Official 2023 Chicago Cubs Season Thread Vol: (17-17)

[Lake Shore Drive]

Demoralizing loss.
Gotta snap out of this.

 

[eentegra]

what a pathetic series this was.

 

[arstyle27]

Cubs are in trouble. Need to get healthy.

 

[sportsjunkie]

Cubs are in trouble. Need to get healthy.

Relax my man, baseball slums here and there happens all the time. Just stay positive my man.

 

[arstyle27]

Relax my man, baseball slums here and there happens all the time. Just stay positive my man.

We're 3-10 over our last 13. Not good. Very not good.

 

[eentegra]

i think everyone knows the bullpen is an issue.

Injuries are part of the it all. when those guys come back, we should be ok, offense wise.

what the staff is going through is expected. the rotation is not about to pitch a perfect season.


in my mind, just relax and enjoy.

 

[Lake Shore Drive]

Oh great.....now Bryant left the game after colliding with Almora.
He almost collided with Russell earlier too...c'mon Kris!

 

[CP1708]

It was 8-0 and he finished the inning. Pretty sure they're just being careful.

If it was 1-0 he probably stays in longer.

Wasn't a "bad" collision, just awkward it looked like.

 

[CP1708]

******* Lackey is now completely falling off what he's been doing all year.

Down 4-0 to the God damn Reds already. In the 2nd inning.

 

[CP1708]

Javy and Bryant tryin to get us back in the game. Solo homers for each of them. 5-2 now.

Maddon ejected, lighting a spark hopefully?????

 

[CP1708]

Rizzo
Zobrist
Russell
Bryant
Fowler

All Star Starters.

 

[CP1708]

Jake Arrieta, also in the All Star Game.
Jon Lester, also in the All Star Game.

 

[CP1708]

Tommy La Stella back with the team, singles in his first at bat back.

Ross goes to the 7 day DL after taking one off the mask yesterday.
Peralta DFA, good riddiance.

Warren up for his spot start today, and then again after the break to help give some extra rest to the 5 starters. (extra day rest for each into late July)

Fowler should be back in a few days. No word on Soler tho. Need all these dudes back at least after the break.

 

[Lake Shore Drive]

Gotta snap out of this slump.

 

[CP1708]

Definitely sucks, but rather get it out of the way now than late(r) in the year.

Get Fowler and Soler back, get some help in the Pen, and things will start to improve. Just need to get to the break in good shape at least.

Today hurt tho. Should have been an easy win.

 

[arstyle27]

Get what out of the way??? The division lead? At some point, losing 17 out of 20 is gonna put a dent in that. I'm tired of the crappy play. Enough is enough. Start winning games ur supposed to. Slumps happen. This is beyond that. Fix it before it becomes a pandemic.

 

[CP1708]

It's a slump. That is 5-12 since Fowler went down.

He'll come back. Soler will come back. And Theo will add help to the pen. 1 being Joe Nathan. Then some sort of trade or two.

Better to slump now, than October.

 

[arstyle27]

This "slump" isn't over yet. I appreciate your calmness but I've had this bad feeling. Check my tweets....you know, CP.

 

[CP1708]

Hey, I didn't say I was happy, just that I know how 162 works.

I saw a tweet earlier that summed it up perfectly.

The 1984 Tigers started out 35-5. They followed that up with a 22-23 stretch. They won the world series.


Bad stretches happen. We haven't had an off day in weeks, we're about to finally get to the break, we'll get 2 of our starters back, and relief help will start coming a couple weeks after that.

Again, we were like 5-6 games over .500 in July last year, and then caught fire in Aug-Sept. We're way ahead of that pace, and they won 97 last year.

 

[CP1708]

"We're thrilled with the start we've gotten off to, but we're not blinded by it," Epstein said on Tuesday. "We're in a stretch right now when winning seems far easier than it actually is. We know there is going to be a stretch, probably a long stretch this year, when winning even one game seems virtually impossible. That's the nature of baseball. We're not blinded by it.
"There's a saying in the office, 'We're in a tree.' We want to stay up there as long as we can, but we're going to get down at some point."

The Cubs are off to their best start through 30 games since they went 24-6 to begin the 1907 season, which ended with a World Series championship. Epstein knows the prognosticators picked the Cubs to win it all this season, but he's also well aware of the ups and downs in a season.

"We still have vulnerabilities, we still have areas where we need to get better, we still have challenges and more adversity to come," he said. "We're going to suffer injuries, we're going to suffer downturns of performance. We're going to go through stretches of bad luck, we'll go through stretches of bad performance, we're going to run into really hot teams. We want to stay as locked in as we are right now, but the game is very humbling, and we're aware that time is coming when there will be great challenges. We almost look forward to [challenges]. That's when you find out what you're made of."

He told everybody it would happen.......

