Chicago Cubs 2019 Season

#626      
Russell and Descalso out, Happ and Holland in.

Clearing out some of that dead weight.

Chatwood, Brach and Almora should be the next to go. Chatwood because Maddon won’t use him. Brach and Almora because Maddon keeps using them.
 
#628      
In this 1-5 stretch, the bullpen has given up 15 earned runs in 23 innings. That’s a 5.87 ERA.

The bullpen has blown leads in three of those games. The Cubs have lost leads in the 8th inning or later more times than any season since 2013.
 
#629      

Illiniaaron

Geneseo, IL
In this 1-5 stretch, the bullpen has given up 15 earned runs in 23 innings. That’s a 5.87 ERA.

The bullpen has blown leads in three of those games. The Cubs have lost leads in the 8th inning or later more times than any season since 2013.
They don't score runs either. With the names in this lineup they have to be more productive, especially on the road.
 
#633      
I think they made enough moves to make this a competitive post season roster... but I would've liked to have seen a bigger name reliever get traded for. Maybe Theo is banking on Morrow for the 7th/8th inning, but that seems like extremely wishful thinking. Castellanos is a great piece to get for the little we gave up. Destroying LHP this year--exactly what we need.

No reason to think a lineup that includes Rizzo, Bryant, Baez, Contreras, and Heyward can't compete day in and day out. Some combo of Schwarber, Happ, Castellanos, Bote, and Zobrist is a darn good 6-8 slot as well.

Yu's finally pitching his contract. Hendricks looking sharp. Hopefully Hamels can come back and perform similarly to before his injury because a 4 man post season rotation of Hendricks, Lester, Yu, and Hamels is looking pretty good (I'm not confident Q can give us 6 innings of good baseball). It's not even close to the Astros rotation, but it should be good enough to give at least an average rotation in the postseason.
 
#634      

bdutts

Houston, Texas
#635      

bdutts

Houston, Texas
I think they made enough moves to make this a competitive post season roster... but I would've liked to have seen a bigger name reliever get traded for. Maybe Theo is banking on Morrow for the 7th/8th inning, but that seems like extremely wishful thinking. Castellanos is a great piece to get for the little we gave up. Destroying LHP this year--exactly what we need.

No reason to think a lineup that includes Rizzo, Bryant, Baez, Contreras, and Heyward can't compete day in and day out. Some combo of Schwarber, Happ, Castellanos, Bote, and Zobrist is a darn good 6-8 slot as well.

Yu's finally pitching his contract. Hendricks looking sharp. Hopefully Hamels can come back and perform similarly to before his injury because a 4 man post season rotation of Hendricks, Lester, Yu, and Hamels is looking pretty good (I'm not confident Q can give us 6 innings of good baseball). It's not even close to the Astros rotation, but it should be good enough to give at least an average rotation in the postseason.

I cannot imagine Morrow pitching again, ever. But stranger things have happened.

I say Astros in 6 v Dodgers. Astros in 5 versus anyone other NL team. Astros are just that good.
 
#636      
I cannot imagine Morrow pitching again, ever. But stranger things have happened.

I say Astros in 6 v Dodgers. Astros in 5 versus anyone other NL team. Astros are just that good.
Yeah hard to see any NL team beating them. Best bet for the NL is probably some AL team surprising and knocking them out.
 
#639      
Looks like Zobrist starts his return process with a stint in South Bend today. Theo thinks it will take about all of August.

Eager to see Castellanos in the lineup down the stretch. His glove is reportedly horrid, but they need a bat against lefties desperately. Hoping they take care of business at home against Milwaukee this weekend, beginning with Hamels' return from the IL this afternoon.
 
#640      
Another 'today I learned" factoid. The Cubs have the worst road record in the NL at 21-33 (36-18 at home).

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#641      
Looks like Zobrist starts his return process with a stint in South Bend today. Theo thinks it will take about all of August.

Eager to see Castellanos in the lineup down the stretch. His glove is reportedly horrid, but they need a bat against lefties desperately. Hoping they take care of business at home against Milwaukee this weekend, beginning with Hamels' return from the IL this afternoon.
Tons of people saying the outfield is probably the worst defensively in the league. Heyward showed me enough last night to say he can at least be a decent CF. Considering we (maybe) would've been no hit without Castellanos last night, hard to say he shouldn't garner almost everyday starts.

Anyway, we have Almora for late game D. I'm fine with gaining like .150 OPS and losing Almora's glove.
 
#644      
Continuing to clear out the dead weight on the roster. Speaking of the bullpen...

Misleading stat of the year... The Cubs bullpen is 5th in the league in ERA at 4.18.

But they're 13th in the league in save percentage only converting 56.52% of their save opportunities. That's right, the bullpen blows about 4 out of every 9 leads it gets. If they were just league average in converting saves, they'd have 3 or 4 more wins and be a couple games up in first place.

The Cardinals are tops in the league in converting saves at 79.07% League average is 64.09%. The bullpens are quite literally the difference between the Cubs and Cardinals this year.
 
#645      
Great offseason by the Cubs' front office by the way... The top two free agents signed are both off the Major League roster on Aug 3.

Descalso might become un-"injured" once rosters expand in September, but the likelihood he ever takes another meaningful at bat in a Cubs uniform is pretty low.
 
#649      
This team needs to figure out how to do these types of things on the road

The outrageous difference in play between home and away, the awful defense, leading the world in outs on the basepath, all the bullpen blowups, inexplicable lineups in which the guy with literally the worst OBP on the team is leading off... fairly or not (and it probably isn’t fair in every case except for the lineups), these are generally things that fall back on a manager.

If it were any other manager, people would be calling for his head. I suspect that regardless of the outcome of this season, Maddon will be shown the door when it’s over.