Bertz

For sure, there's a good chicken/egg type question about the Cubs pitching dev. I was looking at some of the recent draft classes and the slot values of the pitchers they took and it felt pretty good on a rate/efficiency basis? But is that a positive sign they should scale that out, or a scary sign that even when being pretty choosy and deliberate with their opportunities they're not completely crushing it? There's also the Zombro of it all, decent argument that we still don't know, good or bad, how the team is at developing minor league pitching since most guys in the org were acquired and developed either under Breslow or in the Breslow/Zombro interim.

Greene is awesome but was clearly rusty his first outing. Hopefully it takes one more outing before he finds his footing. We tend to either whoop his ass or he whoops ours, not a lot of 5 IP 2ER type of outings.

Yeah each of those guys in isolation I was like "okay yeah fair enough I get it". But I think you've gotta get at least one college SP in these top 3 picks. There's usually a bit more supply than demand on HS kids but if you wait til after pick 100 to grab a college arm you're guys with at least one major limitation I'm okay going under slot for a bat at 23, we just can't keep punting on pitching. Like I mentioned above if you dont take a college SP with one of those top 3 picks you're probably not getting a really good one. I think, considering the extra comp pick, we need to leave this draft with 4 pitchers who are unequivocally in our top 30, plus the usual assortment Coppola/Jerzembeck types who have plenty of upside but just as many warts. And especially if we're cutting a deal at 23 I want something like the 2026 equivalent of Jaxon Wiggins and the 2026 equivalent of Kaleb Wing as part of our haul. Wings are easy to get in the middle rounds if you've got extra cash to burn but college SPs get picked over fast.

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7435150/2026/07/10/mlb-draft-final-mock-draft-grady-emerson-vahn-lackey-roch-cholowsky/?source=user_shared_article&unlocked_article_code=1.wlA.f2Uz.JQSXy1NIei7y&smid=ta-android-share KLaw's last mock still has the Cubs taking Rose, but also seconds Hughes as a fit

If thia team doesn't take a pitcher with one of their top 3 picks I will turn into the shocker I swear (Willits is actually a pretty fun 3rd/4th rounder though tbh)

Coming into tonight had a 128 wRC+ and 7 dongs since June 5th I really wonder if he was a bit hobbled in April/May. Some team with nothing going on at 1B should take a flyer. Arizona for Ginkel?

Aaron. Bummer is not pitching well, but he's sitting around 92 which is honestly probably more important.

The Cespedes BBQ guys are not the most venerable draft experts, but they're good writers and are pretty keyed in on college BB so they've got some perspective. Feels like especially if you're jumping in at the 11th hour this would be the writeup I'd personally recommend

I'm going to need Conrad and this new Jose Silva character in the lineup together please and thank you I see Derik Alcantara is back too, curious if there's any improvement there that predicated that. Because it's definitely not popping on his ACL slash line

Ummm....I think I love this idea? 1. There are very few bats that upgrade this lineup meaningfully enough to be noticeable without just robbing Peter to pay Paul on defense, but Trout threads that needle 2. The outfield is in an awkward spot this winter where it *needs* a starter but you don't want to block our higher end prospects in '28 and beyond with just a guy. Mike Trout will either be an impact player on the field or out of the way in the infirmary 3. Trout's contract is bad but not completely underwater, so you defray the cost of Detmers significantly but this shouldn't be an albatross we're taking on 4. It's Mike horsefeathering Trout! I had recently started thinking avout Byron Buxton with similar rationale in mind but I like this a lot more.

