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*****Official Cubs 2023 thread*****

HawkRugged17 said:
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I knew Wisdom was scuffling but didn't realize it was this bad. I pulled this from BN from a couple of days ago.

After Wisdom's game against Blake Snell/Padres the other night:

Unfortunately, that performance wasn’t particularly surprising given the way things have gone for him lately. Overall, Wisdom has just one hit (a single) in his last six games (21 PAs), and is slashing just .157/.259/.324 (62 wRC+) in his last 117 plate appearances dating all the way back to April 22.


That is bruuuuuutal.

But it gets worse. In his last 51 plate appearances against left-handed pitchers only, Wisdom is slashing just .170/.235/.298 (45 wRC+), with a 41.2% strikeout rate.

https://www.bleachernation.com/cubs...sdom-who-isnt-even-hitting-lefties-right-now/
 
Wisdom has been off-the-charts bad. He has options and probably should spend some time in Iowa.
 
I've never seen that before. A baserunner is tagged out on a ball 4 count. wtf?

EDIT: Well, we ran ourselves out of that inning. This team is messed up right now to say the least.
 
I need a team to follow for the rest of the year. I’m thinking about being trendy and picking the Rays.
 
MeetTheFerentzes said:
The bullpen and fringe players on this team take a lot of heat, and rightfully so, but holy smokes! - How 'bout those numbers from the Big-4 money guys during the Angels series -

Hoerner-Swanson-Happ-Suzuki (Hit 1 through 4 all 3 games):

45 AB
1 run
8 hits (.178 BA)
0 RBI

Ouch!
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Yeah, that makes the manager question fairly pointless too…unless the new guy is going to start giving the “get a hit“ sign to the best guys.
 
hawkifann said:
Podcasting is getting hard. “Which shitty part of the team do I talk about this week?”
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Time to go human interest. What’s your favorite memory of going to a game with your dad? How about a show on Yosh Kawano?
 
lucas80 said:
I need a team to follow for the rest of the year. I’m thinking about being trendy and picking the Rays.
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I'm rooting for Baltimore and Arizona. Would love to see the Yankees, Mets, Cardinals, and Padres not make the playoffs
 
Radar3454 said:
Prospects
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I do that periodically….the challenge there is that Greg Huss, Greg Zumach and Bryan Smith from Northside Bound are already killing that with a weekly pod “Cubs on Deck”. I’d encourage anyone to listen to their show, it’s great. I’ve had Huss on twice and I’ll have Zumach on this summer talking about the MLB draft. Not sure if we’ll do a preview or an ep after to talk about the picks.

I also need to get Mark Weisman on again.
 
lucas80 said:
I need a team to follow for the rest of the year. I’m thinking about being trendy and picking the Rays.
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Learned more about Brandon Hyde and Mike Elias and their story individually and how they have built the Orioles, I am definitely rooting for them. And I love the excitement surrounding the Reds and their young players. One of the parts I love the most about baseball is how teams are built and these are two intriguing teams.
 
hawkifann said:
Podcasting is getting hard. “Which shitty part of the team do I talk about this week?”
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Cubs win 3-2!

Listened to WSCR yesterday as they were talking about the construct of the Cubs roster (Bernstien). Pretty interesting as the team, based on metrics, is doing exactly what they are supposed to be doing which is getting on base. What they aren't doing is being aggressive on first pitch strikes, or getting hits when they have runners.

I'm old school and don't get all the advanced metrics, you either win or lose, but it was pretty interesting stuff. Maybe do a deep dive into advanced metrics to see why they suck so bad? Or how about who gets traded and for what?
 
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I didn’t watch last night, but my take always are.
Pitch Stroman every game.
Alzolay appears to have closer stuff
Suzuki is getting more aggressive, which he needed to do. Especially as often as he gets hosed by umps on the strike zone.
Madrigal still sucks, but that’s on the edge of being BS. I hate replay to show a guy safe, then off the bag for a millisecond. On a walk no less.
 
