10/2: NL Wildcard Game - Colorado Rockies @ Chicago Cubs 7:00PM CT ESPN

Not to start a rant full of impulsive thoughts, but.....to those discussing Murphy a month ago and throwing money at him......there is absolutely no way you can go into 2019 with him in your starting lineup. No way.

Joe thinks it is cute to let every struggling player lead off for a week like it is little league. I don't.

Rizzo hits well there, but the team doesn't score. He gets on base and gets thrown out thinking he is suddenly fast because he is leading off. Others are so-so. Get a true leadoff man who gets on at a high clip and can score. The leadoff position was the issue all year long. Well, second half to be sure.

Where is Silence to chime in with his "oh no we suck again."

TL1961 said:

Smart managers use a true leadoff man.

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Smart GM's actually provide their managers with one on the roster.

The truth is that the Cubs peaked in 2016. The core is just not as good as advertised. Not sure why. I think it has to do with the amount of baseball played in the last 4 years that has the players worn down. I saw hunger and excitement from the Brewers and the Cubs were just waiting to go home most of the year.

The pitching was pretty damn good this year and all of Epstein's young hitters flat out sucked. This team could use a good overhaul in the offseason just to shake some things up. Russell is out for sure. Trade Schwarber to the AL since he is a platoon player at best. Find a way to dump Zobrist who will not repeat the kind of year he had this year. Happ and Contreras were non-factors all season. If it weren't for a few Bote heroics this team would have missed the postseason completely.

It would be nice to get out from underneath Heyward's contract but that's unlikely. The bottomline is that Epstein's free agents moves have been terrible going back a few years now. This year he's got 50 million tied up in Darvish, Morrow, and Chatwood that did nothing and nothing is putting it kindly. The only guy who has been worth the money is Lester. I know people want the Cubs to go after Machado or Harper but I think you almost have to tie up Epstein's hands and not allow him to spend any money since he's been terrible at it.

Parade_Rain said:

I don't think this team had the ability to make a deep playoff run this year, but no team should ever have to play the schedule they played in September. A team has to beat more than their opponent in that case.

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Agreed. The early rain outs were a killer. The one decision I REALLY have a problem with si sending them back to DC to play that makeup game against the Nats.

MLB does not EVER make you play a makeup before the end of the season once you are finished in that town. You play it only if necessary after 161, which in this case it would have been. But it STILL would have been a much needed day off.

TL1961 said:

Colorado started a pitcher in his first ever postseason start, on the road, on three days' rest.

And we couldn't score off of him.

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Sometimes young players without the experience are too dumb to realize the weight of the situation and are free to go out and perform as they should.

Probie2429 said:

The truth is that the Cubs peaked in 2016. The core is just not as good as advertised. Not sure why. I think it has to do with the amount of baseball played in the last 4 years that has the players worn down. I saw hunger and excitement from the Brewers and the Cubs were just waiting to go home most of the year.

The pitching was pretty damn good this year and all of Epstein's young hitters flat out sucked. This team could use a good overhaul in the offseason just to shake some things up. Russell is out for sure. Trade Schwarber to the AL since he is a platoon player at best. Find a way to dump Zobrist who will not repeat the kind of year he had this year. Happ and Contreras were non-factors all season. If it weren't for a few Bote heroics this team would have missed the postseason completely.

It would be nice to get out from underneath Heyward's contract but that's unlikely. The bottomline is that Epstein's free agents moves have been terrible going back a few years now. This year he's got 50 million tied up in Darvish, Morrow, and Chatwood that did nothing and nothing is putting it kindly. The only guy who has been worth the money is Lester. I know people want the Cubs to go after Machado or Harper but I think you almost have to tie up Epstein's hands and not allow him to spend any money since he's been terrible at it.

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Ben Zobrist was money well spent.

Darvish was not a wrong decision. You can't blame GM's for not seeing an injury before it happens. That's terribly unfair. Ditto Morrow. He was the NL's best closer in the first half. Granted, he has missed some games in the past, but he did not reinjure something that had been chronic. The Morrow signing was a good one. Only Chatwood can be called a bad signing based on performance.

