IST:Cubs@Phillies

Fred Garvin

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When you distill this whole thing to find the real problem...it seems it comes down to the bullpen as the ultimate culprit above the rest. Over 20 games...this bullpen has melted down and lost. Despite the hitting issues.....starting pitching etc. If the bullpen just does their job half of those 20 games we are in a much better spot. Holland NEEDS to be DFA'd ASAP...and Strop should be as well. So many problems...but bullpen has been the primary problem. Imo.
 

CSF77

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Excluding Zobrist, who has been unavailable, we have had teh following at 2nd base:

Garcia
Descalso
Happ
Bote
Kemp
Russell

Not one of them has hit nearly enough to justify bad D.

Russell is far and away the best defender of that bunch.
He didn't hit. But if he was sent to Iowa fo rthat alone, then why wasn't Bote?

Bote strikes out 40% of the time, has not hit for power, plays poor D, and has no speed. What is he bringing to the table???

Russell hit like shit. But he isn't in Iowa for that alone. He is still a better player than Garcia and Descalso and Bote and Kemp.

Happ hits just enough to get playing time from Joe at two positions where he worsens the D, but his hitting doesn't outweigh the bad D.


Bote strikes out 26.5%
Happ has a 136 wRC+


But you are right that they need a real SS on the team right now. He should not be the starting 2B though and IMO that is why they demoted him because Joe would just play him and his shitty O and shitty base running. It got to the point that Theo had to pull him away from Joe to keep his fuck ups off the field.

That said, he has done a decent job in Iowa and would be a upgrade. But Happ is by far a better O player.

2B: DRS
Russell: 1. UZR150 7.4
Happ: 0 UZR150: 13.8 (welp might be wrong here)
Bote 5 UZR150 4.5
Kemp: 1 UZR150 -6.6

So range wise Happ is the best of the group. Sure handed Bote but he lacks the range Hap and Russell give.
Kemp is meh in a big way.

So IMO they should keep Happ out there and refine his skills. The bat justifies it.
 
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TL1961

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Bote strikes out 26.5%
Happ has a 136 wRC+


But you are right that they need a real SS on the team right now. He should not be the starting 2B though and IMO that is why they demoted him because Joe would just play him and his shitty O and shitty base running. It got to the point that Theo had to pull him away from Joe to keep his fuck ups off the field.

That said, he has done a decent job in Iowa and would be a upgrade. But Happ is by far a better O player.

2B: DRS
Russell: 1. UZR150 7.4
Happ: 0 UZR150: 13.8 (welp might be wrong here)
Bote 5 UZR150 4.5
Kemp: 1 UZR150 -6.6

So range wise Happ is the best of the group. Sure handed Bote but he lacks the range Hap and Russell give.
Kemp is meh in a big way.

So IMO they should keep Happ out there and refine his skills. The bat justifies it.
Bote’s K rate since mid june is much higher than the 26.5 ytd.
 

TL1961

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Bote strikes out 26.5%
Happ has a 136 wRC+


But you are right that they need a real SS on the team right now. He should not be the starting 2B though and IMO that is why they demoted him because Joe would just play him and his shitty O and shitty base running. It got to the point that Theo had to pull him away from Joe to keep his fuck ups off the field.

That said, he has done a decent job in Iowa and would be a upgrade. But Happ is by far a better O player.

2B: DRS
Russell: 1. UZR150 7.4
Happ: 0 UZR150: 13.8 (welp might be wrong here)
Bote 5 UZR150 4.5
Kemp: 1 UZR150 -6.6

So range wise Happ is the best of the group. Sure handed Bote but he lacks the range Hap and Russell give.
Kemp is meh in a big way.

So IMO they should keep Happ out there and refine his skills. The bat justifies it.
The man lost us a game because he couldn’t catch a popup.
 

Chicagosports89

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I was at work keeping an eye on my phone last night and saw Yu was through 7 with 92 pitches and thought he would almost certainly start the 8th. Maddon apparently never learns from pulling starters early. He’s Dusty Bakers alter ego I guess.

I just want to address a few points I’ve seen here. Machado and Harper were irrelevant to this team. If we were targeting those players we were making a mistake. They aren’t the kind of players we needed and didn’t fill holes. Harper in fact exacerbated our problem of poor contact in big spots (don’t try to use last night to argue this with me, one game doesn’t change a career). I don’t understand why people don’t think it was alright for the Ricketts to draw a line on spending. At some point you have to be smart with your money. Cubs have the second highest payroll in baseball I believe correct? Boston, Yankees, and Dodgers all limited their spending last offseason and the Dodgers have for a few years (I’ll never understand how the Dodgers have an unending supply of top prospects in baseball even after making big trades almost every trade deadline).

Second, Descalso is terrible, but him and Daniel Murphy had no connection whatsoever. And yeah we should have just kept Lastella.

I do think this team needs a serious overhaul in the offseason. The offense is broken. Bullpen is bad. Starting pitching seems to have a couple implosions a week. Defense has been bad. And the team seems to lack fundamentals. It’s hard to keep watching. They should be listening to offers on anyone.

The offense is clearly the hardest thing to fix. They’ve been trying for several years and can’t figure it out. Although the attempts don’t make a lot of sense. Hitting coach isn’t going to change who the players are we have and Descalso certainly wasn’t changing the construction of our lineup. We need a lead off man and a few quality contact hitters with a good approach. I can’t figure out what has happened with this teams approach, we use to consistently have pitchers around 100 pitches by 5 innings even when they were pitching well. Now every time I look the opposing starter has like 60 pitches through 5. Bryant use to work walks from 0-2 fairly frequently, I don’t remember the last time he did that. Have Báez and Almora lack of discipline affected everyone else?

