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Chicago Cubs Thread - Playoff Push Pending

Almora's bat has been OK as well. Certainly making a case to start in CF. Hope Bryant isn't hurt. I've never seen a bean ball spin a helmet 360 degrees and knock off glasses.

Almora with his third five star catch of the day in the top of the ninth. Think he'll make ESPN top ten?
 
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I know SSS, and its probably waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too early to say this, but what is wrong with our pitching? Darvish looks terrible, Quintana looks terrible, Hendricks can't keep the ball down in the zone, Lester is hit or miss and Chatwood looks like he has his entire career. I can't imagine its a Hickey vs Bosio thing, yet, but outside of one really good start by Lester, our offense is having to win every game - pitching has given up at least 4 runs in 10 straight games. The pen looks decent, outside of Wilson, who is terribad still.

Really shocked about Darvish, he just seems to implode so easily.
 
Darvish and Quintana have the third time through the lineup blues. Chatwood has so much movement without command. It is early and the cold, wet weather hasn't helped. Fortunately, the hitting is good. It seems weird to see the Cubs bunch singles and deliver situational hitting. Hope it continues.
 
Darvish has been pulled in the 4th in 3 of his 4 starts - it's not the third time through, he just implodes, one bad pitch/play/call and he destructs. It's frustrating to watch.

Quintana just isn't good right now - 35 baserunners in 19 innings.

Chatwood is a location nightmare - he walks everyone or goes deep in counts - watching the game yesterday, he got lucky getting out of a lot of self imposed jams.

The pitching needs a lot of help right now - could just be slow starts or bad weather or whatever, dunno.
 
Baez is having an absolutely wild start to the season.

Darvish strikes me as a head case so far this season. Agreed with Da that one or two things happen and he just implodes.
 
My dad is a big Dodgers fan. He wasn't upset to lose Darvish.
 
Walk rate is up and K rate is down. Early in the season still but guys are hitting .266 off him - the best against him over the course of a season is .240 (.226 last year).
 
Wakeforest22890 said:
Walk rate is up and K rate is down. Early in the season still but guys are hitting .266 off him - the best against him over the course of a season is .240 (.226 last year).
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He will benefit from pitching in warmer weather when all of his pitches will be more effective. His big deal is having such a big arsenal. He is not throwing much breaking ball stuff at the moment. And that warm weather line doesn't bode well for Fall baseball in Chicago (and several other cities).

Baez and Schwarber have been much better about going the other way and it is paying off big time. Just need to get Rizzo going and have some more consistency out of the rotation. They started well and have struggled of late. The bats started poorly and are coming around. Even Heyward looks like a better version of his sorry self.
 
Five games played since DaDeacs post concerning starting pitching. Five straight high quality starts the result. DaDeacs, you may be a lucky charm.

Almora and Baez getting it done at the top of the order. Almora at .339/.393/.429 at leadoff. Baez at .395/.395/.737 batting second. Each have produced 16 runs in that capacity. Both are frequent highlight reel defenders. Maddon says he will let it play out.
 
Don't think we're winning the title with this lineup. Offense goes into the deep freeze for weeks at a time.

Wind gusting out all three days vs. the Rox and we scored six runs
 
A pet peeve of mine is posting the record in the thread title but not keeping it remotely up-to-date. The Cubs haven't been 11-9 in over a week.
 
I think I have read a Manny Machado to the Cubs article every day for the past week now. I'm not sure I see it - he is going to want a massive deal (reading anywhere from $30-$40 million over 8-10 years), which is possible for the Cubs to afford, but unlikely, I think, since it would put them likely over the luxury tax unless they can get rid of one of the other big contracts. The trade to get half a season of Machado would have to be Russell, Alzolay, plus another current MLBer or top 10 prospect (not that we have many left). I get the Almora/Machado thing, but have doubts that would do anything to keep him.

I also think all of my logic is based on my irrational desire to go after Bryce instead.
 
DaDeacs said:
I think I have read a Manny Machado to the Cubs article every day for the past week now. I'm not sure I see it - he is going to want a massive deal (reading anywhere from $30-$40 million over 8-10 years), which is possible for the Cubs to afford, but unlikely, I think, since it would put them likely over the luxury tax unless they can get rid of one of the other big contracts. The trade to get half a season of Machado would have to be Russell, Alzolay, plus another current MLBer or top 10 prospect (not that we have many left). I get the Almora/Machado thing, but have doubts that would do anything to keep him.

I also think all of my logic is based on my irrational desire to go after Bryce instead.
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I wouldn't do it. build through the farm system and pick up value via trade or free agency when you can find it.
 
The front office has resisted changing the twelve position players presently on the roster for the past year. This is the team they have built and it appears they are confident it will remain capable of winning championships. The farm system is depleted of strong trade chips. I doubt we see any major transactions unless multiple injuries are sustained by the present core players.
 
BlackjackMc said:
The front office has resisted changing the twelve position players presently on the roster for the past year. This is the team they have built and it appears they are confident it will remain capable of winning championships. The farm system is depleted of strong trade chips. I doubt we see any major transactions unless multiple injuries are sustained by the present core players.
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I agree that it isn't likely - but the front office being committed to this core is not necessarily true - tons of reports said the Cubs looked into Machado during the offseason and dangled Addy out there in a couple of different scenarios to other teams. Pretty sure he acknowledged it too.

If there is a need, or a trade, I would imagine its Addy who goes - maybe Almora.
 
DaDeacs said:
I agree that it isn't likely - but the front office being committed to this core is not necessarily true - tons of reports said the Cubs looked into Machado during the offseason and dangled Addy out there in a couple of different scenarios to other teams. Pretty sure he acknowledged it too.

If there is a need, or a trade, I would imagine its Addy who goes - maybe Almora.
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Interesting. Obviously, I don't visit any sites where rumors originate or linger. I count on you (and others) for that info and I do appreciate it despite my skepticism. Several of the high profile prospects that have been traded are demonstrating why they were high profile. The front office has shown good judgement identifying talent.
 
Jon Heyman reporting that Machado is the Cubs main target at the deadline. Heyman also sucks.

They need to do something, I still think everything will click and they can pull away in the Central, but I don't see them beating any good team in a series right now.
 
DaDeacs said:
I think I have read a Manny Machado to the Cubs article every day for the past week now. I'm not sure I see it - he is going to want a massive deal (reading anywhere from $30-$40 million over 8-10 years), which is possible for the Cubs to afford, but unlikely, I think, since it would put them likely over the luxury tax unless they can get rid of one of the other big contracts. The trade to get half a season of Machado would have to be Russell, Alzolay, plus another current MLBer or top 10 prospect (not that we have many left). I get the Almora/Machado thing, but have doubts that would do anything to keep him.

I also think all of my logic is based on my irrational desire to go after Bryce instead.
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Coming back to this, the offer that I have seen the most is Russell, Alzolay and Mike Montgomery. Meh.

We might see Alzolay soon if the Cubs need a spot start soon. He looks average in AAA, walks up, k's down - the stuff is still there, just having trouble getting swings and misses.
 
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