Rcal10

That is definitely his weight when they signed him. I think he is listed much higher than that now. I think maybe even 200 lbs.

I didn’t get to see the end of the game. Why was Morel taken out? Is he hurt now too?

I doubt it as well. Just wondering if there is something in the rules. Sucks though. The lefty would have to face Suzuki. My guess is if the game starts up again they will have a right handed pitcher on the mound.

Does the 3 batter rule for a pitcher still count? Didn’t the pitcher in right now only face 2 guys? Does he have to face Suzuki? Or does the delay negate the rule?

It’s going to be Mastrobouni or Madrigal the entire time Swanson is out. Might as well get used to it. Supposedly Mastrobouni handles high fastballs. Can’t prove it by me or his results this year, but that is what the reasoning for him being in the line up today.

Whatever works. So if they win every Shota start, probably 30 games, and play 500 the rest of the games they end up 96-66. I would take that.

He can’t come back now unless it is to replace an injured pitcher.

Guys miss mistakes all the time. How often do we see a guy foul one back and JD says the batter wishes he gets that pitch again. May have been a terrible pitch but Gomes still has to hit it squarely.

I don’t know if he could have caught it with a better route. But I was at the game. Wind blowing across from right to left was holding everything up in right. The whole game I was telling my wife that Tauchman was playing way too deep. Had he been where he should have been from the start he catches that ball easily. But you do have to give credit to SD manager. Double steal worked. Making the infield come in. Had he not did that the ball that gets through is a routine double play. They have a guy on 3rd with 2 outs. Then after that he did two perfect hit and runs. Again, each are easy outs if guys are not in motion. He just hit in everything he did that inning.

That sounds about right. I guess Canario and PCA go down. I just met PCA this morning. I am staying at the Zachary Hotel, next to Wrigley. I was eating breakfast and he came down to the restaurant to meet his mom and sat right next to us. I just said hi and told him to keep it going. He said that you and he would try.

Him or brewer. Not a big deal. When Hendricks gets activated I would think Brewer would be next to go.

I think Brown would be available today. Wouldn’t this be his throw day if he stayed in the rotation? I would guess he can give multiple innings today if they need it.

Or our struggling reliever who has more team control(Alzolay) for their struggling pen arm who is a FA at the end of this year(Scott). If they get Alzolay right he gives them a prospect at the deadline. Something like that with those guys the principles.

You have mentioned this shake up of the batting order before. I believe in your new order you had Morel 9th and Amaya 5th. Do you still like that idea? When guys aren’t really hitting does it matter where you put guys. You are just moving one guy not hitting, down in the line up to being another guy not hitting, up in the line up. In the case of your original idea that was Morel 9th. I assume you wouldn’t do that now.

Exactly. And, yes, they have thrown some games away, but every team has done so as well. I am sure there are fans of other teams saying the exact same things this fan base is saying. If only we didn’t blow this game or that game. It is just baseball. Stuff happens. The reason for the long season is to hopefully have things even out and the best teams move on. But there is no point rehashing every game we think we should have won. Cubs have probably won as many games this year where the fans of the opposition are suggesting how that team should have beaten the Cubs. At this point with the injuries they have had and the poor play of guys you expect more out of, I am very happy with their records, regardless of how many games people think they should have won.

If that happens you need to go pick numbers and play the lottery.

Who? Probably Casali would be the guy who comes up. Who are you talking about?

Not sure I like that idea at the trade deadline. They need all of those guys to limit innings. But could be a good idea in the off season.

Yep. Beginning to think they can manage innings of Wicks, Assad, Wesneski, Brown and maybe later this year, Horton to fill 4th and 5th and maybe even sometimes 6 spot in the rotation. The leash on Hendricks may, rightfully so, be very short. They can also add an arm at the deadline, if they need to.

Both Mets and Cubs pitching has been great OR both Cubs and Mets hitting has been horrendous. So which is it?

Hitting slumps just happen. Hard to explain why. But this team is supposed to be a great fielding team. As you said, this crap-ass fielding has to stop.

Agreed. Every year the same thing comes up. Cubs neglected the bullpen. Every time they give up a run or blow a game. But no one has answers as to who they should have taken. Except, of course, with hindsight guys cherry pick who they wish they had. Going into the off season so many wanted Hader. He has struggled a lot in Houston. Stephenson is another guy. He is out for the year. Will Smith has sucked. Brasier hasn’t done well. The list goes on and on. Sure, if we had a crystal ball to know which FA pitchers would be the best couple of pen arms we can sign it would be easy. But it doesn’t work that way. The pen is just something you have to hope gets filled from within the organization, mainly. And honestly this angst against the pen is just overblown. No, they are it the best pen in baseball. Apparently the Mets are. How does that figure though? Sure they have a great closer(who Morel hit a 2 run game winning homer off of), but what else did they add? They are first now because they are getting good results from either journeyman pen arms or guys from their system. Cubs pen is middle of the road. Not great, but definitely not the worst in baseball, as has been suggested. TBH, since the Padres series the pen has actually been pretty good. Yes, I can live without a tightrope 9th inning. I would love a guy we can bring in and feel good about him pitching a scoreless inning. But in reality, there just are not many of those guys. And even when a team does have one, the first time he does give up a run or blow a game that teams fan base loses it mind, similar to what happens here.

Agree. Of all the guys who look bad, and that is most of the line up, he has looked the worst. And he is even shaky in the field. He can use a day or two.

Actually didn’t take into account the idea if adding a starter at the deadline. That is actually a good idea. That would save innings too.

I get PCA moving PCA up. But Amaya isn’t hitting either. Why is Morel dropping to 9 to being a guy 1 for his last 20 up in the line up? When no one is hitting no line up looks good. I think you put a line up together based on what is expected of players. I think Morel is expected to be a better hitter than Amaya. And Miquel hasn’t done a thing to suggest otherwise.