Matthew Trueblood

Image courtesy of © Patrick Gorski-Imagn Images If the smoke doesn't clear and the mirrors don't break for just another week or so, Drew Pomeranz and Chris Flexen will stand alone in Cubs history. Even if their magic can't keep up any longer, though, they've already left a mark in the team's history books. Since 1975, the three longest scoreless streaks to begin a Cubs career by a relief pitcher are: Wade Davis, 2017: 17 1/3 innings Flexen, 2025: 16 1/3 innings Pomeranz, 2025: 14 2/3 innings Even if you're willing to go back five decades or more, there are just a few instances of a newcomer to the Cubs relief corps going longer before allowing their first run: Dick Selma (18 2/3 innings, 1969), Ted Abernathy (18 innings, 1965) and Jack Aker (18 innings, 1972). It's stunning that both Flexen (signed to a minor-league deal in February, after spring training began and Javier Assad's oblique strain first set back the rotation) and Pomeranz (picked up in a cash deal with Seattle on April 21) are even on the roster, let alone 31 innings into the project of boosting the bullpen without allowing an earned run. They're third and eighth on the team in win probability added (WPA) for pitchers, with a combined 1.2 that outstrips any individual Cubs hurler. (Shota Imanaga and Jameson Taillon are tied with 1.0 WPA apiece; they're the only ones with a better figure than Pomeranz's 0.8 so far this year.) Flexen has been used exclusively in low-leverage situations, save one appearance in which he was asked to absorb extra innings against the Rockies. Yet, he's performed perfectly, and the Cubs are 5-4 in games in which he pitches. (They even won that game against Colorado, when he allowed just one unearned run (the automatic runner) in two frames.) Pomeranz has a handful of high-leverage appearances, but has mostly been used to soak up middle relief work, too. Yet, the team is 9-7 when he pitches, too. It takes a special season for even one pitcher to show up and have such a long streak without giving up a run. That this year's team has two such guys is almost unfathomable. Flexen, like fellow scrap-heap signing Brad Keller, was a starter just last year. Pomeranz is appearing for the first time in the big leagues since 2021, and he didn't add two miles per hour or a new pitch. In fact, his stuff is down a tick, just as you'd guess after four years, and he still just throws a fastball and an overhand curve. At least Pomeranz has always had bat-missing stuff, with the fastball and curve stretching hitters' zone vertically and playing off each other so well that his strikeout rate of 28.3% is roughly in line with his career norms as a reliever. It's still hard to figure out how his walk rate is just 5.7%, and he's giving up a bunch of hard contact in the air, but he can strike people out. Flexen has a wide arsenal, and has been willing to deploy it even in a relief role, but his fastball is one of the fattest pitches in baseball. He should be getting hit way harder than he is, especially given his lousy 16.7% strikeout rate. Yet, there they both are. This isn't sustainable. The Cubs will need reinforcements for the relief corps, and it's unlikely that either Pomeranz or Flexen (let alone both) make a playoff roster for this team. It doesn't matter. Just by showing up and pitching as well as they already have, they've given the team a big boost. From here, a .500 record would get the Cubs into the postseason, and it might well win them the NL Central. That won't be their goal, of course, but in the long season, it's hugely valuable to work ahead. Flexen and Pomeranz have helped them get about a week ahead of schedule, from a wins perspective. If they crash out from here, it won't even matter much. They're still not being truly relied upon. The workload they've each taken on and the scoreless innings they've given while the team chipped away at early deficits or finished off blowout wins have already provided an advantage that can't be easily erased. Somehow, without missing many bats and with stuff that should be getting hit pretty hard, Flexen and Pomeranz have become symbols of the ways this Cubs team is soaring beyond its recent foibles and ensconcing itself in the top echelon of the league. View full article

Image courtesy of © Brad Mills-Imagn Images Often, in life, we encounter moments when there's a real problem afoot. We have an issue, affecting ourselves and/or people we care about deeply. Alas, we can't bear to admit the nature or the scope of that problem to ourselves. It's too dangerous. Maybe that problem is so inextricably tied to a relationship we value that we know that relationship would need to end in order for the problem to be solved. Maybe the problem is so all-consuming that if we fully examined it, we would never be able to face it and solve it. We have to shrink or distract from it, just to make it manageable or to direct our energy in more helpful directions. I think that's what you're doing right now, Cubs fans. I hear a somewhat baffling amount of talk about starting Michael Busch at first base even when the opponent schedules a left-handed starting pitcher, and I guess I vaguely understand why you're saying the same thing so often—but I also think you're deflecting a little bit. I think that, in a season in which the Cubs are a happy team with vibes as good as their 40-25 record, you might just want to rock the boat as little as possible, and this seems the right way. But here's the thing: What you really want is for Justin Turner to start actually hitting, or to be shown the door. Turner, 40, is hitting a decrepit .211/.302/.267, and it's hard to watch a slow-footed, defensively marginal first baseman hit that miserably. (It's a much more tolerable .267/.321/.370 since May 1, but for now, let's pretend Turner is actually as bad as his overall line looks.) What the Cubs need is a right-handed first baseman who hits more like .270/.340/.420, or so, as long as they're protected from righty hurlers. What they need is a stronger bench, overall. What they do not need—what no one, least of all Busch, needs—is more Michael Busch against left-handed pitchers. Some fans have pointed to his sparkling overall line this year (.276/.374/.515) as evidence that he's ready to play every day, regardless of the handedness of opposing hurlers. In so doing, though, they overlook two key factors: Busch has enjoyed the platoon advantage in 85.9% of his plate appearances this year, up from 82.4% last year; and He's a .229/.306/.328 career hitter against lefties, and this year, those numbers are a nightmarish .148/.281/.185. Last season, Busch did have relatively small platoon splits, for a lefty batter. However, he was leaving some value on the table against right-handed hurlers by constructing a swing and approach that worked against both types of pitcher. This year, he's gotten much better against righties, at the same time getting worse against lefties. Some of that is rooted in concrete adjustments. As Busch has modified his swing to cover a hole up and away, he's become a bit more susceptible to the ball down and in. He's moved slightly closer to the plate and slightly closed his stance, giving him a better angle to see the ball out of the hand of a right-handed pitcher but a tougher one from lefties. He's been more pull-conscious, which tends to shape one's swing more toward hitting opposite-handed pitching. There's also a simple matter of hitters like Busch benefiting from not having to face lefties, in the way they can prepare and stay locked in against righties. Busch's swing is fairly steep, both in his tilt of the barrel into the hitting zone and the arc of that barrel relative to the ground as he passes through the majority of that zone. Hitters like that will invariably struggle against same-handed pitchers, unless they also maintain something of a secondary, separate swing—almost like a switch-hitter. Maintaining their two swings, or the two versions of their one swing, is extra work, and one thing can interfere with the other. The more different a hitter's swing against lefties and against righties must be, the harder it is to do the one at which one is better if one is also frequently forced to do the one at which they're worse. Busch benefits disproportionately from not seeing lefties. He shouldn't be installed in the lineup more often against them. Instead, the Cubs should work hard either to help Turner continue his recent improvements, or to replace him with a more reliable righty batter who can man first base. The team does need an extra ingredient against southpaws. It's just not Busch, so please, stop calling for more of him in the sauce. View full article

