Official Cubs Game Thread!

[TL1961]

Last year comes to mind without research.. Roughly.

I guess if you consider the first two weeks as “starting the season hot“ then yes I suppose last year would qualify. But they were under 500 at the end of May and under 500 at the end of June.

 

[Hawkeye OG]

Welp

 

[knoxville7]

Ooops...Now I understand all the comments. I meant the Nationals and wrote the Guardians.

Fire away.

You even had @CSF77 not understanding!!! Lol

 

[CSF77]

You even had @CSF77 not understanding!!! Lol

I had no clue. I tried but found no rabbit hole to dive into.

I really hate to be a sour puss

I hope the Cubs choke this week. I feel it is better to cash in on this year and get a few kids tested for next year and some scrubs kicked to the curb

 

[DrGonzo]

"Hendricks has the worst era in baseball. He knows he has to do better down the stretch".

Really? There isn't anyone else they could give the start to?

 

[knoxville7]

"Hendricks has the worst era in baseball. He knows he has to do better down the stretch".

Really? There isn't anyone else they could give the start to?

Meh, didn’t matter. Hendricks pitched alright, but when you can’t score 1 run, it don’t matter

 

[Diehardfan]

Pretty simple.....the fire is out. And all the warts will now be clearly visible.

 

[CSF77]

In the long run this is the best thing to happen.

Get Hendricks and the rest of the scrubs TFO of there. Time to bring up the next wave.

Steele getting a elbow strain just shows how much Jed needs to invest into a legit Ace. When one goes down the season should not just tank like that

5-0 just showcases how a legit Ace can shut down a team. It is the best investment any owner can make.

Take a page out of the Dodgers. They are loaded with starting pitching and said injury. They are still on a 100 win pace.

 

[Diehardfan]

Pissing away money on a starter is a total waste. In a previous post I stated their pen needs a huge over haul. They got 6 arms that need replacing. The game has changed. Starters are now 5, sometimes only 4 inning guys. You get 6 out of your starter and thats a huge game. Just look at the boxscores....it's a leaguewide thing. Last night's game for example....Pirates used 3 pitchers in a shut out. Teams are using 3-4 pitchers in almost every game now. You need a strong pen to compete. The Cub's idiot GM continues to live in the 60's. It's been this way for over two years and he still doesn't get it.

Hell, look at this series....HUGE game from Taillon....pen upchucks. Even Hendricks kept his team in it.....another pen blow job.

Erratic hitting....just not a well constucted team.


UPDATE: Cubs just used three pitchers in a no-hitter. It's a different game....100 pitch count changes everything.

 

[Diehardfan]

Still pisses me off that they let him walk over chump change

 

[TL1961]

In the long run this is the best thing to happen.

Get Hendricks and the rest of the scrubs TFO of there. Time to bring up the next wave.

Steele getting a elbow strain just shows how much Jed needs to invest into a legit Ace. When one goes down the season should not just tank like that

5-0 just showcases how a legit Ace can shut down a team. It is the best investment any owner can make.

Take a page out of the Dodgers. They are loaded with starting pitching and said injury. They are still on a 100 win pace.

Well, the Cubs did in fact get shut out in a game started by the Pirates Ace, but anyone who watched that knows that was not a matter of an ace shutting down the lineup. The Cubs stranded eight runners in the first three innings. But when you don’t get the big hit, you don’t get the big hit.

 

[DrGonzo]

Combined no-no tonight. Fun stuff.

 

[CSF77]

Well, the Cubs did in fact get shut out in a game started by the Pirates Ace, but anyone who watched that knows that was not a matter of an ace shutting down the lineup. The Cubs stranded eight runners in the first three innings. But when you don’t get the big hit, you don’t get the big hit.

Doesn't change much of what I said. He shut down the Cubs then they tee'd off on the next guy.

It came down to scoreboard.

Also LAD have lost just about every starting pitcher at one point this year. Stone is the only staple. 16 different starters Cubs have had 9 including Little's one inning lead off to Brown.

So basically 1/2 of the issues that LAD have gone through in the rotation.

So I doubt many will argue that targeting Burns is a bad idea. The rotation would be Burns, Steele, Shota, Taillon, Wicks.

Horton would get a chance to prime up at Iowa and injury always happens and Horton would get a opertunity.

The O might work itself out with min input

Ideally Jed trades Hoerner and Cody. This frees up around 25M as I believe Jed eats around 1/2 of Cody's deal. But that goes towards signing Burns.

So you are looking at:

Happ LF
Busch 1B
Suzuki DH
Parades 3B
Caissie RF
Shaw 2B
Swanson SS
PCA CF
Amaya C

Ballestroes C/DH
Vazquez UI
Tauchman OF
Madgril UI

Pen:
CL. Brown
SU Hodge
SU Neely
SU Little

MR Wesneski
MR Assad
MR lefty from trade or F/A.


Another line up that could work is:

PCA
Shaw
Busch
Suzuki
Happ
Parades
Caissie
Swanson
Amaya

Madgril I just see as min impact but he can fill in for 3B as needed. You really want to keep Shaw playing full time as his bat should be high end when he adapts. Parades seems error prone and I am hoping it works out.

 

[Probie2429]

Christopher Paredes with 3 errors tonight.

 

[Diehardfan]

LOL@CSF team construction.

 

[CSF77]

Christopher Paredes with 3 errors tonight.

Ya like I said hope it is only a temp issue.

 

[CSF77]

LOL@CSF team construction.

Cubs are going into the meetings at 150M on budget.

If they just keep Steele off Arb and cut the rest 8-12M is a realistic signing point. TBH I would extend Steele and keep his future AAV in check. Even 22M over 10 is not a bad scenario.

Then Paredes has a case pending. Last year he hit 31 HR so it is in his capability to repeat. So I expect a resigning and 8 M might be his value going in.


So we are looking at 166-180M just to retain both.

And we can go on but I don't see a contender with what is there so they will have to invest. I could even see 230-240M needed to even have a chance to compete with the farm catching a price cut

 

[CSF77]

Now that line up was just made to keep in a budget

If I had to guess Burns will get 35M AAV.

So with not considering Arb cases (and there is a lot of that going on) 185M. That leaves 45-50M if Tom opens up the payroll. That goes quick as 20M of it most likely goes to Steele and Paredes then Jed has to decide who is worth offering.

That is why I thought that Hoerner (2 years of control) and Cody (2 years) are solid trade chips.

Cubs have 2 top 50 prospects ready to replace right now much less in spring. Why I was a bit pissed that Jed decided to softball Sept vs get aggressive in their development paths.

Even if Jed had to eat or take back some contract it would be worth it if that contract can add to the current depth.

Even shedding 17M gives Jed more room to add depth to the pen and the bench quality.

 

[Adipost]

PCA with just an incredible defensive game tonight.

 

[Probie2429]

Bust!