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I hadn't exactly given up on the Professor, but I figured he would have an ok year, not really his old self, and the organization would have to figure out the most polite way to not pick up his '24 option.

But heck, I'd much rather take more and more of what we saw tonight. Woo-hoo! Looks like he's back!
 
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I-Cubs thrashing the St. Paul Saints tonight, too. A local station here in the Twin Cities is playing the game and I got a look at Bailey Horn in relief.
I’m optimistic. 95+ from the left side would be helpful if he shows control.
 
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I’ve lowered my expectations for Kyle and he certainly surpassed those tonight by miles. The Cubs only *need* him to be a 4/5 starter. If he can be a 2/3 for stretches, though, that’s a massive, massive help for this team. I’m not going to worry about that at this point, but damn, what an outing that was tonight.
 
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The Cubs bullpen is so lacking right now except for Alzolay and Lytle.

Hoerner has 4 strikeouts in the last 2 games including some golden opportunities with RISP today. Who would have guessed that?

Oh well. I see the A's have won 5 in a row including 2 against the Pirates and 3 now against the Brew Crew. Oakland is keeping the Cubs alive in the NLC. LOL

EDIT: I forgot about Merryweather. He's pitched well.

EDIT #2: 0-15 with RISP today, spread across 10 different hitters. This was a team loss.
 
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TheCainer said:
The Cubs bullpen is so lacking right now except for Alzolay and Lytle.

Hoerner has 4 strikeouts in the last 2 games including some golden opportunities with RISP today. Who would have guessed that?

Oh well. I see the A's have won 5 in a row including 2 against the Pirates and 3 now against the Brew Crew. Oakland is keeping the Cubs alive in the NLC. LOL

EDIT: I forgot about Merryweather. He's pitched well.

EDIT #2: 0-15 with RISP today, spread across 10 different hitters. This was a team loss.
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Thats ****ing horrible!
 
TheCainer said:
The Cubs bullpen is so lacking right now except for Alzolay and Lytle.

Hoerner has 4 strikeouts in the last 2 games including some golden opportunities with RISP today. Who would have guessed that?

Oh well. I see the A's have won 5 in a row including 2 against the Pirates and 3 now against the Brew Crew. Oakland is keeping the Cubs alive in the NLC. LOL

EDIT: I forgot about Merryweather. He's pitched well.

EDIT #2: 0-15 with RISP today, spread across 10 different hitters. This was a team loss.
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@hawkifann ...why did the Cubs go 0-15 RISP today? There is your next podcast.
 
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Watched some of the I-Cubs game on TV, and if you are looking for bullpen help it won’t be coming from Heuer anytime soon.
Just awful. 10 ERA in ten appearances. Even a stat weirdo can’t make that not awful. No control and getting hit hard. Velocity is there, but that’s it.
 
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As mentioned on BN today, this upcoming home stand will go a long way in Jed’s decision making about being a buyer or seller. The Cubs are 9 games under .500, and have to make a decent showing against the Pirates.
 
lucas80 said:
As mentioned on BN today, this upcoming home stand will go a long way in Jed’s decision making about being a buyer or seller. The Cubs are 9 games under .500, and have to make a decent showing against the Pirates.
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Unless I figured wrong, the Cubs still have 41 games remaining against NLC teams. That provides a lot of opportunity to flip this season, but if they perform the same way they recently did by being swept by the Reds in 3 games at Wrigley, well, you know the rest.

The biggest remaining question is if they will trade or extend Stroman. If they trade him, they need to get a big return the way he is pitching now. I would also give him a strong indication that the Cubs will be strong contenders to resign him provided he opts out of next year's option. He seems to want to remain a Cub which is fantastic IMO. Maybe the Cubs could pull a reverse version of the Aroldis Chapman trade they made in 2016 where they gave up a lot for a rental? One can hope I guess.
 
