NL CENTRAL PREDICTATRON 2019

also feel free to discuss any of the division teams in here unless you really want to start a team-specific thread

i have no idea who's going to win the division. my instinctual guess is the cardinals.

i am predicting the cubs offense will rebound from last year but i do not trust any of their pitching beyond hendricks

expecting lester to really fall off a cliff this year, which is not something one often thinks of 18-game winners

i think there's a good chance the pirates finish last, and in a way, i hope they do

the cubs' pitching is potentially very good but also potentially a total disaster. Lester, Darvish, and Hamels all have the ability to strike out 200 and win 18 games, and also be sloppy, ineffective, and/or injured for the majority of the year.

Bote has been hitting the ball well this spring and taking a ton of walks. Same for Schwarber. I'm anticipating a major year from Bryant and a return to the slightly better stats from previous years for Rizzo. I think they'll be in it til the end, but a division title might be a stretch.

Lester has always felt like a guy who has been balancing on the edge of a knife; those worrying walk numbers and disastrous starts have always been there, but usually he's won despite the former and the latter have been infrequent. I agree he could fall off that cliff.

he's gotten worse every year since 2015 but it also seems like he figures out ways to get around getting worse

contreras' offense has looked better in spring training too, which is a good sign

if his offense is good that'll be a bonus, he's a very good defensive catcher as-is.

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2019/03/brewers-rumors-craig-kimbrel-talks.html

if the brewers get him, they will have hader, knebel, jeffress, and kimbrel. wow.

also, not that anyone cares but i would have to switch my second favorite NL central team designation elsewhere because i can't stand kimbrel's dumbass hanging arm monster thing

i have no idea who is going to win the division. will probably wait until the deadline of the poll, just in case last minute additions (like kimbrel) swing the balance

Cardinals lineup adding Goldschmidt looks pretty impressive. I like picking up Wieters to be the backup catcher too as I think part time duty seems to bring back the bat for some veteran catchers. If Yady actually lets them take him out of the lineup, it could be good for both of them. Cardinals pitching isn't quite as impressive, but it does have room to improve in 2019 too.

Cubs won 95 last year and had kind of middling years out of quite a few players. Pitching staff is older and I would think could be worse, but they still have good depth and could deal for a couple guys too.

Brewers seemed to have everything go right last year. It will be interesting to see if they fall back or hold up to last year. I kinda feel like they will fall back a bit.

Pirates are better than they might seem on first glance. They should/could have the best rotation in the division, but then they held pat on improving the club in any means. Things go well with the young guys, they could be a .500 team I would figure. Kind of a push.

Reds with the trades have some interesting players playing for contracts including Puig. They should be like a bunch of Cincy teams in that they score runs like a beer league softball team and have pretty sxxt starting pitching. They have added some arms that should help the rotation, but I'm a Reds fan and a pessimist. Sonny Gray is already fighting a bad back. I do think the bullpen could be good and has some depth, so they could win some games with softball scores.

I'd bet my 2 bucks on the Cardinals to win the division, but the NLC should be very competitive as it often is.

Huh Ian Happ starting the season in AAA

I'm glad Jimenez is not on this Cubs roster.

I'd have to think it is just that Ian Happ has options and they are still ridiculously deep in some places. Seemed that Happ would eventually end up the replacement for Zobrist. Got to think Happ would be in the bigs on a bunch of other clubs and some clubs might inquire upon him.

i really hope this predictatron isn't right but i'm a little worried about the possibility that andrew miller is the greg holland of 2019

Scooter Gennette is out 8-12 weeks with a hammy. Looks like Reds are going to use Jose Iglesias at short and move Jose Peraza back to second at least to start the season.