Image courtesy of © Rick Osentoski-Imagn Images Cade Horton induced 17 whiffs from the Tigers Sunday. He struck out six in five innings of work, and on nine swings against his ever-improving changeup, Detroit batters whiffed six times. This is no longer a dismissable fluke. Even looking purely at release point, movement and velocity differential, Horton's changeup is a plus pitch. A guy who naturally supinates (turning the hand thumb-up, the way one must do to throw a good breaking ball), Horton naturally worked his way into a power cutter as his primary fastball, and he's had good facility with a sweeper and slider (or curve; call it whichever you prefer). Usually, though, it's hard for such pitchers to find a changeup that they can also locate, and which also flummoxes hitters at the game's highest level. Instead, the changeup has looked as good as anything else in Horton's repertoire, during his short tenure with the team thus far. The six whiffs Sunday make 20 in 29 swings at the pitch since he came to the majors. He doesn't get many called strikes with it, but when hitters do swing and even manage to make contact, it's extremely weak, non-dangerous contact, anyway. When you add this kind of changeup to the fastball and sweeper that are the guts of Horton's arsenal, you've built a full-fledged ace. That's ambitious, but also true. If Horton can harness what he's already shown in his short big-league career, and continue to polish the changeup, he's going to become the type of pitcher who can throw 180 innings, strike out that number or more, and post an ERA under 3.00 in a full season. He's emerging as the kind of controllable hurler the Cubs have only dreamed of, at least since the days of Jake Arrieta and Kyle Hendricks first finding their footing in 2014. The catch, of course, is that he's not on that level quite yet. He gave up four runs against the Tigers Sunday, and part of the reason was that he didn't quite trust his changeup enough. Let's take a look at the three at-bats he had against Detroit star Riley Greene, the third of which made all the difference in the outing. In the first, Horton went after Greene very effectively. After starting him with two of those cutting fastballs down and in to go 1-1, he went with a changeup all the way across on the outside corner, earning a foul tip to get ahead. He then crowded Greene with the kind of riding, up-and-in cutter he needs to continue to have as a staple. Greene fought it off foul, but Horton had forced him to change both lanes and eye levels. When he went back to the changeup at the bottom of the zone, it froze Greene for strike three. In his second look at Horton, Greene had to deal with two more changeups right away. Horton missed outside with the first, but got Greene to chase one that had superb depth and was on the plate for the second. Again, the two were at 1-1. This time, Horton followed that with a fastball away for a called strike. Thereafter, though, he tried to finish him off with the curve (or slider), the bigger and more vertical of his breaking pitches. It hung inside, and though it tied Greene up, he fileted the pitch into left field for a single. Greene won that battle, but Horton continued to look like he had good answers even for the star lefty batter. In his third look, though, with two runners on in the fifth inning, Horton got caught in a rookie mindset amid a situation that demanded veteran savvy. Perhaps worried that he'd overexposed the changeup, he tried to bully Greene with his heater, working in the meaty part of the zone. Four pitches; four fastballs. He got ahead 0-2, but after missing away, he tried to come back inside one more time. Greene, again, didn't slam the ball, but he got an even better chunk of it this time, for a clean opposite-field single that brought home two runs. The Cubs' offense stalled out Sunday, anyway. Horton never had a chance at the win. He could have kept the affair much closer, though, had he been willing to mix things up more in that third and final confrontation with Greene. His changeup is a weapon, but if he defaults to lesser weapons in big moments because he's not yet fully dedicated to the idea that his third or fourth pitch can be a bat-missing monster, then he won't fully realize the potential the change opens up for him. Whether the change would have worked against Greene in that fifth-inning jam is almost beside the point. It was the right thing to try, at least. Horton needs to develop more faith in his sweeper and his change, to match the real efficacy of those pitches when he does throw them. If he does, he'll be the best pitcher the Cubs have by the end of this season—or, failing that, the clear co-ace, alongside Shota Imanaga. If he doesn't, he'll continue to be fun and tantalizing, but he won't be quite the frontline playoff arm the Cubs could most use. View full article

Image courtesy of © Rick Osentoski-Imagn Images Cubs slugger Seiya Suzuki has always found his power at the top of the strike zone. Since coming to the United States from NPB in 2022, Suzuki has hunted in the top half of the zone for balls he could elevate with his hard, level swing, sending line drives from gap to gap and occasionally sending a ball flying far over the wall. He has a robust .594 career slugging average in the top third of the zone. In the past, if you wanted to get Suzuki out, you pounded him away—and occasionally, you'd come down and in on him. That area wasn't quite a hole for him, but if you worked in the lower and inner thirds of the zone, he didn't have a great way to truly punish you. His best swing, on those pitches, might result in a scalded ground ball through the left side. The real danger came if you left one out over the plate, and if you elevated the ball. Suzuki was more than a mistake hitter, but to hit homers, he needed to either catch a pitcher trying to sneak one past him above the belt or capitalize when they missed, badly, with a pitch aimed down and in. Here's his weighted on-base average (wOBA) by pitch location for the first three years of his Cubs tenure. The number in that lower left box is still very good, but again, we're talking about a lot of hard-hit singles and doubles. Entering 2025, in fact, Suzuki had only hit four home runs on balls in the lower third of the zone, which were also at least the width of a baseball closer to him than the center of home plate. He already has three such home runs this year, after hitting two of them Saturday alone. You're now better off trying Suzuki up and in, though the league doesn't seem to have fully realized that yet. Certainly, the Tigers thought they had a gameplan that would work, and were sorely mistaken. In the first inning, on a 3-2 pitch, Tyler Holton tried a changeup that needed to have the zone (lest he walk Suzuki). He kept it on the bottom rail, but Suzuki obliterated it. SzRsRGVfVjBZQUhRPT1fQmxWUlZGMEhWQUVBQ0ZJQVZnQUhCVkpRQUZrTVYxZ0FDd0VGVWxKUUJnQUdCQUZR.mp4 Later in the game, Chase Lee simply threw a sweeper that didn't