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Stratos

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Everything posted by Stratos

  1. Stratos
    Turning into the 2nd best Cubs team ever LOL
  2. Stratos
    These guys can play. These are ballplayers, they never quit. Sox are 14 games back in 4th place and Robert Jr is bat flipping. You're not Jose Bautista and your team sucks so GTFO. BELIEVE IN 2023.
  3. Stratos
    Michael Barrett punched a lot of people. But to be fair, Pierzynski and Zambrano are very punchable people.
  4. Stratos
    He's been pitching well but I think he's a BORP. His stuff isn't very good. He seems to avoid HR though...so far I think his good fortunes will run out, just like Hendricks and Smyly. With Taillon they signed another SP with below-average stuff, but to a long deal. If they're going to turn Taillon into Gerrit Cole or Gausman i hope they hurry up because there's been no sign of improvement on his stuff this year. His breaking stuff is ok but his fastball is legit terrible.
  5. Stratos
    Sox pen just beat our pen. Oh well it happens I guess. Nice to see Suzuki hit another HR.
  6. Stratos
    Pete Crow-ArmstrongCade HortonMatt ShawKevin AlcantaraBen BrownJordan WicksMoises BallesterosMiguel AmayaJackson FerrisMatt MervisHaydn McGearyOwen CaissieJames TriantosJefferson RojasDaniel PalenciaDerniche ValdezBrennan DavisAlexander CanarioCristian HernandezMichael Arias
  7. Stratos
    Shaw could play 3B or DH, plus 2B, and I guess SS in a pinch. I doubt Madrigal is going to block him at 3B unless the Madrigal hitting revolution keeps up, which I doubt enough to block Shaw.
  8. Stratos
    I agree with your description about the Moneyball approach. I never said sabermetrics was all about walks and homeruns, but but I think Theo's approach did overemphasize those 2 stats to the detriment of others. Theo did value OBP but I think undervalued the batting average component of it and didn't care enough about K%, and the hitting philosophy of the organization even throughout the minor leagues reflected that. My main point was that sabermetrics undervalues things that either don't show up or can't be isolated easily in statistics, like a catcher's ability to gameplan, or leadership and team culture. I'm not anti-sabermetrics/analytics in any way whatsoever, but if you only look at analytics and ignore or undervalue other intangibles then some things important to winning can be missed, and I think the Theo/Maddon teams after 2017 reflected that.
  9. Stratos
    2016 yes, but they were a terrible baserunning team some of the last few Theo years.
  10. Stratos
    Yeah 2016 was a very good team obviously. I'm talking more about the later 2018-2020 teams. Walks are good but some of those hitters had clear areas of weakness which were eventually exposed that they couldn't often adjust to which over time became easy for many opposing teams to gameplan for. Schwarber hard stuff up and in, Heyward pound him inside, Russell soft stuff away, Happ fastballs up out of the zone and breaking balls low out of the zone, Baez just don't throw him anything near the strike zone, KB sliders low and away. Cubs still have a few guys like that (Morel on soft stuff low and away, similar with Swanson, plus Wisdom and Suzuki) but I think they've improved on it. We've seen guys make adjustments too, like Happ changing his approach since last year, Madrigal seemingly swinging harder and changing his launch angle since going down to AAA, Nico recently hitting balls with more lift.
  11. Stratos
    Hoyer deserves a lot of credit for building this team with a different culture than the Theo/Maddon group, putting an emphasis on teamwork and a team-first attitude (along with Ross and the coaching staff/players he's brought in) and bringing in players who are proven winners and great competitors. Swanson is the kind of ballplayer you can build a team around because they can help set the culture and expectations of a club, not just being the guy with the best WAR. They've also put more emphasis on fundamentals and built one of the best baserunning and defensive teams in baseball. They like hitters who put together good AB's, and have moved away from the walk+HR approach under Theo and seem to emphasize better all-around hitters. They also prioritize catchers who can gameplan and work with a staff over offense. These are the kinds of things that teams (like the 90's Braves) used to emphasize a lot more decades ago, so it's interesting to see things come full circle after the whole sabermetrics revolution and this org putting more value on things that don't necessarily show up obviously on stat sheets. He hasn't always been perfect (ie: Mancini contract) but I've been a big supporter and defender of Hoyer's and like the way he approaches things generally, including free agency and contracts.
