Official Cubs Game Thread!

[CSF77]

05/25/24Chicago Cubs activated LHP Drew Smyly from the 15-day injured list.

05/25/24Chicago Cubs signed free agent RHP Jackson Tetreault to a minor league contract.

05/25/24Chicago Cubs optioned RHP Jose Cuas to Iowa Cubs.

 

[CSF77]

Should have added PCA and DFA Madgral

One can only wish.

 

[CSF77]

 

[CSF77]

Hmmm. Happ out 2nd day.

 

[CSF77]

Shota pushed back to start the Milwaukee series. Guess it is personal now and Craig wants his ace starting the series the off day deals with the open rotation spot and gives Wicks another Iowa start to up his pitch counts.

Taillon today. Assad on Sunday. Shota Monday. Tue most likely Steele. Wed we might see another Brown start. It lines up with Wicks at Iowa so it makes sense going this way.

 

[bears5150]

These guys can't hit to save their lives, pathetic.

 

[TL1961]

Two men in scoring position with less than two out, and Amaya once again cannot put the fucking ball in play.

Seriously he doesn’t even need a fucking hit. He just needs a flyball or possibly even a ground ball and he can’t even put the ball in play.

 

[TL1961]

Hmmm. Happ out 2nd day.

Hallelujah

 

[TL1961]

Hmmm. Happ out 2nd day.

When he is out of the lineup the Cubs are Happless.

When he is in the lineup, hapless.

 

[TL1961]

Terrible tag by Amaya changes the game.

 

[PickSix]

How can a team that spends $227 mill have so many holes?
Need serious upgrades at C, 3B, 1B, Closer and Bullpen. A legit Ace and DH would be nice as well if serious about being more than just a low end playoff team.

 

[Diehardfan]

How can a team that spends $227 mill have so many holes?
Need serious upgrades at C, 3B, 1B, Closer and Bullpen. A legit Ace and DH would be nice as well if serious about being more than just a low end playoff team.

The terrible pen from last year is still the terrible pen this year. Busch was an OK get but not a gamebreaker. Morel has to play somewhere so they decided 3B was the answer....might still be, might not. Hoyer went completely braindead by buying into a career year from Gomes at 37 years old.

Rolling with his Dumpster Dive pen was absolutely inexcusable on many counts. Negating a very expensive investment in a manager being the worst.

Jed Hoyer is a substandard GM and I've been saying this almost as long as @TL1961 has been ragging on a backup infielder.

 

[beckdawg]

I'm just not really sure where the cubs are gonna get offense from other than praying their players play better. Reality is Happ has 2 years left and I believe a NTC. They are gonna give him a long leash. Same goes for Suzuki. And RF/LF are typically 2 offense spots in the line up. CF is obviously PCA in the near term with Cody there for now and presumably a shift to 1B when PCA gets another shot. That then pushes Busch to DH. Morel only can play 3B or DH. I guess there you could argue he's never gonna pan out to be more than what we've seen and you go try to get a 3B maybe. SS and 2B you've committed to nico and dansby. And C isn't really ever gonna be an impact bat.

So realistically 3B seems like the only option to go after an impact bat to me but 3B in particular is pretty weak league wide least coming into the season. I haven't poked around to check lately.

 

[TL1961]

I can certainly live without an impact bat at catcher if we get the defense that we need. And the pitching staff has done well with Amaya so he must be doing something that the cubs like. Also, he’s young. I’m not writing him off forever due to his off struggles.

But he doesn’t block pitches in the dirt well and tonight that pathetic tag changed the entire game. The runner was clearly going to be out and he just was very slow, reaching back with both hands and then tagged in the wrong spot.

 

[TL1961]

Offensively, Suzuki had shown to be a really good offensive player for a short stretch, but the constant injuries have hurt and he has not done anything yet since coming back from that and it could be something that bothers him for a long time.

It would be nice to get more offense out of Bellinger, who also had heated up before his injury so maybe he will get back going again.