sweep. Again, though, this is the kind of mistake Suzuki would only have punished with a single in the past. This year, these mistakes go a very, very long way. SzRsRGVfVjBZQUhRPT1fQjFOV1VGQURWUU1BRGxFSFVnQUhCd2RVQUFCV0JRSUFVd0FGQUFJRUJWRmNBRkJU.mp4 What's fueling this? Firstly, as I wrote last week, Suzuki is tapping into more of his power this year by geting more aggressive. With earlier swing decisions, he's catching the ball out front more, and that's leading to more loft and more of a pull tendency. Those are key ingredients in the cocktail of power. Secondly, though, he's just gotten more comfortable generating his typical bat speed on pitches down in the zone. In 2023, when bat-tracking was live only for the second half (but in which year that coincided with Suzuki's renaissance at the plate and his torrid finish to the season), he had an average bat speed of 70.4 miles per hour on pitches in the lower third of the zone and below. That's well below average, especially given that he swings harder than the average hitter overall. Most batters swing as fast or faster than their total average when chasing the ball down, because it lets them extend their arms more at contact. Suzuki was a rare case of the opposite—of needing the ball to come up to put his 'A' swing on it. Last year, that number rose to 71.6 miles per hour, but the resulting attack angle of his bat didn't appreciably change. In other words, though swinging faster, Suzuki was no earlier on the ball; he was making fractionally later decisions and trying to rush his barrel to the ball. This season, though, he's at 72.0 miles per hour on swings down in the zone, and his attack angle is up from 14° to 16°, with an accompanying change in attack direction. He's catching the ball two inches farther in front of his body, which means he's gained more extension by the time he meets the ball. All that has resulted in more power in the bottom portion of the zone—especially down and in—than he'd ever been able to create before. Suzuki is now on pace 40 home runs, after three seasons in which he never hit more than 21. He's gotten more aggressive, and yes, that's eroded his walk rate, but it's also put him in a position to crush the ball—including some balls he could only have managed singles against in the past. View full article

Image courtesy of © Sam Navarro-Imagn Images Although trade season tends not to get going until after the MLB Draft (pushed back, for the last several years, to the middle of July), the Chicago Cubs have kept in touch with several teams about starting pitchers who could bolster Chicago's push toward their first true postseason berth since 2017, sources with multiple teams said this week. Among the clubs with whom Jed Hoyer's front office has had direct contact are the Atlanta Braves, Tampa Bay Rays, Arizona Diamondbacks, and Texas Rangers, in addition to more obvious sellers like the Colorado Rockies and the division-rival Pittsburgh Pirates. Miami Marlins starter Sandy Alcántara was expected to be the belle of the trade deadline ball this summer, but his difficult start to this season has slowed down the process of shopping him from the seller's side. Alcántara's stuff is only minimally down, relative to his Cy Young-caliber peak, but so far, his command (especially of secondary offerings) has not been as good as it was before he suffered a torn UCL and underwent Tommy John surgery. Location+ is a system that uses advanced modeling to grade the locations of pitchers' offerings, on a scale whereby 100 is average and higher is better. The difference from pre- to post-injury for Alcántara's slider and changeup is stark. Season Fastball Loc+ Sinker Loc+ Slider Loc+ Changeup Loc+ 2022 107 101 106 101 2023 115 102 101 104 2025 100 101 77 93 Teams can look past even a 7.89 ERA (in a 12-start sample, for a lousy team) when developing a trade target in the modern game, but Miami will try to wait until Alcántara's level of performance (and therefore, the price they can command) rises before seriously engaging in trade discussions. Nonetheless, the Cubs have repeatedly checked in on Alcántara, who's under contract through 2027 (including a team option for that year) on the extension he signed with Miami in late 2021. Chicago has plenty of space beneath the competitive-balance tax threshold for midseason acquisitions, and sources said the RIcketts family has given Hoyer the green light to use that cushion if relatively expensive players who can improve the team's chances at a deep playoff run are available. That would, for instance, ensure that the Cubs wouldn't have to give up extra prospect value in a deal for Alcántara; they wouldn't ask Miami to absorb any of the approximately $29 million still owed on that deal. The same freedom to volunteer their spending power contributed to the team's interest in Ryan McMahon, of the moribund Rockies, this spring. Colorado owes McMahon about $39 million over the two-plus seasons remaining on the extension to which they signed him in 2022. The slugging third baseman does have ugly topline numbers this year and is a superficially strange fit for a team now enjoying the resurgence of rookie Matt Shaw. However, sources said the Cubs have been open with teams about their willingness to be creative and the possibility that they'll make multiple moves in conjunction with one another between now and the end of July. In other words, McMahon (a lockdown defensive third baseman who would add another power bat to the lineup and is under contract through 2027) would come in as the team sent Nico Hoerner (whose contract runs only through next season) out in a separate deal to upgrade their pitching staff, or to replace Shaw if the team finds an unexpected high-end starter available and the deal can't get done without including Shaw. That possibility is remote, but it's interesting to note that the team has explicitly considered it. As he has across the last 18 months, Hoyer is still trying to strike a balance, both acting aggressively to make the team better in the short term and preserving some of the young talent that has brightened the longer-term outlook for the team over the last few years. The Cubs have talked to the Pirates about their available starting pitchers, and even inquired about buying low on Pittsburgh fixture and closer David Bednar, sources also said. Paul Skenes is off-limits—to everyone, right now, but especially to any team within the division. However, the Bucs are more open to moving starter Mitch Keller, to whom they have a long-term commitment, too. (They signed him to a five-year extension last spring.) It's unclear whether the Cubs are actively interested in Keller, or whether they would only pounce if his price is constrained by the money owed to him. Either way, one source with another team in the division indicated, it's much more likely that Chicago ultimately acquires veteran lefty Andrew Heaney. Pittsburgh, Colorado and Miami are all clear about their status as sellers. So are the Washington Nationals, despite their reasonably competitive start to this season. However, two league sources said Washington president of baseball operations Mike Rizzo will not entertain trade offers for MacKenzie Gore, the frontrunner for this year's NL Cy Young Award. Although the Juan Soto trade offers precedent for Rizzo trading away a team-controlled superstar two and a half years before they reached free agency, the sense both within and outside the Nationals sphere is that they can be highly competitive as soon as next year, with Gore atop their rotation. That wasn't as true when Rizzo dealt away Soto, and acquired Gore in the process. The Cubs have a better chance of engaging the Nationals about reliever Kyle Finnegan, but that kind of deal would take place much closer to the end of July. As interesting as the natural sellers are those teams currently plunged