Official Cubs Game Thread!

[TL1961]

5 walks, 2 HRs, 102 pitches, an error plus the Cubs can't score.....PLEASE tell me why you wouldn't pull him there.

I would have.

But 4 2/3 is like an Alexa reminder. “Remember to remove starter.”

But, in seriousness, I agree with the move for sure.

 

[CSF77]

Mmm he is allowed a bad game. He has earned it

 

[TL1961]

Mmm he is allowed a bad game. He has earned it

I’m not down on Assad. 2 ER. Yes, his own error hurt, but he’s waaaay down the list of guys to be upset with.

 

[Diehardfan]

Good Lord.....scoring runs for this team is like getting a turd out when you're constipated.

 

[TL1961]

Good Lord.....scoring runs for this team is like getting a turd out when you're constipated.

Too true

 

[TL1961]

Has Suzuki had a hit since returning?

Has Amaya ever had one?

 

[CSF77]

Nico is the soul of the team.

 

[CSF77]

Has Suzuki had a hit since returning?

Has Amaya ever had one?

Amaya is a bit overrated as a catcher but the staff is doing well with him so you roll with it. His pop times and arm are just bad. Game calling is strong.

Mixed bag and if Jed did target a catcher in the trade market preference LH to counter some of the RH hitters in the line up it would be worth it

Statcast Catcher Framing Leaderboard

Baseball Savant

baseballsavant.mlb.com

Amaya ranked #29. So he is overrated.

Gomes is just old 2nd to last

There are a few on that list worth looking into. Cubs also have Ballesteros. Feels more Schwarber than MLB starting catcher and I doubt that Jed makes that mistake twice.

But if they decide to make a investment at catcher it is totally worth it


Suzuki had a HR. It might just be a timing thing going on. Not sure as not much has been said on the subject.


You should move Nico back to lead off and Tauchman back to #2. It just worked and figure how to build around it.

 

[CSF77]

 

[CSF77]

 

[CSF77]

Porter Hodge looked good. Steele they needed to pull at 5 innings. I believe the underling issue is a lack of a MLB quality 3rd pitch still and the Braves are a top team that will make you pay coming in with the same stuff every inning.

Cuas IMO came in due to a bullpen game today. Craig has to save arms for that. Which is stupid. Giving up games for that reason is dumb. Give the ball to Hayden and then pull at a set pitch count and have Hendricks ready for a single run through the line up next. That should get them to the 6th inning.

What they are doing is burning the pen in one game and putting the rest of the rotation on thin ice.

 

[Szlachcic]

.. and the hitting is absolutely nonexistent. Watching Suzuki at bat make you wonder why in the hell he is taking a strike and swing on the balls. Lately he act like he never seen offspeed pitch.. The same apply to Madrigal and others.

 

[CSF77]

Well I would give the rotation one more spin then make some hard decisions.

Wicks will need a start or 2 in the minors. Horton put up a solid start yesterday. So it is getting close to the time to making hard choices.

Taillon Fip 4.69. ERA 2.20. So you are expecting regression.

Steele FIP 5.22. ERA 5.68. He is not good right now. I think he needs to focus more on pitching and less on the show that he is doing.

Assad. FIP 3.57. ERA 1.70. He has been able to clean up his own messes. Braves are a top end team and his performance was on par but that team is too good to allow it.

Of the 3 you are paying Taillon. Steele you have to give him 5 games to fix it. Assad is your #2.

But of the 3 Assad is the most dependable but in a play off series you start to get worried if his talent is at that caliber

 

[CSF77]

.. and the hitting is absolutely nonexistent. Watching Suzuki at bat make you wonder why in the hell he is taking a strike and swing on the balls. Lately he act like he never seen offspeed pitch.. The same apply to Madrigal and others.

