2019 Around the NL Central Thread

[CubsFaninMN]

And that's fine. I'm not saying definitively he's on the juice. I'm just wondering if it's worth considering because there doesn't seem to be an obvious answer as to what's going on. I mean it's basically down to "luck" but at a certain point you can't be that lucky.

Well, there's always selling your soul to the Devil...

 

[TL1961]

Hmmm....a Brewer juicing?
Never

Just ask Braun

Or Eric Thames, who has about 6 HRs since the Cubs’ pitching coach accused him of juicing four years ago when he had a dozen in the first two weeks.

 

[TL1961]

Brewers are only 1.5 games ahead of the Cubs after being up 5 recently.

Cards are 10-9.

Bad start didn’t bury us.

 

[Diehardfan]

Watched part of Brewer game tonight (thanks again T-Mobile for free MLB) and watched Hader get lit up. It's pretty obvious that he has to get that FB up near 100 to do what he does with that herky-jerky motion of his. His fastball is flat and he was only hitting 93/94 tonight....that won't cut it in MLB no matter what contortions he goes through.

 

[chibears55]

2 more dingers for Yelich tonight
13 on the year and all hit at home

He has more Homers then Schwarber and Rizzo have hits and only 3 less then Bryant has in hits...

 

[Milton Waddams]

Yelich
.361 AVG
13 HR
31 RBI
.455 OBP

Laughed at ESPN's projection of his #'s based off performance thus far:
.361 AVG
96 HR
228 RBI
..455 OBP

I asked this last year too... As someone who doesn't follow MLB like you die hards, there's no way MIL knew they were getting the player they got, right?? If he's not cheating, the guy just landed in the perfect spot and blew up. I'm assuming MIL easily won the trade at this point.

 

[CubsFaninMN]

Yelich
.361 AVG
13 HR
31 RBI
.455 OBP

Laughed at ESPN's projection of his #'s based off performance thus far:
.361 AVG
96 HR
228 RBI
..455 OBP

I asked this last year too... As someone who doesn't follow MLB like you die hards, there's no way MIL knew they were getting the player they got, right?? If he's not cheating, the guy just landed in the perfect spot and blew up. I'm assuming MIL easily won the trade at this point.

They got more than any team could ever dream of getting, from any player.

This is literally unprecedented performance over the last 8 weeks of last year and into this year. No modern era player, juicing or not, has *ever* shown the level of production Yelich is showing over the 300 or so at-bats this period covers.

You don't achieve that by changing ball parks, finding Jesus or even -- at least as seen in the steroid era -- doping up. Literally no one has engineered such an incredible inflation in production as Yelich has.

Which is why I don't blame Beck for wondering if PEDs could be involved. Me, I'm reminded of the book The Year the Yankees Lost the Pennant. Y'all would likely be more familiar with the Broadway musical and film made out of the book -- Damn Yankees.

This guy is playing like Joe Hardy. There's a great scene in the original book, where Joe is sick to death of being used to humiliate the opposing teams. He manages to talk his manager into getting a day off, at which point the other team's pitcher engineers a no-hitter -- until the manager, over his objections, puts Joe in to pinch hit in the 9th. Joe determines to just stand there, with the bat on his shoulder, and take either a called strikeout or a walk. First pitch, two feet outside, the bat flies off his shoulder, pulls him across the plate, and the ball flies out of the park. Senators win, 1 to nothing, and even his teammates think Joe is a low-life motherfucker.

If I see Yelich pull off anything similar, I'm gonna start a letter-writing campaign to the league office to get deals with the devil banned from baseball...

-Doug

 

[chibears55]

Yelich
.361 AVG
13 HR
31 RBI
.455 OBP

Laughed at ESPN's projection of his #'s based off performance thus far:
.361 AVG
96 HR
228 RBI
..455 OBP

I asked this last year too... As someone who doesn't follow MLB like you die hards, there's no way MIL knew they were getting the player they got, right?? If he's not cheating, the guy just landed in the perfect spot and blew up. I'm assuming MIL easily won the trade at this point.

Some are suggesting that maybe he stealing signs at home...

 

[chibears55]

Some are suggesting that maybe he stealing signs at home...

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1120702345296404483

 

[fatbeard]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1120702345296404483

Small sample size dislcaimer, but the BB% and K% are what really catches my eye. That level of discrepancy just doesn't make sense. Even if we chalk Yelich's power differential to Miller Park being a launching pad, I can't explain the rest.

 

[zack54attack]

Wasn't Lewis Brinson the main piece in the Yelich deal? Thanks Jeter.

 

[beckdawg]

Wasn't Lewis Brinson the main piece in the Yelich deal? Thanks Jeter.

They got more in that deal. Monte Harrison and Isan Diaz are both really toolsy prospects. Harrison is hitting .333/.444/.578 in AAA right now. He's the type of guy who is a super star if he hits .270 or more because the other tools are huge. Diaz hit .245/.365/.418 in AA last year. He Ks too much but could turn into something. As for Brinson, I wouldn't count him out yet. Like Harrison he's got big tools and is a pretty good CF.

That's sorta been the mo in their rebuild. They have gathered a lot of prospects who are either going to be superstars or nothing depending how they iron out. Granted having seen what Yelich has done since coming over to MIL they probably didn't get enough but at the time of the trade I thought they got enough interesting guys to make the gamble worth it. I mean if any one of those 3 guys turns into the player they can be they are just as good as the Yelich who played in MIA. I want to make clear that's not the Yelich that was in MIL last year but then MIA didn't know that guy was ever going to come around.

 

[TL1961]

Cards scored 17 on Thursday, and followed that with back to back 2-1 losses.

Sweet.

 

[zack54attack]

Cardinals lose!

 

[TL1961]

Team Rabbit's Foot - aka The Cardinals - are again facing a guy who is not a major league starter, as Pittsburgh is missing two regular starters.

Pittsburgh scored three in the first thanks to Jose Martinez being in RF, but two batters in, Cards have scored two. Pittsburgh will need to score a dozen to win today.

 

[TL1961]

Cards were up 6-3 after two innings today, but I came back to the game to see Pittsburgh put up 5 in the 7th and 2 in the 8th for a 10-6 lead, heading to the 9th.

Edit: Final 10-6. Cards are in 4th at the moment. They were 20-10, and have since gone 2-9. Love it.

 

[zack54attack]

Ballgame. Pirates win.

 

[Diehardfan]

Cards were up 6-3 after two innings today, but I came back to the game to see Pittsburgh put up 5 in the 7th and 2 in the 8th for a 10-6 lead, heading to the 9th.

Edit: Final 10-6. Cards are in 4th at the moment. They were 20-10, and have since gone 2-9. Love it.

As tough as this division is, no team is without it's warts. It's why the Cubs slow start meant very little, why their current hot streak doesn't mean much as well. Very doubtful that any one team will run away and hide. It's gonna be up and down all season and probably going to come down who is playing the best ball and is the healthiest in September.

 

[zack54attack]

Crap start by Nola. But Philly comes back and is up 7-4.

 

[Castor76]

While I know at some point they'll come back down to earth, after starting 2-7, the Cubs are 22-7. 12-3 in their last 15 and 10-5 in the 15 before that. They have another 4 week stretch at that pace and they could make the playoffs by going .500 the rest of the way.