into a possible seller's space by their dreadful starts to this season, although not all of them are yet willing to think of themselves in those terms. The Cubs have been in contact with the Rangers, who have multiple veteran starting pitchers they might trade if they continue to flounder. Jacob deGrom is not going to be dealt, and Nathan Eovaldi both has a full no-trade clause and is currently on the injured list. Impending free agent Tyler Mahle, however, has only limited no-trade language in his deal. He'd be a similar acquisition to Heaney, from the Cubs' perspective: helpful, but uninspiring. If they go that route, it will be because they can acquire the hurler in question at a highly appealing price. That said, the team is not as focused on acquiring a truly top-end starter as many fans are, sources with direct knowledge of their mindset said. While they'd love to land a pitcher like Alcántara or Atlanta's Chris Sale (another member of a team not yet sure they're willing to act as sellers), the Cubs have also put out feelers about many lower-wattage, controllable arms. Before he had to undergo Tommy John surgery himself, Atlanta hurler AJ Smith-Shawver was very much on their radar. They've also monitored the availability of Rockies righty Ryan Feltner. Finally, both the Rays (33-29, but playing before tiny crowds and in a sweltering home park for the balance of the season, and always open to shifting resources, anyway) and Diamondbacks (31-31, in fourth place in the NL West and staring down the barrel of possible elbow surgery for Corbin Burnes) have multiple arms to whom the Cubs will be correctly connected in the coming weeks. Zac Gallen's regression this year has dented his market, and Arizona might ultimately prefer to hold onto him unless he gets back on track under their watch. They can extend him a qualifying offer this fall, as he hits free agency, and recuperate draft picks if he signs elsewhere. To acquire him now, a team still has to top the value of that compensation, and then some. However, Merrill Kelly is also due to become a free agent this autumn, and his literal price tag (just $4 million or so, for the balance of this year) will help Arizona move him for good value. Kelly would slot into the middle or back of the Cubs' rotation, but his style suits theirs, and he's a good bet to stay healthy and soak up innings, without making you nervous once the playoffs roll around (the way, for instance, Colin Rea does). Tampa's rotation includes multiple players who might be available, too. Zack Littell is the most obvious, a rental starter who has taken the ball consistently and maintained a sub-4.00 ERA across more than 300 innings since the Rays moved him to the rotation in July 2023. The Cubs are slightly wary of Tampa starters, who lean heavily on their secondary pitches. (No team in the league is more fastball-forward than the Cubs.) However, Littell has been a topic of conversation between the teams. So, according to one source, has been Drew Rasmussen, who can be controlled all the way through 2027 on an affordable extension he signed in January. Rasmussen, who has a fascinating history of betting on himself and of returning from a litany of injuries, is a phenomenal strike-thrower. At 29, he has a career ERA of 2.82. Because of myriad health issues, though, he's still shy of 375 career innings. Already, the 63 innings he's pitched this year are more than he's thrown in any campaign since 2022. The Cubs like his stuff profile, which includes five average or better pitches, but they might not be willing to match Tampa's asking price for a pitcher so fraught with breakdown risk. Hoyer has been forthcoming about the fact that the team will add to its pitching staff this summer. That much is not up for debate. What shape that acquisition takes, however, is still anyone's guess. There have been more active conversations between the Cubs and other teams than is typical for this time of year, but that might not translate into actual action for another month or more. When it does, it might not take the splashy form many fans are hoping for, but those options do still exist. View full article

Image courtesy of © Matt Marton-Imagn Images Rather than simply having Ben Brown start Saturday, the Cubs used Drew Pomeranz in the first inning, and had Brown come in to begin squaring off with the Reds in the second. With no starter officially announced for Colin Rea's rotation spot Thursday, expect to see an opener again. It could be Pomeranz once more, or (since he didn't see the top of the Nationals order in his appearance Tuesday night) Caleb Thielbar could take a turn. The opener has multiple benefits. The more oft-discussed one, lately, is that the starter who comes in after the opener effectively begins their day with the middle of the opposing order, rather than the top of it. Therefore, they end up seeing the middle and lower thirds of that order as their, say, 19th through 25th batters faced in the game. As we've already documented here, Craig Counsell has been assiduous in his commitment to getting length even from starters who are having a tough game, but that's much easier (and less potentially damaging) if said starter doesn't have to face the top three hitters in an opponent's lineup in the process. Brown, for instance, faced 20 batters in his (non-)start Saturday. Elly De La Cruz was the ninth and the 18th of those. Given the flow of the game, it made sense to lift Brown after six strong innings, but he could have worked seven that day without getting back to the top of the Reds order (with TJ Friedl, Santiago Espinal and De La Cruz) for a third time. Because the times-through-the-order penalty helps drive offense in the late and middle phases of a game, it's highly valuable to avoid having a backend starter face the best hitters in an opposing lineup a third time. The other, less heralded advantage the opener confers, though, is a matchup-based one. In fact, only when you can exploit platoon matchups with the strategy does it fully offset whatever inconveniences it inflicts. That's why using Pomeranz against the Reds made sense. Friedl bats left-handed, and De La Cruz is a much better hitter from the left side than he is when he turns around to bat right-handed against southpaws. Among the top hitters in the Reds' lineup, only Espinal is a danger to lefty pitchers, and that's relatively speaking; he's the worst hitter in that group anyway. The Nationals are, if anything, a more extreme proposition. With CJ Abrams, James Wood and Nathaniel Lowe as the typical top of their order and their three best hitters, they're profoundly vulnerable to a switcheroo that takes a righty out of their line of fire and forces them to face a lefty. Like Brown, Colin Rea runs into trouble against left-handed batters, especially later in games, so not having him face those three a third time and guaranteeing one matchup between those three and one of the Cubs' trio of lefty relievers is a no-brainer. Washington could shake up their lineup in reply, of course. They do typically use some platoons and move people around the batting order when a lefty starts. If they do so, however, Counsell will have other options later in the game. Rea worked behind an opener five total times in his last two seasons with the Brewers, with great results (24 2/3 innings, 6 earned runs) in those appearances. He's a good fit for the strategy, and so is the arsenal-limited Brown. Having three lefties in the pen whom Counsell can trust with at least medium-leverage work is a tremendous luxury, especially given what Rea and Brown can (and can't) do on the mound. Tuesday was the first of 26 games in 27 days for the Cubs, with some tough opponents on the schedule during that stretch. They'll hope to get Shota Imanaga back during the second half of that window, but for now, they have some juggling to do. For the first time all year, the sheer number of games and the dearth of off days will put some pressure on this pitching staff. The depth they've worked hard to assemble and the creativity of the man tasked with deploying them well will need to shine through. View full article

