Not to mention a great get by Hoyer snagging Busch from the Dodgers.
Chicago Cubs 2025
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Colin's stats really aren't very far from his career averages. This is the first time in half a decade that Boyd has been healthy. Who knows?
The question with Rea, is will the Cubs pick up his 6 million dollar Team option? I think he's earned it, and he's proven he doesn't have to be in the rotation to help. He was solid as a starter, but dynamite in his handful of relief appearances. Might depend on how hard they go after a certain RFer.
Regardless, getting Steele back to go with Horton, Imanaga, Taillon, and Boyd makes a formidable Starting 5. Keep Rea and Assad for insurance & we are cooking with gas.
Truthfully if I was worried about any cubs hitter swinging out of the zone it was definitely Shaw that at bat when bases were loaded is a automatic out everytime he didn't swing at a pitch within a foot of the strike zone and his other at bats were not inspiring at all
DeonThomas
- South Carolina
More significantly ---- congratulations to YOU 2X2L, you old fart!
107+ years on this earth. Kudos to you, my man!!
Did you also get to witness our 1907-08 back-to-back World Series titles?
This move doesn't get nearly enough love. If I recall correctly, he received a fair amount of criticism by people in this forum when it initially went down.
Looks like it's Boyd vs Peralta
2X2L
- Metaluna
I wish. Ha! But my grandfather and his sister attended at least one of those series with my great-grandfather. My gramp missed 1918 series because he was in Belgium and distracted by that little skirmish now known as WWI.
I love baseball history.
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DeonThomas
- South Carolina
We gave up two great prospects, and the Dodgers felt they wanted a couple of guys whose MLB debuts would occur further down the road. Great trade for both teams, I do believe.
I find it interesting that PCA takes a fair amount of criticism on here, but Shaw doesn’t receive anywhere near as much. No doubt PCA had a difficult second half, but if compare his numbers to Shaw’s after the break there isn’t that much difference. PCA had about 50 more ABs and was hitting in a better spot in order, but counting stats are almost identical. PCA had 32 runs, 10 HRs, 33 RBI and 10 steals, while Shaw had 32, 11, 31 and 7. Their BAs were about the same — .231 for Shaw and .228 for PCA. And they both play great defense. I know Shaw had better OBP and SLG, and likely BA with RISP during same period, but it seems like PCA’s biggest crime was having a great first half.
I like Shaw long-term, but 30-30-30 guys don’t grow on trees. And people forget that PCA is actually 3.5 months younger than Shaw.
PCA played the entire half of the season last year in the majors plus an extremely limited amount of time in September, 2023.
Shaw was a yo, yo in the first half with going up and going down, got hot after the all star break, but the pitching has adjusted to him later in the year. He's been a gold glove caliber player since he's been here.
Forget age, experience matters. Shaw came up through the system like a rocket, right out of college. Their time in the major league process has been nowhere near the same. Now, he's in a pressure cooker.
Lets call it what it is, after the first half, people had PCA battling Ohtani for league MVP. He had 25 HR's and in the second half wgar....6? He's been one of the reasons the offense has been dormant. It's not because he wasn't hitting, but his strike out rate has gone through the roof. His AB's have been non competitive. Lets see if Thursday triggers a streak.
I don't want to just put him under the bus. Seiya, Tucker and especially Happy haven't performed. Seiya, over the last 3 weeks, is hot.
We'll see next year at mid season where Shaw is at. That will give you a lot better picture of his arch.
Well, that’s an ugly start.
There's a day off between Game 1 and 2 and a travel day between Game 2 and 3 so using the bullpen in this one isn't as big of an issue.
The cool thing is this only counts as one loss lol
I’m not trying to disparage Shaw. Like I said, I like him long-term, and I’ve been happy with his play overall. I just think the amount of criticism PCA has been receiving on here is out of whack when compared to the praise Shaw receives. No doubt PCA had a very rough August, but when you compare their stats over the last two months of the season, they are pretty close. PCA had 22 runs, 4 HRs, 17 RBI, 6 SB and .199 avg. Shaw had 22, 7, 19, 3 and .231. Over last month of season, PCA’s numbers were actually slightly better — 10-3-12-4-.224 to Shaws 10-2-9-2-.222. And PCA’s WAR on the season despite his second half slide was 6.0 to Shaw’s 3.1 (albeit with the latter playing fewer games in majors). Yet all of that seems to be lost on people because PCA had such a productive first half. The kid is not Ohtani, and those who might have thought he was going to challenge him for MVP probably need to watch more baseball.
Even how you described Shaw speaks to some bias. You say he played a gold glove caliber 3B. Doesn’t PCA play a GG caliber CF? You say Shaw rocketed up through the system. Yes, he moved up pretty quick, but his ascension wasn’t that out of the norm for a mid first round pick who played 3 years of college ball. Frankly, PCA’s 2023 ascension is more impressive. He closed 2022 at High A and to use your word, rocketed through AA and AAA to make his MLB debut at 21 years of age — two years younger than Shaw when he debuted. And their stats in their first “real” seasons in majors were very similar — 46-10-47-27 .237 for PCA and 57-13-44-17 .226 for Shaw, who had a few more ABs.
I think Shaw and PCA are both going to be good to very good players. Hopefully they can be for the Cubs what Tucker and Bregman were for the Astros, and bring at least one WS championship to Chicago. Without the cheating of course.
Illiniaaron
- Geneseo, IL
Really didn’t make sense to start Boyd in game 1
Is it agreed that a loss tonight is about it for the season?
Nope! I’m not giving up hope until elimination!
Glass is half full of blue kool-aid here.
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