Nick Senzel heading to AAA to keep playing CF as Scott Schebler has won the starting job there for now. Senzel was probably going to go down anyway so that the Reds could get the 'bonus year' and most likely bring him up in May. Got to wonder if Senzel might be playing some 2b, as he played that at times in college and minors.

didn't know senzel could play CF! (or can he?)

i have nothing to back this up with, but it seems like there are more players these days who can legitimately play a decent OF and IF. in early zobrist days it seemed more unusual?

Senzel did some winter ball work in CF and has prepped for it all spring.

Talk was that Puig might see some time in center too, it's not an ideal situation and probably will get defensively exploited in some of the bigger parks. You will get more offense instead of Billy Hamilton, but you will have a number of extra base hits drop in without him.

I think being able to play more positions at least to a certain level of competency is still a valid way to have an extended playing career.

I think Andrew Miller was a much better pitcher than Holland over all career, but it's hard to bet on any reliever at age 33 as it is such a boom/bust proposition. For every reliever that fails, you have another reliever seem to bounce back and be productive again after some time of either being injured and/or ineffective. And at 33, they could just be done at any time.

relievers are indeed a crapshoot. it'd be nice if andrew miller could manage to be at least league average, though, rather than single-handedly blowing a handful of games over the course of a month like holland did last year

Corey Knebel potentially needing Tommy John really sucks

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Hendricks extension with #Cubs is four years, $55.595M, according to a source. Includes club option for fifth season as well.

— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) March 26, 2019

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Brewers did better than i would have expected

they won the division last year and have only gotten better on paper

i picked Brew-haas

goldschmidt will have a chance at a 4th HR in the top of the next inning

Update:
Home run #3: 106.4 mph https://t.co/HJKbE4WAZ7

— Jenifer Langosch (@LangoschMLB) March 30, 2019

how many more years y'all got him for

for all the years

dan maclaughlin keeps saying "you are going to love him saint louis! you are gonna LOVE him!"

he did it after 2 home runs in Spring Training, and predictatronably he did it after his first regular season HR

i just saw someone say that Yelich has a 42% HR/FB rate in Miller Park. is that right?!

lol brewers just IBB'd goldschmidt

down 5-9 in the 9th. i get it, but

i thought the brewers were cool

Maclaughlin just said “folks you’re gonna love him” as it went to the post-game crew

christian yelich is on fire

*shakes fist*

YELIIIIIICH

This might have been the greatest trade in Milwaukee Brewers history

only other players to HR in first 4 games:

Willie Mays, Mark McGwire, Nelson Cruz, Chris Davis and Trevor Story.

he's been absolutely on fire since like...august 2018?

And a walk-off double...He's obviously already clinched another MVP.

On base all 5 times

lolcubs

I don't remember the STL announcers being as annoying/repetitive as they are on the call for the Goldschmidt homers.

i am going to LOVE him in st louis!

you guys are REALLY not gonna make team threads? so weird

in this age of robot umpires, all sense of boundary has been erased and we just mingle around to different food stands, watching baseball

cubs scored 28 runs in the rangers series and still went 1-2

Opposite: Jays held the Tigers to 6 runs in 4 games (only 3 runs in the regulation 36 innings) and went 2-2.

33 pitches in the first for waino; 14 of them strikes : /

yadi is playing 3B

Says something for the Reds to give up two weekend home games soon against the Cardinals to play in Mexico. I do hope they break out the 'Los Rojos' uniforms they used last year.

With the injury to Hunter Greene, it just ads to the bad luck and ineptitude the Reds have had developing pitching. Reds have pretty bad luck drafting and developing starting pitching for decades, even just average ones.

They had one short window when they had Cueto, Bailey and Mike Leake (who was drafted and went straight to the big leagues) and other than that Brett Tomko (who was traded for Griffey) and not all that hot going back to the late 90s. I think the next best self drafted and developed starter by the Reds you have to go back to Tom Browning in the 80s.

There cannot be that many clubs that have done worse and this is the primary reason the Reds have been mostly terrible for 25+ years.

