Rcal10

Jones and Skenes are as well.

Very generous to call any of them hits.

Another misplay in the infield. WTF!

How do the ins not have an error today. I count 3 balls they should have turned into outs. I am especially shocked at the second time McCutchen came up and hit that high hopped that Morel booted is called a single.

Wisdom and Mastroboni are bench guys. So not really unusual they don’t hit too well. Busch, even with all his k issues is still a better than average hitter.

Homer after the umpire missed strike 3 that should have been called. Figures!

Who?

Very frustrating. But if he comes back Tuesday it makes sense to not have put him on the IL.

I count 3. 2 yesterday and then this one. Maybe this one McCuthen beats it out. Was t hit hard. But yesterday he misplayed 2 balls.

Every ball hit is an adventure. I have no faith in anyone in the field.

Bellinger got a bad break from second and he kind of stumbled rounding the base too. I would guess “normally” the chances of him scoring on that exact play are over 65%. When talking to Taylor McGreger he even said his break was bad and he stumbled. Now, Harris should have seen his break was bad, but he couldn’t know of a slight misstep. They had to send him..

I am talking specifically about this trade deadline. I don’t see the trading for Vlad, Tucker, Valdez or Robert. Singer is doubtful as well. Maybe Alonso, but the Mets will want a lot from the Cubs. So I doubt that happens either. I am thinking more like pitchers on their last year for a lower end or at best top 10-15 prospect in the system. I just don’t see someone like Cease, Luzardo, or Valdez coming here mid season. I think, at best it will either be someone like a Verlander(because at $41M and 41 years old he shouldn’t cost much) or a MOR sort of pitcher on his last months, or at best, last 1.5 years of his contract. As for bats I think whoever it will be will be closer to Candelario than Tucker.

I think they will be shoppers. But I don’t expect that high end of shopping. More likely mid range like shopping for a Honda instead of a Mercedes IMO. Might also be someone on his last year of his contract. But we will see. I do think they will be somewhat aggressive, not dumpster dive. But not top of the line either.

The plays the Cubs are getting tagged out at the plate are not bad baserunning plays. They are plays where the runner is INSTRUCTED to run on contact. Happ was not supposed to read the ground ball. He was to run home, period. Same as any other player who has been tagged out previously under the same circumstances. Any complaints about this should be directed to the managers decisions to have the runner winning contact. I get the frustration, but it isn’t bad baserunning. It is bad strategy. And honestly I am not sure it is even bad strategy. It is unfortunate circumstances where guys hitting grounders directly at fielders and therefore the runner at 3rd is an easy out at home. As for guys being tagged out at home where they are the 3rd out of an inning, that is another story. But in those cases if the runner has even a 40% chance of scoring the 3rd base coach isn’t wrong to send him, depending on who is up next. If you have a 40% chance to score but don’t try because you are hoping the next guy can drive you in, if that guy only has a 30% chance of actually driving you in the 3rd base coach made the right decision to send the runner. But it never looks that way when 3 out of 5 the guy is thrown out at home and the other 2 people say the Cubs are lucky the other team didn’t execute properly or the Cub would have been out. Just because a guy gets tagged out at home to end an inning that doesn’t mean the 3rd base coach made a decision less likely for them to score than has he held the guy up. Yesterday was a perfect example. Bellinger probably had a 40% chance to score. So should Harris have held him and hoped Happ or the next guy could have driven him in? Of course not. He had to send him. And had the Pirates executed he would have been out. But they didn’t. How mad would all Xubs fans been if Harris held Bellinger and the Happ and Tauchman didn’t get the runner in?

Davis hit his second one of the night. I am definitely back on the Davis train. Not saying he will be a regular or someone they should count on. I am just saying if they have to add another outfielder this year they may take him over Canario. And maybe he still has a future. But for now, baby steps. Next outfielder called up.

