Chicago Cubs 2018 Season

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#807      
South Farms
IanKEvans2 said:
Baez versus Yelich MVP race?
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this is pretty much the debate. Carpenter gets a mention, but I think its a two man race . with Baez in the ever so slightest lead for a number of personality reasons , even though its supposed to be just about talent

Illiniaaron said:
That sets up a pretty darned interesting first round for the Cubs, who would play the winner of the wild card game, correct?
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yes. it will almost assuredly be the NL Central winner v the WC winner. The WC will have used up their ace in the WC game, so they are at a disadvantage in a 5 game series, where the Cubs (hopefully) get to have Lester/Hamel/Hendricks go 1-2-3 . Ultimately, what matters most is who is playing really well when the season ends and can get it going again after a brief layoff. It would be really nice to clinch it with 4-5 games to go and give a bunch of players a well needed rest.

But lets not get ahead of ourselves until the magic number is 0
 
#808      
champaignchris
Illiniaaron said:
Looking at the Cubs' hitting stats since the break, Zobrist, Rizzo, & Baez really carried them in the second half. Schwarber hit only .221, Contreras .219, Russell .194 with no homers, and Happ only .182. Have to believe Russell's future with the club is in doubt at this point, and Happ's development has been disappointing. Don't know what to make of Schwarber. For a guy who walks as much as he does, he sure hits for a low average. Looks like pretty much a platoon player at this point.
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I don't understand what you don't see in Schwarber. Batting average is pretty much irrelevant for a slugger. It's all about the slugging percentage and on base average. And Schwarber is just fine on those. He was hitting very well for the 15 or so games before his back started acting up. They're just resting him now. He'll be fine for the playoffs.

I think Contreras is a victim of the Cubs not trusting Caratini and not having any other catcher in the system that they do trust. He's been overplayed and has been awful at the plate since the beginning of August. His aggregate offensive performance for the season has been just fine for a catcher with his defensive skills, but he's certainly been trending the wrong direction. Hopefully, the Cubs will clinch earlier enough to give him a number of days off.

I don't have any soothing words to say about Russell. He's basically been a 2nd pitcher in the lineup since July. The emergence of Bote certainly makes him look like the odd man out with Javy able to play short and Bote, Happ, and Zobrist all able to play second. He looks like a guy who might need a change of scenery and I could see him being traded for a young-ish pitcher who also looks like he needs a change of scenery. (Dylan Bundy? Marcus Stroman? Michael Fulmer?) I think it's pretty telling that when Castro and Heyward went through bad, year-long slumps, there was a lot of stories coming out of the Cubs' clubhouse about how hard they were working on improving and what good teammates they were. On Russell, it's been pretty much radio silence.

Happ is still only 23 and is really streaky. He's fine as an occasional starter.

I do think the trade for Murphy shows that the Cubs front office thought they were another piece away on the offense. Murphy will depart for free agency at the end of the season. But I think that trade shows that the Cubs won't stand pat on the offensive side of things next off season.
 
#809      
ChiefIllini
Kind of out of left field here, but there's a lot of Harper to Cubs chatter all year. Why hasn't Machado garnered more buzz? He's a gold glove defender on the left side of the in field, and his only real deficiency to Harper is OBP. He's the same age and at least equal offensively to Harper, and a much better defender. With Russell's struggles, I dont see a reason not to give the money to Machado rather than Harper. The only thing I can gather is his connection to Bryant.
 
#810      
champaignchris
ChiefIllini said:
Kind of out of left field here, but there's a lot of Harper to Cubs chatter all year. Why hasn't Machado garnered more buzz? He's a gold glove defender on the left side of the in field, and his only real deficiency to Harper is OBP. He's the same age and at least equal offensively to Harper, and a much better defender. With Russell's struggles, I dont see a reason not to give the money to Machado rather than Harper. The only thing I can gather is his connection to Bryant.
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Machado is an average defender at short. At best. He says he wants to play short, but he’s probably far more valuable at third.

Either way, the Cubs have a former MVP at third and a possible new MVP at short. (Baez has been SS nearly full time since the Murphy trade and looks to be the guy there going forward with Bote, Zobrist and Happ all able to play 2B.)

Certainly, Bryant’s ability to play OF and Javy’s ability to play 2B/3B means that they could find a place for Machado to play, and there were rumors that the Cubs were in talks with the Os both before and during the season, but Harper seems like he’d fit the Cubs holes better.

I think the Cubs will be in on both and I’d willing to bet they land one of the two. Harper might actually be a little bit cheaper of the two because he’ll cost a draft pick to sign and Machado won’t.
 
#811      
bobbob
Scharber is a three true outcomes hitter, that was pretty much always the expectation. His TTO% is around 47%. That's probably top 5 in the league (not saying a high TTO% is good, it just describes what type of hitter he is).

I'll agree Contreras has been over-worked this year. Clinching and resting him would be good, and then it clearly needs to be addressed in the off-season.

