Chicago Cubs 2026

#701      
Second place is 1st loser
Warren Carter Fanclub said:
There's an age-old adage in baseball:
If Ian Happ is hitting cleanup for your team, you've got a problem.
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He either gets really hot or really cold. There's no in between with him. You can put Seiya in the same category.

Bregman, Happ and Seiya as the 3, 4, 5 is what's killing the offense right now. The fact that Counsell hasn't split them up is just awful managing.

To date, both Seiya and Happ have over a 40% K rate with RISP. The amount of times that they get the first two guys on base in an inning and don't score(without the bad fortune of a double play) is insane. Pop up, K, K and the runners haven't moved.

Add Swanson and PCA being brutal, then not being able to hit the ball out of the ballpark...this is what you get.

The amount of runners that they've been leaving on is ridiculous.
 
#704      
Illiniaaron
Second place is 1st loser said:
He either gets really hot or really cold. There's no in between with him. You can put Seiya in the same category.

Bregman, Happ and Seiya as the 3, 4, 5 is what's killing the offense right now. The fact that Counsell hasn't split them up is just awful managing.

To date, both Seiya and Happ have over a 40% K rate with RISP. The amount of times that they get the first two guys on base in an inning and don't score(without the bad fortune of a double play) is insane. Pop up, K, K and the runners haven't moved.

Add Swanson and PCA being brutal, then not being able to hit the ball out of the ballpark...this is what you get.

The amount of runners that they've been leaving on is ridiculous.
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But hey, PCA is on pace to have a higher WAR than last year, so there’s that.
 
#705      
Warren Carter Fanclub
Gary J said:
They will pull out the slump. The Cubs are good. Not La good, but good.
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Yes, their hitters will revert to their norm and pull out of the slump.
I'm worried about the pitching staff with all the injured pitchers that won't be back until later in the year or not at all.
With the warmer weather and wind blowing out we'll have a problem with our home run prone starters and a bunch of relievers we never heard of until this year.
 
#706      
Second place is 1st loser
This Cubs team is going to finish last unless something significantly changes with the middle of that order, most notably Happ and Suzuki. They have left a disgusting amount of runners on in situations where there's nobody out.

Today was as bad as it gets. They had the bases loaded, nobody out with Happ, Suzuki and Conforto up.

K, pop out, fly out.

This has been going on for the last two weeks. It's manager malpractice for Counsell to continue to trot that out there, especially Happ.

Now, Counsell does have an issue because the bottom of the order with Swanson and PCA have been just bad, so moving Happ down to 7 just gives you three bad bats in a row.

I think Conforto has to play everyday and you slot him into the 4 slot, Suzuki 5 and Kelly/Amaya 6......

Conforto, at VERY least, will give you a productive out and you'll push one across. This coming up with nothing has cost them multiple games now.
 
#708      
Illiniaaron
I know some have mentioned sitting PCA but the guy who really needs to sit for a few is Happ, good Lord. This is about as bad a stretch as I can remember Hoerner having as well. Apparently in the post game Counsell said that it's time to make some changes but just shuffling the lineup isn't going to do it. They need some different personnel but other than bringing up Alcantara I have no idea.
 
#709      
Illiniaaron
Second place is 1st loser said:
This Cubs team is going to finish last unless something significantly changes with the middle of that order, most notably Happ and Suzuki. They have left a disgusting amount of runners on in situations where there's nobody out.

Today was as bad as it gets. They had the bases loaded, nobody out with Happ, Suzuki and Conforto up.

K, pop out, fly out.

This has been going on for the last two weeks. It's manager malpractice for Counsell to continue to trot that out there, especially Happ.

Now, Counsell does have an issue because the bottom of the order with Swanson and PCA have been just bad, so moving Happ down to 7 just gives you three bad bats in a row.

I think Conforto has to play everyday and you slot him into the 4 slot, Suzuki 5 and Kelly/Amaya 6......

Conforto, at VERY least, will give you a productive out and you'll push one across. This coming up with nothing has cost them multiple games now.
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I think that they caught lightning in a bottle with Conforto for a couple of months but if he starts playing everyday you're not going to necessarily like what you see.
 
#710      
Warren Carter Fanclub
Illiniaaron said:
I know some have mentioned sitting PCA but the guy who really needs to sit for a few is Happ, good Lord. This is about as bad a stretch as I can remember Hoerner having as well. Apparently in the post game Counsell said that it's time to make some changes but just shuffling the lineup isn't going to do it. They need some different personnel but other than bringing up Alcantara I have no idea.
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Pedro Ramirez up. Shaw to IL.
 
#712      
Illiniaaron
The decline in the offensive numbers over the past month is alarming. Kelly was great early but his slug is down to .388 and his ops down to .765. Bush is getting better but only slugging at .369 with an ops of .729. Hoerner’s numbers have really fallen but he wasn’t going to keep that up. He’s hitting .259 with an ops of .728. Swanson is only hitting .187 with a slash line of .289/.349/.638 through 195 ABs. Bregman is only slugging .350 with an ops of .688. Happ is cratering but still has an ok slug at .429 and ops of .779. PCA is only slugging .375 with an ops of .686. Suzuki is slumping too but still has a good slug at .442 and ops at .802. And Ballesteros cratering too hitting .241 with a slash line of .298/.446/.745 but hasn’t done anything in a month. Some more slug and these numbers would look a lot better.
 
#713      
Illiniaaron
Two other surprises to me is I thought Amaya would be established as the starting catcher by now and I thought Shaw would have a bigger role this season. Although I guess he’s on pace for over 300 plate appearances so I don’t know.
 
#715      
Warren Carter Fanclub
It took complete offensive failure for him to do it but Counsell is finally changing the lineup today:
PCA, Bregman, Busch, Hoerner, Conforto, Suzuki, Ballesteros, Amaya, Swanson.

I guess the star left fielder cleanup hitter is getting a rest.
 
#720      
Illiniaaron
Alcantara called up, Lopez DFA’d. Today’s lineup shakeup is PCA leading off then Bregman, Busch, Hoerner, Conforto, Suzuki, Ballesteros, Amaya, and Swanson.
 
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