squally1313

IIRC Morrow is pretty vocally liberal. It's basically him and Sean Doolittle. All the damn liberals want to get paid for not working! Yes, I am joking. No, no, I would very much like to get paid for not working.

Any Castellanos signing probably marks the end of Schwarber in Chicago. Which is fine if we're getting anywhere close to this version of Nick going forward. But I don't think you can run both those guys in the outfield for a full season and not have it cost you defensively. So Castellanos at $15-$20m a season (plus whatever Schwarber can get you via trade) vs Schwarber with 2 more years of arbitration.

Cubs shift department, Please put Ian in the right spots. Thanks in advance. Cubs lineup department, Please put Ian in the right spot. Thanks

Beyond that, you can't really point to a lot that he's done in the last couple years that have added to the short term or long term success of this club. Agreed the last two years have not been his greatest, but that isnt a sample size large enough for me to start saying they arent an elite FO or that they should be replaced. And again we are right in the thick or the playoff race. The stated goal or this FO office has always been continued success where we are always in the playoff picture. Statistics have always shown baseball playoffs as a crapshoot, the key is getting in as much as possible. Some years you will curbstomp teams with 100+ wins, some years you might sneak in with 88 wins (hopefully this year). Some years you might miss altogether (Red Sox this year, maybe Cubs). But be in and around the dance as much as possible and you are setting yourself up for success. I'm fine with being the second best team in the NL, and taking our shot against the Dodgers every year. Hell, I'm not even going to stress about the Braves. But we should not be struggling against the Brewers and the Cardinals to avoid the wild card game, for two years in a row now. I get that the wildcard game is the postseason, technically. To me, we missed the playoffs last year, so the whole 'getting in as much as possible' thing didn't work there. Maybe that's not fair, but whatever.

I usually butt heads with Cubs eeyore mojo, but when it comes to Theo (and the rest of the front office), I'm pretty down on them too. I want a Gavin Lux, a Forrest Whitley, a Yordan Alvarez, a Kyle Tucker, a Dustin May, a Keibert Ruiz. I wanted them to somehow see something that would have shown the Heyward/Darvish/Chatwood deals were mistakes...I sure didn't, but I'm not an elite GM. I wanted them to actually care about the character of their players, and not just claim to care to put out a good sound bite. He got us what we all wanted. He'll go down as the greatest GM in Cubs history for that alone, and for this whole run. But it could have, and probably should have, been a lot better.

So you need a few more years AFTER the last two years? And I thought we were the idiots talking about him being terrible for five years in a row. Yeah call me crazy for not wanting to kick him to the curb after an injury riddled 95 win season. I trust his track record and his general intelligence. He has built at 3 to 4 phenomenal cores in 17 years. Even if this one tanks I would give the dude another shot to build another core. Well I think the bigger picture that was touched on briefly is that people around here have grown a lot less fond of the guy who has brought in Chapman, Murphy, and kept Russell around. Beyond that, you can't really point to a lot that he's done in the last couple years that have added to the short term or long term success of this club. The Darvish signing remains a miss, as was the Chatwood signing, as was the Morrow signing. Going into this season with that bullpen, with that bench, was a miss. He came through and got Castellanos, which is looking like a big pickup, but we're going to have to keep the pedal down through the end of September just to make the playoffs.

Yes, that's accurate. The same goes for Jon Lester. Do you think Jon Lester is one of the best pitchers in baseball right now? The game caught up to Theo. I still dont think the game has caught up to Theo. He has evolved before. I think there is ebbs and flows to building a franchise and all FO will make some mistakes. If we have a few year spiral where Theo and company add on with even more mistakee then Ill agree that maybe be lost it. Only time.will tell. So you need a few more years AFTER the last two years? And I thought we were the idiots talking about him being terrible for five years in a row.

Oh, just the last two years?

Flashed 98, the K came on a nasty curve. Both the fly outs were pretty decent contact (would not want to see them on a wind blowing out summer Wrigley game), but we'll definitely take it.