Thornton doing what he's done with that strikeout rate is completely unsustainable, full stop. You would need a groundball rate probably north of 70% to get away with those K/BB numbers on a consistent basis. I think if you want some signs of optimism and a hint as to why Counsell's given him more leash than you'd think, I think it comes down to two things: 1. He's probably getting bad luck on the strikeout front. His contact, chase, and first strike rates are all pretty average. He should almost certainly have a strikeout rate over 20% rather than the 12% hes stuck on. I don't know that it totally cancels out the BABIP luck but it certainly undercuts it significantly 2. The stuff is ticking up as the season goes along. Over the last month or so his velo is now sitting north of 95 consistently and both stuff metrics are arrow up accordingly. Now these numbers don't indicate some secret stuff-monster, but they do paint the picture of a fairly generic middle reliever. And given the nature of the injury he's coming back from I think it's reasonable to think the more recent vintage of Thornton is real, and maybe there's even a bit more in the tank as he re-adds strength He's not great or anything, but I'm no longer fearing the worst when he comes in. I suspect he does not survive the roster crunch over the next month, but he's fine to run out there in the meantime.

I'm curious if this was Rea's last outing in the rotation. Taillon’s slated to return the first turn through after the break. Assad and Rea aren't that different from each other true talent wise, but Assad is pitching much better than Rea lately (even if he's not actually pitching well).

LMG can rejoin Tenn after the ASB and to free up space Beck can make his way to Iowa

I assumed with him playing yesterday it was going to be another week and they wanted him to string a few more back-to-backs together Yay!

Aside from hitting well at the cape Robbins doesn't feel like this FO's type of guy. They like athletes and they like the hit tool.

It's just three starts and he has a lengthy track record of mediocrity but Kremer has been kind of fantastic these first three starts off the IL?

Yeah as I resign myself to going bat in the 1st round I'm zeroing in on Gracia first and Rose second. Gracia seems like the "why is he still available, you all are overthinking this" guy in this draft. And Kantrovitz has been pretty good about just taking that guy when he's available. Rose seems to be pretty clearly the best pure bat?

I know it's the SEC but a 20% K-rate in college is scary. And having his K's significantly outpace his walks isn't much better. 13% BB / 20% K is good for pro ball. but anecdotally most of the big time college bats have a sub 15% K rate and even or better K/BB ratios. Like Nick Kurtz has pretty much bottom of the scale contact skill and top of the scale power, and he K'd 16% of the time his draft year (and BB'd 30% lol). If we go bat go Rose / Gracia / Strosnider IMO

Saw this on Reddit: The White Sox and Cardinals both have the same 47-43 record. The Cardinals are two games out of a playoff spot, the White Sox are currently in line for a bye The AL is so washed this year, what the horsefeathers

Man I can't wait to see him at Myrtle next year

Random thought I just had: the Cubs should buy low on Freddy Peralta and then turn around and buy high on Mason Miller Freddy Peralta is probably fine, but even if he's not he's been good for one time through the batting order this year before the wheels come off. Ditto Edward Cabrera. David Peterson has historically been a guy who, even when things aren't going the best, is good the first time through. Ditto Colin Rea. Ben Brown can, at minimum, presumably make it back at a lower volume role this year. Ditto Justin Steele. Jaxon Wiggins would absolutely eat for 2-3 innings at a time. Etc. Etc. There is a good chance you end up in a good spot with the rotation. It obviously won't be all sunshine and rainbows with the SPs going forward, but between Peralta / Boyd / Shota / Cabrera / Brown you probably end up with three guys throwing well as SPs heading into October. And if not? Embrace chaos and just bullpen your way to the promised land. Combine half a dozen multi inning relievers from the list above with half a dozen typical short relievers (Miller, Palencia, Webb for leverage; Rolison, Thielbar, Ferguson for matchup work) and just let Craig and Tommy cook. It's 2026 you're probably not counting on more than 4-5 innings from any SP in the playoffs anyway. Just lean into it.

It was pure smoke and mirrors early on but the last month or so I think he's actually looked okay. Given the injury he's coming back from I'm hoping he keeps trending up as he continues to get stronger and knock off rust.

He wasn't a big money guy, right? Still a 19 year old catcher hitting the way he has so far across Mesa and Myetle has to get your antenna up.

I would do terrible things for Jose Escobar's Statcast data. I've gotta know how much of this is real and how much is simply BABIP