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Chicago Cubs Thread - Playoff Push Pending

Happ / Riz / Contreras / Schwarbs / KB / JHey / Baez / Bote / Caratini

Bad News on the bump. Lets Go.
 
Marlins starter Sixto Sanchez has dominant stuff; he was the key piece in the JP Realmuto to the Phillies trade (who thought that after that trade that the Marlins would get to the post-season before the Phillies?).

That said, Sanchez is coming off his two worst outings of the season:

- 5 runs in 4 innings against the Nats on September 18
- 4 runs in 3 innings against the Braves on September 23.

Prior to those last two, Sanchez had only walked 5 batters in his first 5 starts. He walked 6 in his last two. If Sanchez can't find the plate early, Cubs will be in good shape with Yu dealing.
 
Same conditions as yesterday - possibly a few degrees colder and a touch more rain.

Beautiful day for a ball game.
 
Don't like Yu having an extra day to sit around and think about this start.

My thinking was we should start Yu Game 1 and Kyle Game 2, the potential pressure of being behind in a series > the pressure of starting a Game 1. Hope he steps up and rewrites his postseason story
 
Game postponed til tomorrow due to weather. Cubs have at least one more day in the postseason.
 
It's only rained here for about 20 minutes and this system is super-patchy on the radar - they probably could have played today, but there would have been a lot of small rain delays.
 
I would doubt it - its possible on 3 days rest he could be available, but I would assume they just go full bullpen if Lester isn't sharp. Can follow him with Alzolay/Q to eat up most of the innings you need before bringing in Adam/Jeffress/Kimbrel and save Hendricks for game 1 of the LDS on Monday, which would be normal rest. This is all assuming the Cubs bats show up, at all.
 
I hope if the Marlins get away from us today that Rossy puts Lester in out of the pen. He deserves another visit to the mound.
 
Super unlucky inning - great placement by the 2B gets KB on a nice liner. Joyce has an on target throw to get Willy at the plate. Tough.
 
Welp, are the pres/GM who assembled this roster, or the manager who was a teammate of so many of them, the ones to conduct the overdue surgery needed here? I don't doubt they're going to be the ones tasked with it, but I wouldn't say they're the ideal candidates to do so
 
Congratulations to the Marlins. They earned the honor of advancing in the playoffs.

A quick end to the season should come as no surprise. Offense has been absent most of the season.

I thought Hendricks and Darvish pitched well. Each supplied six innings of shutout baseball with the stress of knowing that they had to be perfect if the team was going to win. They were given no support.

The off season should be interesting. The value of the core players has diminished with all having the worst season of their career. Most have historically bad numbers. If Theo thought it difficult to get reasonable trade value last winter, he is probably faced with a nightmare this year.
 
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Will help if the Ricketts ditch the austerity approach, but doubt they'll have much incentive to do so in these times. It was inane last offseason but now they at least have an excuse
 
Awful season for almost all the high paid position players. But trade value is lower, as noted above, and it’s hard to believe Rizzo, Bryant, Baez and Contreras will stink it up again next year given prior production. What to do with Schwarber? The guy is a career low .200s hitter who doesn’t drive in a ton of runs despite his great power and is a mediocre outfielder ( albeit with a good arm). Cubs will plug along two (?) more years with Heyward hitting @.250 and driving in few runs but playing good outfield. Is Kipnis back? Hopefully Happ is now starting to reach his potential. Jury still out if he is the leadoff guy, but he hit well in that spot the first half in particular. Cubs have so many needs I expect they will plan to keep him at leadoff in center again next year. Lots of needs in the pen and starters 3 & 4. Lots of eyes on Theo this off season.
 
Just guessing. Theo will pick up Rizzo option for $16.5 million and decline Lester's $25 million option and pay the $10 million. Rizzo, Baez, Schwarber, Bryant and Lester will be offered multi year contracts at numbers that can be financially sustained and are reflective of the past year and their careers. None of the contracts exceed three years. Negotiations begin. Cubs talk trade on the core four with everybody to ascertain market value. I value Rizzo and Baez. Bryant is a free agent after 2021. Schwarber's is a power DH. If the NL adopts the DH his value might increase. I expect both to be gone. Rizzo and Baez remain on multi year deals and reasonable contracts. Lester is retained if the money and terms are reasonable.

The counter is to keep the core four and roll the dice. All four need a great year to max their free agent value. If they all bounce back to career numbers the team benefits and all could be traded in season at enhanced value. I doubt this happens.
 
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