TheCainer said:
Unless I figured wrong, the Cubs still have 41 games remaining against NLC teams. That provides a lot of opportunity to flip this season, but if they perform the same way they recently did by being swept by the Reds in 3 games at Wrigley, well, you know the rest.

The biggest remaining question is if they will trade or extend Stroman. If they trade him, they need to get a big return the way he is pitching now. I would also give him a strong indication that the Cubs will be strong contenders to resign him provided he opts out of next year's option. He seems to want to remain a Cub which is fantastic IMO. Maybe the Cubs could pull a reverse version of the Aroldis Chapman trade they made in 2016 where they gave up a lot for a rental? One can hope I guess.
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I don't think it would be a good idea to trade Stroman, unless they were supremely confident that he would decline the option on the current contract and come back and sign a multi-year deal with the Cubs in '24. He's been by far the most reliable starter the past 2 seasons, seems to have several good years left and seems to want to stay with the Cubs.

Plus, although there seems to be a lot of potential on the farm, the Cubs have unloaded a heck of a lot of talent since Dec '20 and have had essentially nothing to show for it at the MLB level yet, so the organization's ability to make good trades is still in question. Of course Wes, Caissie, PCA, Acantara, Brown, Canario & Palencia COULD be solid Major Leaguers some day, but nothing is certain (see Madrigal, Kilian, etc.).
 
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lucas80 said:
Watched some of the I-Cubs game on TV, and if you are looking for bullpen help it won’t be coming from Heuer anytime soon.
Just awful. 10 ERA in ten appearances. Even a stat weirdo can’t make that not awful. No control and getting hit hard. Velocity is there, but that’s it.
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Shouldn’t really be surprising. Coming back from TJ is no joke. He hasn’t pitched in the bigs since Sept. 2021 and while his getting back to action was actually ahead of schedule, it takes time to get all that feel back. Many guys have come back from TJ and been anywhere from OK to solid and then get fully back that next season.
 
TheCainer said:
Unless I figured wrong, the Cubs still have 41 games remaining against NLC teams. That provides a lot of opportunity to flip this season, but if they perform the same way they recently did by being swept by the Reds in 3 games at Wrigley, well, you know the rest.

The biggest remaining question is if they will trade or extend Stroman. If they trade him, they need to get a big return the way he is pitching now. I would also give him a strong indication that the Cubs will be strong contenders to resign him provided he opts out of next year's option. He seems to want to remain a Cub which is fantastic IMO. Maybe the Cubs could pull a reverse version of the Aroldis Chapman trade they made in 2016 where they gave up a lot for a rental? One can hope I guess.
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While it could happen and having cake and eating it too can be wonderful, it’s not a winning strategy. The Cubs sort of did that with Jason Hammel in 2014 (sending him to A’s in the Addison Russell deal and then signing him for 2015), but he wasn’t the centerpiece of the trade (Samardzjia was). Boston hoped they were doing the same when they traded Lester to Oakland and we know how that turned out.

I think not working on an extension for Stroman would be stupid (and I’m not presently concerned about Stroman’s tweet). The Cubs have established the framework for a competitive window: Happ, Hoerner, Suzuki and Taillon are all signed through the 2026 season (plus Swanson through 2029 and Steele under team control through 2028). If the Cubs are just going to let Stroman walk, then they not only still need to improve the rotation, but they have to replace Stro and THEN improve the rotation and the move would likely extend the rebuild window by 1-2 years unless they absolutely nailed the trade in terms of MLB-ready talent.

I do expect the Cubs to be somewhat active at the deadline. They could crawl back into “buy” territory, but I don’t think there’s any scenario where they’re big buyers. I also don’t think they’ll be huge sellers, not with that window above and a much weaker 2nd half schedule. I think they’ll look to make some deals to help them beyond this year. I could see them trading Bellinger if he’s back and healthy, but that’s in question at this point. It’s going to be an interesting deadline for sure.
 
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