  12. Stratos
    - signing users up by default for your newsletters to be sent to our email is annoying and not a good way to ingratiate yourself to new users. - new threads created in the forum whenever a new article is posted is a turn off and clutters up the Cubs talk sub-forum. I'd suggest putting those threads in their own section of the forum. - Too many threads in the Cubs talk forum. Also, all that's needed is a single gameday thread, or at worst a new thread every series or every month. The fewer the better IMO.
  13. Stratos
    I'd hit Happ maybe 2nd and put Nico towards the bottom of the order.
  14. Stratos
    Someone tell Wesneski to throw 70% sliders. They're just sitting on that BP fastball.
  15. Stratos
    I think he's just not very good at visually picking up different pitches so he's a pure guess hitter, which is why he let's meatball pitches go by, or does those weak emergency half-swings like he's been doing lately. How can youput a good swing on a meatball fastball when you're looking eg. curveball?
  16. Stratos
    Definitely not right now. Low margin for error with his stuff.
  17. Stratos
    I'm not talking about points in favor or against. I'm just saying we can't make an overly simplistic argument like "he's 25 years old so he should be in the MLB by now". Guaranteed the Cubs aren't going to evaluate him like that.
  18. Stratos
    I don't think age matters as much with Mervis as with other prospects given he was mainly only a pitcher his 1st two seasons of college, plus barely played his last year of college due to COVID. The Rizzo comp only shows that guys may need a couple of season in the MLB until they hit their stride. I hope they give Mervis a good amount of playing time next year but they also need another option available. Maybe that option ends up being Bellinger.
  19. Stratos
    Can't see PCA up this year without an injury happening. I think they'll do the 2023 Mervis thing with PCA next year. Might use Tauchman in CF next year to start, or sign an FA to a 1-year like Kevin Kiermaier. Will be interesting to see what they do with 1b/Mervis this offseason and next year. I could see a similar strategy as last offseason, though hopefully whatever 1B they sign plays better, someone like CJ Cron. Maybe Amaya plays winter ball and works on 1B. I could see the Cubs bringing back Gomes next year.
  20. Stratos
    I very much enjoyed watching the Cubs not just beat the Reds the last 2 nights, but humiliate them. They went BP on their pitching staff and exposed their defense. Pretty sure they broke Nick Senzel's brain. Inserted all sorts of doubt into their heads.
  21. Stratos
    I agree. I think he's implying there's discussions going on. The Cubs would be kinda silly to want to let him walk and Belli would be a fool to want to pay elsewhere as long as the Cubs can get near his price. He's been a fantastic fit in every way. Next year he'd be a nice player to bring back so there's flexible backup options at 1B and CF for Mervis and PCA next year.
  22. Stratos
    That's what I think. I'd play him now most of the time since he's performing well and the team is too. But as said, he's 32, he could age regress at any time. His sprint speed and OAA (probably due to speed) have already regressed to AVG for a CF the last few years, but sprint speed usually goes first anyways. Great hands though. He isn't bad vs LHP career-wise so that's nice, he's not a true platoon guy like Ortega was, and he can field better. He's a high skill player and fun to watch, he definitely maximizes all his tools and knows how to play ball. Hard hit data is important but not the be-all. Matt Duffy's EV sucks but he can punch line drives to opposite field all day and have good AVG because he has those skills. Bellinger's EV data is terrible and concerning but he has good launch angle and cuts his swing down with 2 strikes.
  23. Stratos
    Rumor: Mets suck.
  24. Stratos
    Well the pen isn't that bad. Pen ERA is 2nd in baseball since June 1. Palencia has been good, Alzolay, Leiter are very good, Merryweather is decent, Wesneski and Assad hopefully pitch well. That's 6 guys potentially effective, plus the new Cuas guy and Estrada/Thompson are still bumping around in AAA, plus Bailey Horn and I guess Ben Brown but they probably would keep him stretched. Maybe Fulmer's control improves too.
  25. Stratos
    On the positive we upgraded -0.8 WAR Mancini for 3.1 WAR Candelario. +4 WAR!
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