "phantom injury" this is almost always fan theory and rarely used, but I think especially in this situation it's just not one that works for anyone. You either carry him as a long reliever (though there are better versions of that on the roster right now) or you DFA him.

I think a few things can be true all at once: 1. The Cubs, as currently constructed, do lack a hitter off the bench who can smash LHP. They have Michael Conforto, for example, to get to RHP. But as of now, your normal bench options don't inspire a ton against LHP, especially if Kelly is already in the lineup. 2. Matt Shaw will hopefully come back to help with that 3. It wouldn't be a bad idea to hedge your bets and add one and definitely if you plan on trading either Shaw or Ramirez 4. This is low on the totem pole of "needs" 5. It's not a particularly difficult or expensive need to fill in the next week I don't think it's wrong to point out that the team generally hits LHP well, or that it's low on the list of priorities, but also something the Cubs should devote a little time to think through.

He doesn't have a long relief profile. The stuff just isn't really going to play up much in a shorter outing. The fastball sat at 92mph today - what's the bump we expect in two or three inning spurts? 93? 94mph? Average RHP velocity is 95mph out of the pen. So it'll still be below average. And there isn't a secondary worth writing home about. His K% is 21.2% That's below MLB average. I don't see anything that gets it back to even average. He's on the last year of his deal and the Cubs, in theory, should be adding 2-4 players between today and August 3rd. Aaron Civale should be one of the easiest cuts on the roster but beyond that, who's next? Hollowell? He's looking interesting. Tyler Ferguson? Maybe! But he's rocking a 3.72 xFIP and striking out almost a third of hitters faced, so maybe he's more interesting than Jamo. And then you get to the point where, Javier Assad and Colin Rea just do it better. If you need a reliever to eat 2-4 innings, those guys first, please. When one of Cabrera or Brown gets back (hopefully) someone else needs a bump. And well..,I'd rather have those two in that role. Many times that role is asked to keep the game within striking distance; just keep it within four and maybe the offense can come back in. Today the Cubs scored 7 to come back. I don't trust Jamo to keep the game close in a game where you need those innings early in a game. I appreciate the things Jamo has done; and I think some people's reactions are over the top. But it's also probably time the Cubs say goodbye. He doesn't really profile as a reliever. The Cubs have better long relief options. His deal is expiring so it's a full-sunk cost. The math works out that he's an easy cut over the next seven days. So maybe he isn't cut today, and maybe he can give you one more "get you through" outing, but come August 4th, it's not hard to see where he's an easy one to let go.

It's from The Athletic. Written by Rosenthal and Sammon, so it's highly sourced. https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7466628/2026/07/23/mlb-trade-deadline-mariners-cubs-rays/?source=user_shared_article&unlocked_article_code=1.0lA.RJ6d.WqZ6AMg3jcD2&smid=ta-android-share

Hopefully that was the last start of Taillon as a Cub but they could be forced to go one more until the deadline. But yeah. We should be done with him as soon as possible. He's cooked.

Brewers have already DFA'd McCullers.

He does not have enough sample size to say anything definitively. No. He doesn't even have 600 PAs yet and is 24. It's fair to be skeptical about what his bat may be, but nothing should be concluded yet.

Connelly Early is on the IL with left elbow discomfort. Do you think the Cubs should trade for a pitcher who's not throwing right now with elbow discomfort? There is a reason that the guy who is hurt was traded and the guys who would actually help a contending team aren't being traded yet.

I would hesitate to say Shaw has more value right now if we're talking in the aggregate around the league. Mead has put up 1.5 fWAR this year. He's on a ~3 win pace. His batted ball data suggests this isn't smoke and mirrors with an xwOBA within .10 points of his wOBA. He's running excellent K and walk rates. The glove sucks and the positional versatility is less but Shaw posted a 1.5 fWAR in a full year last year. I think they're very much on par. You can prefer slightly Mead's bat while knocking his defensive lack of versatility and value, or you can prefer Shaw's versatility and baserunning, but generally speaking they have very similar trade value and on the field value; it's just what your team may prefer but it's probably not more than slight preference.

Yeah, think that's a pretty fair trade. Early is good but think the upside is more "mid-rotation". Mead's upside capped because the glove is "below average" to "bad".