*****Official Cubs 2024 thread*****

[TheCainer]

This does not bode well.

From Bleacher Nation:

Cubs Upcoming Schedule​

The Cubs have twenty games scheduled between now and the All-Star break, and it is not a welcoming stretch.

• Giants (away) – four games
• Brewers (away) – three games
• Phillies (home) – three games
• Angels (home) – three games
• Off Day
• Orioles (away) – three games
• Cardinals (away) – four games in three days

Speaking of scheduling, whatever happened to a day of travel on west coast trips? The Cubs had a Sunday night game and then had to take the Red Eye flight to SF to play on Monday night. And, the same thing when they come back after Thursday's game in SF. A late afternoon game there, catch a flight, and then play in Milwaukee the next night.

 

[hawkirugged17]

 

[hawkirugged17]

3 years ago, and I barely remember it.

 

[IaHawks03]

Leadoff triple and he doesn't score.
I used to get mad, now I just laugh.

 

[St. Louis Hawk]

 

[lucas80]

Leadoff triple and he doesn't score.
I used to get mad, now I just laugh.

Bases loaded, or 2nd and 3rd with no outs and not scoring is this team’s jam.

 

[IaHawks03]

2 run lead in the 9th and you lose 🤣😅🤣

 

[lucas80]

View embedded media

This gif should be on every page by now.
JFC.

 

[St. Louis Hawk]

Laughable. Just ridiculous.

 

[MeetTheFerentzes]

Blown-Save-O-Meter makes another move. At least the whole bullpen is contributing nowadays, not just Alzolay or Neris. The Cubs play as a "team."

SAVE-O-METER - 18
BLOWN-SAVE-O-METER - 17

 

[hawkifann]

Surely we can trade Taillon and Happ right?

They probably could trade Taillon. Happ as a full no-trade clause and just married a Chicago girl, so that’s tougher.

 

[St. Louis Hawk]

I predict that the team will do … nothing.

Just gonna let it burn to the ground.

 

[tumorboy]

This does not bode well.

From Bleacher Nation:

Cubs Upcoming Schedule​

The Cubs have twenty games scheduled between now and the All-Star break, and it is not a welcoming stretch.

• Giants (away) – four games
• Brewers (away) – three games
• Phillies (home) – three games
• Angels (home) – three games
• Off Day
• Orioles (away) – three games
• Cardinals (away) – four games in three days

Speaking of scheduling, whatever happened to a day of travel on west coast trips? The Cubs had a Sunday night game and then had to take the Red Eye flight to SF to play on Monday night. And, the same thing when they come back after Thursday's game in SF. A late afternoon game there, catch a flight, and then play in Milwaukee the next night.

 

[tumorboy]

They probably could trade Taillon. Happ as a full no-trade clause and just married a Chicago girl, so that’s tougher.

Tallion has about 32 Million left on that deal. They would need to kick in some money. His FIP is close to 4. Most teams will view him as an expensive inng eater.

 

[win1forthe]

What a wasted season. Need new leadership.

 

[hawkjt]

Cubs promoting Steele bobble head nite on July 6 ...i wondered if he would get a win before then...after last nite...maybe not.

 

[QChawks]

This season is over boyz

it’s laughable that people still keep saying “but they are only 2 games out of the wild card”

they can’t hit and have the worst pen in the league

just stop

 

[hawkirugged17]

 

[St. Louis Hawk]

This season is over boyz

it’s laughable that people still keep saying “but they are only 2 games out of the wild card”

they can’t hit and have the worst pen in the league

just stop

To be fair, their defense is mediocre too.

 

[MuscoHawk]

Why was Ian Happ given a NTC?

 

[lucas80]

Tallion has about 32 Million left on that deal. They would need to kick in some money. His FIP is close to 4. Most teams will view him as an expensive inng eater.

I don't know if they will trade him, or anyone, but a lot of teams would take him. $32 over 2 years isn't bad by modern standards for a guy who takes the ball and leaves you in a spot to win the game.

