Brandon Glick

The Cubs' bullpen continues to implode, both in terms of performance and health. Ethan and Brandon are ready to sound the alarms as arm-ageddon continues. View full video

The Cubs acquired RP Tyson Miller from the Seattle Mariners. Ethan and Brandon break down what he brings to the Cubs' fledgling bullpen. View full video

The Cubs remain in the hunt for first place in the NL Central, and Ethan and Brandon break down their upcoming schedule and mounting list of injuries. View full video

The Cubs went 3-3 against the Padres and the Pirates. It wasn’t a perfect performance - and the bullpen is still a disaster - but the Cubs continue to find ways to win early in the season. Image courtesy of © Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports Happy belated Mother’s Day to everyone! The Cubs had a pretty quiet week, all things considered, though they did get Kyle Hendricks back on the bump Sunday after facing the most hyped pitching prospect since Stephen Strasburg on Saturday. They remain just 0.5 games back of the Brewers for the top spot in the NL Central, and standing 24-17 on the season places them firmly among the league’s second tier of contenders. Just as a heads-up, I received good feedback on last week’s Cubs-only format, so we’ll roll with that again this time around. Like I said last week, I’ll continue to synthesize and apply new feedback as I get it. For now, let’s get on with the show. There’s no use in burying the lede: On Saturday, May 11, the Cubs faced off against Paul Skenes in his major-league debut. It was as anticipated a debut as any in recent memory. In some ways, Skenes lived up to the hype: he struck out seven in four innings and generated 17 whiffs on 84 pitches. However, the Cubs did a good job working Skenes’s pitch count up, and they knocked him out at the start of the fifth inning. His final line: 4 IP, 3 ER, 2 BB, 7 K, and one home run, courtesy of Nico Hoerner: The Cubs ultimately lost that game, thanks yet again to the horrendous state of the bullpen. Outside of Mark Leiter Jr., there is not a single arm in the pen who will make you feel comfortable when they’re on the mound. Maybe Yency Almonte belongs in that group as well, but he was just placed on the IL with a right shoulder strain (José Cuas was called up to take his roster spot initially, but he’s since been replaced by another pitcher returning from injury). Speaking of injuries: Will they ever end? Just as Seiya Suzuki gets back from injury, Dansby Swanson landed on the Injured List. Now, Jameson Taillon is dealing with another back strain, which is the same injury that held him out for the first few weeks of the season. Taillon is listed to start Tuesday in Atlanta, but we'll see whether that comes to fruition. The Cubs’ rotation has been such a bright spot for the team this year, but it sucks that no one outside of Javier Assad and Shota Imanaga has been able to stay healthy. Justin Steele is back, but he hasn’t looked great since returning from the hamstring injury he suffered on Opening Day. Taillon was sporting a tremendous 1.13 ERA in his first four starts of the season, but again, all seems up in the air with him now. At least the “Prospect Trio” - Ben Brown, Hayden Wesneski, and Jordan Wicks - have all been excellent when called upon, but they’ve either been relegated to bullpen duty at times or are dealing with injuries. Outside of Imanaga and Assad, only one pitcher has made more than five starts for the Cubs this year: Kyle Hendricks. The Professor returned from a back “injury” that was more of a Phantom IL stint and delivered five innings of one-run ball, which was nice to see. However, the Pirates are the worst offense in the entire league against right-handed pitching, slashing .215/.295/.311 (74 wRC+) going into Hendricks’s start on Sunday. If the longest-tenured Cub can right the ship from his early season struggles, then it’ll be a boon for a team that just cannot stay healthy this year. However, with so many youngsters either in the big leagues or knocking on the door (looking at you, Cade Horton), Hendricks’s leash will be shorter than it’s ever been before. Some quick bites to wrap things up: Christopher Morel proved his knee troubles were a non-issue on Sunday, hitting his team-leading ninth home run of the year in a 5-4 victory: Mason Miller of the Oakland Athletics, who is one of the most dominant closers in the game today, is reportedly on the trade block. It would take A LOT to acquire him, but man, do the Cubs need a lockdown arm at the back of their bullpen right now. Lastly, and just for fun, let’s reminisce upon Michael Busch’s walk-off homer against the Padres on Tuesday: That about it wraps it up, folks. The Cubs are heading to Atlanta to take on the mighty Braves for a three-game set early in the week, before coming back home to Chicago to play host to the Pirates (again) for a four-game series. They then have a day off next Monday before facing the Braves again, and then the Cardinals (on the road), so these next two weeks will be a pivotal stretch for the team as they continue to wrestle with the Brewers for first place in the NL Central. Have a great week, everyone! Go, Cubs, Go! View full article