Bullpen is actually a fairly easy fix even without spending a ton of money. Kimbrel is clearly our closer for a couple years. Wick is a keeper, Alzolay should be in the pen, Ryan has been solid, Hultzen is potentially a second lefty. Phelps has a team friendly option. That pen is cheap enough where you could grab a quality set up man if need be.

Starting pitching is basically locked in for next year other than Hamels spot. I’d love to see Gerit Cole, but odds are that’s not happening. It could be Chatwood building value in a transition year. And then we figure it out the following year.

Defense obviously depends on who they put out there. Happs defense as long as he’s been a major leaguer has never been outweighed by his offense. He shouldn’t be with the team next year. Bote isn’t really useful in anyway. Heyward really should be in right and not center. 2B should probably be a combination of Russell and Zobrist and maybe some Kemp for the remainder of the year as long as that’s what we have. Catching defense is bad and needs to be addressed at some point. Contreras should be moved to LF if we want to keep his bat in the lineup everyday.

Fundamentals is on the coaching staff, as well as the players. They should be ashamed to put such a poor product on the field when they’ve played this game their whole lives. Rizzo and Contreras in particular use to be aggressive, but not make a lot of dumb decisions on the basepaths, but that sure has changed. Russell acts like a kid that’s new to baseball with some of his fielding decisions.

Sorry for the novel I just figured I’d try to be thorough.
 

Parade_Rain

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Sure but you suggested there will be big turnover. So what are your ideas (and I know the team isn't obligated to implement them)?
I'm not wasting my time with answering this in detail. I have no idea what Theo will do or how much budget he will have from Ricketts. The bullpen will be changed significantly. for 1. I'm guessing Schwarber, Russell will be gone in a trade somewhere.
 

CSF77

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Free agents


Will Smith (30)
Nicholas Castellanos (28)

About to best two that the Cubs can invest into.

So IMO they should trade Schwarber and Russell and get a return.

A interesting trade would be Blackman and Davis from Col for Schwarber, Russell, 2 prospects and cash sent to the Cubs.

Cubs make Davis the main set up which stablizes the pen. Blackman starts in CF and Heyward starts in RF again.

Then resign Castellanos for LF.

Now this gives the Cubs a top 5 lead off hitter in baseball with control. Add to it the line up just looks nasty.

After that they would have to go internal on the pen. And with the investment in the 8-9 it is a smart plan. Alzolay., Danny Hultzen, Ryan and Wick should be main stays. Chatwood moved to the rotation. Weick might get a good look as a 3rd lefty. I wouldn't pick up Morrow's opt. Hitting F/A for a strong 7th inning RHP might be a wise choice just for another vet in a young middle relief crew.

2B I would stick with Happ. UI promote Zach Short. He is concidered the best D MI in the system. Nico should be in Iowa at that point and would be in the mix soon enough.
 

Chicagosports89

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Free agents


Will Smith (30)
Nicholas Castellanos (28)

About to best two that the Cubs can invest into.

So IMO they should trade Schwarber and Russell and get a return.

A interesting trade would be Blackman and Davis from Col for Schwarber, Russell, 2 prospects and cash sent to the Cubs.

Cubs make Davis the main set up which stablizes the pen. Blackman starts in CF and Heyward starts in RF again.

Then resign Castellanos for LF.

Now this gives the Cubs a top 5 lead off hitter in baseball with control. Add to it the line up just looks nasty.

After that they would have to go internal on the pen. And with the investment in the 8-9 it is a smart plan. Alzolay., Danny Hultzen, Ryan and Wick should be main stays. Chatwood moved to the rotation. Weick might get a good look as a 3rd lefty. I wouldn't pick up Morrow's opt. Hitting F/A for a strong 7th inning RHP might be a wise choice just for another vet in a young middle relief crew.

2B I would stick with Happ. UI promote Zach Short. He is concidered the best D MI in the system. Nico should be in Iowa at that point and would be in the mix soon enough.

For that trade to happen we’d have to be giving up like Marquez and Nico. All your trades have us giving up guys with little value and us getting very good players in return.

Also Short is not a major league caliber player.
 

CSF77

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For that trade to happen we’d have to be giving up like Marquez and Nico. All your trades have us giving up guys with little value and us getting very good players in return.

Also Short is not a major league caliber player.

Short is ranked #9 in the Cubs system and holds a strong BB rate. His glove at SS is the best in the system. Above Nico and Ademan.

On the prospects no not really. The value would be based off of cash sent over. The higher quality the higher amount deferred.

Col would do this deal to push Davis out. Blackman has degraded in CF as a defender and his splits outside Col are worry some. Cubs wouldn't have to give up the farm on this deal. It would be 2 MLB player for 2 higher paid MLB players. Prospect= cash off set.

Simple as that. We are not talking trading for Yelich here. 2 too 100 prospects and a lefty that hits 100 MPH buys premier talent not decaying talent.
 

CSF77

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Ya Charlie has a 180 OPS+ at Coors. It seems he plays to the park. Struggles at SFG LAD ARI. All his main diet of playing time. SDP he is pretty much neutral this year.

It would be looking at a lead off return and that really is a skill set vs a power output.
 

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