And I am by no means certain the Cubs have a WS win without Heyward.

TL1961 said:

Colorado started a pitcher in his first ever postseason start, on the road, on three days' rest.

And we couldn't score off of him.

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Nope! We can't hit!

The Cubs peaked when they won a championship. Great analysis.

Probie2429 said:

The truth is that the Cubs peaked in 2016. The core is just not as good as advertised. Not sure why. I think it has to do with the amount of baseball played in the last 4 years that has the players worn down. I saw hunger and excitement from the Brewers and the Cubs were just waiting to go home most of the year.

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I'm not sure I agree with this. I get the take but for me I think people underestimate the value lost from vets. The 2015/16 team got big innings out of vets that aren't with the team. People forget how good Coghlan was those year. Obviously Fowler played a huge role. And so did Montero. IMO, the issue is they are just relying on too many young players. It's not that they aren't as good as advertised. It's that young players are inconsistent. That's how a team can go from being 4th in the NL in runs scored but then also just behind the horrible O's in terms of times shut out.

Simply put, if they were just plain not as good as we thought you wouldn't get the boom portion of the boom or bust.

A 4-man outfield of

Schwarber
Almora/Heyward
Harper

Sounds appealing

Fuk it...its not my money and if they can dump that kind of cash on the mental midget Darvish, they can dump it on harper.

Move haap or zobrist for peanuts to clear space
Im assuming Russell is gone or suspended for half the year
Find a utility inf who can play ss to backup baez (pref a switch hitter like a charlie culberson)
Keep chavez
And go after more bounce back arms in the pen

And yeah, they need a true leadoff hitter. I was actually telling my dad that today. Who here couldn't tell early that they weren't going to score more than one?

I expected a big year from Contreras.

In addition to continuing to be a terrible framer, he just absolutely disappeared offensively.

I have not lost hope, as I know he is better than what he showed this year. But what the hell happened?

beckdawg said:

I'm not sure I agree with this. I get the take but for me I think people underestimate the value lost from vets. The 2015/16 team got big innings out of vets that aren't with the team. People forget how good Coghlan was those year. Obviously Fowler played a huge role. And so did Montero. IMO, the issue is they are just relying on too many young players. It's not that they aren't as good as advertised. It's that young players are inconsistent. That's how a team can go from being 4th in the NL in runs scored but then also just behind the horrible O's in terms of times shut out.

Simply put, if they were just plain not as good as we thought you wouldn't get the boom portion of the boom or bust.

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The lineup had a lot of guys who seemingly have potential, but is poorly constructed. They need to get a high OBP guy at leadoff and leave him there. Stop moving everybody around every day. Let them know their roles and play to that.

They may be worse off having ten or eleven position players than if they had eight.

I am by no means saying tear it down and start over like many here are. I just think a little lineup construction instead of acting like all parts fit anywhere would help.

I do not need to see Rizzo lead off ever again. That is just plain stupid. And before people tell me his average at leadoff, or how many HRs he had, I will say go back and look at our runs scored when he is there. It was not good, though I acknowledge that was true many other games as well.

But he started off very slowly, and was hurt, and still drove in 100. He needs to bat third or fourth. Never first.

Bryant's injury was HUGE. But we had too many guys simply disappear. It's too easy to lay it all at the feet of a hitting coach, but we made a change and got infinitely worse. We stopped hitting HR's, but didn't stop relying on them.

Our pitching turned it around and was very good in the second half, but we need to add a young arm.

All in all, while I don't want to blame it all on injuries, I will say we should be in good shape getting some guys healthy.

But I think we need a little shake up - trade someone unexpected, and mix it up a bit.