Image courtesy of © David Banks-Imagn Images The Cubs were quick to snatch up certain personnel for their coaching staff last fall. Quintin Berry was a priority; Craig Counsell convinced him to follow him down to Chicago from their previous collaboration in Milwaukee. So, too, were Jose Javier and Matt Talarico. Javier is the team's first-base coach and infield instructor, while Berry is their third-base coach and outfield instructor. Both Javier and Berry, however, have their hands deep in the team's baserunning, which has been a catalytic force for the league's most dynamic offense thus far. Talarico, for his part, preaches the same emphases and fundamentals of baserunning throughout the team's farm system. This was nothing short of an overhaul in the team's approach to running the bases, with special attention paid to making sure they would be as dangerous as possible when stealing bags. It's worked, in eye-popping fashion. Only the Rays and the Brewers have more steals than the Cubs' 76 so far, and even that is just because those much weaker offenses need the running game much more than the Cubs do. Chicago has been caught fewer times and enjoys a higher success rate than either of the small-market teams just ahead of them in terms of stealing bases. The Cubs are a baserunning juggernaut. Some of that is down to the new rules that govern the game, going back to 2023, of course. The running game is far more accessible and uncontrollable since the advent of the pitch timer, with its attendant limits on pitcher disengagements with the rubber. Another part is the team Jed Hoyer and his staff have cobbled together, with Pete Crow-Armstrong and Nico Hoerner as the tip of the spear and Kyle Tucker joining them in sowing chaos after the offseason trade that folded him into the mix. The final ingredient, though, is the shared and accumulated wisdom of Javier and Berry, and the way they've helped the whole crew level up. On their 90 stolen-base attempts this year, the Cubs have averaged 12.5 feet of lead distance gained from the pitcher's first move to their release of the pitch. That's good for second-best in the league, trailing only the Yankees. (That's no coincidence; both Javier and Talarico were pilfered from the Yankees specifically because they helped develop the Bombers' ability to establish bouncing, extra-length leads.) They're 25.1 feet from the base they're leaving behind by the time the hurler cuts the ball loose, second only to the Padres in that area, and with the speed and skill of the trio of Crow-Armstrong, Tucker and Hoerner, that's a head start for which opponents have no chance to make up. Here's one of the times when Hoerner didn't even get a perfect jump, but had enough margin for error to take a base, anyway, thanks to the system installed by Berry and Javier and with their tutelage on getting reads. QndvemxfVjBZQUhRPT1fVlFCWlVsTUVBd0VBQzFRTFZBQUhVQU1DQUFNSFZBSUFBbFVIQTFZRkF3RURBUVZS.mp4 Other examples are even more stark, though. Tucker specializes in catching opponents sleeping, which is something the coaches have helped the whole team spot better. Here, with two outs and Tucker already on second, the pitcher becomes inattentive. Sure, you don't want to be thrown out there, but if you get a jump like this one, there's literally zero chance of that—and by moving up, you put yourself in position to score more easily on an outfield hit or to come home on a wild pitch, passed ball or infield single. R0I2azlfWGw0TUFRPT1fVUFKU1VGd0FVbGNBRHdNRUFnQUhCdzREQUFOWFZnTUFVMXdEVWdvQkIxQmNCVk1I.mp4 The Cubs are also thoroughly ruthless with opponents if and when a pitcher uses up their two allotted unsuccessful pickoff attempts. Here's Tucker, after Sean Burke had exhausted his within one at-bat, taking off so aggressively he nearly fooled himself. a0Q5bzlfVjBZQUhRPT1fQVFkVlUxQUZWVkVBQUFNQkJRQUhBbFVIQUFBRFZGY0FWRjBDQ1ZWVVZBRUJWQVJV.mp4 The team has also broken out the double-steal frequently, perhaps more so than any other team in the league. Here, notice (by following the bouncing helmet right off the bottom edge of the shot) the humongous head start Ian Happ gets, leaving only the tougher option of throwing to try to nail the trailing runner. Double-steals are underrated offensive plays. When the opportunity arises, executing one is a great way to increase the chances of a crooked number. bmJNUTdfVjBZQUhRPT1fQjFBRUFRWlFVMUVBQ0ZZRVV3QUhWMUpVQUFNQ0IxVUFWMVZYQUFRTUJGVldBbEJY.mp4 Nor do the Cubs reserve these lessons and their value for the guys who run most often. Here's a pivotal, high-leverage steal by Michael Busch, made possible by the techniques for timing a lead and a jump that Berry and Javier have helped the whole team understand. RDFBNFhfWGw0TUFRPT1fRGdNQ1Zsd0hVd3NBWGxNR0FnQUhBZ1JSQUFCWFVBQUFDMTBFVkF0VVZBdFVCQVpW.mp4 The Cubs have not only been successful a huge share of the time, but often taken bases without drawing a throw. That's especially valuable, and a testament to what Berry and Javier have done for them. It might not seem like it matters by what margin a player is safe, but easy steals come with lower risks of injuries and leave a wider margin for error. They also require a smaller share of a player's energy, because one can let up a bit going into the bag. Racking up easy steals means frequent advancement without the tradeoffs that deter teams from seeking as many of those advancements as they could. The Cubs are the best in baseball at finding easy steals. Both offensively and defensively, Berry has been a tremendous asset for the Cubs this season. They're a talented team with some depth, but things like great defensive positioning and lots of baserunning value explain their current position better than that sheer talent does. They're more than the sum of their parts, so far, thanks in no small part to the contributions of their new coaches. View full article

Image courtesy of © Patrick Gorski-Imagn Images On Saturday, Daniel Palencia had to close out a 2-0 game for the Cubs, with the top of the Reds order coming up. If even one batter reached base, Elly De La Cruz would come to the plate representing the tying run. Palencia dispatched Matt McLain on a routine fly ball, but TJ Friedl then hit a sinking line drive to left-center field. Against a lot of defenses, that ball is a hit. In fact, Statcast estimates an .850 expected batting average for balls with that combination of exit velocity and launch angle, and if you search for batted balls like it that turned into outs, you'll mostly find balls that happened to be hit right at a fielder. Instead, of course, we got to see Pete Crow-Armstrong's skills on full display. The Cubs center fielder broke perfectly on the ball, sprinted to his right and dove, scooping the ball neatly, shin-high, as it nosed downward toward the grass. NXkyNDFfWGw0TUFRPT1fRHdaWVZ3WUJVUXNBQUFFS0FBQUhBMU5mQUFCVFdnSUFCVkpXQkFSUlZBc0hCQVpV.mp4 The only unfamiliar thing about that, by now, was that Crow-Armstrong even needed to leave his feet. This year, it has become routine to see him make dazzling plays look fairly easy. He's made five catches in nine opportunities rated by Statcast as 5-star efforts, which means that the system estimated a success rate of under 25% on the ball. No other outfielder has made even four such catches, and defending Fielding Bible Award winner for center field (and two-time defending NL Gold Glover, if you're into the inferior fielding laurels) Brenton Doyle is 0-for-11 in his chances to make such catches this year. Crow-Armstrong has caught multiple sharp liners like that one by Friedl, and