*****Official Cubs 2023 thread*****
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Was wondering the same. Saw pre-game they said he was available to pitch. Wasn’t sure if something changed.
There was some speculation, but not really sure why. Ross did say pregame that Adbert had been down the last 4 games, but that he was available today. Hopefully just getting him some needed rest. Some complained about Adbert not coming in yesterday to get the save, but Merryweather started the inning up 4, they werne’t going to pull him just because he gave up a solo shot.
1.5 games back in the division with the Brewers loss today. Cubs could be a half game out of the 1st WC if the Padres knock off the Phillies today.
Very nice organizational day. Wicks, Palencia, and Little all pitched, and all of them were in the minors at the start of the season. Wicks and Little fully home grown, and Palencia was identified and traded for, then developed.
That was one of the worst 7th inning stretches I've ever seen. Jeff Garlin was cringe worthy.
Not to get ahead of ourselves, but....
The Cubs and Brewers have split their head to head matchups so far this year. So if we enter the final series of the year 1 game back, we can win the division by taking 2 out of 3.
The Cubs farm system looks to be very strong. It seems that they are able to reach down and grab someone and he is very capable of filling in.
Thanks for posting this. I almost did, but thought I might be the only one who thought so. He's sung the stretch before, but that was crappy.
He was bad on the interview with Pat and Ron too. Everything he did was extremely hyper and over the top.
Interesting stuff on The Road To Wrigley tonight. Switching back and forth between three games with studio analysis. You can understand the hype for Jackson Ferris. Lots of coverage of his start, but also good looks at Ballesteros and Rojas on that team. Rojas has basically pushed Christian Hernandez to the side.
If he's not a troll, he's one of those fans who almost seems upset when the team does well because it's going the opposite of their pre-conceived notions. Some folks just can't chill out and enjoy something, I don't really understand it. I find these types to just not be worth engaging even a little. I just put him on ignore and moved on, this thread is one of the few overall positive ones on the board and I'm not going to let that dweeb muck it up.
I haven't checked out your podcast yet, I'll make a point to give it a listen. I'm a bit of a podcast junky and always looking for something to play in the background while I work.
Guy was throwing 100 plus and they slowed him down for control and arm damage probability. Went from A to majors in a year.
Jefferson Rojas has really exploded this year and could be a quick riser next year. He’s young and really impressive.
Thanks in advance for the listen! I try to mix in an interview episode every month or so, now I have a couple lined up over the next 3-4 weeks.
Just keep running your mouth. The goal is to win the World Series. As long as Happ and Suzuki are on the Cubs they aren’t winning the World Series.
Then you might as well leave this thread and cheer for some other team, because those two are here to stay. You, and everyone else here, will be happier.
Bye!
I guess they were essentially required to pick another position player to call up. It just seems to me that recalling Mervis might have made more sense - he's still hitting pretty darn well at AAA, swings a bat from the left side like Tauchman (whom he would take most playing time from), has played a lot more 1B than AC has CF, and he has MLB experience (although underwhelming) that might make him a little more valuable during a pennant chase.
Good to see AC get his first MLB at-bat yesterday. That dude has a vicious swing! Can't wait to see him get a hold of one.
I wonder if they picked AC because he’s going to play AFL, so the lost ABs in Iowa don’t matter quite as much. That said, I was a little bit surprised that, if they weren’t picking PCA and weren’t going to play AC much, that they didn’t go ahead and snag PJ Higgins just to get that extra versatility with the 3rd catcher. PJ has it fine at Iowa, but if he’s up, the Cubs have more flexibility to potentially run for Gomes/Amaya or use one of them as a PH to still have that emergency guy on the bench.
Whatever, though, they have their plan and I’m not going to argue a bunch given how well the team is playing right now.
I’ve been thinking a lot about the Cubs ability to develop talent since Theo took over and I wanted to go back and compare where the Cubs are now to where they were in 2016 and then at the end of their championship run in 2019.
To do this, I broke the team into 3 categories:
On the top line, the 2016 Cubs were 23.5% homegrown/developed (8 of 34 contributors), 2019 was 28.6% (12/42) and this year’s team is 43.2% (19/44).
Significant homegrown/developed contributors from each year:
The future really does look bright from here.
To do this, I broke the team into 3 categories:
- Homegrown: Originally drafted/signed by the Cubs
- Largely Developed Internally: Traded for or signed from another franchise, but had the bulk of at least 2 years in the Cubs system before coming up (basically in this era, that’s Hendricks, Palencia & Canari)
- External (FAs & trades)
On the top line, the 2016 Cubs were 23.5% homegrown/developed (8 of 34 contributors), 2019 was 28.6% (12/42) and this year’s team is 43.2% (19/44).
Significant homegrown/developed contributors from each year:
- 2016: Position Players - Bryant, Baez, Contreras, Almora, Soler, Szcur, Schwarber (postseason). Pitchers - Hendricks
- 2019: Position Players - Bryant, Baez, Schwarber, Contreras, Almora, Bote, Caratini, Happ. Pitchers - Hendricks (note: Hoerner was up the last 2 weeks of the season)
- 2023: Position Players - Happ, Hoerner, Morel, Amaya. Pitchers - Steele, Alzolay, Hendricks, Assad, Palencia, Wicks
The future really does look bright from here.
Davis will come down to health. He’s been playing well lately after coming back from surgery, but he hasn’t been through a full season since 2021. He does seem to be still universally viewed as really talented and he’s still just 24, so if I’m the Cubs I let it play out and see what happens. Trading him now would really make no sense, as his trade value is pretty depressed due to the injuries and lost time.
Mervis still has some cache as a future MLB power hitter. It didn’t go great for him in Chicago this year, but how many guys have had a bad 100 PAs to start a career and still wound up being good (Rizzo, for one). Mervis has put up great numbers at Iowa again, so his challenge is going to be the jump to the bigs. He’s not on many top 100 prospect lists, but you don’t see many 1B on there because the positional value is not nearly as high as pitchers, CFs and middle infielders, but Mervis is almost always there when you look at sources that list out 150. Depending on what the Cubs do this offseason (especially re: Bellinger), he’ll likely either get a good shot in 2024 or be packaged as part of a trade to fill another need.