I have not been watching his PA's. The numbers show struggle. But he is the type of hitter that when he is on he carries the team for a extended window. I trust him more than Morel in that capacity as Morel will have a solid 20PA and shut down for a month

 

[CSF77]

But the real issue is the O. It has been from the off-season. They surged early season while most pitchers were Shakey in Apr getting their pitch counts up. When that stabilized the O took some bumps and lost that momentum. Thus the league pitching got solid. And these hitters are returning facing stiffer comp.

So when you boil it down the Cubs are lacking talent in hitting. Bellinger and Hoerner are the teams best hitters. Tauchman is playing over his talent level. Suzuki is struggling after lost time. He is not the same tier as Cody as a hitter.

Catcher is a auto out for the most part. SS you accept underperforming O due the value of D at a premium role. LF Jed needs some balls and make a change. 1B you want more consist production. If the O was stable you could hide a rookie struggle or if they were a last place team same thing.

So I would make some hard choices here also.

Tauchman in CF and Cody at 1B. Put Busch as the DH where he can focus on hitting. Wisdom holds value at DH also.

Minor tweek. Should improve the IF D as Cody is a superior 1B.

Now the next move would to bring up Davis and lessen Happ's role. It would have to be this situation.

I look at it this way. You demote PCA due to playing time issues. Then promote Davis to bench warm. Mmm no. It would have to be a full in move.

It might be easier if the Cubs tank for a month where they start to justify trading out vets and just start playing these guys under lower pressure.

 

[bamainatlanta]

From ESPN:

27-23)​

Key stat: Kyle Hendricks and Justin Steele are a combined 0-6 in 12 starts -- and the Cubs are 2-10 in games those two have started. So maybe it's a good thing that they're over .500 despite two of the projected top starters struggling.

Hot start: Shota Imanaga looks like the steal of the offseason as he's 5-0 with a 0.84 ERA in nine starts with 58 strikeouts, nine walks and just three home runs -- plus he's winning fans over with his personality. Imanaga was homer-prone in Japan, but he has been spotting his four-seamer with perfection and his splitter has been a true wipeout pitch. Let's see if he can keep the ball in the park as the league makes adjustments to his repertoire.

Can he keep it going? As great as Imanaga has been, Javier Assad is right behind him at 4-0 with a 1.70 ERA.

Area of concern: The catching tandem of Miguel Amaya and Yan Gomes has struggled at the plate and the bullpen depth is a bit worrisome.

The Cubs are battling for the division lead, so they're exactly where we thought they would be, but it has been a season of extremes: Imanaga, Assad and Jameson Taillon have carried the rotation while Steele, last year's breakout, missed a month after getting injured on Opening Day and Hendricks has been shelled.

Manager Craig Counsell did make a tough decision in moving Hendricks, who has a 10.57 ERA while allowing a 1.048 OPS, to the bullpen to see if he can sort things out in lower-leverage situations. Hendricks has been a stalwart in the Cubs rotation since 2014, but when every batter was hitting like Ohtani against him, the Cubs couldn't afford to keep rolling him out there. The problem is the Cubs have eight pitchers on the injured list, although they do have other starter options in Ben Brown and Hayden Wesneski. For now, Hendricks' scheduled start on Thursday will be a bullpen game and then the Cubs will go from there.

Verdict: Real​

As in, yes, the Cubs are a playoff contender. I feel like the offense has more to come: Dansby Swanson, Ian Happ and Christopher Morel have all slightly underperformed from last season while Seiya Suzukimissed 24 games after a nice start and Cody Bellingermissed a couple of weeks, too. The bullpen might need to be reconfigured a bit, especially if Brown or Wesneski have to start, but the Cubs have more depth than any other team in the division. That should play out over 162 games.

 

[CSF77]

But some adjustments to make:

1 promote Davis.
2. Axe Madgral no one will pick him. If they do cool.
3. Move Happ to the bench. (I would have him work at 3B in drills. Increase his team value)
4. Move Cody to 1B
5. Move Busch to DH. Focus on hitting.
6. Move Tauchman to CF.