It wasn't a debate or discussion anyone was actually having; it was an odd non-sequitur reply to people pointing out that the job Epstein and co. are currently doing is looking pretty shaky at best. Let's not ignore the weirder part that multiple people would apparently be fine with their favorite baseball team being terrible for years because their favorite baseball executive is HoF-worthy. You were the one with the stupid comment implying he cant rest on his "laurels." I simply replied, that yes.. yes he can. His career speaks for himself.. No I dont want him to, nor does any Cubs fan but he clearly can easily never do a positive thing in baseball again and have had an amazing career. Yes, that's accurate. The same goes for Jon Lester. Do you think Jon Lester is one of the best pitchers in baseball right now? The game caught up to Theo.

Well I just found out he was a Cardinals draft pick, so now I like him even more! I mean...he's going to give up a home run eventually. But he could...hopefully settle into the Strop role? I don't think he's going to strike out enough people (or get enough ground balls) to be the top guy, but definitely a 7th, maybe even an 8th inning guy.

Theo has a nice track record, this is true. But there is a strong argument that several others have passed them by in recent years. Yeah I mean, Theo was innovative here in taking a big market team and purposely trying to lose for a few years to essentially build from the ground up. In being up front about that, and doing it for a team with an unparalleled history of ineptitude, he was given pretty unprecedented slack for a big market team. It worked, in that we won a World Series. But look at what Houston has done with the same formula. I'll set aside LA and the Yankees (and current Boston to an extent), as they never really had an extended down swing. But Houston has top prospects stuck at AAA because there's just nowhere to put them. Maybe in a couple years they'll be in the same spot we are, and the Verlander/Greinke trades will hurt in the same way the Torres/Eloy trades are hurting us now. But they've got one too, and they are in much better shape to get another one with that core.

Stuff like this baffles me. Like, how can the manager and coaches AND the FO not act on this very obvious and very easily obtained info. They absolutely must now about it, so....why? It's so interminably meatball-y. Yeah, just move him down to 6 or whatever and move everyone else up one. Heyward as a league average hitter with his defense is definitely starting material, and much better than what we've been getting. But he should not be getting the most PAs for a team that has any serious aspirations.

Angel Hernandez behind the plate, which should be wonderful. Also, Jason Heyward has a .311 OBP in August, following a .333 OBP in July (with a .421 BABIP, somehow). I'm happy he turned back into a league average hitter, but he does not need to be leading off every day, and if they don't trust Happ at second (which...they probably shouldn't), he should be getting more starts in center to see if he's someone who can play a role down the stretch.

It'd be real nice if we could send Strop down for the last couple weeks of AAA, pitch him every third day, and see if there's anything worth salvaging this year. Unfortunately for us, and fortunately for him, he's earned better treatment than that.

60 PAs in the second half with a .286/.417/.408 line. Granted, a lot of that is propped up by a .394 BABIP, as Sofa mentioned, but a 15% walk rate is pretty solid. With us carrying two catchers, we basically just sent down our top bat off the bench to carry 9 relievers and essentially play with a 2 man bench.

Q quietly leading the staff in fWAR at 2.8, putting him 30th in baseball. Decent outing here could get him into the top 25 or so. Realistically right now we have like 4 #2 starters and then Lester is probably a 3. Which is good for 162 games. It'd be nice if one or two them got hot (or stayed hot, in Yu's case) in the next 6 weeks.

League wide OPS, at home: .770 League wide OPS, away: .752 Cubs at home: .807 Cubs away: .756 The real issue has been the pitching at home vs on the road, so it's encouraging to see the starters step up. Cubs ERA/FIP at home: 3.35/3.96 Cubs ERA/FIP away: 4.81/4.71

[tweet] [/tweet] Well that is...something.

Setting aside the Darvish conversation, Ryan and Wick are your two best relievers. It sucks, but you have to know that's the reality. Pulling Ryan after three batters got you into the mess in the first place with having to make Wick go more than one inning. Wick in the 9th got a fly out, and three ground balls that all probably should have been outs. He threw 22 pitches total. He wasn't struggling. Let him finish. And if we're going to go to 2019 Pedro Strop there, why does David Phelps exist.

F U C K joe maddon

So YouTube TV doesn’t have WGN huh.

Our good players are resting for the next time they actually have a chance to win games. The Javy thing, whatever...hope he gets better. But that in no way necessitates moving Almora from leadoff to behind Darvish in the lineup. Someone must have gotten in Joe's ear.

Now he's batting 9th. Because they had to scratch Javy (illness). What is going on.

Jesus