No unit is struggling more than the Cubs' bullpen, and Brandon and Ethan debate the team's need for an outside addition to shore up some deficiencies among the reliever corps. View full video

The Cubs' starters have been carrying the team so far this year, and Brandon and Ethan share some love to the pitchers who have been shouldering the load. View full video

The Cubs are starting to get healthy again, and Brandon and Ethan discuss the team's need for star power to return to Wrigley. View full video

Brandon and Ethan provide a tour of Citi Field ahead of the Cubs-Mets game from May 1. View full video

The Cubs posted yet another winning record this week, going 4-3 against the Mets and Brewers. The team remains afloat, despite a swath of injuries and a revolving door of closer options in the ninth inning. Cade Horton also made his debut at Triple-A Iowa this weekend. All that and more in this week’s Monday Morning North Sider. Image courtesy of © Matt Marton-USA TODAY Sports Welcome back all! Sorry for missing last week. NFL Draft coverage completely consumed me for the better part of a week, and then pre-production on my next film began… suffice to say, the life schedule hasn’t jived with the work schedule lately. We’re back now, though, and this week, I’ll be implementing some direct feedback I’ve gotten from a few of you: we’re going to treat this space as a casual week in review. Keep things entirely Cubs-focused, and leave the rest of the entertainment and sports discussion for the comments. I have no idea if this will read better or worse than the old format, but it’s certainly worth a shot. So, without further ado, a Cubs-related rundown of the last week: Craig Counsell has done, in my estimation, a tremendous job as manager this year. He’s navigating a plague’s worth of injuries in both the lineup and the rotation, and a number of the team’s regulars have been downright ineffective. It’s a testament to his coaching prowess and intuition for the game that the Cubs lead the NL Central in wins as of May 6. However, he’s gotta get this ninth inning disaster sorted out ASAP. Adbert Alzolay has just completely lost his confidence, and can’t be used in any situation other than mop-up duty right now. Héctor Neris technically has gotten the job done, but he’s been playing with fire all season. Until and unless he can get the walks under control (and the strikeout rate up), he shouldn’t be pitching in such a high-leverage spot, either. Here’s a fun fact: Of the Cubs’ 14 losses so far this season, seven have been blown saves and/or walkoff losses. Yikes. At least the closer troubles have created opportunities for memorable moments. On Wednesday, the Cubs beat the Mets on a (highly questionable) play at the plate, thanks to some accurate throwing by Ian Happ and Nick Madrigal. As a fun side note, @Ethan Staple and I were at that game! We’ve posted a number of live videos about it here on North Side Baseball, which you can find under the videos tab on the homepage. As for who should take over the closer’s role… I have no idea. Mark Leiter Jr. has been the best reliever in the bullpen by far, but he’s so valuable in his role as a quasi-lefty specialist that it feels wrong to deploy him exclusively in the ninth inning. Keegan Thompson has looked good since returning from the minor leagues, but he still presents the team with multi-inning value as a former starter. Daniel Palencia, Yency Almonte and Luke Little all have the raw stuff to get the job done, but it’d be a stretch to trust such unproven youngsters with such an important role. For now, the Cubs will likely use a closer-by-committee approach, though Julian Merryweather will certainly get a chance at locking down the gig if and when he returns from injury. Ben Brown may also get a chance, if he’s pushed out of the rotation once Justin Steele is back. Speaking of Steele, it appears he AND Cody Bellinger AND Seiya Suzuki will be back as soon as this week. Thank goodness. The team has survived just fine in their stars’ absences, but man, will it be nice to add some credibility back to the middle of the lineup and the top of the rotation. We barely saw one start out of Steele before his hamstring gave out, while Suzuki and Bellinger were both catching fire at the plate when their respective injuries knocked them out. A lot of players have stepped up in their places. Mike Tauchman and Hayden Wesneski have been especially good over the last three weeks and change, but the Cubs will be demonstrably better with (arguably) their three best players back. Elsewhere on the roster, Patrick Wisdom, Christopher Morel and Nico Hoerner have been hot at the plate lately, and the team looks to have somewhat snapped out of its recent offensive funk. They've scored five or more runs in each of the past two games against the Brewers. Those two wins against the Brewers could be key later, especially considering neither Steele nor Shota Imanaga pitched in the series. The proverbial “back of the rotation” trio of Wesneski, Jameson Taillon and Javier Assad allowed zero runs and just nine hits in 18 1/3 innings of work this weekend. That’ll play. Lastly, Cade Horton made his first start at Triple-A Iowa this weekend. Our @Matthew Trueblood had a brilliant write up about the start, and Horton’s surprising similarities to the Cubs’ incumbent ace, Justin Steele. It probably won’t be too long before we see Horton in Chicago - I’d guess July or August, at the latest. He’s just been wholly dominant at every level at which he’s played since being drafted in 2022, and he could make the Cubs’ rotation a lot scarier if he comes up to the big leagues and continues on his path of destruction. We’ll wrap it up there, folks. Let me know what you think about keeping things completely centered on the Cubs, as opposed to the wider breadth of topics we’ve had in the past. I’ll continue to experiment until we arrive at a formula everyone enjoys! The Cubs play six games this week (scheduled off day on Thursday). They draw the Luis Arraez-equipped San Diego Padres for three games at Wrigley Field before heading to Pittsburgh to face the Pirates over the weekend. Both teams are below .500 at present, but both clubs (especially the Padres) have enough star power to make life difficult for a tired, injury-plagued Cubs team. Let’s hope for the best. Have a great week, everyone! Go, Cubs, Go! View full article