stolen extra-base hits from others on longer drives that nonetheless didn't stretch his range all that far. Remarkably, Crow-Armstrong is outperforming every other outfielder in the sport, without having to fling himself belly-first onto many warning tracks or scale walls to bring back home runs. He's looked downright comfortable making plays other outfielders wouldn't even come close to making. eHk5UWtfWGw0TUFRPT1fVXdZREFWUURBRkVBQUZkWEFnQUhVQVZWQUZnQVYxUUFDbGNDVVFFSFVnQlZBZ3RX.mp4 The secret behind his success (other than a unique cocktail of talent and work ethic) is one that extends beyond Crow-Armstrong, to the Cubs' other outfielders, too. According to Sports Info Solutions, the Cubs have saved 5 runs this year based on their outfield positioning, alone. That ranks second in the majors, trailing only the Detroit Tigers. For that, Cubs fans can thank Quintin Berry, the man the team hired away from the Brewers last fall to help them tighten up both their baserunning and their outfield defense. Under Berry's stewardship, the team has become as good as anyone at putting their guys where the ball is likely to go—a small advantage rendered huge by the scope of Crow-Armstrong's talent. That liner from Friedl was hit to an unusual place; Friedl hits more of his catchable flies and liners either deeper to the gap in left-center or to right field. Thus, the Cubs had to position Kyle Tucker a bit toward the line in right field, and Crow-Armstrong was slightly offset toward right, to cover the gap in right-center. Ian Happ was well off the left-field line, the better to cut off balls hit toward the gap, but he was never going to get to this ball before it landed. In this case, in other words, there was no way for the Cubs to have wisely set up to make this catch easy. All they could do was line up to make catching it possible—and that's what they did. A similar thing happened on that long drive by Jung Hoo Lee in early May. That ball was hit well, and relatively low, to the gap, and Lee hits such balls to either side. The center fielder has to play him deep, but laterally neutral. Crow-Armstrong did, and thus, a ball that could never have been easy remained playable. Every team uses extremely detailed scouting reports and a wealth of data to position players, these days. Berry, however, is a big believer in preparing his guys by having them work throughout the spring on making plays by feel and through great communication. That way, as he later installs information-driven positioning plans, they're already accustomed to making small adjustments on the fly, based on weather, the pitcher and pitch selection, situation, and so on. You can see why that makes a difference with a player like Crow-Armstrong, who combines excellent jumps with unique athletic ability. Moving his starting point a bit more than other teams might extends his range until he can cover practically any hit a batter can manage. To see the difference, first, compare Crow-Armstrong's array of starting positions (and the corresponding Outs Above Average rating for each): to those of Doyle, the Rockies' formidable center fielder: With the privilege of being able to roam the gaps more and worry about depth a bit less (since Wrigley Field is so much more snug a center field than Coors Field has), Crow-Armstrong varies his starting places more than Doyle does. He also varies those positions more than he himself did last year, a testament to Berry's influence. As a result, we can see how his range (the lighter lines here, on this superimposed image comparing the two) exceeds that of Doyle. Crow-Armstrong can get to more stuff, because he starts in slightly more aggressive positions, closer to balls that would be at the edge of either of their ranges. The implications for this subtle expertise Berry has demonstrated run much deeper than Crow-Armstrong's individual brilliance, though. Great positioning has consistently put Seiya Suzuki closer to balls that strain his shaky capacity as an outfielder this year, resulting in some good plays turned in despite imperfect reads and reactions. RDFBTWJfWGw0TUFRPT1fQTFJRVhRWUhVQWNBV2xVQUFBQUhBbE1EQUFBTkFRSUFWd0VEVmxBQVVnQlNCVlpU.mp4 Kyle Tucker is now a markedly below-average runner and can't actively add value with his range in right field, but put him in good positions, and he can make plays on the ball. ckQ4M1BfWGw0TUFRPT1fVlZCWVVBQUJWRkFBV2djTFVnQUhWMUpYQUFOVUJsSUFCbElEVkZjQUNWWUFCZ05U.mp4 Ian Happ hits the sweet spot among the four outfielders, in that his defense has always been more sound than Suzuki's and he's a better athlete than Tucker, but he's not a range-extender like Crow-Armstrong. Good positioning allows him to make the plays that would normally be just beyond his reach, specifically because he's not especially good at the truly dazzling finish. He needs to be able to draw a bead on the ball, and the Cubs have him doing that as regularly as ever. At 30, he might win his fourth straight Gold Glove this year. QndvemxfWGw0TUFRPT1fQXdsU1VWUUFWZ0lBQ0FRTFhnQUhWRklIQUFCWFZRSUFWRmNHQndZR1VGQURWQUZV.mp4 Positioning is a subtle science. The line drive right to an outfielder is an easy way to see it in action, but sometimes, that's blind luck. By contrast, sometimes the running or even sliding catch is the sign that a team set their unit perfectly, to cover as wide a spectrum of possible hits by that particular batter as possible. The Cubs are creating ample value in the field just by being well-coached (and responsive to that coaching). Tomorrow, we'll dig into how Berry has also (with help) turned up the dials on their baserunning and the value they get therefrom. View full article

Image courtesy of © David Banks-Imagn Images Chicago Cubs right fielder Kyle Tucker slid very awkwardly into second base on a steal attempt early in Sunday's rubber match with the Cincinnati Reds. Tucker's left hand hit the dirt earlier than he intended, with threw off his balance and led to a crashing flop into the base. Whether he was trying to make an adjustment to avoid an incoming tag or just miscalculated as he launched himself downward and toward the pillow, Tucker ended up rolling over his right hand a bit, and his head bonked into the ground with an uncomfortable-looking, helmet-displacing whack. Tucker moved fluidly through the lurching one-car traffic accident, absorbing the force of the ground and rolling through it. An uneasy but depressurizing turn of his neck and a quick swim of that momentarily trapped right hand saved him from the most obvious sources of possible damage, but he still looked moderately shaken up. As he made his way back to the dugout, he seemed to shake out each hand a bit, but it was his face and head that attracted most attention thereafter. The risk there is a minor whiplash incident, leading to a concussive impact between one's head and the ground. Tucker wouldn't be the first player to suffer a concussion in exactly such a self-inflicted way, in fact. Still, he stayed in initially, and only after a fourth-inning at-bat in which he also fouled a ball off his own toe did he depart. That introduces a second source of worry, since a foul ball on which he broke his own shin cost him the second half of 2024—an injury he suffered, in fact, in the first week of June. Whatever led Tucker to be removed from the game, it doesn't appear to have been as serious as any of the above. It wouldn't be surprising to learn that the team simply lifted him for precautionary reasons, with a day off coming Monday and a four-run cushion with which to work. Still, this situation demands monitoring. If the Cubs do end up being without Tucker for any meaningful period, they'll need the rest of their key hitters to step up in major ways. We'll update this piece when more information emerges. UPDATE: According to the Cubs, Tucker was removed with a jammed right ring finger. We can safely assume that that happened somewhere in the process of that strange slide, where he landed on the right hand in a way sliding mitts aren't especially adept at absorbing. We'll wait to see whether he goes for any X-rays to check for a break, but tentatively, this reads as good news. It was an ugly play, but doesn't seem to have unduly cost Tucker or the team. View full article

