Chicago Cubs 2020 Season

#455      
The Cubs seem determined to back their way into a division title. 13 runs in the last 7 games.

2 wins will effectively win the division. I’d like one of them to come against the Pirates tomorrow.
 
#456      
I hate knee jerk reactions, but considering almost identical problems to last years team, there needs to be a shake up.

Whether it be trading some of our MLB talent for prospects, or signing a major free agent or two, this team clearly has multiple holes, none of which can be fixed by grasping on the 2016 team any longer.

The Cubs are likely going to drop 3 of 4 to the pirates, a team which might have trouble winning a series against a good AAA team.

In 16, there were 4+ guys under 25 who you could see making a hall of fame, or hall adjacent career path. Now, I think it'll take a huge turnaround for any one of those guys to be included on a ballot, outside Lester who was already headed that way then anyway.

Not sure who's to blame, my running theory is Theo taking MLB ready talent over potential early on really hurt us, but I honestly can't complain about how 16 came together. I'd argue winning a WS is by far the hardest major league trophy to obtain. The fact still remains that that was 4 years ago and none of the teams since really had a shot.

No reason to think a full on rebuild needs to happen, but philosphical changes do. If we had some nuts farm system about to pop with talent I would be less than concerned, but there's little in the well. I think this offseason is massively important for the next few years of Cubs baseball.
 
#457      
I hate knee jerk reactions, but considering almost identical problems to last years team, there needs to be a shake up.

Whether it be trading some of our MLB talent for prospects, or signing a major free agent or two, this team clearly has multiple holes, none of which can be fixed by grasping on the 2016 team any longer.

The Cubs are likely going to drop 3 of 4 to the pirates, a team which might have trouble winning a series against a good AAA team.

In 16, there were 4+ guys under 25 who you could see making a hall of fame, or hall adjacent career path. Now, I think it'll take a huge turnaround for any one of those guys to be included on a ballot, outside Lester who was already headed that way then anyway.

Not sure who's to blame, my running theory is Theo taking MLB ready talent over potential early on really hurt us, but I honestly can't complain about how 16 came together. I'd argue winning a WS is by far the hardest major league trophy to obtain. The fact still remains that that was 4 years ago and none of the teams since really had a shot.

No reason to think a full on rebuild needs to happen, but philosphical changes do. If we had some nuts farm system about to pop with talent I would be less than concerned, but there's little in the well. I think this offseason is massively important for the next few years of Cubs baseball.
I will have to disagree with that take. The core has taken several steps back each year since 2016 and it's clear that they are nothing more than a mediocre team that is carried by pitching (Yu and Hendricks) and a lineup that looks good about once a week. My personal opinion is to blow it up and start over and to not have Theo and Jed be the ones to preside over the rebuild
 
#458      
First, even if the Cubs lose out (which looks pretty likely right now), they probably still win the division. The Cardinals would have to go 4-1 against the Brewers to catch them. If they go 3-2, they could still possibly catch the Cubs if they have to play both Tigers games, but they’d only be playing those games if they needed them to make the playoffs; they won’t play the games if they’ve already made the playoffs and the Detroit games would only determine seeding.

That said, this offense is putrid right now. As good as most of the pitching has been over the last month, it’s hard to imagine this team winning a game in the post season. It very much reminds me of the 2018 team that lost consecutive 1-0 decisions in game 163 and the wild card game.

This is three straight seasons that the offense has shut down over the last 2-3 weeks of the season. We’re past small sample size and on to a trend, with the only constants being the players.

The problem the Cubs have is that the ownership doesn’t want to spend money on free agents and any assets they might want to trade are at their lowest possible value right now. What are the Cubs going to get from, for example, Bryant or Schwarber after this season? And any free agent money they do spend will probably have to go to starting pitching as they lose Lester, Chatwood and Quintana after this year.

