Not great!
Cubs 2023 Season
Not great!
We’re 9 days from pitchers and catchers reporting.
The position player part of the roster is largely set:
C: Gomes, Barnhart
1B/DH: Mancini, Hosmer
MI: Swanson, Hoerner, Madrigal
3B: Wisdom, Morel
OF: Suzuki, Happ, Bellinger
Only room for one more in that mix. I assume McKinstry and Mastrobuoni will be fighting for that last spot unless one of the young guys like Mervis, Canario or Velazquez forces the issue in ST. Madrigal still looks like a prime trade candidate.
It’s weird to say it because they’re returning their entire top 10 in innings pitched last year, but pitcher is way more up in the air. Assuming Hendricks starts the year on the IL:
Starters: Taillon, Stroman, Smyly, Steele
Starter/Reliever: Thompson
Reliever: Hughes, Boxberger, Wick
And then I think the other 5 spots are up for grabs.
Alzolay, Rucker, Merryweather, Estrada, Roberts, Leiter, Duffey, Holloway, Nittoli and a few others will be fighting for spots in the pen.
Plus, I think the Cubs will sign one of the FA left handlers still out there - Chafin, Moore or Britton. I’m assuming they’re waiting until they can free up a 40-spot by putting Heuer on the 60-day IL.
In addition to Thompson - Assad, Wesneski, Sampson, Killian and maybe even Brown and Wicks will be trying to get that last starter spot.
The position player part of the roster is largely set:
C: Gomes, Barnhart
1B/DH: Mancini, Hosmer
MI: Swanson, Hoerner, Madrigal
3B: Wisdom, Morel
OF: Suzuki, Happ, Bellinger
Only room for one more in that mix. I assume McKinstry and Mastrobuoni will be fighting for that last spot unless one of the young guys like Mervis, Canario or Velazquez forces the issue in ST. Madrigal still looks like a prime trade candidate.
It’s weird to say it because they’re returning their entire top 10 in innings pitched last year, but pitcher is way more up in the air. Assuming Hendricks starts the year on the IL:
Starters: Taillon, Stroman, Smyly, Steele
Starter/Reliever: Thompson
Reliever: Hughes, Boxberger, Wick
And then I think the other 5 spots are up for grabs.
Alzolay, Rucker, Merryweather, Estrada, Roberts, Leiter, Duffey, Holloway, Nittoli and a few others will be fighting for spots in the pen.
Plus, I think the Cubs will sign one of the FA left handlers still out there - Chafin, Moore or Britton. I’m assuming they’re waiting until they can free up a 40-spot by putting Heuer on the 60-day IL.
In addition to Thompson - Assad, Wesneski, Sampson, Killian and maybe even Brown and Wicks will be trying to get that last starter spot.
Nice! Maybe they got tired of waiting around on the lefties. So they picked up probably the best right hander still on the market.
He’s absolutely the kind of failed-starter, turned reliever that the Cubs have been so successful with over the last few years.
Still only 30 years old. Probably good for about 65 innings and an ERA right around 3.00. Will probably be given the chance to be the closer.
DeonThomas
- South Carolina
Still expecting the lefty too........
KBLEE
- Montgomery, IL
The Chicago Cubs Plan to Offer In-Market Streaming of Their Games
For someone like me who refuses to give up YouTube TV just for the Cubs, this is perfect.
For someone like me who refuses to give up YouTube TV just for the Cubs, this is perfect.
Anywhere near 102nd & Lowe?
Mr. Tibbs
- southeast DuPage
close
104th & Eggleston
I'll wait on the price tag and quality. This is the right move, but I'm not optimistic with the rollout.
Right field will be interesting until Seiya is healed up. Maybe Brennan Davis gets a shot?
Wow, sounds like my excuse too except I was born a few months before you and I grew up in south burbs. And I remember those photos from Jewel.
More likely to see more of Morel, Velazquez, and Mancini in the OF than anticipated. Davis only played 53 games last season, and the numbers weren't pretty. I bet he's in Iowa regardless...
