Chicago Cubs 2026
That’s a little simplistic. Sox have been trading MLB players for prospects for a couple/few years now, while Cubs have been trading prospects for MLB players. Throw in the fact that Sox have also been drafting higher, and not surprising their farm system is more productive at the moment. On top of all that the Mune signing has been huge. All that said, yes, Cubs have to do better.
This. There are just more spots for youngsters to play for the CWS.
In the past year and a half, we’ve brought up Shaw, Horton, and Ballestros. Palencia is home grown, as are Brown, Porter Hodge, Assad, Robertson, PCA, and Amaya.
Obviously, Nico, Justin Steele, and Ian have been around for a while, but they were drafted here.
We also developed Cassie and Cam Smith who became immediate regulars once traded out of Chicago, where they were blocked.
We’ve been fine at developing position players. There just isn’t much opportunity to crack the lineup.
Starting pitching development has been an issue forever… Steele & Horton are exceptions, but health has been an obvious issue for both.
PK Wrigley and The Tribune Co ownership were absolutely awful owners.
PK didn’t really care about baseball. Kept the team because his dad loved them so much. He tried hard for a while to keep them competitive, after William’s sudden death, but ultimately lost interest in the team. They just didn’t try very hard for about 30 years.
The Tribune only cared about profitability, not competition, especially as their financial issues began in the 1990s.
Tom Ricketts is the most interested owner the Cubs have had in 80 years, but that bar is about as low as it gets in baseball.
Illiniaaron
- Geneseo, IL
I felt this 22-game stretch beginning on June 2 against teams that were bad to below average would have a major say in the Cubs' fortunes this season. I was hoping they could get 14 or 15 wins here. So far, they are 5-7 in this stretch with 3 against the Rockies and 3 against the Blue Jays at home and 4 against the Mets in New York left.
Yeah, it's pretty rough. Our current pitching rotation doesn't inspire a lot of confidence, which I think is contributing to our hitters pressing.
If you had told me 3 months ago that Ben Brown (as good as he has been) would be the guy were were most excited to watch pitch in June, I'd have told you something has gone terribly wrong. (It has...) Guys who were supposed to be (arguably) our 4 & 5, by now are our 1 & 2...
What should have been a strength of the team (SP depth), has been tested to the limit. It's honestly a bit surprising we aren't farther back. In a year full of surprises, the emergence of Brown is just about the only pleasant one...
Illiniaaron
- Geneseo, IL
I didn't think you could count on Boyd to repeat what he did last season. He pitched poorly early and the rest of his season has been derailed by injury. Losing Horton really hurt. You don't know whether you are going to get good Shota or bad Shota when he starts. Rea and Taillon haven't been good. Ideally Rea is a guy you don't want making this many starts anyway. Brown is #1 in confidence now and Assad is tied with Shota imo at 2a and 2b. I don't think you can really count on Steele for anything this season. It's up to Hoyer to shore this up but I'm not sure what he really has to trade.
Cubs with walk off win. PCA hits for the cycle. Hitting .453 in the last 15 games with 7 HR and 11 RBI's as the lead off man. Could he still make the all star team this year after a miserable start to the season?
Every team has to have one representative. Nobody else deserves it, but Pete.
PCA leads the League in bWAR. He deserves to be there.
Happ and Brown will get some consideration, too.
bdutts
- Houston, Texas
Ben Brown maybe?
Hmmm, Ben Brown ?
And for those who say that he's only had 7 starts so far this year, Misiorowski only had 5 before the All Star game last year and he was selected.
PCA should a layup for the All-Star team at this point. He is 3rd in MLB in WAR. (By far the leader among outfielders) The way he is swinging the bat, maybe he can get in the race to get voted in. Public perception is probably hurting him at the moment. His recent play is starting to get him some All-Star love in the national media.
https://www.si.com/mlb/cubs/pete-crow-armstrong-most-slept-on-all-star-game-candidate?utm_source=gol
Hard to believe any manager wouldn't want him patrolling CF at the end of a close game, so I'd bet he is selected if the voting doesn't change.
