Regular Show

In the playoffs I think want Hamels, Hendricks, and then a bullpen game w/ Jesse Chavez as the opener. That's my playoff rotation. Yes, I want Lester and Q being used as relievers. I'm totally serious.

From an article on theathletic.com: Really Maddon? You couldn't think of a better way to describe whatever point you were trying to make?

Chili can stay, Kintzler can go. Most of the moves the Cubs have made recently have been excellent, but getting Kintzler was dumb.

I really liked his stance in college w/ the wide base and legs further apart. It changed when he got to the Pros. He crouches now in his stance and isn't as wide in his base. Bryant claims he crouches so that he can get to those low pitches at the bottom of the strike zone, but I don't know if it's ideal. Stance in college:

Damn. 14th inning just ended. So when will a position player come in to pitch? I'd love to see Sean Rodriguez come in to pitch, give up the winning run and then proceed to beat up another Gatorade cooler afterwards lol. EDIT: Nevermind. Rodriguez was already used as a PH earlier and struck out. He really sucks this year (.162/.275/.311).

Yup. Next year will be really interesting with Abbott, Lange, Thompson, and Steele all pitching at AA. Plus a healthy Alzolay, Robinson, Rucker, Swarmer, and Underwood will all be pitching at AAA. The Cubs will definitely have better options when we need a callup/spot starter.

Well, the Reds should've traded him when they had the chance back in July. They also should have sold high on Scooter Gennett.

The first comment is by a BFIB mentioning Kolton Wong. I pray we rip their hearts out in that last series. [tweet] [/tweet] BFIB are just jealous. They know Baez is far superior.

[tweet] [/tweet] [tweet] [/tweet] I wrote a little while ago about picking up Hamel's option at the end of the year and then flipping him + cash to SD for a nice prospect in the offseason. Yeah, horsefeathers that... I think we have to bring him back now, but I wonder if we can negotiate a better deal than the $20 mil option. Texas is on the hook for the $6 mil buyout. I think the Cubs should talk to Hamels and his agent about bringing him back at a lower amount (let's say $12 mil) plus include an option for 2020. That option would include a $2 mil buyout if we declined it. 2019 salary: $12 mil for 2019 season + $6 mil buyout (from Tex) + $2 mil buyout for 2020 option = $20 mil (the exact same amount) 2020 option: $16 mil option (you could make this a vesting option if he reaches enough innings) You could also include bonuses for making the All-Star game, finishing in the top 10 in Cy Young voting, reaching certain innings thresholds, etc. Not sure how much the option for 2020 should be, but I think $16 mil would be a fair amount. I'm positive Hamels wants to come back and that a deal like this is possible.

"Dubbed the swiss army knife..." Who calls him that? I wanna say maybe Maddon has said that about Baez at some point? Not sure. I mean you can play him at every position in the infield and he'll be above-average, but I wouldn't call him a "Swiss Army Knife". A young Ben Zobrist is more fitting for that term.

[tweet]https://twitter.com/DrunkRizz44/status/1032793448821207040[/tweet] [tweet] [/tweet] [tweet] [/tweet] Last video is really good.

As a UVA fan, I'm obviously biased, but I am really curious if he can bounce back. His abbreiviated stint against South Carolina in 2011 in the tournament was as good a performance as I've seen, considering the circumstances (he was vomiting between innings). That wasn't a bad South Carolina team ... they won their 2nd title after-all ... had Jackie Bradley Jr., Evan Marzili, Christian Walker in that lineup. Hultzen mowed them down. I believe it was something like ... 25 pitches to strike out 6-7 guys? It was something insane. Yes, Cole and Bauer had higher ceilings, but there was a very legitimate case for Hultzen to go superbly high that year (although to be fair, I was stunned when he went 2). His stuff was that good, but as he's said in interviews, after getting to the pros, he lost the discipline and structure of college, and started feeling pressure and started messing with his delivery. Certainly, the expectations should be zero ... but if he finds anything close to his old form ... that's still a good arm. I remember reading an article at the beginning of the year on theathletic about how his mechanics were really poor in college and that he was throwing across his body (not always a bad thing btw). I don't recall watching him in college, but UVA has a bad history with pitchers. I think he's changed his mechanics from what it was when he was younger. I believe he said his old delivery put a lot of stress on his shoulder and that he didn't incorporate his lower half enough? I'll have to go back and find it... I hope he can make it all the way back because it'd be a really good story and we could use a decent lefty in the BP next year. Duensing and Wilson need to go. I don't fully trust Rosario, but he has decent stuff. Not sure if we're going after Miller or Britton. More potential options all the better. EDIT: So I found the article. Pretty good read overall: https://theathletic.com/296474/2018/04/02/gammons-danny-hultzen-the-no-2-pick-in-the-great-2011-draft-isnt-giving-up-just-yet/

