Rcal10

I would have guessed Mo being sent down.

Apparently they can sit the bench.

Lopez dfa

He has to play these guys, right? I mean they can easily put Alcantara in 3-5 days in a row just giving guys a day off. Not sure how much Ramirez plays, but they can do that with him as well, at least 3 days. I have to think Mo is being sent down for this move. I’m not convinced KA will do well, but they might as well see him play now. EDIT: Just saw the line up. PCA leading off. I actually like that. Neither Alcantara nor Ramirez are in the line up, but Mo is. Lopez dfa for Kevin.

Damn, I thought they traded Shaw when I saw Ramirez was brought up. I don’t necessarily want Shaw traded, but if they did that would mean they added a solid starting pitcher, which they can definitely use.

If my JAG you mean upside of MOR starter, sure he is JAG. Personally I would be happy if he became a solid #3 starter.

No. It is panic talk to suggest the Cubs won’t be in it. Silly too, if you ask me.

Shaw has had 104 PA in 50 games. So he is on pace for around 330-340 AB. He isn’t rotting on the bench.

With Mo struggling I could see bringing up Alcantara and him even getting enough AB weekly for it to make sense. Not saying PCA doesn’t play against lefties, but he could be given a day Alcantara can also play a corner spot and let Seiya or Happ DH. If they can find 3 days a week to play KA it makes some sense to bring him up.

Thats the point. Who is a superstar? Why is Freeman a superstar who you put in the 25 Dodgers but not suggest Busch was just as good THAT YEAR. How do you put a Betts in superstar status for 25, when the Cubs had 6 guys with better offensive years than Betts, in 25? Why isn’t Seiya a star bat when his wRC+ is top 12 baseball the last 3 years? Fact is a WS champ needs a top 5-10 guy in MVP voting. And if they win a WS they will have one. Doesn’t matter who you want to put in the team, he only comes up every 9 times. Difference between a great season by someone and a good season is probably 2 or 3 hits per 100 times up. And then that hit has to be in an rbi situation to make a huge difference. You are way overvaluing a “star” bat and not acknowledging thrbCubs have several who can qualify as one if they had a good year.

You are picking and choosing who you decide is a superstar bat and the fact is Busch was better than Freeman last year. Seiya is a top 10-12 bat since he came into the league. Those guys would be used to support your claim a team needs a superstar bat to win, if they won and this discussion was held in 5 years. Hell, Bregman and Happ might be added to the argument, depending on how this season ends up. Offense is not the problem with this team. Pitching is.

Cool. I admit, I read it because I thought that was saying Kepley was promoted. Kind of disappointed when I found out his homer was for SB……

Is the SB team the Smokies too, or is the title of this thread wrong. Kepley homered for SB.

I agree they could have traded Tailon and added someone. I don’t agree with Rea or Boyd. Who are they going to get that is better at their price. Boyd got hurt. That is his only problem. And if Rea was used as he should be, he is fine. But, sure, trade Tailon to dump salary and then spend that salary on someone else. But would that someone else be a sure thing to be better than Tailon going into the season. If you are talking about guys like Gallen or Giolito the answer would be, no. If you aimed higher for Cease, King or Suarez, sure, that would have been great. Going into 26 the Cubs has Cabrera, Horton, Boyd, Imanaga and Tailon. With Steele set to come back by June 15, Wiggins on the doorstep, Rea, Wicks, Assad and Brown as depth/pen. What hopeful rejects did they add to the pen to start 26? They had Rea, Brown, Maton, Theilbar, Webb, Milner, Palencia and Harvey. Harvey was the big gamble, because of health. But they also had guys like Assad, Wicks, Roberts, Little as guys who can fill in for one injury. Sure, now they have hopeful rejects….Rolison, Thornton, Blach, etc (too many to remember). But I don’t think they were unreasonable to not guard against 6 injuries to the staff and numerous injuries to guys in the minors. But back to your original point, and something I agree with you on, wish they dealt Tailon and added someone closer to a top end guy, in the rotation.

Thanks for this. I completely agree.