I picked those four guys as they had at least had a couple seasons as a league average starter. Still that is only 4 starting pitchers in like 30 years developed out of the draft! Not good.

Freddy Peralta today: 8 IP, 11 K, 0 BB. not bad

fire joe morgan maddon

Lindbergh on Yelich

https://www.theringer.com/mlb/2019/4/3/18293271/christian-yelich-milwaukee-brewers-mvp-regression

Reds slow start has to be causing some grumbles already in the front office and fan base, especially with FC Cincy absolutely packing the joint everytime they play and the Reds drawing like the Dayton Dragons.

https://www.cincinnati.com/story/sports/mlb/reds/2019/04/02/reds-set-new-low-attendance-record-great-american-ball-park/3339552002/

to be fair, the dayton dragons have sold out every single home game for like 20 years

haha, yeah! i went to a game there once, it was excellent

holy shit, there was a season highlight by bader just now, i'll try to post a clip when i see one. he played a machado hit to deep CF off the wall so perfectly, it was incredible. he grabbed it off the bounce with one fluid motion from glove to the throw, which was a perfect strong throw to 2B. the play would have been close, but no one was there to make it (should have been paul dejong but he wasn't covering because 99.999% of the time there's no chance to make that play in the first place.

yadi just passed curt flood and ken boyer for 8th place in career hits for the Cardinals.
some future Yadi trivia: wIth another 254 hits, he’ll pass Rogers Hornsby for 3rd all-time for the Cardinals in hits, with 2111. Could happen as early as late-2020 season, or early 2021 season.

If this were a renaissance painting what would it be called? pic.twitter.com/EroGuK7W69

— Sean Lahman (@seanlahman) April 7, 2019

is that clint hurdle trying to hold back puig? smh

One thing lost in the melee was that towering shot Josh Bell hit to center yesterday. That was a heck of a blast.

Derek Dietrich seems like a pretty nice waiver pickup for nothing, as it does seem he can hit a bit and at least stand in a few positions ok with a glove.

“Everybody In” includes Cubs limited partner Betsy DeVos. pic.twitter.com/NUbhw7oVSy

— Paul Sullivan (@PWSullivan) April 8, 2019

2-3x a year I put a Cards game on mlb.tv and say "CHRIST, IT'S McCARVER" before switching feeds.

KM, is Fowler going to lose his starting job? Need to know for the reverse fantasy team.

he should lose it, but he probably won't fully lose it until May. It's too bad, because even the version of Jose Martinez that isn't hitting well is probably better overall than Fowler (even though he's somehow even worse at fielding than Fowler), and if Tyler O'Neill ever gets a chance to figure out how to not strikeout 35% of the time he could be very good. but he's a veteran and everyone likes him and he has two years left on his contract, so. today on the broadcast, the announcers enthused about how fowler has been unlucky, and how he has the 3rd highest line drive rate in MLB at the moment. so people are looking for reasons to keep him in. if he manages to provide even a brief glimpse of a good string of at bats, he'll buy himself another month or two

i feel bad for fowler, he seems like a good guy and he had to deal with so much bullshit when he came over the the cardinals

cardinals are extending matt carpenter ('s contract)

Carpenter is solid, be handy if the DH were to happen in 2020-21.

Mythical NL cardinals DH spot is reserved for J. Martinez, imo

Trevor Richards threw a really nice game for the Fish tonight until they lost it on a couple of Great American bonus HRs in the bottom of the 8th for the Reds.

what a shocking development

Tyler Glasnow in Pittsburgh: 5.79 ERA, 5.8 BB/9, 71 ERA+
Tyler Glasnow in Tampa Bay: 3.34 ERA, 2.7 BB/9, 123 ERA+ pic.twitter.com/cGeEJSe0hh

