Thusly Boned

It's hard to get mad at the homer, it's his best pitch and it was well executed. If he throws that exact same pitch to him 10 more times I doubt he hits it out again. The walk is what pissed me off.

Yeah, that's really all you can say about this game. Even with a top-notch offense during a good stretch, you can run into the occasional buzzsaw.

I was around A- to B+, so I went with a B. I would have preferred one of the SP had more control, but all the major needs were hit, and both Gausman and Holmes are good fits (I wouldn't mind Holmes being extended, depending on how things go). Zeferjahn adds much needed strikeouts to the bullpen and has a lot of control. It'll be interesting to see what the lab can make of Braxton Garrett, too. Not in love with giving up Mo/Rojas, but some of that is probably prospect bias. If Brown/Cabrera come back healthy, the new depth will give the team a lot of options for pitcher deployment in October. Not sure how anyone could rationally grade this lower than a B.

Seems like a lot of inexplicable non-challenges by Cubs hitters lately

Bregman's K really annoyed me, but Nico not challenging there was inexcusable. I don't usually yell at the TV, but I did there. In that situation you have to challenge, even if it isn't clearly a ball (which it was). And challenge again on the next close pitch if it comes to it. Like once it got to 3-0 he should have been primed to challenge anything close. That was just a supremely frustrating game.

I was thinking the exact same thing again, lol

I was about to make a snide remark about not PH Alcantara for Conforto vs the LHP, but I guess I'll take that

Welp, this seemed likely at some point, though I didn't think it would be this soon. I think the ideal scenario was not to have to lean on him too hard in the regular season, but that was kinda shot when half the staff went down. If this is serious at all, I think you have to go out and get someone now. Like right now, pretty much.

Cards weren't going to be factor in the playoff race even before this offseason's sell off, but they might be looking at 100+ losses in 2026 They should have done this last offseason

It isn't quite as clear as some say (and agree you can't really blame Dusty for Wood, but his injury history should have been a reason to go easier on him), but Dusty was the worst about riding SP, even in context. In 2003, Cubs starters led the majors in pitches per start, for example, and his teams were routinely at or near the top in this area.

It was just an egregious example of unnecessarily riding his pitchers. If you look a Prior's pitch counts for the whole season, especially down the stretch, it was brutal, even for the time. It looks even worse in context. And sending one of your prize pitchers out for the late innings with 100+ pitches and a seven-run lead was not routine.

Corey Patterson and Hee-Seop Choi Choi was turned into Derrek Lee so it worked out for the team, but I had really wanted him to be a thing

Yeah, I think with the injury risks, Steele coming back from injury, and Shota and Boyd and getting gassed down the stretch last year, loading the rotation up is a wise move. Skip some Cabrera/Shota/Boyd starts here and there and spread the regular season innings around a bit and protect your best arms so they're good to go late in the year.

I mean most athletes aren't intellectuals, but it's one thing to assume the people you're rooting for are largely regressive morons and it's another to know it. He's in the bucket with Chapman and Addison Russell as far as I'm concerned. However, IMO there are also sound baseball reasons to want to trade him. For example: Even before all the nonsense, I wasn't at all in love with what I saw. If his statistically good second half can be spun into a trade for something of value, I say do it.