IST: Reds vs Cubs

[TL1961]

What a fucking putz.

 

[TL1961]

We have a bullpen on fumes, and pinch hit in the 5th with a man on, sending up a ground ball hitter/DP threat.

Instead, he hits a long fly that looks to tie it and our brain dead ******* don't score on the play.

 

[Ari Bear]

Same ole bullshit, Cubs can't hit!

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[TL1961]

Well, I don't know that we can get the number to 10 today, but we may shave one off.

I will begin looking for a pic of Kessinger that I am too inept to post.

 

[TL1961]

We had three plays in three days in which we scored.

 

[beckdawg]

Brewers lose, magic number is 11

 

[chibears55]

I would of joined you TL , but you know..

Thank goodness for the Pirates this weekend

Magic No.11

Go Cubs

 

[beckdawg]

We had three plays in three days in which we scored.

Heyward is activated. I think he'll help especially given the fact he's rested. Joe can ride him pretty hard the next week or so and give some other guys days off.

 

[beckdawg]

Also fwiw, Schwarber is supposed to be back for the ARI series.

 

[TL1961]

I just read that Schwarber is not traveling to AZ

 

[beckdawg]

I just read that Schwarber is not traveling to AZ

Read this wrong

Sahadev Sharma
✔
@sahadevsharma
Schwarber will stay back while the team heads to Arizona. Avoids a couple lefties and a plane ride to keep his back good.

Thought it said he'd be back for the ari series.

 

[chibears55]

Read this wrong




Thought it said he'd be back for the ari series.

You originally read it right..
Up til recently he was supposed to be ready for Arizona with Heyward and Morrow..

Not sure why their holding him back now, maybe they prefer to keep him off the plane and give his back 4 more days..
Last 10 games of season they dont leave Chicago

 

[jooo83]

What the **** is going on with the offense? How can so many guys be struggling at the same time?

 

[Omeletpants]

What the **** is going on with the offense? How can so many guys be struggling at the same time?

Hush. You are not allowed to critique, complain or question anything the Cubs do on this forum

 

[fatbeard]

What the **** is going on with the offense? How can so many guys be struggling at the same time?

Because it's the end of the season, they're tired, and they're pressing? I'm not sure what the mystery is. If Bryant could just be himself you'd see starkly different results.

 

[beckdawg]

What the **** is going on with the offense? How can so many guys be struggling at the same time?

Short answer, i think they are worn down. Losing Bryant as long as they did meant they rode Bote pretty hard. You had Heyward down a while as well as Schwarber. Russell played hurt for close to 2 months. Also keep in mind they haven't exactly had it easy in terms of the NL central. They have had someone hot on their ass for months. So, they couldn't exactly rest some guys as much as you'd like to at this point.

Longer answer, you basically have Baez, Rizzo, Zobrist and Bryant playing well the past 30 days. The rest of the line up has been replacement level or in some cases worse than that. They are getting almost nothing out of their OF and Contreras hasn't been the hitter he can be. Caratini's been decent but nothing special. This kind of goes into the conversation we had a few IST's back about chili davis. If you're running a 3 true outcomes offense, HR hitters can carry a team. It's essentially scoring in bunches. Because this years team lacks power either by choice(trying to k less) or by poor performance/whatever other reason, they need contributions throughout the line up. The gist there being you get a hit and keep getting hits to score runs vs like a walk and a HR. However, as mentioned above, when you got 4 guys at the top of your line up who are hitting and another 4 + the pitcher not doing anything you're kinda fucked with the less HR approach.

At the moment the offense is basically hope those 4 guys create offense because if they don't it's going to be a low scoring game. As I said before, I think Heyward coming back really will help matters. The guy puts in good at bats and given they aren't getting anything in the OF that's a big deal. I may dive into Murphy's stats later to see what's going on there because when I've payed attention to his at bats they've been good just with poor outcomes. He saw 21 pitches in 3 at bats the other day and was 0-3. Presumably if you can get Heyward back and he gets going then you could have Rizzo, Murphy, Baez, and Bryant in the infield with 2 of the 3 OF being Zobrist and Heyward. Then you can sorta pick and choose match ups for your 3rd OF and hopefully Contreras turns matters around. If that happens I think the offense is fine.

And while I get that the focus for people is going to be on the offense being shitty right now, don't sleep on the pitching. In the last 30 days the cubs team ERA is 2.98 with a 3.51 FIP. In that time Hamels has a 1.83 ERA(3.66 FIP), Quintana has a 1.84 ERA(2.57 FIP), Lester has a 2.08 ERA(2.46 FIP), and Hendricks has a 1.80 ERA(2.65 FIP). In other words, the starters have been dominant and it's not a luck based thing save for maybe Hamels. The other 3 have great results and the underlying numbers support them pitching that well.

 

[Ari Bear]

What the **** is going on with the offense? How can so many guys be struggling at the same time?

Cubs offense is over-rated. That being said I think they'll play a little better but not enough!

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[Parade_Rain]

Maybe they need to reevaluate after the season if they need to make another change at the hitting instructor position.

 

[CSF77]

Maybe they need to reevaluate after the season if they need to make another change at the hitting instructor position.

I think they need to retool some. I think they need 2 Zobrist types that are in their primes. Bryant and Russell are close to that when 100% and Bote has shown promise.

Outside of that they need a legit lead off. That is a core issue going into the off season with a closer that is not a injury risk.

I see it as they can fix some issues in house but they need a legit lead off and they need a durable closer vs running out cheaper options.

As far as the O’s sluggishness. The O spiked when Murphy came over and was hitting .350. He is now down to .250 and is out of the lead off and the O is sluggish. It really doesn’t get much deeper than that. They can’t afford to lose Rizzo’s RBI’s as a lead off. But they have nothing at the top again. That has been the key this year and will continue to be such until they make a legit investment there vs neglecting it then making excuses with band aid fixes.

I’m all about a change in a few spots.

 

[CSF77]

But if they when large and blew up payroll and acquired Harper than that would free up Rizzo to be a every day lead off

Rizzo
Bryant
Harper
Baez
Schwarber
Contreras
Hayward
Russell

Bench basically the same

Realistically this could happen if they are willing to go over cap. Basically this line up looks AL with plus D