Ethan and Brandon interview Cubs fans, live from Citi Field! They gather the fans' thoughts on the team's strong start to 2024 despite mounting injuries, as well as their predictions for that night's game (spoiler alert: Cubs Win!). View full video

Despite dealing with mounting injuries, the Chicago Cubs went 18-12 over the first month of the season. Which hitters are most responsible for the team’s hot start to the season? Image courtesy of © David Butler II-USA TODAY Sports Thirty games is quite a lot of data to analyze, especially given that the MLB season used to start during the second week of April (it now starts in late March). Some hitters are notorious for being “slow starters,” warming up at the plate as the weather does. However, there’s bound to be a batch of players who start the season hot out of the gates, and the Cubs had some surprising contributors play the part this year. These are North Side Baseball’s top Cubs hitters from April (and March). Honorable Mentions CF Pete Crow-Armstrong: 18 ABs, .278/.278/.500, 116 OPS+, 1 HR, 4 RBI The rookie center fielder was pressed into action once Cody Bellinger collided with the brick wall in the outfield at Wrigley, and he’s looked the part so far in limited exposure. His sample isn’t nearly big enough to give him a spot on the list, but PCA’s performance thus far in 2024 is reassuring to those worried after he went hitless in his September cup of coffee last year. Crow-Armstrong may be sent back down to Triple-A Iowa after Bellinger returns, but if he keeps hitting like this, his glove and speed on the basepaths mean he’s likely in the majors to stay. OF Alexander Canario: 22 ABs, .273/.360/.455, 129 OPS+, 1 HR, 2 RBI Yet another top outfield prospect who struggled in the majors as the Cubs collapsed down the stretch in 2023, Canario has also responded well to more consistent playing time in the major leagues this season. Like PCA, Canario has been a benefactor of the mounting injuries that have piled up on the Cubs early this year, which have taken Bellinger and Seiya Suzuki out of the outfield fold for now. Canario has some of the best raw pop in the entire organization. If he continues to establish himself as a trustworthy slugger, he’d add a lot of credibility to the middle of the Cubs’ lineup. CF/1B Cody Bellinger: 84 ABs, .226/.320/.440, 113 OPS+, 5 HR, 17 RBI Bellinger makes the honorable mention list by being the Cubs’ best power threat not named Michael Busch thus far (Christopher Morel’s hot streak to start May notwithstanding). He was just catching fire at the plate once he fractured a few ribs in the outfield, though he’s already resuming baseball activity and shouldn’t be out for much longer. PCA, Canario, and the runner-up on this list have done an admirable job filling in for the 2019 NL MVP, but the Cubs are a much better team when Bellinger is batting third in the order. Top 4 Cubs Hitters of the Month (April) #4 2B Nico Hoerner: 111 ABs, .261/.336/.342, 96 OPS+, 0 HR, 7 RBI Putting a guy with a below-average OPS+ and just one stolen base (his trademark skill) at the fourth spot on this list should be evidence that the Cubs won 18 games last month despite their offense rather than because of it. Nevertheless, Hoerner has been the hottest hitter on the team for weeks