Brown will get a hard look. Of pitchers with over 50 IP, he is only behind Ohtani and Misiorowski in ERA, and only trailing Schlitter and Skenes in WHIP.
62 IP is good for #107 on most innings pitched, so it's not like he hasn't done as much work as a lot of starters.
Happ's average is not likely to get it done barring a bunch of injuries to other guys. His OPS is good, but his numbers don't jump off the page when you go to vote. There are plenty of other guys doing more things well with the bat.
I don't know if the Cubs deserve more than one All-Star after the last month...
Shota is such a headscratcher...
In his 4 starts from May 18- June 6th, he gave up 12 HR and pitched to a 10+ ERA.
In his other 12 starts he has given up 5 HR and pitched to a 2.07 ERA.
He is excellent more often than not, but when things go bad they go REALLY bad...
In his 4 starts from May 18- June 6th, he gave up 12 HR and pitched to a 10+ ERA.
In his other 12 starts he has given up 5 HR and pitched to a 2.07 ERA.
He is excellent more often than not, but when things go bad they go REALLY bad...
If Brown keeps this up and his start prior to the all star game doesn’t eliminate him from being able to pitch in it, he’ll be deserving and likely make it. But Mis was a completely different animal last year. He made the team probably more based on his ability to reach and sustain 100+ mph than his stats. Ben’s ERA in his 7 starts is more than 1.00 lower than Mis’s heading into ASG, because the latter had one poor outing. But it’s entertainment, and people like to see 100+. And he didn’t disappoint. I think he threw 9 or 10.
Interesting note, Misiorowski was Matt Boyd's injury replacement at the game last year. MLB took a lot of heat from teams and the media for choosing him.
So, I realize this is simplistic but go back to the tanking drawing board of 2010-2013. Those awful years netted Javier Baez, Kris Bryant, Ian Happ and Kyle Schwarber. Tear it down to build it back up. The White Sox have stunk for several years and now have some really good young talent.
This Cubs team is going nowhere. Blow it up.
This Cubs team is going nowhere. Blow it up.
Good call-out there. I am one who thinks that 7 starts is way too small of a sample size. Thought the same about Misiorowski last year though.
Not sure how much of an option that is going to be...
They could move on from Happ (no trade clause), Imanaga, Tallion, and Suzuki, as they are all UFA at the end of the season. All would garner some level of interest from contenders, if they are assumed to be healthy.
Might be able to get something for Conforto, who has been decent off the bench. Hoby Milner might get you a lottery ticket type prospect.
The infield is locked up and expensive for at least 3 more years, as is PCA. (who we wouldn't want to trade anyway) Bregman and Hoerner have full no trade clauses.
The offense has been bad with RISP, but overall above average.
I think the real and obvious issue is that we just haven't pitched well enough. We are #1 in HR allowed, and bottom 3rd in just about any category that matters. When you have the number of injuries we've had, it's just really hard to be above average when guys who were your contingency plans in the offseason have more starts than the guys you penciled in. It's also the first year in a awhile that Jed hasn't been able to cobble together a decent bullpen.
These issues can be fixed in a single off-season w/o a full rebuild, especially if our "plan A" starters are healthy again at some point.
Cubs’ bullpen ERA is actually 10th in the Majors. Granted, it’s being helped massively by the Cubs’ elite defense (one of the few areas the team has actually lived up to expectations), but I’d still argue that it’s approaching decent.
Mediocre is probably the right word, but they have the worst save% in baseball, though also the fewest opportunities. (10 saves in 21 chances)
More often than not, when we win, we win big.
Remarkably, we have nearly as many walk-off wins (8) as saves (10).
Our pitching staff as a whole has the lowest WAR in baseball, which isn't surprising considering how many of the guys we've used have legitimately been replacement players...
Even with the injuries we've had on our staff, if you look at the last putrid 5 weeks, it's the hitting that has been deficient, particularly the hitting w/RISP.
The contingency plan guys (with the exception of Wicks) have actually been pretty good.