They have a huge decision to make with Bryant. He could make $22 million in arbitration next year. How do you justify that kind of money for him after this season? Yeah, he’ll be better next year, but it seems that $22MM could be used more efficiently to patch up some other holes. So, it amazes me to be typing this, but Bryant is actually a non-tender candidate leading into 2021.

Similarly, can you risk signing Baez to an extension right now?

I don’t know how much of this season can be taken as “real” or simply the effects of the bizarre circumstances surrounding it all, and that makes planning a response very hard. However, this teams really looks like it needs a personnel shakeup.
 
#459      
I still think this team has enough talent to at least compete for a WS. How many years does the best team in baseball actually win it? It's at least less than a 50% clip. Though I guess there's objective ways to determine that.

Anyways, all I'm saying it I don't think it's time to officially say the cubs need to completely gut their roster of MLB level talent, tank to the tune of 90+ losses, and in 5 years be were they were in like 2015. There's enough talent under control for another year or two that I think with a little retooling of the roster, you could get back into being a top 5 team in baseball very quickly.

That being said, I don't know if Theo/Jed are capable of that. Not by any means saying I have the answer, and it definitely isn't easy. I just think Theo is good at building a team up. I don't think he's shown he can maintain a team for more than a few years at best.

Trade some redundant talent (how much would Contreras net?), shed dead weight as much as fiscally possible, bring in real solutions to real problems (lead off, closer), hope some younger pitching talent breaks through, and trust that regression to the mean for your stars happens. Spend real money, don't be afraid to go over the cap because in a few years it wont matter the penalty is stricter, you've either failed at maintaining a quality team and tanking will be required, or you've put yourself in a situation to win WS(s).
 
#460      

bdutts

Houston, Texas
I still think this team has enough talent to at least compete for a WS. How many years does the best team in baseball actually win it? It's at least less than a 50% clip. Though I guess there's objective ways to determine that.

Anyways, all I'm saying it I don't think it's time to officially say the cubs need to completely gut their roster of MLB level talent, tank to the tune of 90+ losses, and in 5 years be were they were in like 2015. There's enough talent under control for another year or two that I think with a little retooling of the roster, you could get back into being a top 5 team in baseball very quickly.

That being said, I don't know if Theo/Jed are capable of that. Not by any means saying I have the answer, and it definitely isn't easy. I just think Theo is good at building a team up. I don't think he's shown he can maintain a team for more than a few years at best.

Trade some redundant talent (how much would Contreras net?), shed dead weight as much as fiscally possible, bring in real solutions to real problems (lead off, closer), hope some younger pitching talent breaks through, and trust that regression to the mean for your stars happens. Spend real money, don't be afraid to go over the cap because in a few years it wont matter the penalty is stricter, you've either failed at maintaining a quality team and tanking will be required, or you've put yourself in a situation to win WS(s).

What do you mean by best team? Do you mean best record or the team that’s playing best at the time?

Without looking, I’d say the best team won four of the past five, last year being the exception.
 
#468      
Yeah, Kyle wasn’t as sharp as usual.
And Ross left him in an inning too long because he doesn’t have confidence in his pen.
And his pen immediately proved him right.

But that offense... four hits.

Basically, you have to figure if Yu doesn’t throw a shutout tomorrow, this season is over.
 
#469      
Not hitting against good pitching has been a consistent post season theme for Epstein’s Cubs. 10 runs in their last 7 postseason games dating back to 2017. 11 in their last 8, if you count game 163 in 2017.
 
#471      
Total joke of an offense. Third base coach also should be fired for sending Contreras, no chance. Baez fly to end the inning would have been a sac fly for a run.
 
#472      
That graphic that they put up tells it all.

IMG_20201002_170915.jpg
 
#475      
Total joke of an offense. Third base coach also should be fired for sending Contreras, no chance. Baez fly to end the inning would have been a sac fly for a run.

Did he actually send him? Thought on the replay it looked like he didn't give a sign at all, which was weird. But man, he was out by a mile, awful call to send him.