following an abysmal start, and he’s got a 283 OPS+ so far in May (through just two games, but still). Given the injuries to many of the team’s top offensive threats, Hoerner’s consistency atop the lineup is key while the Cubs try to navigate the toughest part of their schedule this season. If he can return to being a threat on the basepaths (he’s already got three steals in May), Hoerner will continue to be one of the league’s most underrated second basemen. #3 OF Seiya Suzuki: 59 ABs, .305/.368/.525, 153 OPS+, 3 HR, 13 RBI It’s a real shame that Suzuki is dealing with an oblique strain right now because he came storming out of the gates to begin the season. It feels like a lifetime ago that he was benched for a few games last August due to profound struggles at the plate; whatever happened during that rest period completely revitalized him as a player, as he finished 2023 as the hottest hitter on the team and continued it right into 2024. It’s been nice to see some of the top prospects get some real run at the MLB level in his place, but the Cubs are desperate for Suzuki to come back at this point. Today (May 2) was the first time in six games that the Cubs scored more than five runs in a game. #2 OF Mike Tauchman: 75 ABs, .307/.435/.520, 173 OPS+, 3 HR, 10 RBI If it were not for a historic home run binge, Tauchman would be the top guy on this list. He struck out nearly as much as he walked (18 Ks to 15 BBs), put up a team-high OPS of .955, and settled into an everyday role near the top of the lineup, all while filling in for a couple of injured stars in the outfield. This feels eerily similar to his explosion last May when Bellinger injured his knee in Houston (please stop running into walls, Cody) and then tapered off down the stretch. However, Tauchman remains one of the best fourth outfielders in the game, and he’s been nothing short of a savior with his early season batting bonanza. Whether sustainable or not, being 73% better than the average hitter across the entire month is a feat worth celebrating. Have yourself a month, Michael. #1 1B Michael Busch: 94 ABs, .266/.333/.500, 136 OPS+, 6 HR, 17 RBI Hand up; I was very skeptical of the Jackson Ferris-Michael Busch trade when the Cubs made it with the Los Angeles Dodgers this offseason. I suppose it’s a good thing I’m not the general manager because Busch has been the Cubs’ ostensible slugger in the early portion of the season, hitting five home runs in five games to tie the franchise record in mid-April. He’s cooled off a bit since then, but Busch has taken advantage of his first extended opportunity in the majors. Along with reliever Yency Almonte (scoreless in nine of his last ten appearances), the Cubs are getting some positive early returns on the trade with the Dodgers. It’s too soon to say for sure, but Busch is starting to prove himself as the (delayed) heir apparent to Anthony Rizzo’s first base throne. View full article

Ethan and Brandon interview Cubs fans, live from Citi Field! They gather the fans' thoughts on Shota Imanaga's dominant start to the season, as well as their opinions on the Mets' home stadium. View full video

The Cubs won a nailbiter against the Mets, 1-0. Ethan and Brandon, who watched the game from the left field stands, break down the victory. View full video