Let this chill for a week or 2. See how they perform and adjust as needed.

PCA they should keep at Iowa vs bringing up to be a late inning D guy. There are plenty of one tool players that they can sign to do it with out killing development. Next time they bring PCA up should be permanent and that is because he is wrecking AAA and Tauchman comes back down to earth. Or Jed flips Tauchman while his value is high and brings up PCA. Not a bad option tbh. Might get a decent catching prospect if you package a deal around Tauchman. Thus making him the starting CF with a high OBA is valuable to teams.

 

[CSF77]

From ESPN:

27-23)​

Key stat: Kyle Hendricks and Justin Steele are a combined 0-6 in 12 starts -- and the Cubs are 2-10 in games those two have started. So maybe it's a good thing that they're over .500 despite two of the projected top starters struggling.

Hot start: Shota Imanaga looks like the steal of the offseason as he's 5-0 with a 0.84 ERA in nine starts with 58 strikeouts, nine walks and just three home runs -- plus he's winning fans over with his personality. Imanaga was homer-prone in Japan, but he has been spotting his four-seamer with perfection and his splitter has been a true wipeout pitch. Let's see if he can keep the ball in the park as the league makes adjustments to his repertoire.

Can he keep it going? As great as Imanaga has been, Javier Assad is right behind him at 4-0 with a 1.70 ERA.

Area of concern: The catching tandem of Miguel Amaya and Yan Gomes has struggled at the plate and the bullpen depth is a bit worrisome.

The Cubs are battling for the division lead, so they're exactly where we thought they would be, but it has been a season of extremes: Imanaga, Assad and Jameson Taillon have carried the rotation while Steele, last year's breakout, missed a month after getting injured on Opening Day and Hendricks has been shelled.

Manager Craig Counsell did make a tough decision in moving Hendricks, who has a 10.57 ERA while allowing a 1.048 OPS, to the bullpen to see if he can sort things out in lower-leverage situations. Hendricks has been a stalwart in the Cubs rotation since 2014, but when every batter was hitting like Ohtani against him, the Cubs couldn't afford to keep rolling him out there. The problem is the Cubs have eight pitchers on the injured list, although they do have other starter options in Ben Brown and Hayden Wesneski. For now, Hendricks' scheduled start on Thursday will be a bullpen game and then the Cubs will go from there.

Verdict: Real​

As in, yes, the Cubs are a playoff contender. I feel like the offense has more to come: Dansby Swanson, Ian Happ and Christopher Morel have all slightly underperformed from last season while Seiya Suzukimissed 24 games after a nice start and Cody Bellingermissed a couple of weeks, too. The bullpen might need to be reconfigured a bit, especially if Brown or Wesneski have to start, but the Cubs have more depth than any other team in the division. That should play out over 162 games.

Mmm. This is banking on the crappy division logic. The team has some holes going on that need to be addressed.

Closer
Starting catcher.

These are my big 2. I can.live with Morel and Suzuki going hot and cold. Catcher you can not have both below .200 and neither are plus D catchers

Closer you want a ace type in there. I have said Steele to closer in the past. His stuff would excel in the 9th and it would be a set role which is what a starter mentality player needs. Game ahead and close in the ,7th get mentally ready

I don't trust him stopping a inning. Same with Hayden. I would rather have them starting a inning in a stable format.

Now this would fall into Horton. Just pushes into the rotation and Wicks returns dominate. Both have fuller arsenals that you can trust them in longer stints.

 

[CSF77]

But if I had to predict the division. Pirates might be legit. They add at the deadline that have the potential to be scarry. I would not want to face their top 2 guys in a short series. So adding a 3rd too end starter makes them legit.

Milwaukee I just don't see it. Cubs are struggling and not stuffed. So it feels like Milwaukee is playing to stay ahead of Craig because of f-u traitor vs being good

 

[knoxville7]

I’ll be at the cubs cardinals game tonight. First time catching a game in St Louis