Image courtesy of © Patrick Gorski-Imagn Images The baseball is alarmingly dead in the major leagues this season. If you're a Cubs fan (which seems likely, if you're reading this), you might be forgiven for not having even heard of this, but it's true. Even as Kyle Tucker, Pete Crow-Armstrong, Seiya Suzuki and Dansby Swanson have each marched out to paces for more than 30 home runs, much of the league has fought in vain to generate those very homers. In a modern game much more reliant on power as the engine of offensive value than previous iterations, it's a miniature crisis, affecting the entire league. The league's collective slugging average is a weak .394, but we don't need to depend on outcomes to tell us whether the ball has changed. At Baseball Savant, a site owned and operated by Major League Baseball itself, there's a Drag Dashboard that shows the daily average values for drag on the ball, calculated using the loss of velocity from release to home plate on four-seam fastballs—and a cursory check of it will tell you that drag is way, way up in 2025. Not even a partial season within the last 10 has matched the first two months of this year in this regard. Combining this information with some gathered in other, previous studies, we can say with some confidence that the ball is flying less well this year than at any time since at least 2014—when the league was mired in a trough of low offense, from which it wouldn't emerge until the second half of 2015. Suzuki, like a few of his Cubs teammates, does not care. He's hitting .273/.333/.569 this year, enjoying the bump from great to truly excellent at the plate. Oddly, too, he's doing it by hitting for much more power than in the past, even when the very interactions between the ball and the air would tend to deflate the value of power. Suzuki used to derive a much greater share of his value from getting on base, but just when the league is becoming less friendly to sluggers, he's leaning hard into slugging. Why is this working? It's not a swing change, per se. Suzuki has made some small changes to his stance and stride, but his swing speed and tilt are close to identical to last season's. However, we can still use the new swing-tracking data from Statcast (via the aforementioned Baseball Savant) to understand what has changed. First of all, it's safe to say that Suzuki is making his swing decision a hair earlier. That's made his decisions in the box a hair more erratic—he's chasing a bit more often, without swinging noticeably more within the zone—but it's a deliberate adjustment, with a clear intention: getting around on the ball more, to create some pull. In 2023, when he squared the ball up (meaning, in this case, when he got a clean enough piece of the ball that his exit velocity was at least 80% of the possible maximum, given his swing speed and the velocity of the pitch he was hitting), Suzuki averaged a 4° attack angle, and a 1° attack direction toward the opposite field. That's not as productive a set of numbers as you'd like, though it's far from unusual. Batters are most likely to meet the ball most squarely when they time it such that their swing has just begun to work uphill before contact. That's often relatively deep in the hitting zone, and can often be before the hitter has gotten their barrel past the point of perpendicularity to the incoming pitch. You'd love to see a slightly steeper attack angle, when we preselect for balls met well like this, to maximize a hitter's chances to hit for power. Most of the time, though, guys who meet their squared-up balls at a steep angle are more prone to whiffs or ugly mishits. A flatter attack angle means the hitter had a bit of margin for error in their approach. Meanwhile, staying behind the ball carries the same implications. The biggest consolation, in Suzuki's case, was his average swing speed on those balls, over 73 miles per hour. A swing that fast squaring up the ball usually means good things, even if a lot of those good things are hard singles. In 2024, Suzuki slightly increased that attack angle on squared-up balls, to 6°, and his attack direction swung to 1° to the pull side. Those are significant changes, telling us he was starting to time his best swings to find the ball a bit farther out in front of himself. His swing speed stayed essentially the same, and thus, his average exit velocity on squared-up balls (99 mph) did, too, but his average launch angle on those batted balls rose from 12° to 16°, which counts for something. This season, though, that adjustment has reached a new gear. Suzuki's attack angle is up to 7°, on a swing with no more or less generalized steepness than in the past. He's not swinging harder, but by catching it a bit farther in front (34 inches in front of his center of mass, up from 32.3 last year and 30.7 in 2023), Suzuki is getting through the hitting zone a bit farther before running into the ball. The result is another tick of exit velocity (99.7 mph), a hair more lift (17° launch angle), and most importantly, the newfound proclivity to pull the ball. His pull rate on squared-up batted balls was 36.5% in 2023 and 38.5% in 2024. This year, that figure is 43.4%. That's why, suddenly, his power is on full display. Back in March, I wrote a bit about the unfortunate pattern that was Suzuki's tendency to hit his hardest and best batted balls to center field, especially in the air. He's fixed that this season. The percentage of his batted balls grading out as Pulled AIR balls, according to Statcast, is up from 15% the last two years to 25.5% in 2025. By being a bit earlier, even though he's not swinging measurably faster or with a more pronounced uppercut, Suzuki is finally making the most of his power. Yes, he can drive it with authority to all fields, but in the majors, most power utility has to be found to one's pull field. It's just not possible to beat the pitchers and defenders teams boast these days without thinking that way. Now, Suzuki is doing just that. The ball might not be carrying as far as it did a few years ago, but Suzuki is one exemplar of the ways the Cubs have dedicated themselves to not being dependent on the ball. They're hammering it, in the air and to the pull field, where even a bit of extra drag can't hold them back. We've never been better able to see that process at work. View full article

