Certainly had a special appreciation for Maddlock. Home town guy i saw when he was just a youngster. Too bad the cubs screwed up again, and are still doing so.
Chicago Cubs 2026
Yeah, Cam having nice April after a rough March.
Hindsight is 20/20, but I still make that trade. Just don’t get the opportunity to get a guy of that quality for that price for a year. Tucker was exactly what Cubs needed last year. Unfortunately, he got hurt and didn’t work out like we would have liked.
Cam looked like a world beater the first couple of months last year too, then... not so much.
Bregman is has hit .346 over the past 7 days. Seeing some positive regression toward his career averages. He is too good of a hitter to have stayed down for long.
The offense in general seems to be starting to come around... although doesn't hurt that Philly appears to have forgotten how to play decent baseball.
Also enjoy seeing Shota's velocity up about 2 mph yesterday. After a cold start, Dansby is picking it up late too.
Baseball is such a statistically dorky sport for regressions to the mean. Love it so much.
As Dansby goes, so goes the team... He is hitting .290 in wins and .100 in losses.
.300 for the last 7 days, though...
Given that none of the eventual division winners last year were in first place as of this time last year (and two that were in first place didn’t even make playoffs), seems like it’s still early.
DeonThomas
- South Carolina
It's still extremely early in the season. Barely 10% of all games thus far played.
9-9 record.
1.5 games out of first place.
But we're going to have to have 2 of our 3 best pitchers (Boyd & Steele) available for the final four months of the season. And then we'll still need to trade for a big-time starter at the deadline. The hitting will come around. Be we need more pitching!
bdutts
- Houston, Texas
They pounded the Phillies the last two games which certainly helped that differential.
Still plenty early and with this division being mediocre, no need to panic unless the rest of the starting staff goes down.
At least we aren't the Phillies and Mets... Spent like drunken sailors and aren't even .500.
We all probably assume they will rebound, yet we are fatalistic about our own team, despite having the best roster in the division... I guess that's what happens when you decide to hitch your wagon to a team that was for decades referred to as "the lovable losers".
Barring a setback, Boyd will pitch against the Phillies next week. He threw 64 pitches last night at AAA... kind of uneven results, but he was hitting 94 mph and struck out 6 in 3 & 3/4 innings.
The park factor at Wrigley has been abysmal so far this year. (well below the 3 year average) It's been really tough for hitters and pitchers to play there, so far. That will change when the weather heats up a bit.
20 years ago a guy like Palencia who throws triple digits regularly would be a rock star... (Remember when Chapman first broke in? Must see TV...) Now every team seems to have a couple.
Increased focus on velocity and spin rate, increases swing and miss rates as well as limiting hard contact, but are very stressful on your arm. Most guys have to go MAX effort to be able to get MLB hitters out. For many, it's do things that will stress the heck out of your arm, or never make the Show.
Just saw Porter Hodge is done for the season...(before it started for him...) UCL surgery. Not that he was good last year, but he certainly was the year before...
Horton had total Tommy John. Will be out 14-16 months. Even if no lockout, you may not see him NEXT year.
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Holy moly, I'm not panicking, guys. It's just a wild, momentary blip that's probably rare to see an eighth of the way into the season or whatever. If anything, it's just an endorsement of how solid a spring the Central has had.
The Cubs are fine. It's April. Enjoy the nerd stuff and early season chaos a bit.
There's going to be a lockout. I hate it because it's nice to know that something is on during so very rare downtime, plus the Cubs are good.
That said, both sides are worlds apart in what they want. There is no meeting halfway on this one because the difference between the top 10 payrolls and the bottom 15(Dodgers aside) is astounding. Most teams develope their superstars, but then can't resign them. Think Pittsburgh has ANY chance of keeping Skenes long term?
Given the above, with most teams having very, very few stars, those ballparks are empty. I know the NL Central is off to a nice start, by the end, it'll probably be the Cubs, Cincinnati and Milwaukee....in that order. Pittsburgh and St. Louis will already be in tank mode.
As much of a D-Bag as Ricketts is, he's set up PERFECTLY for this strike. I don't think it's an accident that Happ, Suzuki, Taillon, Imanaga, club option on Rea, mutual option on Boyd, etc.
They're set up beautifully. Minimal salary in the books after this year and when the strike ends, they'll be able to go on a free agency spree under the new rules(whatever they are). There will probably be a three week FA signing portion, a one month "spring training" to jam part of the season in OR the entire season will be wiped out.
This strike is happening and the only way out of it is to put a cap on salaries(players won't agree whatsoever) AND raising the salary floor(the owners won't agree with it. I'm sure eliminating deferred contracts will be part of this. If the Dodgers want Ohtani, they can't spread his contractual payments out to 2045. The mega players, like Skenes, won't want that.
There's a TON to address and until the players and owners start feeling it in the pocket books....nothing will get done. Meanwhile, the people who work at the ballparks, restaurants in the area, minor league players and players on rookie deals pay the price.
If Horton HAD to have this happen, it was a good time for it.