DeLuzio & Tauchman may also get a legitimate shot at a roster spot due to this as well.
In central Illinois, during the 80s, the White Sox may as well have been playing on the moon. They weren’t on any tv or radio. The only way to follow them was to check the score in the morning paper. They were as foreign to me as the Padres or Expos.
I moved around as a kid from Champaign to Decatur to Springfield to Macomb and literally never met a Sox fan until I got to college in 1991. I had no clue that anyone considered it a rivalry. I was mystified by all these angry Sox fans yelling at me about how much the Cubs sucked.
The Cubs and Cardinals were on every day on WGN and KPLR respectively. The border between fandoms seemed to run straight through the middle of the state in a line from Danville to Quincy, but with a sizable minority of the opposing team’s fans on either side of the line.
My dad was from the NW burbs. So we were a Cubs family. As nostalgic as I am for those 80s teams, I still have something of a soft spot for those 80s Cardinals teams, too.
I moved around as a kid from Champaign to Decatur to Springfield to Macomb and literally never met a Sox fan until I got to college in 1991. I had no clue that anyone considered it a rivalry. I was mystified by all these angry Sox fans yelling at me about how much the Cubs sucked.
The Cubs and Cardinals were on every day on WGN and KPLR respectively. The border between fandoms seemed to run straight through the middle of the state in a line from Danville to Quincy, but with a sizable minority of the opposing team’s fans on either side of the line.
My dad was from the NW burbs. So we were a Cubs family. As nostalgic as I am for those 80s teams, I still have something of a soft spot for those 80s Cardinals teams, too.
I moved to Springfield in 1980 after having lived in Chicago my entire life — first Cub game was in 1956 as a 6 year old — and was shocked to go into a tavern and see there was a tv at each end of the bar, one playing the Cubs game and one playing the Cardinals game. Had no idea of how deeply Cubs Cards fans felt about the rivalry. On the west side you were either a Cubs fan and hated the Sox or a Sox fan and hated the Cubs. Didn’t meet a Cardinals fan until I got to Springfield. None of this wishy-washy fan of both teams stuff.
Camp roster trimmings (Twitter link may not be working): "Cubs have reassigned 8 players to minor-league camp: Darius Hill, Brailyn Marquez, Yonathan Perlaza, Esteban Quiroz, Chase Strumpf, Andy Weber, Bryce Windham and Jared Young. Cubs now have 66 players in camp."
No real surprises.
What’s happened to Brailyn Marquez sure is disappointing. Consensus top 100 prospect headed into 2020 as a 21 year old. Has pitched .2 competitive innings in the 3 seasons since due to COVID and a series of injuries. Now 24 and his pro career is probably on its last gasp.
What’s happened to Brailyn Marquez sure is disappointing. Consensus top 100 prospect headed into 2020 as a 21 year old. Has pitched .2 competitive innings in the 3 seasons since due to COVID and a series of injuries. Now 24 and his pro career is probably on its last gasp.
I do not watch pre season exhibition sports. Not any league. It’s a point of principal for me verging on superstition.
I am repeating this to myself over and over again like a mantra to convince myself that the Cubs’ 6-game (6 outs from 7) Cactus League win streak, which included a no-hitter, is empty, meaningless and completely without interest to me.
I am repeating this to myself over and over again like a mantra to convince myself that the Cubs’ 6-game (6 outs from 7) Cactus League win streak, which included a no-hitter, is empty, meaningless and completely without interest to me.
Mr. Tibbs
- southeast DuPage
like you , I NEVER watch preseason games in any sport. They really mean nothing.
Vegas refuses to put betting lines on the games for a reason
I watched part of the first game to see how the new rules would work. First I have seen in years.
I don't mind watching Cubbie spring training games with a cold brewski in my hand and a warm AZ breeze blowing through my sun burnt scalp. My favorite game was when Sosa was playing. The ASU co-eds in right field would flash him between innings