Image courtesy of © David Banks-Imagn Images Since his blowup in Miami 10 days ago, Daniel Palencia has locked things down at the back ends of games. He collected his fourth save Wednesday night, and with each chance to secure a save, he looks a bit more confident—a bit more secure. Palencia seemed a bit too tightly wound for high-leverage work at times over his first two seasons, but he's settling into a role that typically defies settling. Palencia still cuts loose with his roaring exuberance once he records the final out, but until then, he seems to have figured out how to slow things down and keep his heart rate under control. The result has been better control, and with better control, Palencia could emerge as an irrefutable relief ace. That's because his fastball shape, which is becoming more consistent this season, is as rare as his velocity. Now that he's learning to pump it into the zone, he's blossoming into a unicorn. In the Statcast era, no pitcher has had quite the combination of movement and velocity Palencia is demonstrating, and it seems likely that no one's thrown quite this type of fastball, ever. Palencia's four-seamer is averaging 15.9 inches of induced vertical break (IVB) and 12.6 inches of arm-side run this year. With a slightly lower arm slot, he's found more of that horizontal movement, without giving up any significant amount of ride. Vertically speaking, it's a pretty flat fastball, but the run on the pitch is much greater than most fastballs, especially those that manage to maintain average vertical movement. Equally importantly, though, of course, is the fact that he throws the pitch nearly 100 miles per hour, with above-average extension, to boot. A triple-digit heater with that kind of run overpowers hitters. It's almost impossible to catch up to, let alone to hit while working uphill at all. The Cubs like fastballs that can do that. Justin Steele, Porter Hodge and Cade Horton all throw cut-ride fastballs that work in on the hands of opposite-handed batters and away from same-handed ones, with much more lateral than vertical movement. Palencia's is just the mirror image of theirs. It runs in on same-handed batters and away from opposite-handed ones, but unlike most hard pitches with plus run in that direction (the lion's share of which are sinkers), it rides like a four-seamer. That's why Palencia can induce similarly flattened, late swings on his heater to the ones Hodge, Horton, Steele and Brad Keller have drawn. Living on either end of this graph is better than being in the middle. Caleb Thielbar's fastball has elite vertical movement, but little horizontal wiggle. Hitters can get around on his 92-mph heat, but are usually underneath it. Palencia, Keller, Hodge, Steele and Horton force hitters to swing late and flat, thanks to that great horizontal movement. It's when a four-seamer moves more predictably that hitters tend to square it up best. The only pitcher whose fastball has held a shape similar to Palencia's current one at a velocity north of 97 miles per hour is the Reds' Hunter Greene, and even he rarely gets so much horizontal movement on the offering. In effect, Palencia throws a fastball no one else in the majors has, because he can get up to 102 mph and still has such lively movement. Palencia's slider is the pitch that will consistently miss more bats for Palencia, and because hitters have to respect his velocity so much, they also don't hit the ball hard against it. His slider is the out pitch in his arsenal, in the long term. Nonetheless, after making that change to his slot and getting himself a hair more under control on the mound, Palencia's fastball has gone to a new level. It's a monster of a pitch, and armed with three offerings that work, he's become something better than the highest-upside pitcher in the Chicago bullpen: the best one. View full article

Image courtesy of © Benny Sieu-Imagn Images It took a combination of good things for Kyle Tucker to race all the way around and notch that first tally for the Cubs. With one out in the bottom of the first, the first responsibility of the runner there is to make sure the ball is going to get down. Tucker made an immediate read. To give himself a good chance of getting the green light from Quintin Berry at third base, though, Tucker also had to be confident in that read and keep running, rather than freezing to watch as the line drive sailed toward the fence. He did. Finally, with his acceleration uninterrupted and the ball safely down, the race was on. Tucker's final challenges were to cut the bag smoothly and sharply at third, and to maintain his pace all the way to the plate. He did so, and easily beat the relay toward home. Seiya Suzuki had his RBI, and the Cubs had most of what they'd need for a fourth straight win and a sweep of the Rockies. That was the first time Tucker had actually been on first when a double was hit, all year, and he scored. He's been on second for singles 10 times, and scored six. He's not excelling at taking the extra base on balls in play, because he doesn't have high-end speed. However, he hasn't made an out on the bases all year, because when he does go, it's after making a strong read and it comes with excellent efficiency of movement. Tucker also has 15 stolen bases, in 15 tries. He's been all over the place for the Cubs, after reaching base—and, of course, he's practically always on base, with a .388 on-base percentage. He's notched four triples, too, and one of his nine doubles required him to get out of the box quickly and think double right away. Despite being a markedly below-average runner, Tucker adds a lot of value with his legs. It's a matter of great instincts and technique, and a bit of opportunism. He's on pace for more than 40 steals. He hasn't been caught stealing since Sept. 11, 2023, which was 28 thefts ago. As a team, the Cubs rank third in baseball with 72 steals, trailing only the Rays (76) and Brewers (74). They're 16 ahead of the Pirates, who rank fourth in the league, and they've been caught fewer times than anyone else in the top seven. Tucker is at the forefront of their plan, which is to keep pressure on opponents at all times. He takes 4.5 seconds to get from the left-handed batter's box to first base, and he's slow enough to be persistently stretched thin as a right fielder. When action is afoot, though, Tucker is making plays, and not just when it's his turn to swing the bat. View full article

Image courtesy of © Gregory Fisher-Imagn Images It's been a while since Génesis Cabrera flashed the relief ace upside that made him a hot commodity for a year or two around the time of the pandemic. Part of the trade that sent Tommy Pham to the Rays, Cabrera, 28, spent a few years as part of a fearsome but erratic knot of leverage relievers in a chaotic Cardinals bullpen. He was part of an even smaller trade in July 2023, heading to the Blue Jays, but they cut him loose at the end of 2024. Cabrera signed with the Mets, but made just six appearances for them before being designated for assignment. Once he cleared waivers, Cabrera had the right to elect free agency, and did so. The Cubs signed him to a one-year, big-league deal, and he'll now join a bullpen that already has two established lefty arms (Caleb Thielbar and Drew Pomeranz) but can always use more depth. He's still an intriguing arm, with a sinker that sits on the high side of 96 miles per hour; a hard, cutterish slider that isn't what it used to be but works in the right sequences; a curveball with more depth; and a high-riding four-seamer that occasionally straightens out on him too much. It's a fine mix, and deeper than you see from most hard-throwing lefty relievers. His biggest problem, historically, has been controlling it. For his career, he's walked 11.3% of opposing batters. The good news is that Cabrera does seem to be getting more comfortable with a reengineered version of himself, centered more around the slider and sinker and less around the four-seamer that was never especially well-controlled. He's taken good advice in his last two stops, with the Blue Jays and Mets, and might be on the verge of unlocking something that would let his arsenal play up nicely in the short term, given wise usage. Cabrera is ineligible to be optioned to the minors, so he doesn't bring roster flexibility, but he's a more obviously tough matchup for (especially) lefty batters than some of the softer tossers the team has used. If he quickly makes it into a game, he'll be the 25th pitcher the Cubs have used already this season. Until 2012, the only seasons in their history in which they'd used 25 pitchers were the first two years after the last expansion, in 1998 and 1999. The team record for pitchers used in one campaign is 43, set in 2022. With any luck, these Cubs won't break that record, but they're going to use somewhere near 40 arms before the season is out. Cabrera, with his remaining upside, is a nice addition—but he's unlikely to become a staple. View full article