squally1313

It's a shame that after we walk this off we won't know if Rondon Fan got banned or no because he'll be silent either way.

After tonight? After how they've played since the break? We went up against one of maybe two pitchers in the NL who matches up with Jake and outplayed them in basically every way except the score. It happens.

Sometimes? We're 20 games over.

.771 OPS with RISP, .776 with bases empty, but yes, recently I get the same impression. You'll never guess who leads the league in OPS with RISP.

After all our prospects not named Bryant came up and didn't turn into studs, I think I just started assuming everyone coming up would take a few years to really turn it on. It would be fantastic if Contreras proved me wrong on that one.

I don't know, while I'd obviously rather be up 6-0, my gambler's fallacy mind almost rationalizes this by thinking that sometimes sequencing is going to go your way, and sometimes it isn't, so I'd rather end up on the bad end of it today, in a relatively meaningless game, than in 3 months. I know it makes no sense, but, it is the game thread.

Isn't that the one that stabilizes pretty quickly too, unfortunately? It's totally blown up from his MILB numbers, and you'd think it would settle down eventually (probably at the expense of some power, but still). A stat "stabilizing" doesn't mean it won't improve from there, it just means it takes X PAs until you can reasonably draw any conclusions from it. Yeah good point, it's highly doubtful he'd go from low teens to 30% long term...just knew it was something that became somewhat meaningful quicker than other rate stats.

JAKE

Isn't that the one that stabilizes pretty quickly too, unfortunately? It's totally blown up from his MILB numbers, and you'd think it would settle down eventually (probably at the expense of some power, but still).

I probably missed his name being mentioned at some point, but does Zach Duke interest anyone here? He doesn't have much in the way of splits (lefties have been way better against him this year, but it was flipped last year). Nothing fancy, but he's cheap.

That's a fair point. It's very important for us to get our record this season against them to 2-4. That will show them. (Assuming no sarcasm. If it was, just pretend this was directed to Rondon Fan)

We swept the Mets in the regular season last year. Correct, and then the playoffs turned the tide as their starters shut us down. So this tide....it can turn at any time? But this particular game is important? Until the next time they turn the tide back? Should we wait until the playoffs to turn the tide then?

We swept the Mets in the regular season last year.

Hahaha Jesse Rogers decides to take a stand against exit velocity for some stupid, terrible reason. [tweet] [/tweet]

Jav KB Rizz Will Addy Caesar AA Gramps Jon

http://media3.popsugar-assets.com/files/2013/03/10/5/192/1922283/46eb120ab5be9609_516831-screenshot_lrg_39/i/Anchorman.png

Just as you probably have to bump up Reddick's ROS projections for getting out of Oakland, you have to significantly discount CarGo's numbers for leaving Colorado. Thankfully (for the purposes of this exercise only) they all suck at defense, so nothing to really compare there. Edit: Only about 4 posts late, so perfect timing.

The only way I can justify giving up anything of value for an offensive player not in the Stanton range is if it gets to the point where we think our chances of making the playoffs is in doubt, and therefore an incremental improvement could add value over 60-70 games. Otherwise we're talking about 15-20 games. I don't think we're there yet, and neither does Fangraphs or I'd assume any of the advanced projections that have taken into account what we've done over the last 90 games (and last year, etc). If they want to add a starter to protect against injury, or add a frontline starter to take game 3 or 4 and stick around for a while...absolutely. The dropoff from our five starters to anyone in the minors is steep. Same thing for a top bullpen arm, as those (maybe just anecdotally) seem to play a bigger role in the playoffs and I think that area is a genuine concern going forward. But the offense has been elite, and there's no reason to think it won't remain that way. As a side note, is there any chance that if Contreras keeps doing what he's doing for another 6 weeks or so that we just DFA Montero and eat the contract? That extra roster spot could be big in determining trades and figuring out the playoff roster.

Man Jake going 8 or even 9 here to hold this lead would be a fantastic confidence booster for the second half and beyond. Given Duke's article about his struggles, I feel like a lot of the issue has to be mental. Finish strong Jake...end it on an X-Pac backwards K

Mostly following along here and on Twitter, so descriptions of the key plays (which is probably an oxymoron in a 6-0 game, or really any game against the reds) would be much appreciated.

Just do rizzos stance and wait until it hits you

Agreed...thought his ceiling was Szczur. Who knows if he can keep this up, but pretty encouraging to see what he's done so far. In a similar note, I keep having to remind myself that Ian Happ was a top 10 draft pick and we should be legitimately excited about what he's doing in right now (already up to AA!). I associate him with the 'good times' and just assume he's either a late first round pick or not even a first rounder at all. I mentioned in another thread how as long as we had 35 year old Ben Zobrist playing second, we had the ability to upgrade our offense. The solution to that might be internal too. Theo, man...

Struggled early, but his minor league numbers (328/409/508 in AAA this year) and pedigree (13th overall in 2011) indicate he's probably going to be pretty decent. And by that I mean he'll start for them and wouldn't sniff our startling lineup.

Coghlan has struck out in 1/3 of his PA and has a 69% contact rate with the Cubs Nice.

It would be different in a vaccuum, but then you consider that the Cubs infield is so loaded that they're having trouble fitting in a 12 UZR/150 Bryant at third. Then they've got Heyward in either right or center. So you could make a crazy trade for a Machado or Arenado but ten you're just throwing away Javy and putting Bryant permanently in the OF. So to me you're pretty much talking about trading or an outfielder or starting pitcher or doing the seeya Javy, move Bryant thing. There aren't many pitchers I'd even consider trading Schwarber's 5 years of control for, and then you'd need a better package player in a corner outfielder r center fielder. If you think Schwarber is a top 10 hitter (I do) that doesn't leave many guys left. If he can no longer play LF that changes things markedly but I'd roll the dice. That is true, the composition of the current Cubs roster makes actually trading Schwarber for something worthwhile harder. He's too good to be sent for a reliever headline, there aren't a lot of SP currently available that match up well, and trading him for another position player is really difficult to justify given the offensive talent all over the field already. Altuve was the first obvious one that stood out to me. I love Russell, but give me Seager or Correa, probably Lindor, and Bogaerts is quickly putting himself into that category too. As long we have 37 year old Ben Zobrist as a starting middle infielder and Baez penciled in as a super sub, you could probably upgrade the middle infield if your stated goal is to make the playoffs every year. I love Schwarber irrationally and rationally. But I don't reasonably expect anything more than what we got last year. And according to FG, 150 games of that is 4.1 WAR. It's great, but it's not untouchable great.