Jason Ross

His plate presence is great. You can see where the Cubs were impressed. His behavior at the plate is not of a prep kid.

We kid but if there's a positive he entered today with the second best xwOBA of any Cub in the lineup tonight. He's hitting the ball legitimately well.

Englert sucks.

Won't know 'till they get in.

Not yet. Worst case is a full TJS. Best case now is a brace like Steele. The former is out all year in 2026 and most of 2027. Best case? We'll have him mostly next year.

Feel free to join us live. We're reacting to Horton, and previewing the game tonight.

Kelly would have been first had he had enough PA's to qualify.

Cedric Mullins had the 7th best wRC+ in baseball and Marcel Ozuna had the 8th best wRC+ last year through April. Both were terrible the rest of the way. It's a fact that Cam Smith is young and therefore he could be turning a corner, but every year we see 10-game sample sizes that are just what they are; good 10-games. It happens with even larger samples. Between May 6th and May 19th last year, a 10 game split, Cam Smith had a 156 wRC+. He had an 85 wRC+ after it. It isn't like he hasn't had a heater before. He was 22-then. Smith needs to prove well beyond 10 games that he's turned a corner into just being a half-way decent corner OF, and a much longer one to show he's on the way to being "one of the best young OF'ers in baseball". For his sake I hope he does! I'm not anti-Smith or anything, just anti-early season hyperbole. And to say things like "they could have made that trade without Smith" ignores that the Cubs didn't make that trade without Smith. The Cubs aren't a charity. Either: 1. There wasn't a way that trade could be made without Smith that made sense for both sides 2. The Cubs were a-okay including Cam Smith

Oh, no, I probably should have added context; I follow a lot of the baseball world via socials and the only thing I had seen was he was stealing bags pretty consistently from the spring and on OD. In my head he was having a good year. I hadn't noticed the 51 wRC+. But yeah looks like he's healthy and just some bad luck. Overall fully agree on all 10 game samples.

Yeesh. Hasn't paid attention to his start. Hope he figures it out; he's had a long road back.

Cam Smith had a 90 wRC+ last year. He's had a fun start to the year, but Ryan O'Hearn has a wRC+ over 200. So if Cam Smith is on the way to bring one of the best OFers in baseball with a 190 wRC+, than O'Hearn is on the way to being the NL MVP. That's not a shot against Smith, sincerely hope he does well. But it's 10 games. We can probably hold off on any hyperbole so far.

Yeah, sadly, I've got no even clue on this. I guess there is a positive and it's that teams are clearly using biomechanics guys around the league. Most of this is designed to squeeze every last ounce of "stuff" from these guys but I hope that there's some sort of balance that can be found. It's cool to see guys throw 98mph with IVB and cut and ride like Horton, but it's far less cool to see them blow up their arm every handful of years. Like I mentioned, it's commodified these guys beyond their humanity to a point that feels a little more gross than normal (in the sport of baseball. I think we're well beyond this point in, say, the NFL and brain injury).

Nope. There's just no reason right now. In 1995, yeah, maybe he needs to head to the bullpen. But if we're limiting ourselves to "starting pitchers who have no injury risk" than you're going back to the 92mph guys. TJS brings guys back to about exactly where they were. Horton has crazy good stuff and he's probably going to have 2-4 years between surgeries. Especially if this is more "brace" than "full repair". Horton should be back by around this time (or so) next year. If it's clear during the rehab he's just not able to start, doesn't have the stamina? Sure, maybe the BP. But right now, even with another unfun road ahead for Cade, he should be given every chance to be a starter. Put it this way: even if he blows up in 4 years again, a year of rehab mixed in, that's 2.5-3 years. If he is a 2.5-3 win guy those years, he's already at somewhere between 7.5 and 9 wins. It would take him years and years to ever get to that as a reliever. The game is changing. And maybe we see more piggyback stuff and maybe then the "6 innings a week" he throws is twice in 3+ inning stints. And maybe we can talk about the bullpen. But in the way it's played today, he should come back as a starter. I will admit that's looking at him as a commodity and less as a human, and there's a human factor here too.

Cade Horton literally threw 147 IP last year. We can play the pedantic game and say "well, I said 150" but let's not act like three innings is really throwing off the general post here; he threw a full season's worth of innings last year (modern). I get it, people are bummed right now that it looks bleak for him in 2026 and potentially for good chunks of 2027. Shane McClanahan hadn't pitched in an MLB game since 2023 and he's back in 2026. A little rusty so far, but he's back. Medicine is crazy good right now. I wouldn't take that bet. Mostly, I think we need to recalibrate what it means to be a pitcher. If you want guys who throw 98mph, this is what happens; they're going to blow up ever handful of years. The writing is on the wall with literally all of these guys who throw like this. Predicting any player who throws really hard and 5+ innings at a time will need TJS is a near lock.

Kaplan just reported (it's in the Horton injury thread) that he's getting a second look and that it is trending not good.

Horton is probably down for 2026. We can doom boner left and right about it, but the team isn't dead in the water. This is what happens when you have pitchers who throw like Horton. You either pick up a lot of soft tossers or you buy a lot of power arms and sometimes they blow up. Your best case is probably a Steele situation where it's a brace and not a full repair. They have Steele on the mend and Wiggins is progressing and can help sometime this year too. They have enough depth to tread water for a bit. But they're probably going to have to take it on the chin a bit through April and then battle back beyond that. None of this is ideal, but the team isn't so dependent on Horton being good that it's a season ender in a vacuum.

Jacob Webb has a career 2.95 ERA. Over his career, LHH are hitting .194 with a .258 wOBA against. He has faced 434 left handed hitters in his career. Only five left handed hitters had ever taken him deep before today. Kayfus was just the sixth. You know, two things can happen at the same time: 1. Jacob Webb is legitimately good against LHH. 2. Today, he wasn't his best. If you want to find fault in the BP usage: the Cubs should have used Maton or Harvey when the game was 5-4 and not Roberts. That's the correct gripe. Not "the guy who has strong track record against LHH just didn't have it".

Baseball is funny. Between a game where you score 5 times and a game where you score just 1 run, you'd assume the win came with the 5 runs.

Scott Kingery is alive.

Alright! We're cooking with gasoline.

Again, I just explained. Jacob Webb is a reverse splits guy. He's very good against LHH usually. And the Guardians are incredibly LHH heavy. Harvey has been worse against LHH as has Maton. Webb was on paper, the right choice between the three in that spot.

Jacob Webb came in with the lead. He is a reverse splits guy and the Guardians were going L-R (with a PH who was L) and L to start the inning. It made sense with Milner and Thielbar likely "emergency use" only. Roberts only came in when the Cubs were down 5-4.

My guess is that the choice is something like "Cade Smith is really good, and if you don't use Roberts than he was kind of wasted in the DH". Early in the year save bullets. That said, I'd have probably gone to Maton or Harvey regardless and kept it to one.

Don't love going to Roberts here. Webb was fine. Roberts, down-1...feels like an unnecessary white flag with Maton and Harvey.