IST: Cubs (8-7) at Reds(8-8)

[chibears55]

Also.. great job by bullpen today..

 

[beckdawg]

Can we talk for a moment about how absurdly good Rizzo has been this season? Lost in the prospect hype has been a guy who's walk rate is up 3.2% from an already good 11.9% last season and his K rate has dropped an astounding 7.8%. It's still early and I expect some of that to iron out more toward career numbers but what's ridiculous is that he's clearly been better than last season and last season he was arguably in the MVP conversation though obviously some what distant from real consideration. Oh and for what it's worth, he's also stolen 4 bases in 16 games. His season high any year was 6. He's hitting .345/.493/.509. Some of that appears BABIP inflated but it honestly wouldn't surprise me to see him hit .300 the way he's playing. Rizzo presently leads the majors in OBP at .493. The only one even with 20 points of him is Matt Holiday at .492.

I'll go ahead and toss it out there. I think Rizzo will be top 5 in NL MVP voting this season. The craziest part is he's 25 and signed until 2021 assuming the team picks up the options. And on top of that, he doesn't even start making $10+ mil until 2019. Talk about value.

 

[Parade_Rain]

I am wondering about those "career numbers" considering that they really involved himself and Castro mostly. Now that his team has talent around him (albeit inexperienced) I am wondering if what he is doing now could be the real numbers.

 

[beckdawg]

I am wondering about those "career numbers" considering that they really involved himself and Castro mostly. Now that his team has talent around him (albeit inexperienced) I am wondering if what he is doing now could be the real numbers.

Well in theory, walk/k rate really shouldn't change much. Some would argue about lineup protection helping. I think some metrics types scoff at that. I sort of believe in it personally though I think some have suggested it's as important to have players on base as it is someone behind you because that puts as much if not more pressure on. Honestly, I think more than anything it's just him coming into his prime years. I'm sure it helps that there are better players around though.

 

[chibears55]

I am wondering about those "career numbers" considering that they really involved himself and Castro mostly. Now that his team has talent around him (albeit inexperienced) I am wondering if what he is doing now could be the real numbers.

I think it more of him maturing into a better ballplayer, but it does help having guys get on base in front of him and having someone hitting aftet him that also a threat...
Having a better lineup will help him be able to post those MVP type numbers over just being an allstar caliber player if he continues to hit because he will drive in more runs, and score more runs while being a major part of helping the team succeed. .

 

[fenderpfunk]

Agreed on rizzo. Has been uber consistent. Excited to see if he can continue that moving into June.

 

[chibears55]

@ARizzo44: 25U Cubbies #LetsGooo #wearegood pic.twitter.com/8swyMCCMhw

@JArrieta34: @ESPNChiCubs Playing foosball solo, thrilling. Try it sometime. 10-0 first game

@miggymont26: Ok guys I'm gonna play some dominos with this Cuban guy @JorgeSoler68

@miggymont26: pic.twitter.com/rrwT9lqktu


@CarrieMuskat: #Reds expect a weather update at 4 pm ET/3 pm CT. #Cubs playing dominoes in clubhouse until then
Some tweets during rain delay. ..

@JArrieta34: @cubsbeisbol that is a whiskey and cigar conversation

Good seeing a young team bonding , staying loose and getting along..

Having good team chemistry goes a long way towards having success, especially for a young team.. IMO

 

[Shawon0Meter]

The Cubs players Twitter game has vastly improved this season

 

[chibears55]

Today game rained out.. no make up date yet

 

[Diehardfan]

Numbers aside.....Rizzo has grown up and done so quickly. He is now the leader of this team....as they say, the face of the franchise.

 

[beckdawg]

Last season the wild card took 88-89 wins. Was sort of thinking about throwing something like this together in photoshop but i didn't have any ideas for what it should be.

[video=youtube;XDZ_lSJjgvk]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDZ_lSJjgvk[/video]

Regardless, cubs essentially need to go 80-66 the rest of the way(.548).

 

[JosMin]

Today's lineup per Carrie Muskat. Hope the weather stays calm in Cincy. I'm about 100 miles west of Cincy and it's perfect outside right now.

Fowler cf
Soler rf
Rizzo 1b
Bryant 3b
Montero c
Castro ss
Coghlan lf
Arrieta p
Russell 2b

 

[beckdawg]

And that's with Lester being shakey...

 

[chibears55]

Today's lineup per Carrie Muskat. Hope the weather stays calm in Cincy. I'm about 100 miles west of Cincy and it's perfect outside right now.

Fowler cf
Soler rf
Rizzo 1b
Bryant 3b
Montero c
Castro ss
Coghlan lf
Arrieta p
Russell 2b

Maddon likes that left right left right lineup. ..

Besides the catcher merry go round these are probably the 8 for the rest of season. ..

(Russelll continues to struggle. .return to Baez or Alcantara,
Maybe they upgrade in LF closer to trade deadline. ...)

 

[TC in Mississippi]

If the Central just got more interesting so did this game. After today the Cubs don't see Cincy again until June and you'd really like to see them out of what may have just become a wide open Central. In that you can boy control what you can control they really need this game.

 

[Parade_Rain]

Maddon likes that left right left right lineup. ..

Besides the catcher merry go round these are probably the 8 for the rest of season. ..

(Russelll continues to struggle. .return to Baez or Alcantara,
Maybe they upgrade in LF closer to trade deadline. ...)

How long has Russell been up in MLB? Yikes. Let's give him a shot to figure things out just like Baez and Alcantara got.

 

[chibears55]

How long has Russell been up in MLB? Yikes. Let's give him a shot to figure things out just like Baez and Alcantara got.

Ummm. I did say continues to struggle. .


I was looking more down the road ... guess i should of been more specific besides saying this looks like lineup rest of season and parenthesis a Russell struggle and LF trade for any possible change in lineup .. [emoji6]

 

[JZsportsfan]

Adam Wainwright expected to miss the rest of the season

 

[chibears55]

Adam Wainwright expected to miss the rest of the season

Cubs have a spare starter in edwin Jackson if they want him..
[emoji51]

 

[JZsportsfan]

And that's with Lester being shakey...

And Hammel.. and Hendricks


Also Cards gonna take a hit as well