We all knew the league was going to adjust to him and that a slump was coming. I'm still really high on Bote and think he'll adjust back. He is a little too agressive in the batter's box right now.

Any reports on his velocity? I hope he's reaching the low-90's. I'm rooting for him.

[tweet] [/tweet] [tweet] [/tweet] [tweet] [/tweet] [tweet] [/tweet] [tweet] [/tweet]

You should probably attribute that to Eric Longenhagen of Fangraphs. It looks like your scouting report right now lol. I like Matt Swarmer and think he could become a useful reliever.

I still say he doesn't get moved. They certainly aren't getting a good prospect back for him.

Are you saying it's not a good sign because he's far away? Yeah. The closest impact pitcher (after AA) in our system is so far away is not a good sign. I guess that means we're probably trading someone from the big league team to get that young impact cost-controlled starter. EDIT: It also means the Cubs scouting department didn't do a great job in the 2017 draft when they specifically focused on pitching. Maybe Lange and Abbott still have a chance of developing into that "impact" category, but the chances are not looking good right now.

So outside of Adbert Alzolay, I think Marquez is the best pitching prospect in our system. That's not a good sign. I think the earliest his ETA for reaching the big league team is late 2020 and that's being super optimistic.

https://deadspin.com/maybe-the-nationals-really-are-as-much-of-a-mess-as-tha-1828466913 http://media.tumblr.com/8b2a4c176f6d977383ca115d986aade4/tumblr_inline_ne2o45CWAm1r79k32.gif

If he was claimed by the Cubs then the Nationals would immediately pull him back. We aren't getting someone that good, but I do know the Cubs are looking. Seems like a fake rumor to me.

We all the know the password would be Boston-centric like " Nomahwasoverrated" or "BigPapidarealMVP" or something like that...

Cubs fandom is very large and yes, we have some racist fans unfortunately. I feel comfortable saying it's a minority and not a very vocal group. Some African-American players have experienced racism here (which sucks). Still, from my interactions and viewing content online and meeting fans I'm very confident we have the moral high ground over Cardinals fans. You could probably trace it to socioeconomic factors, overall education levels and the rural/urban split between the two fanbases if you want to do a deep dive/thorough study. Also, the differences in religious affiliation and I bet most Cards fans identify as Evangelical Christian, which I don't even want to start talking about here... I really can't say it's a minority for the other fanbase. St. Louis and the surrounding area is very racist and open Trump country. If anything, it might be getting worse down there.

Damn. I was just about to post this lol.

I watched people on this forum make gay jokes for years. There are great and terrible fans for all teams. Bader is an excitingly young player that is fun to watch right now. I don’t think any reasonable fan expects him to be much more than he is right now. He’s not Mike Trout. Weird. I've been a part of this forum for a little over 2 years now and I don't recall seeing a post from this guy... Are you seriously A.) A Cardinals fan who posts on this site? B.) Defending that terrible fanbase in all their MAGA-loving ways C.) And no one was talking about the reasonable fans. We were pointing out the stupid "highlight" video, that joke of an article that's now been deleted and the many dumb comments on Twitter. I don't know why you brought that up. No horsefeathers, he's not the next Mike Trout. PS -- I grew up in Southern Illinois so I'm very familiar with Cards fans and I've been to St. Louis plenty of times. I'm very comfortable describing their fanbase as being overwhelmingly White, very Christian and very racist (sometimes they hide it and mention "cultural values" or something like that). Now, I honestly don't know if it's the MOST racist fanbase in professional sports here in NA, but it's definitely up there.