 

[hawkifann]

I don't know if they will trade him, or anyone, but a lot of teams would take him. $32 over 2 years isn't bad by modern standards for a guy who takes the ball and leaves you in a spot to win the game.

Yeah, if the Cubs actually did trade him, they’d likely kick in cash to get a better return, but his contract isn’t bad at all. You’re not expecting to get an ace for $16M per year (they cost at least twice that on the open market). A guy who will go out there and eat innings and put you in a position to win has big value late in a playoff chase.

 

[tumorboy]

I don't know if they will trade him, or anyone, but a lot of teams would take him. $32 over 2 years isn't bad by modern standards for a guy who takes the ball and leaves you in a spot to win the game.

It limits his market. And getting much of any value out of him.

 

[TheCainer]

Cubs promoting Steele bobble head nite on July 6 ...i wondered if he would get a win before then...after last nite...maybe not.

Well, at least Hendricks got his...😖

 

[hawkifann]

 

[TheCainer]

Maybe Jed should consider this?

 

[SoDakHawk]

One competent player would change the entire narrative on this team. A competent closer that saves 70% of his games would mean the Cubs have 7 more wins, putting them at 44-35 in second place 2 games back of the Brewers. A top level closer that has an 80% save percentage would be good for 10 more wins.

The league average save percentage so far this season is 63%. The Reds lead the league at 79% and the Brewers are second at 78%. The Cubs sit at 51%. If you do the math on all this, literally the only difference between the Cubs and the Brewers is one position, the closer. If the Cubs saved games at the same rate as the Brewers, 78%, we would have 27 saves and 8 blown saves and currently have the same record, 46-33.

It's almost comical at this point that the Cubs haven't found one arm in their entire organization that could be a competent closer.

 

[hawkifann]

One competent player would change the entire narrative on this team. A competent closer that saves 70% of his games would mean the Cubs have 7 more wins, putting them at 44-35 in second place 2 games back of the Brewers. A top level closer that has an 80% save percentage would be good for 10 more wins.

The league average save percentage so far this season is 63%. The Reds lead the league at 79% and the Brewers are second at 78%. The Cubs sit at 51%. If you do the math on all this, literally the only difference between the Cubs and the Brewers is one position, the closer. If the Cubs saved games at the same rate as the Brewers, 78%, we would have 27 saves and 8 blown saves and currently have the same record, 46-33.

It's almost comical at this point that the Cubs haven't found one arm in their entire organization that could be a competent closer.

They came into the season with 4 options stacked at closer: Alzolay, Merryweather, Neris, Almonte…..none of them with major closing track records, all with some reasons for optimism and now 3 of them on the shelf.

 

[hawkirugged17]

 

[MeetTheFerentzes]

What a wasted season. Need new leadership.

Difficult to know what's going on. Seems like a team with the individual talent they have performing so poorly as a team would indicate some Mets-level systemic internal issues, but who knows. So hard to believe that this team would perform worse under Counsel than Ross, but here we are. And not only is the bullpen absolutely awful, but I swear the Cubs must have hired Brian Ferentz as the organization's hitting coordinator - Almost every hitter from low A-ball on up just sucks, completely underperforming to expectations.

 

[hawkeyez]

I'm going to the game this Saturday in Milwaukee. How many beers will I need to consume to watch this Cubs squad in person?

Any bar/restaurant recommendations for before or after the game? I've been to Wrigley dozens of times, but this will be my first game at Miller Park American Family Field.

 

[hawkifann]

Difficult to know what's going on. Seems like a team with the individual talent they have performing so poorly as a team would indicate some Mets-level systemic internal issues, but who knows. So hard to believe that this team would perform worse under Counsel than Ross, but here we are. And not only is the bullpen absolutely awful, but I swear the Cubs must have hired Brian Ferentz as the organization's hitting coordinator - Almost every hitter from low A-ball on up just sucks, completely underperforming to expectations.

