- Joined:
- Apr 16, 2013
- Posts:
- 21,688
- Liked Posts:
- 9,498
Up 4-1.
Swanson with a bomb
Swanson with a bomb
TL1961
Well-known member
- Joined:
- Apr 24, 2013
- Posts:
- 32,823
- Liked Posts:
- 19,204
If they keep trotting Hosmer out there, they are not trying to win.
List 5 of 6 against Miami and Nats. That’s not good.
List 5 of 6 against Miami and Nats. That’s not good.
Diehardfan
Well-known member
- Joined:
- Jun 10, 2010
- Posts:
- 9,290
- Liked Posts:
- 6,711
- Location:
- Western Burbs
My favorite teams
They are a .500 team.....it's what .500 teams do. They surprise a few good teams then lose to bad ones. Actually, it's a good thing in a way....the worse they play, the faster we see some of the kids while guys like Hosmer and Mancini share the bench splinters.
TL1961
Well-known member
- Joined:
- Apr 24, 2013
- Posts:
- 32,823
- Liked Posts:
- 19,204
Yeah, they have had good pitching from Stroman and Steele and good offense from Hoerner Swanson and Bellinger, and are .500 against a schedule that has included some bad teams. But they also had LAD and SD in there.
I expect bumps along the way from this team. I just don't want to wait too long for at least Mervis and/or Morel to push Hosmer out the door.
- Joined:
- Apr 16, 2013
- Posts:
- 21,688
- Liked Posts:
- 9,498
Its kind of the thing. What does Jed really want this year? To trade to build up more or go for the playoffs, Mervis should be in the majors and Morel but then you get no value out of Hosmer or Mancini. It will be telling in the next couple of weeks. The Cubs could really use Mervis bat.
- Joined:
- Aug 21, 2012
- Posts:
- 9,254
- Liked Posts:
- 5,711
- Location:
- Albuquerque, NM
Listening to Sciambi rave about the starting pitching and Wisdom's slugging during these games you wouldn't know the Cubs are at .500 and 3-7 in their last 10.
- Joined:
- Apr 16, 2013
- Posts:
- 21,688
- Liked Posts:
- 9,498
Mervis called up! Will be up tomorrow and DH'ing
- Joined:
- Apr 16, 2013
- Posts:
- 21,688
- Liked Posts:
- 9,498
Woof! 2nd and 3rd no one out and Belli has a terrible at bat. Wisdom swings at 98 in his eyes and Mancini pops out. Gross
- Joined:
- Apr 16, 2013
- Posts:
- 21,688
- Liked Posts:
- 9,498
And the Nationals walk it off from the first pitch from Boxberger. LOL
CSF77
Well-known member
- Joined:
- Apr 16, 2013
- Posts:
- 18,014
- Liked Posts:
- 2,779
- Location:
- San Diego
Cubs To Promote Matt Mervis
By Steve Adams | May 4, 2023 at 12:50pm CDT
The Cubs will select the contract of first base prospect Matt Mervis, reports ESPN’s Jeff Passan. He’s not with the team for today’s series finale in D.C. but will join the Cubs when they return to Chicago tomorrow to kick off a homestand with a series against the Marlins.
Mervis, 25, was a 39th-round pick of the Nationals back in 2016 but didn’t sign, instead opting to attend college at Duke. He wasn’t selected in the shortened, five-round iteration of the 2020 draft and wound up signing with the Cubs as an undrafted free agent.
That’s proven to be quite the find for the Cubs, as Mervis has laid waste to minor league pitching and established himself as one of the organization’s top-ranked prospects. Over the past two seasons, Mervis has skyrocketed from High-A to Triple-A (and now the Majors), batting a combined .305/.383/.615 with 42 home runs in 161 games across three minor league levels. That includes a torrid .286/.402/.560 slash and six home runs through his first 112 plate appearances in Triple-A this season.
Baseball America ranks Mervis fourth among Cubs farmhands, while MLB.com has him sixth. Mervis is generally regarded as an all-bat prospect, as he’s a sub-par runner and not a standout defender at first base. BA’s report on him notes that a shortened swing and refined approach at the plate unlocked a new level of performance for Mervis in 2022, and he’s clearly kept that up in 2023, given that he’s walked (16.1%) nearly as often as he’s punched out (17%). The left-handed-hitting Mervis was awful against left-handed pitchers in his first pro season, but he improved to .268/.339/.529 against southpaws in 174 plate appearances last year and is 6-for-20 with two homers, two doubles, six walks and six strikeouts in 27 plate appearances against same-handed opponents so far in 2023 (.300/.482/.700).
Mervis’ ascension to the big leagues comes at a time when veteran first baseman Eric Hosmer is struggling, having batted just .250/.294/.363 in 85 plate appearances. Cubs first basemen are still hitting .296/.331/.470 on the season, though that’s skewed by the fact that the vast majority of Trey Mancini’s production has happened to come while he’s playing at first base rather than in the outfield or at designated hitter. Mancini is certainly capable of playing either outfield corner and has enough bat to be an option at DH, so there’s room to get both into the lineup.
Keeping Hosmer, who’s also a lefty hitting, first base-only player on the roster alongside Mervis would be trickier, though there’s no direct indication yet that Mervis’ promotion puts Hosmer’s roster spot in jeopardy. Hosmer himself recently acknowledged that may end up being the case in an interview with Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic, though he voiced nothing but support for Mervis.
