Rizzo shows that with 2 strikes it's okay to shorten the swing and put the ball in play, cough, cough Baez, Contreras, Schwarber....
*****Official Cubs 2018 thread*****
- Thread starter QChawks
- Start date
That trade with Baltimore was so good. 3+ years of Pedro Strop alone would have been worth Scot Feldman and Steve Clevenger.
Nice to see the brewers finally go through a cold streak.
Yeah I think so. Archer is a quality starter but prone to giving up the long ball so that’s a bit of a concern when half your starts are at Wrigley. I like both Happ and Caratini but you can cover those losses easier than finding a good reliable starter.
First place and the best record in the national league. Things are looking a lot better at the all-star break this year than last.
Crazy how some people are still nit picking about who needs to be traded and this and that. Honestly I think they're just fine.... Rizzo and Bryant are going to come back to the mean and produce at the same time, nothing in their past leads me to believe otherwise. Russell is trending up, Caratini has been doing great since being sent down. Lester has been fantastic, Hendricks and Quintana look to be figuring things out. At this point the real X factor is Darvish living up to his talent in the 2nd half of the season. Playoffs I'm not worried about Chatwood sucking because he won't even play a role due to shortened rotations. Again, Darvish is the warranted concern here.
Honestly my advice to some Cubs fans... we've experienced years and years of crap... we have a team that has been to 3 straight NLCS and a World Series Champion. We're nit picking about a team with the best record in the NL and leading their division? Sit back and enjoy it, it's fun as hell. I made my first trip to Wrigley last weekend, did the tour in the AM and got to see a 4 run 8th come from behind win... the place was rocking and it was by far the most fun live sporting experience I have ever had. I'm not getting wrapped up in the minutia, I'm making sure I'm going to enjoy this run... it may never come back again.
I guess some people take enjoyment from baseball by analyzing all the stats and predicting this and that. If I have to go to those lengths to enjoy a season, I will cease to be a sports fan. To each their own I guess.
I think the Cubs are fine for now. But, it's about the playoffs for as long as this young core stays together. The Cubs cannot win in the WS again with this pitching staff as currently constructed. I think the rest of the roster is WS capable. You can't win a playoff/WS game with Chatwood going 5 innings.
There's no way Chatwood is on the playoff roster even if Darvish doesn't come back
I understand that and I might be trying to be overly optimistic in regards to Darvish considering what is currently going on and his history. He obviously has the physical talent, it's his head at this point and if he doesn't come around then yes they are probably screwed when it comes to the NLCS.
I just get annoyed with the overly nit picky comments... they just go over the top with analytics. I have a general disdain for pretend internet General Managers who have only played fantasy sports. There are certain things you just cannot measure in team sports and chemistry is a gargantuan elephant in the room for analytics. So saying we need to trade X because of this stat and blah blah blah completely takes away from how people's general moods determine how well they do things. You could add a Bryce Harper from an analytics standpoint, but if he's a colossal dick that no one wants to play with and affects other players performances.. well where the hell is the stat for that. Demarcus Cousins is an extremely talented NBA player, but every team he's been on has been happy to see him go because he's a dick, where's the "i'm a dick and bring everyone else around me down" analytic. Or the, "Everyone loves me and make people around me better" analytic.
I have no reason to doubt Theo and Joe at this point... they brought a World Series to the Cubbies, I'm along for the ride and just enjoying the hell out of it... I'm not going to make the mistake of over analyzing every detail.
We are living in the golden age of Chicago Cubs baseball. My son who is 8 years old only remembers the cubs as a perennial playoff team. We really don’t appreciate how good it is right now to be a cubs fan sometimes. I will say its great that the discussion is always about getting better for the post season.
That said, I agree that this team as is constructed today doesn’t have a great playoff roster.
That said, I agree that this team as is constructed today doesn’t have a great playoff roster.
Javi f'ing Baez.... makes sense why a couple years ago when Joe was asked about Javi being traded he basically stated, "Javi Baez isn't going anywhere."
Am I correct in thinking they were a couple of games below .500 at the AS break last year?
https://chicago.cbslocal.com/2017/0...ak-after-pirates-scorch-them-in-14-3-victory/
Two games under .500 and looking up at the Brewers
For comparison in 2016 they were 53-35.... barring something ridiculous after tonight they will be 54-38.
Bingo. We could be Cardinals fans today. Wallowing in self pity and loathing as the GM fires the guy who is merely playing the guys the GM gave him.
A win today and the Cubs go into the break one game off of their 2016 pace while leading the NL in run differential, runs scored and runs allowed. Not bad for a first half were they got almost nothing from Darvish, Chatwood had an ERA over 5 and below average performances from Rizzo and Bryant
Can't stand Matheny and wish the Cards had kept him - suprised they did it before the 8 games against the Cubs after the break before the trade deadline though.Bingo. We could be Cardinals fans today. Wallowing in self pity and loathing as the GM fires the guy who is merely playing the guys the GM gave him.
