Jason Ross

Verlander, Whistenhunt and Webb are listed.

Mike Soroka was an awesome reliever last year and way under played his xData this year in Washington likely due to their pathetic defense. Do you think the Chicago Cubs gave up an interesting pair of prospects for a player they don't expect on the MLB playoff roster? C'mon. Also that's a very weird list. Soroka was acquired for real capital, Eli Morgan is on the IL-60 and has been hurt all year, Nate Pearson has been awful and barely been on the MLB roster since April and Ryan Braiser is a perfectly fine, if unexceptional RH reliever. Two of those guys have 0-shot, and the other two are very likely. The time table on Soroka sounds like it will happen sometime in September. He was out playing catch on the field a week ago and I suspect we're closer to a rehab assignment than we realize.

Highly, highly unlikely at this stage. He looked rusty today - not terrible but rusty. He's also not on the 40-man roster and the Cubs are already playing the up/down game with Javier Assad and Mike Soroka will return. Both of those pitchers will be on the roster. The Cubs would probably need a rash of injuries and a few IL-60 candidates to call him up.

Hendricks sinker has been worth -5 runs on the season and has a wOBA of .370 against it. Hendrick has been arguably worse against RHH with lower K%, and a wOBA against almost .100 points higher for RHH than LHH. Even if Shaw hasn't hit sinkers from RHP well, Hendricks sinker isn't a pitch the Cubs should be worried about.

Nasty injury to return from, especially at Wheeler's age.

Kyle Tucker was 7% better than a league average hitter in July. He didn't hit for power, but remained an above average performer despite it.

I think we over value arm at third. Personally, I consider arm "luxury" but something that is not required at 3b. The Cubs turned Nick Madrigal and his noodle arm into a plus defender at the position. Shaw's arm is below average, but much better than that of say Madrigal, as it sits around the 31st percentile league wide. I wouldn't worry too much about it.

My assumption from discussions, most specifically on reddit is that many fans are upset that the team traded Isaac Parades, Cody Bellinger and Cam Smith to facilitate some of that (whether or not Bellinger was directly tied to Tucker or just fans perceive it to be that, you can be the judge). Even on the comments on articles here, there is a comparison to Bellinger constantly. And I don't think many people have really checked in on Cam Smith after he had a big series against us (they probably also don't notice Matt Shaw has been a better hitter on the year). I've seen a few times that Cam Smith is essentially the new Lou Brock trade. And despite him not signing a $400m deal yet, I think many people use those types of players to be angry at. And beyond that you have this allure of the big rookie behind him? When you add it all up, and the Cubs are struggling while the Brewers have surged past, I think Kyle Tucker is a perfect lightening rod for many. I don't agree with it myself, it's frankly ridiculous, but he's a good conduit for ire.

I liked Cade Horton in the 2022 draft. I did not like Brooks Lee.

Got one.

Brought in Mears a RHP. Blessing?

Tucker's going to come up big in this spot. Feel it. He needs it. The Cubs need it. (I reserve the right to delete this post in five minutes)

Matt Shaw has just played four baseball games in three days. The Cubs are about to take a cross country flight tonight to the West Coast and then play three more games. Today is a game less than 24 hours since the last one. It is fair to need a day off. Players do not play their best when they are exhausted. As well, the Cubs only off day between August 12th and September 3rd is this upcoming Monday, the 25th. It's illogical to think Shaw will play every day. Beyond that, Priester is much better against RHH. He is a pitcher who throws 43% of his pitches as sinkers - a pitch that excels against same-side hitting players. Matt Shaw is RHH. Willi Castro will hit LHH, which forces Quinn Priester (who's xFIP jumps half a full point against LHH) to either throw his best pitch in non-exceptional situations or completely off his best pitch. It is a good day for the Cubs to give their player a day off. Just this week the Cubs have found off days for many of their starters. That Matt Shaw got a day off isn't surprising, the team does need him fresh. I know that it's more fun when Matt Shaw plays, but the Cubs have to balance their best lineup and keeping players in the best physical state to play. So while it's easy to want to see Shaw, we have to be intelligent enough to look at the big picture as fans to understand the purpose behind it.

They essentially handle the NHL games without adding an additional fee, for what it's worth.

One reason that Shaw is sitting for Castro - Castro hits LH and Priester, a heavy sinker-usage arm, struggles against LHH. Which makes sense, sinkers are good against same-side hitters. Priester has a 3.58 xFIP against RHH and a 4.08 xFIP against LHH, with a reduction on his GB% by 10%.

I believe he has done pretty poorly against RHP sinkers. Priester is a sinker merchant. Probably a good rest day for him all things considered.

I like Matt Shaw and Michael Busch enough to be optimistic and believe this. Am I wrong? Maybe! But this time I'm going with an "ignorance is bliss" take for the time being.

I happen to like that Matt Shaw guy. In case you were unaware.

xBA of .790 on that hit that Caissie stole.

Owen Caissie! Not a DH.

Stupid wind

Winning a game 1-0 is the same as winning it 5-4. Yes, the starting pitching has been good recently, but it could be better, just like the offense could always be worse. It doesn't work exactly like this, and I know I'm kind of playing with things a little bit, but what if Javier Assad didn't start in Toronto last week and Edward Cabrera did, for example? The Cubs lost 5-1, sure, but four of the runs were given up by Assad. What if we got Edward Cabrera's start against Atlanta (8-8) instead? He went 8 IP against Atlanta, struck out 11. Owen Caissie was in Iowa on August 12th, so he provided zero benefit to the Chicago Cubs. There is also going to, likely, come a day between today and the end of the season that Kyle Tucker turns mostly back into Kyle Tucker. Maybe it's not "140 wRC+" monster Tucker (if it's really an injury thing) but he'll probably figure it mostly out again. At that point the Cubs will likely rarely play Caissie where as Edward Cabrera will pitch every five days. Lots of things and lots of moving parts. Maybe Ian Happ blows out his quad tomorrow and Caissie starts the rest of the year. Maybe Cabrera blows out his elbow. There's universes and outcomes that throw all sorts of wrenches into the works. Mostly I'm just saying I don't think that just because Owen Caissie was good yesterday means that not trading him either makes the Cubs better or that the Cubs were right to not trade him. There's a lot of moving parts to consider.

Welcome to NSBB! While I understand Caissie had a good day yesterday (I remain a big Caissie fan myself, might I add, just for the rest of this post), what if the Cubs had Edward Cabrera? He's been the 11th best SP in baseball since the TDL, posting a 2.94 xFIP and the ninth best K-BB ratio for starters. Caissie had a nice game yesterday but Cabrera has had four really good starts and has been worth almost a full win on his own. I'm not trying to drag down Caissie, only suggesting that I don't think this conversation is as easy as "Well Owen had a good game yesterday so I'm glad we kept him" there is an opportunity cost involved. What Cabrera overall would have cost is more than just Caissie, so it's not as simple as just one or the other, as well. My general point is that while I understand many people here have concluded (for whatever reason) that the slumping Cubs are the "real" Cubs (I don't agree with this) that there are universes out there where the Cubs traded Caissie and are a better team for it as much as yesterday was a fun day from the prospect. I don't think Kyle Tucker is broken forever or even the rest of the year so there's going to come a time in the near future where the Cubs aren't really playing Owen Caissie much and what Edward Cabrera is could mean more to the 2025 Cubs (and based on his control would help for a few years beyond).