I don’t care about facing a lefty, I’d rather see Schwarber in LF, Happ in CF and Garcia at 2B.
Almora/Bote is a black hole in that lineup.
And why are we moving Bryant? He LIKES hitting third and he’s streaking. Why mess with a good thing?
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I don’t care about facing a lefty, I’d rather see Schwarber in LF, Happ in CF and Garcia at 2B.
Almora/Bote is a black hole in that lineup.
And why are we moving Bryant? He LIKES hitting third and he’s streaking. Why mess with a good thing?
Maddon has no bullets in his gun. This is what you get when you don't have a legitimate leadoff guy. He's throwing shit against the wall to see if anything sticks.
I have no problem with Contreras leading off, he has good OBP. Happ is a legit leadoff hitter and he’ll probably be moved there after a few games.
My problem is with the automatic outs, Almora and
Bote.
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Did you make that Yankees thread yet?
It would be just me and Lute. And Lute's posting style drives me bonkers.
I just enjoy being the voice of reason here.
A month seems about right for Zobrist if he is reporting at the end of next week as rumored. He'll go to Arizona for about two weeks of conditioning work, and playing on the small diamonds with the AZL guys. Then 5-7 games with Iowa.
Yeah, CarGo didn't work out and they moved on. This is another low cost guy that addresses a need. Don't take my comment as "Yay!!!! Theo won the trade deadline!!!!"
They didn't have anyone particularly strong in the LOOGY role and now they have a guy. Nothing more, nothing less.
You sure about that?
He brought Strop into the game. He's been "nails".
But, that cap! So cool/so hood.
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You might be on to something. Maddon giving Theo the figurative middle finger by using Strop. "You don't get me some help and I'll keep blowing games".
Cubs bullpen tonight: 3 IP, 2 hits, 4 BB, 3 HBP, 2 K. If the bullpen is going to just come in and walk guys and hit guys, they have no chance.
The two hits only mattered because the bullpen had already sprinkled baserunners all over the place.
The two hits only mattered because the bullpen had already sprinkled baserunners all over the place.
Blow the whole team up. They aren’t winning the World Series. Trade Bryant, Baez, Rizzo, Hendricks, Contreras and Lester and build farm system up again.
Unless this bullpen does a 180, season's over boys. I don't care how many runs you score, postseason is defined by the bullpen, and they might not even get to the postseason because of the bullpen.
What players can they add that would help this year. Players that might be attainable and what resources would we need to part with ?
There are more than two choices. It's not sell the farm and buy or blow the whole thing up. The Cubs have a core that will contend for the next two seasons for sure.
By the logic in the "blow the whole thing up" post, every team should look at themselves, decide they're not a super team and sell every asset.
As @bagdropper posted, it's July 26. The Cardinals are hot right now, but they're not going to play .800 ball the rest of the way. The Brewers may have just lost another starter to injury tonight and their bullpen has flaws. This division is still certainly winnable.
If I'm Theo I'm actively working the trade market, but I'm not going to sell off what's on the farm for a huge add or 3 at the deadline. I'm going to see what I can get working in the margins for reasonable deals and see if the talent on this team rises down the stretch.
There are things to like here. I want to see if Happ can settle in. I want to see Descalso cut/traded/whatever and I want to see more Bote and Garcia (I agree with @lucas80 that Bote needs more work). I want to see shuffling of the bullpen roles. Kimbrel is the closer, but be more fluid about 6th/7th/8th. Strop is currently broken, so back him off to earlier work. In spite of tonight's performances, I'd look at Kintzler, Cishek and Ryan to handle most of the 7th/8th work. If a hot hand emerges (Wick, etc.), roll with it.
The Cubs could get a good haul for Rizzo. They could get a solid haul for Lester. They could get a hell of a haul from any of Baez, KB and Contreras....but they'd be back to where they were in 2013-2014 hoping the haul they got is as good as what they had then.
So who can they trade for that might help them win now. Are some of the players mentioned feasible(Castellanos ,Eric Sogard, etc) and what they have to give up for players listed or similar
Some of you guys talked yourselves into thinking this roster was much better than it really is. Theo/Hoyer/McLeod are so inept at pitcher development that it cost them $100M to patch together a decent rotation this year (with all top 5 guys being 30+ years old at seasons end). This afforded them no flexibility to add another bat and really bolster the bullpen.
I don't get at all mad on a night like tonight because this team is playing to their true talent level.
I don't get at all mad on a night like tonight because this team is playing to their true talent level.
If I'm Theo, I'd just look for the best deal(s) I can find for bullpen help. Get two solid guys or one really reliable guy and hope you can shift enough pieces around to make it work.
Bullpens are fickle. You can have a great pen one year and crap the next. Guys come and go. The Cubs came into this season hoping for Morrow and planning to lean on Strop, Edwards, Cishek. The reality is that Kyle Ryan has been the best surprise in the pen and Kintzler and Cishek have been pretty good, but Morrow has given nothing and Strop and Edwards appear broken currently. They can't make enough trades to overcome that many bad/lost years, so they need to get a couple of those guys to improve down the stretch, even if it's in a more marginal role.
Maybe he’s gonna keep throwing Strop until he injured himself. Then he’ll be gone for good.
Might be genius: have Strop and his stupid goddamn crooked cap blow games mid season rather than end of the season.
Gawd! Strop is worthless!
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