I wouldn't complain about Machado or Harper, pretty equal players. I think Machado will get a little more money (no qualifying offer). But that's an "after the World Series" problem. Too many unknown variables at this point.
 
#812      
IanKEvans2
[ W ] #89

Series finale in Arizona tonight followed by an off day tomorrow!
 
#815      
bdutts
champaignchris said:
Machado is an average defender at short. At best. He says he wants to play short, but he’s probably far more valuable at third.

Either way, the Cubs have a former MVP at third and a possible new MVP at short. (Baez has been SS nearly full time since the Murphy trade and looks to be the guy there going forward with Bote, Zobrist and Happ all able to play 2B.)

Certainly, Bryant’s ability to play OF and Javy’s ability to play 2B/3B means that they could find a place for Machado to play, and there were rumors that the Cubs were in talks with the Os both before and during the season, but Harper seems like he’d fit the Cubs holes better.

I think the Cubs will be in on both and I’d willing to bet they land one of the two. Harper might actually be a little bit cheaper of the two because he’ll cost a draft pick to sign and Machado won’t.
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I'll take that bet! They would have to move people to fit either in and they want to stay under the luxury tax threshold. I suppose they could dump guys but I don't see them doing that, either. I think the old "we like our team" will be reality next year. Which is fine because they got nothing out of Yu and Chatwood and only half a year out of Morrow. I'd expect both Yu and Morrow to be back to full strength for 2019.
 
#816      
champaignchris
bdutts said:
I'll take that bet! They would have to move people to fit either in and they want to stay under the luxury tax threshold. I suppose they could dump guys but I don't see them doing that, either. I think the old "we like our team" will be reality next year. Which is fine because they got nothing out of Yu and Chatwood and only half a year out of Morrow. I'd expect both Yu and Morrow to be back to full strength for 2019.
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I don't think the Cubs aren't going to stay below the luxury tax next year.
 
#817      
FollowTisdale
Illiniaaron said:
The Cubs don't start him against lefties. He does all his damage against righties. That's what I see in him. That's a platoon player. I do acknowledge that he has improved quite a bit in left field. But I think since the break he is actually below the league average in both OBA and slugging (.318, .419).
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Exactly, he's a ~400 at bat heavily platooned guy who's below average in LF. They need a good righty platoon OF with him. Probably peaks at a 3 win player just because he shouldn't be getting that many at bats.

champaignchris said:
I don't think the Cubs aren't going to stay below the luxury tax next year.
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They probably will stay below if they don't get one of Machado or Harper. They do need several starting pitchers (doubt they'll pick up Hamels option, may try to stretch that money out 2 years), but not many high dollar guys available (unless Kershaw opts out).
 
#818      
IanKEvans2
As I ignore the 0-4 score heading into the top of the 3rd, I really enjoyed this article from NBC Sports written by former Cub Doug Glanville.
https://www.nbcsports.com/chicago/cubs/perfecting-imperfect-season-why-cubs-are-team-beat

A few select quotes:
The stress of not having a team that can bulldoze a team every night is a modern byproduct of high expectation. A time when the numbers are deep enough to show us the vulnerabilities. The fact that the Cubs have the best record in the NL with notable weaknesses is seen as an indicator of their frailty instead of their resilience.
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And part of development is taking lumps, being imperfect, not closing every hole, but learning how to work with and around a hole. You learn to celebrate your strengths, and most importantly, learn how to find ways to win when it counts.
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Perfection and domination are overrated. Be an imperfect champion, then all of us, with all of our imperfections, can feel like champions too.
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#819      
IanKEvans2
Off day!

anchorman-teamjump.gif
 
#820      
South Farms
10 games to go for the Cubs, 9 for the Brewers

if we just go 6-4, the Brewers need to go 9-0 to beat us.
I like our chances
 
#821      
ChiefIllini
South Farms said:
10 games to go for the Cubs, 9 for the Brewers

if we just go 6-4, the Brewers need to go 9-0 to beat us.
I like our chances
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Also, three of our games are against the White Sox. Never downplay a rivalry, but those are very winnable 'away' games.
 
#823      
South Farms
whether it be crapping the bed (Chatwood) or injury (Darvish and Morrow) , our FA pitcher signings this winter except for Cizek have been rather disappointing.

we made up for it with some decent trades , thank God.

is it a forgone conclusion that Hamels option wont be picked up due to money ?
 
#825      
IanKEvans2
Illiniaaron said:
Apparently more disturbing allegations from Addison Russell's wife concerning abuse are out this morning. She did not cooperate with MLB when they investigated last year. Unless there is something in the collective bargaining agreement that prohibits it, I think the Cubs need to do their own investigation at this point.
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Brett's write-up at Bleacher Nation.
https://www.bleachernation.com/2018/09/21/addison-russells-ex-wife-melisa-shares-her-story/

All I would ask is that we fans take her story seriously. Baseball is just a game.
 
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