Chicago Cubs Thread - Playoff Push Pending

Some tough luck in the last loss, but from the previous game we also found out that Tyler Chatwood sucks again, so at least we can write him directly to the bullpen.

Stropy was released by the Reds, would love to see him in Wrigley again, we don't need another righty, but he can't be worse than Underwood right now. I think he might be out of options though, so thats why he is still here.

Chatwood getting another start this afternoon. Ross supportive but used the word demotion in the same sentence. Mills might be on the rocks as well, given his last three starts.

Ross gave Kimbrel a save opportunity without a back up plan and paid for it with a loss. That should educate him.

At what point do you move on from Kimbrel in close late game situations? Guy has been lousy

Buttermaker said:

At what point do you move on from Kimbrel in close late game situations? Guy has been lousy

Click to expand...

Problem was that we had no real better options at the time. Sadler, Underwood, Winkler and Ryan haven't been any better. Theo really needs to pick up the phone and get a couple halfway decent relievers - with an average bullpen this team has 3-4 more wins.

Cubs trade for Jose Martinez. Ok, its like we trade for Steven Souza 2.0. Great. Puig is still a FA, who feels like a better fit - but at least Martinez can crush lefties.

Oh, also wonder if this means we DFA Almora now.

Cubs gain a split in the series with the Reds. to finish August with a 15-12 record. On to Pittsburgh for three.

I like the Martinez pick up. A pro who gets the hit with men on base. Phegley was DFA to make room. Almora isn't going anywhere. He and Heyward are the only good defensive outfielders on the team.

Chatwood injury makes the decision on Q easy. Maybe Chatwood can help the BP. If Mills struggles again Alzolay might get an opportunity. One way to ensure your farm system never develops starting pitchers is to never give them the opportunity.

The problems with the bullpen have been obvious. The inability of the top of the order to deliver hits with men on base is as big a problem. On average, Rizzo, Bryant, Schwarber, Baez and Contreras have plated 19.5% of the runners on base in their career. This year that percentage is 13%. As a comparision, Bote, Happ, Heyward and Hoerner have driven in 25.4% this year. Martinez has a 21.5% average in his career, higher than anyone on Cubs lifetime.

FYI, as of this morning these are the clutch career averages of the previously mentioned nine players. Rizzo 21.4%. Bote 20.9%. Contreras 20%. Happ 19.6%. Bryant 19.3%. Baez 18.8%. Heyward 18%. Schwarber 17.1%. Hoerner in limited appearances is at 29.2%. The kid has delivered when it counts.

Issue with Martinez is it looks like the league might have a playbook on him. He is getting a much bigger dose of offspeed pitches out of the zone this year and his K-rate has ballooned. His walk rate is up too, though, so he will fit in with the Cubs culture of working counts - but not sure he adds much more than a power bat against lefties. I was really hoping to get a contact hitter - the only person we have on the team that is in anyway reliable to put the bat on the ball in tough situations in JHey and maybe Nico.

Baez is striking out 35% of his at bats, Schwarbs 32.5%, Contreras 32%, KB 28% - blackjacks point is spot on, we have problems doing anything with people on base. Before Botes 2-run single earlier this week and Schwarbs grand slam yesterday, cubs were 6/36 with the bases loaded with 14 Ks (39%). With runners in scoring position, they are 61/247 with 70 Ks (29%) - and the DH position so far has been horrific, 17/112 with 48 Ks (43%). They have hit 51 HRs, which is tied for 6th, but 33 of their 51 have been solo shots. Oddly enough, they are striking out less against Lefties (28%) than Righties (32%), they just have a low hard hit rate with 7% XBHs against Lefties and 11% against Righties. There are some other crazy stats too, like as a team, the Cubs walk rate is 25% if the at bat starts 1-0. They have also had a statistically top 10 defense so far this year, led by Contreras, Baez, Bryant and Rizzo - Heyward has been a negative defender by most rankings so far. Crazy times.

Cubs trade for two average lefties with potential in Chafin and Osich. Neither are great, both are more loogy guys in a world where you have a 3 batter minimum. Not sure that helps at all, but it does not appear to have been much given up since both are rentals. At least its something - Chafin is on the IL, if he doesnt come back, the Cubs owe nothing, which is fun - Osich is a PTBNL.

Cubs also get Cameron Maybin- been a pretty average fielder the last few years, but was supposed to be elite early on in his career. Can also rake against lefties, but is still better than Almora against righties. Speaking of Almora, he gone. To South Bend. No idea who is going for Osich. And with KB and Souza coming back, not sure who goes - guess Perez and....? Maybe Souza doesnt come back.

Ian Miller and Hernan Perez were DFA to make room for Osich and Chafin on the 40 man. Zack Short was traded for Cameron Maybin. Maybin replaces Short on the 40 man roster. At present the Cubs have 26 players on the active 28 man roster, 15 pitchers and 11 position players. Maybin and Martinez will likely fill those spots tomorrow. Almora is still on the active roster at present. Bryant may replace a pitcher on the active roster when he returns. Souza? Will know more eventually.

