He just signed a contract extension less than 11 months ago.
Still, if they miss the playoffs, 1 appearance in 6 years is less than impressive.
Chicago Cubs 2026
Still, if they miss the playoffs, 1 appearance in 6 years is less than impressive.
Alcantara has always been over ranked in my opinion, but for the most part he hasn’t been considered the Cubs #2 prospect for several years. Part of that is an influx of talent, but some of it is him being downgraded a bit. The good news is he’s tapped more into his power this year, but he’s also seen his BA drop .025 to just over .240. He’s still too young to say he’s a finished product, but his overall development has stalled some. Reminds me of Triantos in that regard, who has also been slipping down the rankings. Just saw Alcantara was sent down with Shaw’s recall.
I assume you meant Ramirez rather than Martinez. With living in Ohio, I haven’t seen as much of him as you likely have, but haven’t noticed him looking slow. He isn’t uber athletic though. Defensively he probably projects better at 3B than 2B. But he has made a nice jump offensively this year. He’s already surpassed his HR total from last year and improved his slash line across the board. And he’s two years younger than Alcantara.
I haven’t turned the page on this season yet: we’re still in early June. Unfortunately, I don’t see much help coming from AAA, and I don’t see them rushing anyone from AA. So improvement is going to have to come from some of the current Cubs turning things around.
We can't say that until Bregman has been consistently bad for 5 or 6 years. I felt like he was the face of the cheating. He seemed to revel in it.
as long as they are drawing 37,000 per game and winning 1/2 their games , Hoyer isn’t going anywhere .
It’s clear Ricketts enjoys the deal as it is now . Winning 94 games is not a priority.
it is what it is
But a great clubhouse guy and there is a ton to say for that.
Bad attitude on a great hitter can sink a team.
Daniel Palencia is the Cubs closer. Yes, he was on the IL for 16 days.
That said, he's pitched in 17 games this year. He's only had 3 save opportunities.
That said, he's pitched in 17 games this year. He's only had 3 save opportunities.
bdutts
- Houston, Texas
Who were the 5 better position players on the Astros?
Oh boy, someone doesn’t like the Astros and Bregman. I didn’t LOVE the Bregman signing because of the length of the contract and I’ve always seen him as a good to good+ player rather than a great player outside of his first few years in the league.
Obviously, you’re entitled to your opinion, but the numbers don’t really support it. The trash can years were 2017 and 2018. His numbers on the road were better in 2017 and they were relatively close in 2018. It was 2019 when he had his big year, and he was much better on the road. Since then, the only season he’s been a lot better at home was 2022. All other years pretty much he’s been better on the road. That includes last year in Boston when he hit two-thirds of his homers on the road and had an .875 OPS on the road compared to .761 at home.
As for probably being the 6th best player on “those” Astros teams, it depends on what you mean by those, and if you’re only talking position players. Assuming just position players and the “those” refers to the trash can years, then you’re half right. In 2017, he was 6th in WAR on the team. But in 2018, he was first on the team and 7th in the majors. In all he had 6 seasons (out of 9) when he played a minimum of 100 games. For those seasons, on the team he was 6th, 1st, 1st (tied for 2nd in majors), 5th, 2nd and T-3rd in WAR.
I do agree with your thoughts on the folly of fans always wanting big splash FA signings, and wouldn’t have minded if they had spent the money in a different. But the latter supposes there were better strategies. Just because there were other FAs, doesn’t mean they would have signed with the Cubs unless, of course, they overpaid big time. And there is still plenty of time for Bregman to turn it around. Almost 60% of the games still to be played. I did like that he came out after the latest lost and put it all on him. Those kinds of things play well in the locker room, and are why he’s considered a great teammate.
Are the Cubs a .500 team yet? One more game and they will have it. Oh Wrong Way.
7-21 since May 9. This team has been putrid for a month.
Starting pitching is 3rd worst in baseball by ERA. They can’t keep the ball in the park.
Hoerner and Suzuki have been bad over this stretch. Swanson and Ballesteros have been awful.
Starting pitching is 3rd worst in baseball by ERA. They can’t keep the ball in the park.
Hoerner and Suzuki have been bad over this stretch. Swanson and Ballesteros have been awful.
Illiniaaron
- Geneseo, IL
Tonight was the first time I quit watching a game this season because it was so boring. The game was over after three innings. The Cubs looked checked out. Probably time to quit watching for a while. Definitely no point in staying up late to watch Friday and Saturday games against San Fran.
Join the club.
KBLEE
- Montgomery, IL
This is a manager issue. I've never been much of a Counsell fan, but he just ain't it.
I suspect he doesn’t have much longer. If the pain continues another couple of weeks, he may get fired.
But he's the best baseball manager in the world! Think how crappy they would be with a regular manager.
ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
I'm in a "the groundskeepers in Major League" place with this team.
Everything that could completely go wrong has gone wrong. Mistakes were made. The biggest problem is player development especially pitching. We are not developing players to be successful. Our top two prospects, Horton and Wiggins are injured. We do not have any minor league ready starter anytime soon as we are piecemealing a rotation with below average players. Not necessarily blaming CC here but he is trying anything at this point to win. Nothing is working. But as things go, changes need to be made. A complete flush of CCs staff is what I would do first. Never understood what people saw in Hotovy. The hitting philosophy is another head scratcher. We constantly hit in front of runners who are in scoring position or we strike out. Swinging at bad pitches. Teams know how to pitch to us. They know we are going to pull the ball to the left side. We need to work harder at using the entire field. Hoerner used to be really good about that and he has fallen into pulling the ball. We have a hard time playing small ball when small ball is needed. We want to do the Earl Weaver philosophy which is single, walk, three run homer. We can sometimes get the single and walk but never the homer. We are fundamentally broken. With the reality of baseball not having a season next year, or the possibility of that happening, the front office may not do anything until we know more about that situation. This has been a train wreck of a month with no vision of anything good in the future.
Illiniaaron
- Geneseo, IL
Listened to Off the Ivy this morning, Nico is hitting .203 since April 26 with something like a .545 OPS.
ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
Obviously there ought to be big contributions by Justin Steele and Cade Horton at the top of the list for this pitching staff, that's how it was designed.
But as it actually exists it's just embarrassing. Considering the quality of the defense behind them, this is just not a major league pitching unit. I'm not sure what Counsell or Hottovy are supposed to do about it.
In no particular order, I'd say these players were definitely better and more important to Astros' success during that time frame than Bregman: Altuve, Correa, Springer, Kyle Tuker, and Gurriel, and at different times one or more of Reddick, McCann, and Beltran, and that's just the hitters/batters. Once you factor in the pitchers, he's further down. I think of all the players they had during their "magic" run, he's the one that is easily most disposable.
GrayGhost77
- Centennial, CO
The Rockies should be the cure for what ails any team. I'll be at the game tomorrow for what hopefully will be the rubber match.