 

[CP1708]

Eloy Jimenez (2016): .330/.368/.527 10 HR (.410 wOBA); 5.6% BB, 22.4% K-rate

So, yes, it’s a bit of a (pleasant) surprise to find Eloy Jimenez six spots higher than Gleyber Torres (who is younger, a level higher, and can play shortstop). But his 2016 breakout has long been expected. When it finally happened, it seems, scouts and analysts jumped all over it. With Torres more or less in the same vicinity as he had been ranked previously (i.e., it’s not like he slipped), the leap frogging is highly encouraging all around.

So why the huge bump for Jimenez? In short, BP really loves his bat. Under each ranking, BP identifies a reason why a player may succeed and/or fail. And according to BP, Jimenez is likely to succeed, because he is “one of the two or three best young hitters in the minors.” Whoa. We knew he was supposed to be good for a while and that he was breaking out in 2016, but one of the best two or three hitters in the Minors?! That’s very high praise. If his approach continues to mature (becomes less aggressive – his biggest perceived flaw) BP sees Jimenez as a 30-homer, .300 average, good OBP type hitter in the Majors. Yes, please.

Gleyber Torres (2016): .260/.342/.409 8 HR (.349 wOBA); 10.1% BB, 21.6% K-rate

Gleyber Torres has been ranked higher than 34 before, but his placement here is certainly understandable and roughly in the tier we’ve grown accustom to. But at first blush, Torres’ numbers don’t blow you away. That is, until you realize that he’s a shortstop … a nineteen-year-old shortstop … a nineteen-year-old shortstop in High-A … a nineteen-year-old short stop in High-A with a 10.1% walk rate and a .350 wOBA. Suddenly his numbers and ranking are a lot more impressive.

According to the staff at Baseball Prospectus, Torres is ranked so aggressively for such a young player, because “there’s no real weakness to Torres’ game.” Everything – aside from power – is (or flashes) above average to plus and he has the ability to stick in the middle infield. Should that happen, BP believes he’ll turn into a first division regular in the Major Leagues. Of course, there’s always the negative side, right? Well, in Torres’ case, not so much. BP suggests that the only thing that could really stop Torres right now is if he was forced to move away from the middle infield. In that case, his bat might not carry a corner position. The thing is, they don’t believe he’ll have to move away from the middle infield, so everything’s groovy.

Ian Happ (2016): .319/.421/.507 9 HR (.421 wOBA); 15.2% BB, 21.6% K-rate

Why BP would risk ranking a Cubs switch-hitting, polished college bat with nearly identical walk/strikeout rates at Double-A in his first full professional season anything other than first overall is beyond me. I kid, of course, but Happ has done quite well for himself, and I’d argue that this ranking is actually bit low for him – especially considering his ability to play second base. Even still, making the top 50 at all is nice, and the Cubs know what they have.

Happ’s relatively lower ranking appears to be based on his (again) relatively lower ceiling. Although he does everything well (hits for average, has some pop, can steal double digit bases), it doesn’t sound like BP sees future super star stamped across his forehead, without a plus-plus tool in any one area. Even still, they believe that he’ll be a “solid, well-rounded regular with quality makeup and clubhouse contributions,” as soon as he finds a long-term defensive home. Oddly, they aren’t the only ones who feel that way. I’ve seen questions and resistance to Happ’s presence at second base at multiple publications from day one, but from most actual reports he’s done quite well for himself there. If he keeps up what he’s been doing, I suspect he’ll rocket up the boards in the offseason.

So, then, according to BP, the Cubs have a new top three – Jimenez (2, Torres (34) and Happ (50). I don’t suspect this will be the outcome for every publication, but I do suspect you’ll see a mix of these three in particular at the top for the rest of their time in the minors.

at the fact that there's MORE help on the way. Remember, Almora, Contreras, and Candelario are ineligible for lists like this, because they are already in the majors At age 22.

These 3 won't even be "readY' to start knockin on the door of the Majors for another year or two, at least. Torres and Eloy probably still have 3 years to wait, bein only 19.

They may not all play for the Cubs someday, because somebody has to get traded at some point, but I'm sure Theo has plans for a couple of them still. Like maybe Happ replacin Zobrist in 2 years, etc.

and this doesn't even include Eddy Julio Martinez.

 

[CP1708]

Fowler won't make it back til after the break. Same with Soler. |I

We've got 4 games to get thru (3 if this Atlanta game gets rained out, again)

And Pittsburgh is suddenly awake again. Need to take 2 of 3 from them again, and beat the damn Braves to at least get the ship straighter before the break, let everyone relax for a week or so.


Gleyber Torres with a home run today as well.

 

[CP1708]

Cubs trail immediately 2-0 from first inning on.

2-0, bottom 8th, 2 outs, Bryant and Rizzo HBP back to back. RBI double by Zobrist, then huge clutch 2 run triple by Contreras. 3-2 Cubs.

Rondon promptly gives up leadoff home run.

To the 11th now.......

 

[arstyle27]

Cubs lose again. We are in trouble.

 

[arstyle27]

Gone are the clinical long at bats. Gone is the terrific starting pitching that got us to the 7th every time. Gone is the lock down bullpen. We can't beat the Reds or Braves anymore. SMH....