I understand why they play Morel because he does have a high upside. He’s in need of work defensively as we all know and hopefully will get better. Who knows? But wisdom doesn’t have any upside.

I think offensive improvements need to come from the corner outfielders and I don’t think we’ll get it from Happ. It needs to come at first base so hopefully Busch adjusts back to the league after they adjusted to him. He’s a rookie in his second month and his first was good. Why someone is writing him off is a mystery.

The most disappointing place where we don’t get offense to me is Dansby Swanson. He started off pretty well last year, but was not much of an offensive force for at least half the season if not more, and he hasn’t shown anything this year.

Didn’t he have 25 home runs in a season in Atlanta? He hasn’t shown that power since coming to the Cubs.

 

[CSF77]

I'm just not really sure where the cubs are gonna get offense from other than praying their players play better. Reality is Happ has 2 years left and I believe a NTC. They are gonna give him a long leash. Same goes for Suzuki. And RF/LF are typically 2 offense spots in the line up. CF is obviously PCA in the near term with Cody there for now and presumably a shift to 1B when PCA gets another shot. That then pushes Busch to DH. Morel only can play 3B or DH. I guess there you could argue he's never gonna pan out to be more than what we've seen and you go try to get a 3B maybe. SS and 2B you've committed to nico and dansby. And C isn't really ever gonna be an impact bat.

So realistically 3B seems like the only option to go after an impact bat to me but 3B in particular is pretty weak league wide least coming into the season. I haven't poked around to check lately.

I think the first step is bringing PCA back up. Put Cody in LF. That puts Happ into a DH and Utility role again.

End of the day PCA will give plus WAR on his glove alone. CF>LF. Cody>Happ. So it puts Happ and Tauchman into a battle for PA. Which is fine.

 

[CSF77]

Offensively, Suzuki had shown to be a really good offensive player for a short stretch, but the constant injuries have hurt and he has not done anything yet since coming back from that and it could be something that bothers him for a long time.

It would be nice to get more offense out of Bellinger, who also had heated up before his injury so maybe he will get back going again.

I understand why they play Morel because he does have a high upside. He’s in need of work defensively as we all know and hopefully will get better. Who knows? But wisdom doesn’t have any upside.

I think offensive improvements need to come from the corner outfielders and I don’t think we’ll get it from Happ. It needs to come at first base so hopefully Busch adjusts back to the league after they adjusted to him. He’s a rookie in his second month and his first was good. Why someone is writing him off is a mystery.

The most disappointing place where we don’t get offense to me is Dansby Swanson. He started off pretty well last year, but was not much of an offensive force for at least half the season if not more, and he hasn’t shown anything this year.

Didn’t he have 25 home runs in a season in Atlanta? He hasn’t shown that power since coming to the Cubs.

Suzuki needs a reset. He has been off on returning. Bringing up PCA allows Craig to do this as Tauchman can play LF.

Swanson gives plus D. If his D was affected then you have to give him a reset and put Vazquez into SS.

 

[CSF77]

Some of the core issues going on is Craig giving reps to sub performing vets and quoting faith in the process and not giving opertunity to the call up players.

So I was under the impression that David was let go for doing this. So I just don't understand that process at all.

 

[TL1961]

Suzuki needs a reset. He has been off on returning. Bringing up PCA allows Craig to do this as Tauchman can play LF.

Swanson gives plus D. If his D was affected then you have to give him a reset and put Vazquez into SS.

I’m not suggesting benching Swanson. And not for the MiLB call up dujour. Just wishing he would provide more offense.

 

[TL1961]

Some of the core issues going on is Craig giving reps to sub performing vets and quoting faith in the process and not giving opertunity to the call up players.

So I was under the impression that David was let go for doing this. So I just don't understand that process at all.

David refused to sit vets who were clearly worn down late season.

Counsell recognizes that teams gave lulls. This offense in April was scoring a lot. No panic in a manager is a good thing.