Transmogrified Tiger
-
Posts
38,769 -
Joined
-
Last visited
-
Days Won
70
Content Type
Profiles
Joomla Posts 1
Chicago Cubs Videos
Chicago Cubs Free Agent & Trade Rumors, Notes, & Tidbits
2026 Chicago Cubs Top Prospects Ranking
News
2023 Chicago Cubs Draft Picks
Guides & Resources
2024 Chicago Cubs Draft Picks
The Chicago Cubs Players Project
2025 Chicago Cubs Draft Pick Tracker
2026 Chicago Cubs Draft Tracker: Picks & Bonuses
Blogs
Events
Forums
Store
Gallery
Everything posted by Transmogrified Tiger
-
Nothing has really changed. Here's Fulmer's Sunday outing in terms of xBA: .090 (fly out) .090 (fly out) .930 (bloop single at 75 EV) BB .290 (double) K He had a very bad outing sandwiched by two outings that were more unlucky than bad, and 4 of his last 5 outings were against the best offense in the NL (non-Cubs division). Until he gets a better feel for that sweeper, he's gonna be prone to more unlucky outings than you want in a closer, and that's part of why no one is clamoring for him to get every save opportunity. But he's not useless as the thread title entails, and he's likely to be plenty fine in middle relief/setup situations as needed too. I'm encouraged that he was trying the sweeper again on Sunday, though with no whiffs yesterday and only a 25% whiff rate in 23 pitches this year it clearly still has some work to do if it's going to be a weapon. -
-
I have a theory about this that goes beyond Spurs, and it's that the Premier League has so much money and therefore quality even at the bottom of the table, that it's extremely hard to compete in the Champions League and stay high up the table unless you are both well-run and have nation-state money. This year that's basically only Man City, and it strikes me as not a coincidence that the Big 6 clubs struggling the most this year(Liverpool, Chelsea, Spurs) are the ones who had to gear up for a bunch of midweek Champions League games they couldn't rotate for. Each of those teams have their own unique issues too, and the winter world cup certainly plays some role(even if teams didn't have a bunch of WC players the fixture congestion/injury risk surrounding it matters), so I'm curious how much that pattern holds next year too with a completely different set of teams joining City in UCL.
-
I meant to put a similar sentiment in the 1B/C article yesterday and forgot, but yeah even though I'd love a few more hits I'm very satisfied with the catching situation. I don't think they need to intentionally punt offense from the position(though Gomes raising his wRC+ like 25 points with a single 2/4 game tells you about the sample) , but it feels like there's more demands than ever on the position defensively and the upside of handling a pitching staff/running game very well is bigger than the handful of runs they'd get from marginally better offense.
-
Money doesn't guarantee individual team success, but when 4-6 teams are outspending you it's very hard to consistently to outperform the majority of them. And they're not particularly close, using Spotrac as a broad estimate, Spurs are closer to 12th in player salary than they are to 4th. When you toss in that it's inevitable that someone else outside the big spenders will have a great year(e.g. Villa & Brighton this year) it becomes extremely difficult to consistently make Champions League. But if 'competing for Top 4 year in and year out' is what you want, they're doing it! Even with the managerial instability they've been in the 4-7 range and a handful of points off that line when they didn't reach it, this is what that looks like. I'm not gonna tell you it's business as usual to lose 6-1 or have a Conte managerial stint end in sorrow(well actually that part is normal), but at the macro level they're not playing below their station as a club.
-
European club soccer is a fairly efficient market. You can outperform your spending but to do it consistently requires threading the needle and a fair amount of good luck on top of that. Tottenham do not spend like a Top 4 club, and while they briefly struck gold with having several things break right, they are getting the results they can reasonably expect. If the level of investment isn't going to change(and if it doesn't there ought to be some Poor Joe Lewis memes given the new stadium and level of competition), then it's not really fair to call Tottenham in crisis, they're just getting what they should expect for their investment. Considering Arsenal and Newcastle look primed to make Spurs a more distant 7th in spending, they ought to reconsider what the ceiling for that team can reasonably look like(Top 4 if they get several things to break right).
-
4/22 Cubs host Dodgers
Transmogrified Tiger replied to jersey cubs fan's topic in Fred Hornkohl Game Thread Forum
Being able to get 4-6 outs with Hughes after teams load their lineups for Wesneski is a nice luxury -
4/22 Cubs host Dodgers
Transmogrified Tiger replied to jersey cubs fan's topic in Fred Hornkohl Game Thread Forum
Can't tell if it's more annoying that James Outman becomes an all-star for the Dodgers out of nothing, or that he just played like that in these 2 series against the CUbs -
Bayern are now 2-2-1 in the Bundesliga and got wiped out in Champions League since they fired Nagelsmann, an incredible self-inflicted wound. They no longer control their ability to keep their Bundesliga title streak going either.
-
4/22 Cubs host Dodgers
Transmogrified Tiger replied to jersey cubs fan's topic in Fred Hornkohl Game Thread Forum
I would've guessed we would see Madrigal, but then again Waluigi isn't striking anyone out so far so maybe a good time to test out Wisdom's limits while he's riding high. -
Minor League Discussion & Boxes, 4-21-23
Transmogrified Tiger replied to CaliforniaRaisin's topic in Cubs Minor League Talk
Still room on the Birdsell bandwagon folks -
Yep. With the off day Monday they technically don't need a 5th starter til next weekend.
-
There was the one in Fenway where he got to like the 8th right? I can't recall if that was a no-no or perfect game. EDIT: It was a no-hitter, he walked a guy in the 5th: https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/BOS/BOS201406300.shtml
-
Smyly since his first outing bomb in Cincy: 3 GS (Seattle, LAD x2), 18.1 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 20/3 K/BB, HR
-
instinctually he sees Smyly moving to Gomes' left and so 'getting out of the way' in that moment is moving to the right, even though Smyly is stopping and turning back that way
-
I put the odds that Ross asked Gomes to sabotage him at 25% and that might be low
-
The Cubs also lead the NL(and are 3rd in MLB) in SB, I apologize for the oversight
-
The Cubs lead the NL in AVG, OBP, SLG, wOBA, and wRC+ and are 2nd to the Rays in MLB in all of them
-
Bellinger couldn't not get a hit if he tried right now
-
This is fun, I'm having fun
-
It was basically a pitchout too
-
lol there was a split second when Outman started going back that I really thought Madrigal might've done it
-
The Cubs currently have 4 of the Top 20 position players in the NL by fWAR, and 2 of the Top 15 SP
-
Madrigal has a 131 wRC+ and his IsoP is higher than Hosmer, Torrens, Mancini, Swanson, and Hoerner