And yet with regard to hitting, there has been very clear and visible growth this year from Michael Busch and while his overall numbers are not good, Christopher Morel cutting his K rate from 31% to 21.8% year over year and increasing his walk rate from 8.4% to 11.2%. Those changes have held all season and with this sample size, there’s no reason to expect regression. These are very positive signs for 2 young hitters. Morel’s growth gives me a lot of confidence that he’s going to continue to grow and develop as a hitter.

 

[hawkirugged17]

I'm going to the game this Saturday in Milwaukee. How many beers will I need to consume to watch this Cubs squad in person?

Any bar/restaurant recommendations for before or after the game? I've been to Wrigley dozens of times, but this will be my first game at Miller Park American Family Field.

Tailgate if you can. Should be warmer than this.

 

[St. Louis Hawk]

Maybe Jed should consider this?

At least I could get a chicken soft taco out of this. That a win.

 

[tumorboy]

I'm going to the game this Saturday in Milwaukee. How many beers will I need to consume to watch this Cubs squad in person?

Any bar/restaurant recommendations for before or after the game? I've been to Wrigley dozens of times, but this will be my first game at Miller Park American Family Field.

See you there bruh. Beers are expensive. Shotgun a 4 pack of tall boys while marching into the game. Also go to the Club level entrance on the side from man entrances. Always shorter lines to get in. Pretend to be handicapped and skip to front . Safe House is a tourist stop. I’d eat at before game. Afterwards it just depends on what you want. The more Ethnic food is closer to National and 6th through 10th third ward area.

 

[tumorboy]

One competent player would change the entire narrative on this team. A competent closer that saves 70% of his games would mean the Cubs have 7 more wins, putting them at 44-35 in second place 2 games back of the Brewers. A top level closer that has an 80% save percentage would be good for 10 more wins.

The league average save percentage so far this season is 63%. The Reds lead the league at 79% and the Brewers are second at 78%. The Cubs sit at 51%. If you do the math on all this, literally the only difference between the Cubs and the Brewers is one position, the closer. If the Cubs saved games at the same rate as the Brewers, 78%, we would have 27 saves and 8 blown saves and currently have the same record, 46-33.

It's almost comical at this point that the Cubs haven't found one arm in their entire organization that could be a competent closer.

The brewers lost their all star closer in ST. And the stud replacement flamed out. Yet, they’ve still been able to throw out about 4 to 5 guys with ERAs under 3. Frankly the difference over the years between the Cubs and brewers has been bullpen scouting of cast offs. Yes, the brewers had Hader, but look at all the other guys they’ve cycled through it has to be scouting and development.

 

[hawkirugged17]

 

[lucas80]

It limits his market. And getting much of any value out of him.

The market for pitching is always large and expensive. It just is.

 

[win1forthe]

The brewers lost their all star closer in ST. And the stud replacement flamed out. Yet, they’ve still been able to throw out about 4 to 5 guys with ERAs under 3. Frankly the difference over the years between the Cubs and brewers has been bullpen scouting of cast offs. Yes, the brewers had Hader, but look at all the other guys they’ve cycled through it has to be scouting and development.

The Mets lost Diaz, the Mariners lost Munoz and went with Stanek(a guy Hawkifann thought the Cubs should sign, and he was right), Fairbanks missed time in Tampa, Kimbrel hit a rough patch in Baltimore and there are many others. Most, if not all, didn’t really fall off. Hard to argue the signing of Neris, he was coming a really good year, but there is literally no one else that can consistently close, it’s the worst bullpen in baseball (I’d say even worse than the Sox). This is just another reason Jed should be on the hot seat.

 

[MuscoHawk]

The rebuild has failed. This is all on Jed. They’ll be sellers at the deadline.

To make a run at the playoffs, they would need 2 set up guys, closer, catcher and a legit bat at CF or 1B. No way in hell should they trade the farm for so many rentals.