What fair quarrels? Keep in mind the budget. But what did most of us want that he didn’t do and that is now proven to be a mistake? Most pen arms guys wanted, suck. Sure, with hindsight we can find a few. With hindsight it would have been better to sign Lugo instead of keeping Hendricks. As I said, if they knew Morel could handle third I would have loved JD. I am sure someone could put together a perfect off season using hindsight. But all things considered he did improve an 83 win team this year without giving away the future. And IMO this is an upper 80’s win team. Good enough for the division or at least the playoffs. Right now they are going through a bad time. A slump. Baseball is like that. No one goes 6-4 every 10 games on their was to 97 wins.

To me, the only free agent the Cubs could have gotten would have been JD Martinez. But that would have to happen only if they knew Morel could play 3rd base. And they didn’t know that. I guess they could have let Hendricks walk and signed Lugo. But that is a statement with hindsight. They just as easily could have signed Giolito, or traded for Bieber. And then people would have been complaining about that move. As for pen arms, I know a lot of people love to mention the pen, most of the guys people wanted in the off season suck this year. Sure, with hindsight anyone can pick a few. But really if the Cubs pen was healthy they would be fine. Suggesting they could have gotten Ohtani is just not living in reality. They weren’t getting him. Yamamoto got 12 years. That wasn’t going to happen either, and really the Cubs got the best FA pitcher for a cheap price. Maybe at the time I had issues with the off season, but really Jed did a good job. And this is a team that should win be able to win in the high end of 80 wins this year. 87 to 89. Maybe if they get healthy and/ir add in at the deadline they can get to 99. They are fine.

Aren’t the Mets paying the contract this year? I thought when he was traded last year in order for the Mets to get a decent prospect they took Verlander’s salary. If the Astros traded him would his salary still be the responsibility of the Mets?

By “we” you mean the fan base of the Cubs, right? Do the fans that talk here have any knowledge that the Cubs want him traded? Again, the last 2 years his WAR total is over 7. That is a good player, no matter how much he is disrespected by people talking here. In his time as a Cub he has to be the least respected player on the team with people who post here.

He did improve the team. He didn’t spend what people wanted. But he did improve the team. As for the one we are working with the 9th, 10th, 11th and even 12th pen arm. How do you expect the pen to be good with all the injuries. Get Merryweather back, wicks back and even Smyly back and the pen looks different. Wicks takes Hendricks spot in the rotation and Brown and Wesneski stay in the pen. Suddenly the pen looks a lot better. Then Merryweather comes back and it is even better. Almonte too. And finally, if Alzolay was really hurt and that was the cause of his struggles, if he is healthy that also helps the pen. Yes, it has been bad, but it can change very quickly. Just look at the Dbacks from last year. Their pen sucked until the deadline. They made some moves and were very good the rest of they year, including the playoffs.

Agreed. And the same thing happens every year. They start playing bad and suddenly everyone overreacts. I said at the start of the season they are a mid to high 80’s win team. And nothing that has happened up until now has changed my mind. No, they aren’t great. But they are pretty good and most likely a playoff team.

Hasn’t been good in a while? In 22 his WAR was 4.2 and in 23 it was 3. He has struggled this year. But still plenty of time to turn it around. He is absolutely worth his salary. I am not saying they shouldn’t trade him. But if they do there is no reason they need to eat salary to do so, unless doing so gets them a better prospect or something like that.

Well coming into today they were 25-20. That is a 90 win pace. They have accomplished this with a crazy amount of injuries. I would say they are doing fine. Get healthy, the schedule softens up a bit and they stay the course of a high 80’s to low 90 win team. If you expected more than that, then sure you should be disappointed. Steele has had 4 starts. And really yesterday he was more unlucky than bad. He will be fine. As for Kyle, I think he is done. But they have enough pitching behind him to take his place.

I agree Kyle needs to be let go. Thank him for a good career but he is done. As for the line up, how many times are you going to make this suggestion? What do you really think they can do? I think the last time you suggested it you had Amaya moving up to 5th and Morel down to 9th. That is a ridiculous idea. Hopefully Hoerner and Swanson come back soon and we see a little more consistency. But they are what they are. An average offense. Moving guys around isn’t going to do anything.