Official Cubs Game Thread!

[TL1961]

Cubs starters in the two games in Milwaukee thus far.

14 IP
0 R
3 H
18 K

No W.

 

[bamainatlanta]

I would have preferred anyone but Amaya there, except Happ.

Not that I like the bench options, but anyone else there!

Edit: And then Amaya is pulled for pinch runner.

This was a common sense move for any manager. Even the worst managers put a pinch hitter in.

 

[TL1961]

This was a common sense move for any manager. Even the worst managers put a pinch hitter in.

Are you sure Ross would have?

 

[CSF77]

PCA back up. Sent Vazquez down. He was not in the rotation. Not his fault. This was a Craig issue


Now it should be interesting how PCA will be approached. You bring him up after he wrecked AAA it forces a starting role.

 

[CSF77]

DES MOINES, IA – Iowa Cubs outfielder Pete Crow-Armstrong was tabbed the International League Player of the Week for the period of May 21-26, the league announced yesterday.

In six games vs. the Indianapolis Indians, Crow-Armstrong batted .444 (12-for-27) with 10 runs, four doubles, three home runs, seven RBI and five stolen bases. During that time, he led the league in extra-base hits (7), total bases (25) and hits. Crow-Armstrong ranked among International League leaders in runs (T-1st), stolen bases (T-1st), slugging (3rd, .926), OPS (4th, 1.426) and batting average (T-4th).

 

[CSF77]

Ya you start that.

 

[CSF77]

You have to bench Suzuki. Not even close

 

[CSF77]

Yep. Suzuki benched.

 

[PickSix]

Spanked around and 5.5 back of a team with $107 mill payroll. Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.

 

[Diehardfan]

Spanked around and 5.5 back of a team with $107 mill payroll. Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.

Yeah and it's spelled H-O-Y-E-R......he and the dumbass owner he has duped.

 

[CSF77]

Brewers are a solid team. Strong D and good contact

That said the front office has done some crappy stuff. Like sitting Shota right in the middle of a historical run. Came back out of rhythm and got wrecked for it. Pulled Brown in the middle of a no hitter. You let the pitcher get that one and yank when it breaks or he throws the last pitch


So the front office are pussies. I think we can go there on this subject. They won't get rid of Madrigal even after his little league error.

So I am giving them a D on the thought process.

Off-season they spent 232M. Brought in Shota under market. Resigning Hendricks was a dumb choice for a pitcher on his last legs. He jumped on it early so that way a hook up my guy deal

So the off season could have been managed better. But they got Cody back under his market value also.

So Jed made 1 mistake this off season. Letting Kyle return. But hind sight is 20/20. With Assad and Brown taking it to the next level and getting Hendricks off the books vs signing a TOR that you are stuck paying for years and blocking opertunity.

The next 2 months should be telling. If they tank Jed should start selling. Tauchman and Happ should hit the market. Neris should hold value as a set up again. Change of environment is a thing.

At that point you get PCA and Owen Caissie full time play and get ready for 2025. They should have legit talent up and that brings in cost control where they can target a closer and a front line catcher.

3B and 1B I want to see a full season from Morel and Busch. They are still not finished products as players and it is too early to make knee jerk moves.

If they go into sell mode it might be a good idea to trade Taillon also. He has a year plus and has been a decent middle of the rotation arm. This depends on Wicks being ready to start again. If so you have to entertain offers.


It is early but I think being bad right now could bring opertunity to play the pending talent while lowering payroll going into 2025. Thus they can focus on real needs.

 

[Bust]

Seasons over. Jed gets fired.

 

[CSF77]

Seasons over. Jed gets fired.

28/28. Last year they were 24-31 at the start of June.

So they are not toast.

Suzuki went on fire Aug and Sept, .321/.365/.641 and .370/.434/.685 Aug they went 18-9 Sept 12-16. That is when most of the team gassed. Steele stopped pitching at CY young levels and the melt down happened.

At the end of the day some one needs to step up and lead the O.

So a HR from Suzuki today was a good sign. The need him hitting.

The best case is all 5 Bellinger/Happ/Tauchman/Suzuki/PCA are raking. That is a great problem to have and can bleed over to 1B if Busch needs a few days to reset.

But they do need to add a closer to make this a legit team. Last year Alzolay was solid. This year they don't have that. So this is a real issue that needs a investment in talent.

So that is why June is important.

Last year June 14-11. That forced Jed to buy in on this team vs sell. They pull a 14 win month 6 vs Reds. 2 vs White Sox. 3 VS TB. 3 vs Cards, 7 vs Giants, 3 vs Crew 3 vs Mets.

4-2 vs Reds
2-0 vs sox
2-1 TB
2-1 Cards
Giants 2-5
Mets 2-1
1-2 Crew

15-12 June. That IMO pushes the buy button.
If they flip that 12-15 that pushes the sell button.

Simple as that.

 

[Discus fish salesman]

28/28. Last year they were 24-31 at the start of June.

So they are not toast.

Suzuki went on fire Aug and Sept, .321/.365/.641 and .370/.434/.685 Aug they went 18-9 Sept 12-16. That is when most of the team gassed. Steele stopped pitching at CY young levels and the melt down happened.

At the end of the day some one needs to step up and lead the O.

So a HR from Suzuki today was a good sign. The need him hitting.

The best case is all 5 Bellinger/Happ/Tauchman/Suzuki/PCA are raking. That is a great problem to have and can bleed over to 1B if Busch needs a few days to reset.

But they do need to add a closer to make this a legit team. Last year Alzolay was solid. This year they don't have that. So this is a real issue that needs a investment in talent.

So that is why June is important.