Cubs lead MLB with 30 come from behind wins which is 55.6% of their total wins so far this season.
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It will be interesting to see how the market for starting pitchers develops in the next two weeks given how many teams need help. Guys like Hamels/Archer/Happ have all struggled recently and perhaps their value has been compromised.
I don't see anyone that can be considered higher than a #3 starter as of now and that requiring to trade top prospects for a #3 is pretty steep, imo. As usual... some teams will overpay just to try and keep up.
I don't see anyone that can be considered higher than a #3 starter as of now and that requiring to trade top prospects for a #3 is pretty steep, imo. As usual... some teams will overpay just to try and keep up.
Depending on Darvish, I think the Cubs woulds be better served getting bullpen arms.
Totally agree. My point is that a few teams are going to overpay in looking for a guy that is, at best, maybe a #3 starter.
To your point, most starters only go 5-6 innings and the key in set up guys.
willy is putting up better numbers than rizz in every 2 strike count
i get what you're saying though
Starting off the playoffs by taxing your ace doesn't seem like a good idea to me. I don't really want to see 3 starters at any point....look what happened to the indians(of course they had no option).
Do we really need an inning eater? Butler Smyly?
In the pen we have morrow, cj, mimo(assuming here), strop and cishek....plus bd and jw.
Those first 5 make a pretty solid pen imo.
Sure, an upgrade would be nice, but will it be worth it? If we do add 2 arms, who gets the boot?
I hope darvish can get his crap together(not gonna hold my breath) or that smyly can be this years miracle!
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Excellent first half. Hopefully they can come out and bury the Cardinals right after the break.
willy is putting up better numbers than rizz in every 2 strike count
i get what you're saying though
Starting off the playoffs by taxing your ace doesn't seem like a good idea to me. I don't really want to see 3 starters at any point....look what happened to the indians(of course they had no option).
Do we really need an inning eater? Butler Smyly?
In the pen we have morrow, cj, mimo(assuming here), strop and cishek....plus bd and jw.
Those first 5 make a pretty solid pen imo.
Sure, an upgrade would be nice, but will it be worth it? If we do add 2 arms, who gets the boot?
I hope darvish can get his crap together(not gonna hold my breath) or that smyly can be this years miracle!
Getting Darvish right really would be the best thing the Cubs can hope for at this point. Hopefully he can get right and get back out on the hill. He doesn't have to be perfect, just be competitive.
As for Smyly, hopefully he can get back to the bigs healthy. It'll be interesting to follow. I'm currently about halfway through Jeff Passan's book, "The Arm", which is pretty eye opening in terms of arm injuries and Tommy John surgery in particular.
The Cubs will have a real chance to open things up if they can play well against the Cardinals and do no worse than split 4 with Arizona. While the Cubs play 12 games in 11 days against STL and AZ, the Brewers open with LA, Washington, SF, LA and Colorado.
I have to think if Milwaukee is going to make a big move they may try to do it in the next few days. They have a real tough post ASB stretch, would really not want to be 5-6 games out come Aug. Especially considering the Cubs have played .670 second half ball under Maddon.
I would agree with this. The Cubs have a fairly tough first half of September if teams currently high in the standings continue to be good and Washington comes back (as I expect them to do), but if Milwaukee waits too long, struggles through their first 15-20 games after the break and wind up being 6+ back by September, the Cubs tough run (ATL 8/30, then Philly, Milwaukee, Washington, Milwaukee and then 3 more with Arizona after a 3-game set with Cincy), it'll be really tough for them to make a big run.
They really pissed one away yesterday. Twice, actually.
This makes me happy.
It was nice to see Norwood come up over the weekend and get a test drive. He certainly has some good velocity.
It's also really nice to have the Bote safety blanket. Just out of mild curiosity, I checked the minor league game recaps on BCB and BN and did Bote even rejoin Des Moines when Bryant came up? Iowa and Nashville played on Saturday, and with the Cubs in San Diego I know if he was with the I-Cubs he must have been moving on Saturday to rejoin the big league club. I know the Cubs have done it several times with pitchers where there is a tough series, and they shuttle a guy to the big league club, file papers that he is going back to the minors, then he's right back due to another pitcher having "tightness and discomfort".
It's also really nice to have the Bote safety blanket. Just out of mild curiosity, I checked the minor league game recaps on BCB and BN and did Bote even rejoin Des Moines when Bryant came up? Iowa and Nashville played on Saturday, and with the Cubs in San Diego I know if he was with the I-Cubs he must have been moving on Saturday to rejoin the big league club. I know the Cubs have done it several times with pitchers where there is a tough series, and they shuttle a guy to the big league club, file papers that he is going back to the minors, then he's right back due to another pitcher having "tightness and discomfort".
