Stratos

They did well, nice to see Smyly have a good outing. They limited his pitches to 61, a good idea given his struggles and the heat. Incredible fielding by Nico, Swanson, and Tauchman in the 9th. This team is filled with great competitors with high baseball IQ's, they work great AB's, play very good defense, and run well and the front office deserves credit on all that because its been their plan. The way the 90's Braves and Torre-era Yankees used to play ball (minus some of the athletic talent LOL). The FO has to be buyers now when all your guys are laying out 100% on the field to grind out wins in the biggest games of the year. Still lacking in HR power and relief depth but they can handle the lights in Oct it seems at least.

Morel has reverse splits vs lhp both this and last year. He's hitting .192 vs LHP this year. On the other hand, Wisdom sucks and so does Mancini.

I think he's probably explored trade talks for both buy and sell scenarios. I agree he'll have to start moving soon. I can't see them selling at this point, even if we lose the next 2 games. Cubs have the 3rd best run differential in the NL. Our biggest weakness now is our pitching which is just average and we have largely the same starting staff as last year that went on a big roll in the 2nd half. I'm excited for a Gary Gaetti, Fred McGriff, Castellanos type addition to the offense hopefully.

Well they went with a righty in Fulmer last Smyly start so it could be another reliever based on who was available after last night. I would be very fine skipping Smyly for a start or 2 and giving him some rest and letting Wesneski start.

I'm suspicious when they hit Amaya with a fastball up and in late in the game in the Cubs last at-bats with the score blown out. Amaya is a catcher and basically Contreras' longterm replacement that helped get Willson bounced from the Cubs.

They could sign either Soto or Ohtani but I doubt both. If they signed a Stroman/Urias type this winter this payroll would be about $260 million. They'd have to possibly not sign Bellinger or trade Happ or Suzuki, and Suzuki is doubtful because i'm sure they think his value will increase at some point. Not sure Soto can play 1B either. I'm still wary of Bellinger. A guy having a huge season in their walk year after 3 straight off years makes me nervous, he's overperforming his xBA and xSLG by a ton, is having a career high BABIP, and his EV and hard hit% are bad, significantly lower than 2017-2019.

Yeah agree. The Phillies got to the World Series last year and had 87 wins and snuck in on the Wild Card. In 2021 the Braves won the World Series and had 88 wins. The best team usually doesn't win the WS, it's the team that plays the best that month, which could be any team that makes the playoffs. If you're good enough to get into the playoffs you can win the WS, and if there's a decent chance you can get into the playoffs you take it because it's more valuable than a few prospects that might never even pan out.

I disagree to an extent. I get your point, but Swanson or Steele could suffer a season-ending injury tomorrow, which would significantly change the talent level on the team in 2023 and basically crap on their playoff chances. Same with a significant injury on the Reds or Brewers. They're on the very borderline of contention and will only sneak into the playoffs by a game or 2 if they manage to pull it off so I think a week of games does matter and gives them information to make a decision. Everyone being healthy, I agree 4 games doesn't matter much, the talent level doesn't change.

Cubs had a horrendous May. They've fixed the major pen crisis since then and can easily add more pen arms at the deadline without giving up anyone significant. They have a .565 win % since June 1, and the same record at the 100 game point as the Braves had in 2021 when they won the WS. None of their key players are injured. If this week keeps going well I think they need to be buyers. If they keep playing at the same pace (.565 win %) they will end up with 84 wins, so they need to add some players at the deadline to improve and have a bit of luck to get into the playoffs, which will probably need about 86-88 wins to nab a spot. The odds I imagine are probably less than a 50% chance for a playoff spot but it's hard to nerf a season for a couple of prospects. Luckily they're competing against flawed teams like Brewers, Reds, Phillies etc for a spot. They can win the division or one of the 3 wildcard spots and none of the 2nd place teams in the NL are powerhouses so the wildcard is also reachable if they keep playing well. The Cubs have the 4th best run differential in the NL, the 5th most runs scored, so the offense isn't as bad as we think, they get on base and everyone in the lineup not a catcher runs well. If Taillon is just normal 4.00 ERA Taillon and Smyly isn't a disaster these last 2 months or Wesneski or Brown etc can step up then we have a shot. Before the deadline grab a lefty and righty pen arm to upgrade Kay & Rucker and a quality corner IF bat or any power bat at any position they can DH. Someone like Candelario is solid and they need a piece like him who can hit RHP, could be extended another 3 years (if I were him I'd go FA though) but they may go for a 3B prospect trade longterm. They other thing I like about this team is they're showing great competitiveness in big games this month both vs Brewers and the last series vs the W.Sox, they don't seem to fold like a lawnchair and turn into K-machines vs good pitching like the last group started doing.

I'm a PSD convert. Hello all.