Last year June 14-11. That forced Jed to buy in on this team vs sell. They pull a 14 win month 6 vs Reds. 2 vs White Sox. 3 VS TB. 3 vs Cards, 7 vs Giants, 3 vs Crew 3 vs Mets.

4-2 vs Reds
2-0 vs sox
2-1 TB
2-1 Cards
Giants 2-5
Mets 2-1
1-2 Crew

15-12 June. That IMO pushes the buy button.
If they flip that 12-15 that pushes the sell button.

Simple as that.

Jed can't sell because he's got to be on the hot seat. Generally public perception (overwhelmingly negative for hoyer) bleeds into ownerships decisions unless it's the reinsdorf or mccaskey family.

 

[CSF77]

Jed can't sell because he's got to be on the hot seat. Generally public perception (overwhelmingly negative for hoyer) bleeds into ownerships decisions unless it's the reinsdorf or mccaskey family.

It still is a business.

As far as the front office is concerned the blunder was pulling Hendrick's opt. It was a risky move but a one year commitment.

What else could he have done?

Snell. 5 games 10.42 ERA. Ya that would have gone over well

Montgomery 7 starts 4.69 ERA. That is not ace level investing.

Chapman .237/.308/.414.

So we can say the Bellinger was the best signing in that drama. So Jed won that one.


Shota has been one of the best starters ever as a rookie. Jed under paid. Jed won that one.


Neris has under performed. But he was not intended to close. Injury and under performance caused this.



So you really have to grade each move first before making a educated opinion.


Shota. A
Bellinger. B+
Neris C-
Hendricks F

Over all C+. Hendricks drags it down and cancels out Shota.

Decision making: I would give them a C. There is valid reason why Brown did not get past the 7th that I was not aware of until last night. His pitches were getting flat and Bellinger saved one of them from going yard. So it was the right call. I will stand corrected. Kaplan talked about it and I see his point of view and agree.

Shota should have kept in the rotation. If he needs a day off down the road due to fatigue cool. He said that it was unexpected and it served no purpose.


So they nix each other out. C again.


Injuries. GM only can be reactive here. Over all pretty good as the depth is there to keep it in check.

So I see it as getting healthy caused issues as those players lost time and they went up against some top end pitching.


So it comes down to June. If the hitting gets on track and they win the month it gives Jed the ammo to buy.

If they are losing he will sell.


If he made a major purchase and it floundered this off-season. Like extend Hendricks for 5 years then you can.pink slip him.

 

[CSF77]

And the you can add the trade with the Dodgers. Both are part of the core and have added value.

Injury has caused a loss on Almonte but we are missing him as he added value to the pen

So over all I would say injury and bad luck has been the major issue going in. The team was playing at a high level in Apr and injury and going up against tough pitching caused the slump

But this team has done it so I would not be too shocked if they get into another strong run.

 

[Probie2429]

I’m still wondering where all the home grown players drafted post-World Series are. There is Morel and Amaya hitting both below the Mendoza line and everyone else is a FA or trade acquisition. PCA should be playing every day.

 

[Discus fish salesman]

It still is a business.

As far as the front office is concerned the blunder was pulling Hendrick's opt. It was a risky move but a one year commitment.

What else could he have done?

Snell. 5 games 10.42 ERA. Ya that would have gone over well

Montgomery 7 starts 4.69 ERA. That is not ace level investing.

Chapman .237/.308/.414.

So we can say the Bellinger was the best signing in that drama. So Jed won that one.


Shota has been one of the best starters ever as a rookie. Jed under paid. Jed won that one.


Neris has under performed. But he was not intended to close. Injury and under performance caused this.



So you really have to grade each move first before making a educated opinion.


Shota. A
Bellinger. B+
Neris C-
Hendricks F

Over all C+. Hendricks drags it down and cancels out Shota.

Decision making: I would give them a C. There is valid reason why Brown did not get past the 7th that I was not aware of until last night. His pitches were getting flat and Bellinger saved one of them from going yard. So it was the right call. I will stand corrected. Kaplan talked about it and I see his point of view and agree.

Shota should have kept in the rotation. If he needs a day off down the road due to fatigue cool. He said that it was unexpected and it served no purpose.


So they nix each other out. C again.


Injuries. GM only can be reactive here. Over all pretty good as the depth is there to keep it in check.

So I see it as getting healthy caused issues as those players lost time and they went up against some top end pitching.


So it comes down to June. If the hitting gets on track and they win the month it gives Jed the ammo to buy.

If they are losing he will sell.


If he made a major purchase and it floundered this off-season. Like extend Hendricks for 5 years then you can.pink slip him.

You can pink slip him because the team was borderline playoff team last year and then he went out and aggressively pursued a manager as if he was going to make a run this year, then went limp in player acquisition during the offseason. Bellinger barely counts as a positive move as it was desperation after flailing and missing on other targets. He was a must and a no brainer when they finally got him.

 

[Diehardfan]

You can pink slip him because the team was borderline playoff team last year and then he went out and aggressively pursued a manager as if he was going to make a run this year, then went limp in player acquisition during the offseason. Bellinger barely counts as a positive move as it was desperation after flailing and missing on other targets. He was a must and a no brainer when they finally got him.

"If " or I should probably say "when" the Cub's pen blows today's game it will be by my count....the 14th loss directly related to bullpen failure. That projects roughly to 45 pen losses by season's end. If Rickets had half a brain, he'd be asking why pay $40 mill to a manager whose thing is bullpen management.....then don't give him a bullpen. Particularly the way last year's playoffs were dominated by bullpen pitching.

Of course, that's providing that Ricketts isn't just as stupid as Hoyer....

 

[PickSix]

Get a new 3rd base coach please.