Just sign harper and be done with it

Zobrist
Harper
Bryant
Rizzo
Baez
Schwarber
Contreras
Heyward

Bench of

Almora (rh)
Caratini (sh)
Lastella (lh)
Backup middle inf who can start as ss (culberson) (sh)
Bote

12/13 pitchers

Russell gone
Dump haap for relief pitcher

Rotation of

Lester
Hendricks
Quintana
Hamels (Team friendly deal or bye)
Darvish
Chatwood

Dump Monty to someone who will start him 30 times
Pretty sure delarosa and Wilson are fa....bye

Morrow
Strop
Chavez (bring back)
Edwards
Rosairo
Tbd lhp
Tbd
Tbd

TL1961 said:

The lineup had a lot of guys who seemingly have potential, but is poorly constructed. They need to get a high OBP guy at leadoff and leave him there. Stop moving everybody around every day. Let them know their roles and play to that.

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That isn't really my take. Well I mean I'm not opposed to have a prototypical lead off hitter. But in my view the cubs need to go after guys with higher batting averages and worry less about obp. The thing that bothered me about the team when they couldn't score runs is similar to what happened tonight. You might get a single or someone walks. Then another guy walks. And then another guy walks. And then you get 2 strike outs or something like that. They don't really have many guys outside of the top of their line up who are high batting average guys. Almora can do it but he's only one guy and he's not always playing.

Statistically speaking I know a walk is never really bad from a probability outcome stand point. But I do often wonder when I see someone like Contreras take a walk with a guy on if that's truly the best play because you're usually talking about the guy behind him being a worse hitter just by nature of a line up. I think walks can lead to big innings and I'm not saying you entirely abandon them but i think you need balance between guys who get on base a bunch and guys who put the ball into play to get them home. Seems to me the cubs have too much of one and not enough of another.

Without a doubt this was a frustrating year, but given the injuries (and one suspension) down the stretch, the obvious fact that Bryant was not near as healthy as we were led to believe, the brutal schedule the last month and a half, and a Brewer team peaking at the right time...it was obvious, this team (or what was left of it) ran into a wall about three weeks ago. Mentally and physically they just didn't have it! Not making excuses, but just calling a spade, a spade. Did this team have some glaring weaknesses...ABSOLUTELY. Hopefully, the FO will address our need of a true lead off hitter (not by committee), a shut down closer (not by committee), bolster the bullpen (yet again), and add one or two FA signings (Bring on Machado!) and trades to bolster a good, YOUNG core group and make another run or three at a WS championship.

We can lay the blame on Maddon all we want, but he played the hand the hand he was dealt, given the unforeseen circumstances with injuries (and suspension). For Christ's sake, we have experienced the most successful Chicago Cubs post-season run in franchise history and many on here are ready to dump a guy that has given this franchise 4 straight playoff appearances (remember what it was like to be a Cub fan five years ago?) I scratch my head at times at some of the moves he makes, but with sabermetrics and all the other ways the game has changed, there is a method to his madness. Be careful what you wish for...you just might get it! I have been a life long Cubs fan (I am 50 years old) and I have not forgotten the days of hoping the Cubs would go .500. I am going to keep trusting the FO, the coaching staff, and the players to continue to make this franchise relevant in October. As long as they do that, they have a chance at another WS title, which is a whole lot more than I realistically was expecting five short years ago! You can rake me over the coals 50 ways until Sunday, but I will continue to support the FO, the manager and his staff, and the players...even after a tough, season ending loss with much higher hopes and expectations!

Looking forward to the off season signings and trades, a few new faces in 2019, a healthy roster, Spring training, and the 2019 season! Go Cubs Go!!!

Anyone know what FanGraphs says about the Cubs chances to win the division?

ijustposthere said:

The Cubs peaked when they won a championship. Great analysis.

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2015 - Lose in NLCS
2016 - World Series
2017 - Lose in NLCS
2018 - Not even a division title and lose in wildcard game

Yes, the team peaked in 2016. I remember the goal was to at least reach a couple World Series from Theo when he was brought on. Right now, the team is going backwards and guys are not only getting older but also more expensive. The window for the Cubs as currently constructed is closing fast.

TL1961 said:

We already know you are ignorant from Cubs and Bears boards. Are you seriously ripping Toews now, too?

Good Christ. You are the Trifecta of ignorance.

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You're a dumbass if you think Toews is good.