“This is my 13th year in the league,” Hosmer told Rosenthal. “I’m not going to sit here and be bitter about a young kid coming up. That’s not right. … I was in spring with Matty. I was always trying to help, give him my two cents on what’s coming for him in the league, how you can simplify some stuff. It’s not something where I’m watching over my shoulder, or living and dying by his at-bats. When it comes that time, that’s when you can move on and do something else. I know he’s going to be a big part of this organization. I’ve got to help him any way I can.”
While future optional assignments can always impact a player’s timeline to arbitration and free agent, it’s worth at least outlining where those milestones currently stand for Mervis. If he’s in the big leagues for good from this point forth, he’ll fall shy of a full year of service in 2023 (barring a top-two finish in NL Rookie of the Year voting). That means he’d be on pace to reach free agency after the 2029 season, although an early-May call-up will surely afford him enough service time to qualify as a Super Two player. As such, he’d reach arbitration following the 2025 season and be eligible four times rather than the standard three.
If Mervis does manage to secure a top-two place in NL Rookie of the Year voting, he’d gain a full year of service and bump his free agent timeline up to the 2028-29 offseason in the process. He’d still be arb-eligible following the 2025 season, but he’d get there as a player with three years of service and thus only be eligible three times.
By Steve Adams | May 4, 2023 at 12:50pm CDT
The Cubs will select the contract of first base prospect Matt Mervis, reports ESPN’s Jeff Passan. He’s not with the team for today’s series finale in D.C. but will join the Cubs when they return to Chicago tomorrow to kick off a homestand with a series against the Marlins.
Mervis, 25, was a 39th-round pick of the Nationals back in 2016 but didn’t sign, instead opting to attend college at Duke. He wasn’t selected in the shortened, five-round iteration of the 2020 draft and wound up signing with the Cubs as an undrafted free agent.
That’s proven to be quite the find for the Cubs, as Mervis has laid waste to minor league pitching and established himself as one of the organization’s top-ranked prospects. Over the past two seasons, Mervis has skyrocketed from High-A to Triple-A (and now the Majors), batting a combined .305/.383/.615 with 42 home runs in 161 games across three minor league levels. That includes a torrid .286/.402/.560 slash and six home runs through his first 112 plate appearances in Triple-A this season.
Baseball America ranks Mervis fourth among Cubs farmhands, while MLB.com has him sixth. Mervis is generally regarded as an all-bat prospect, as he’s a sub-par runner and not a standout defender at first base. BA’s report on him notes that a shortened swing and refined approach at the plate unlocked a new level of performance for Mervis in 2022, and he’s clearly kept that up in 2023, given that he’s walked (16.1%) nearly as often as he’s punched out (17%). The left-handed-hitting Mervis was awful against left-handed pitchers in his first pro season, but he improved to .268/.339/.529 against southpaws in 174 plate appearances last year and is 6-for-20 with two homers, two doubles, six walks and six strikeouts in 27 plate appearances against same-handed opponents so far in 2023 (.300/.482/.700).
Mervis’ ascension to the big leagues comes at a time when veteran first baseman Eric Hosmer is struggling, having batted just .250/.294/.363 in 85 plate appearances. Cubs first basemen are still hitting .296/.331/.470 on the season, though that’s skewed by the fact that the vast majority of Trey Mancini’s production has happened to come while he’s playing at first base rather than in the outfield or at designated hitter. Mancini is certainly capable of playing either outfield corner and has enough bat to be an option at DH, so there’s room to get both into the lineup.
Keeping Hosmer, who’s also a lefty hitting, first base-only player on the roster alongside Mervis would be trickier, though there’s no direct indication yet that Mervis’ promotion puts Hosmer’s roster spot in jeopardy. Hosmer himself recently acknowledged that may end up being the case in an interview with Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic, though he voiced nothing but support for Mervis.
“This is my 13th year in the league,” Hosmer told Rosenthal. “I’m not going to sit here and be bitter about a young kid coming up. That’s not right. … I was in spring with Matty. I was always trying to help, give him my two cents on what’s coming for him in the league, how you can simplify some stuff. It’s not something where I’m watching over my shoulder, or living and dying by his at-bats. When it comes that time, that’s when you can move on and do something else. I know he’s going to be a big part of this organization. I’ve got to help him any way I can.”
While future optional assignments can always impact a player’s timeline to arbitration and free agent, it’s worth at least outlining where those milestones currently stand for Mervis. If he’s in the big leagues for good from this point forth, he’ll fall shy of a full year of service in 2023 (barring a top-two finish in NL Rookie of the Year voting). That means he’d be on pace to reach free agency after the 2029 season, although an early-May call-up will surely afford him enough service time to qualify as a Super Two player. As such, he’d reach arbitration following the 2025 season and be eligible four times rather than the standard three.
If Mervis does manage to secure a top-two place in NL Rookie of the Year voting, he’d gain a full year of service and bump his free agent timeline up to the 2028-29 offseason in the process. He’d still be arb-eligible following the 2025 season, but he’d get there as a player with three years of service and thus only be eligible three times.
CSF77
Well-known member
- Joined:
- Apr 16, 2013
- Posts:
- 18,014
- Liked Posts:
- 2,779
- Location:
- San Diego
Brown started today. Gave up 1 run vs one of the best AAA O's. So he is another that might impact this year.
Staff online NOW
-
PrideisBearsBully Mod