— Baseball Reference (@baseball_ref) April 11, 2019

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5IlxnBiEsC4

as he intended, he made the highlight reel

Reds had an outfield of Matt Kemp in left, future first baseman Jesse Winker in CF and Puig in right. That has to be one of the slowest/worst coverage combos in left and center in the league. Winker is SLOW and cumbersome. Dude is like young Kent Hrbek.

http://www.fox19.com/resizer/74_mfplAMYmVzKQ2X21EDm0H_WA=/1200x600/arc-anglerfish-arc2-prod-raycom.s3.amazonaws.com/public/VE2QVWTTRJG6BOIW7QPACLY3WI.jpg

Puig is sporting one of these t-shirts on the Reuters article. Can't link picture.

https://www.reuters.com/article/baseball-mlb-cin-stl/reds-top-cardinals-in-mexico-earn-4th-straight-win-idUSMTZXEF4EXJFE3R

I was wondering why Puig was trending right now. I guess he needs that bobblehead money.

This piece on him on the LA Times today is pretty good:

https://www.latimes.com/sports/dodgers/la-sp-yasiel-puig-dodgers-legacy-reds-20190414-story.html

It says a lot about him that he was so reckless while with the Dodgers and has recently said he wasn't trying hard during his time there, whereas now with the Reds he is.

Red's running out a bizarro Spring Training split lineup tonight against Kershaw.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D4N9-PSW4AEoyF_.jpg:large

6 RBIs for Yelich already

6 of his 7 HRs vs the Cardinals this year, just brutal

well, Goldy's got 5 vs. the Brewers :)

or maybe 4. the bum

lmao what

jeeeeeezus

Red's running out a bizarro Spring Training split lineup tonight against Kershaw.

― earlnash, Monday, April 15, 2019 4:24 PM (four hours ago)

Puig took Kershaw into the cheap seats in his first at-bat back at Dodger Stadium.

And again

he's had a HR in each of the last 7 games vs. st louis

i don't know if any other player has singlehandedly ruined the cardinals so much over such a length of time

https://i.imgur.com/GxkHEme.png

early season silliness

The run differential is wacky. Reds definitely left two potential wins on the table in LA this week.

Your 2019 Pittsburgh Pirates, tied for 1st

Now 19 games into the season, the Cardinals are still waiting for a starting pitcher to record a seventh-inning out. In fact, they’re only the third team since 1908 -- joining the 1995 Padres and 2018 Cubs -- to go this deep into a season without a starter going longer than six innings.

Mikolas into the 7th, KM, I hope you're happy!

I have to admit I am pretty happy

Machado shows a sense of humor here.

https://www.facebook.com/Reds/videos/864492680562546/

two more HRs for Yelich today, he's on pace for 100

i’m told the record for april homers is 14, shared by a-rod and prince albert

yelich has 13 on the 20th

He has a great chance at the RBI records for April (35) and through-end-of-April (36)--both Juan Gonzalez.

Plus he has three more games against be cardinals in April. He’s got this thing pretty much wrapped up

The slow curve that Yelich hit for the second home run was a pretty good pitch. Even if he was sitting on Ryu to bring the curve on the first pitch, it was right on his hands and Yelich just swatted it.

I looked at his game logs from last year, and he started his epic finish as early as July 8. Since then, coming up on 100 games:

G – 96
AB – 380
H – 139
2B – 26
3B – 5
HR – 38
R – 87
RBI – 106
BB – 52
BA –.366
OBP – .446
SLG – .761

Incredible!

Bellinger robbed him of one today

Reds put a curb stomp down on the Cards last night. Cincy hit like the beer league softball team they are designed to be last night. A hot night and some bad pitching, and the Reds will probably play some high scoring games this year. They always seem to have a couple of slug fests a year at Great American as it is such a small park. Ball carries really well on a hot day game, I've seen a couple of them over the years.

all of that may be true. however, jedd gyorko struck out a batter.

worth it!

Your 2019 Pittsburgh Pirates, tied for 1st

the wheels came off shortly after you wrote this -- strong work

In a Drew Storen-esque move, Cardinals’ Alex Reyes broke his pinkie by punching a wall after his last start.