Almora optioned to South Bend. DaDeacs was correct.

Quintana back on the injured list. Same for Chatwood which was expected after being lifted in the third having given up no runs. W last night as Hendricks gets the win and Baez actually drives in some runs (via HR of course).

Cubs and DraftKings have entered into a partnership to install a SportsBook at Wrigley Field.

https://www.espn.com/chalk/story/_/id/29799840/cubs-announce-plans-sportsbook-wrigley-field

Won't be long until most ballparks, stadia and arenas follow suit.

Time to give Alzolay a full shot at the rotation. Chatwood and Quintana are question marks that will need to be stretched out if either recover. Mills is having trouble keeping the ball in the park. Rea and Underwood need to be stretched out as well. Miller and Steele might have the arm strength for 5 innings. Do they have the pitches and make up to step up? Marquez has elite heat. Using him would probably mess up the timetable for his arrival, but the clock is ticking for the core players on this team. If Marquez is healthy it might be the time to throw the dice. Alzolay and Marquez might benefit starting in the bigs without a crowd involved.

DaDeacs gets his wish with the Cubs signing Pedro Strope to a minor league deal. He is assigned to South Bend. He has been on the IL with a right groin strain, so he will likely stay at South Bend until he is physically ready to play.

Happ hitting .318 with a 1.143 OPS batting first and hitting .350 in the first inning. He earned lead off and CF. He can't get back soon enough.

Darvish and Heyward are living up to their contracts this year. Actually both stepped it up last year. Heyward hit well when he wasn't in the purgatory of lead off. Darvish transformed after last years all star break.

Alzolay and bullpen for the DH starts today. If Alzolay does well he will probably stay with the team per cubs.com. Time to earn your promotion with a quality start Adbert.

I am not optimistic of our chances in either game today. We have to rely on our bullpen for both and that means a 2 game swing in the standings.

The difference in game one has been the Cubs not scoring with the bases loaded and nobody out in the second inning. Always a huge momentum shift and the Cards capitalized. It's happened too often this season.

Interesting pick up. Cubs claim Ildemaro Vargas off waivers from the Twins. He's a switch hitting infielder with .255/.284/.385 production in the bigs and a 14% strikeout rate. He's hit .326/.371/.464 in 1468 plate appearances over the past four years in AAA, with a K rate of 7%. That's good contact.

The Cubs have bid adieu to Jharel Cotton, Casey Sadler, AJ Ramos and Cody Allen.

Edit. In further news the Cubs recalled Tyson Miller and Steven Souza was DFA between games. Souza's game one strikeout with the bases loaded and no outs was the weakest plate appearance I've seen in a long time. His second strikeout was almost as bad. That includes Javy swinging at anythng that is thrown.

Alzolay received little help defensively. He got out of the jam Bryant's second inning error created. He unraveled after Hoerner's wide throw prevented him from escaping a third inning jam. Game of inches.

The Cubs game two line up was a complete mystery.

ResilientDeac proves prophetic.

Cubs have looked bad the last 2 days while losing 3 consecutive games to the Cardinals. Right now, the Cardinals look like the better team. I know they have all those doubleheaders coming up and that may be our saving grace as far as winning the division.
Today's game is HUGE, imo. We need a great game out of the Professor today. Needless to say that our core hitters need to step it up at the plate. David Ross seems to prefer a set lineup each game instead of changing the batting order to get some of the struggling hitters farther down the order. Heyward is out of the lineup today (Maybin will be in RF) after becoming sick last night and having to leave the game early. Other websites reported he was having trouble breathing, but Ross says he's feeling better today and might be back against the Reds.

GO CUBS GO!

The Cardinals stink. The Cubs are likely going to go 2-3 for the next 3 runs through the rotation. Got a nice outing from Mills, which was needed. But, I am just assuming we will be competitive when Hendo and Yu pitch, the other 3 will be a complete crapshoot and we need 6+ runs to win.

The Martinez trade has backfired, I hope the PTBNLs weren't highly regarded, but I heard they are likely names - maybe not top 10 prospects, but potentially top 20 or highly productive AAA dudes. Maybin has been ok filling in for JHey - he is serviceable and puts together good at bats, which is better than anything we have had out of our DH or 4th/5th OF so far this year. Not expecting much out of Billy Hamilton, late inning OF replacement or pinch runner - which is fine.

Assuming Cubs can stay in the top 2 in the central, they need a 3rd starter - Q looked like he could potentially fill in, as he and Chatwood are on pace to be back this weekend or early next week. I'm hoping we get Q as the starter, put Chatwood back in the pen where he looked good last year. This would also mean Lester out of the pen in the playoffs, which might be what he needs right now, because he is getting tattooed with his stuff right now.

The good thing is the Cubs are still in first with their big 4 all being well below average. If 1 or 2 of Riz, KB, Baez or Willy can get it going, we should have a real shot in the playoffs against anyone not named the Dodgers. Also, Ian Happ having a career shortened year in the year where Tatis blows up stinks - he should at least be in the convo for MVP.