On his non-pitching hand, thankfully

Looks like Nick Senzel will join the Reds this weekend. I'm kinda thinking that Scott Schebler's terrible start is probably going to be the end of his shot at being a regular for Cincy and may have signed his ticket to Louisville and eternal AAAA baseball.

info for Reds fans: Vargas is not this good

jason vargas is a baseball legend

paul dejong has 14 doubles

cardinals have won 59 of 97 (.607) since mike matheny went to hell, a 99-game winning pace

just throwing some cardinal trivia out there

Mets have been taking the Reds lunch money for a few years.

surprise!

https://mlb.nbcsports.com/2019/04/28/report-cubs-privately-threatening-writers-who-criticize-addison-russell/

puke

cardinals/cubs series starting tomorrow should be good. cards have won five in a row, cubs have won four in a row

nice to see Eric Thames having a solid start

why is ian happ in triple-a? he doesn't strike me as worse (or less versatile) than almora or bote or zagunis

probs bcz he's currently slashing .235/.336/.398 in the hitter friendly PCL?

he was sent down in march. career MLB wRC+:

happ: 109
almora: 92
bote: 103
zagunis: 54

granted, almora is a better outfield defender

maybe there were some other issues?

Bote's been extremely solid and has had a few folk hero moments.

(also the eastern bits of the PCL -- iowa, nashville, round rock, memphis, new orleans -- are actually pitcher-friendly)

happ had a bad spring training but i'm guessing there also wasn't roster room to platoon happ and almora like last year. i'd rather have happ than zagunis though

or better yet keep all those guys AND GET RID OF ADDISON RUSSELL

it's interesting to me (if probably not you) how i suddenly don't hate the cardinals

part of it is surely that they haven't made the playoffs in a few years, but i think it's mostly the absence of tlr/matheny

also Paul DeJong is rather attractive

Dakota Hudson is a handsome guy

I think there are more likable personalities on the team now, too. It used to be Carlos Martinez + a bunch of boring guys, but now there’s Jose Martinez (the most entertaining player in the NL, esp when he’s failing on defense), Ozuna, Bader, Tyler Bro’Neill, etc.

they are still boringly efficient/good to me but i like ozuna (as a player and for entertainment value) and fowler (as a good dude and for residual cubs world series goodwill)

jose martinez is like hunter pence if hunter pence was weirder

i don’t believe you

I liked the score of the Reds/Giants game much better when I turned off the tv. Cincy is just the gang that cannot shoot straight.

Congrats to Luis Castillo on being NL Pitcher of the month for April. The last Red to win NL Pitcher of the Month...wait for it...Kent Mercker way back in '97.

i predict that this is the last game that dexter fowler will start in CF for the rest of his career (at least in a cardinals uniform)

why you would start fowler in CF ahead of bader AND o'neill is beyond me

in the same inning, one of the most embarrassing misplays of dexter fowlers career + the best defensive play of jose martinez's career

and the longest game in Miller Park history is blown by the Amazins

During that game:

Braun: 6/8
rest of the Brewers: 5/54

Fxxx a Posey, has he not caused enough grief to Reds fans?

Actually stayed up to watch the 18 inning game and was really hoping Braun was gonna get the walkoff

that 81-pitch kyle hendricks complete game shutout was sick

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/kyle-hendricks-threw-the-least-2019-game-of-the-year/

Senzel looks legit.

Reds put it on the Giants pitching in the 4 game set, scoring 37 runs but they still only split 2 games apiece. Both the Reds and Giants are now 15-20.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D5_UTrsW4AULCQW.jpg

josh bell 472 feet into the allegheny

fourth homer in pnc park history to reach the river on the fly

Yelich with #16 today

I wonder how many of those homers have come in the 1st inning. Not enough to look it up, but it feels like the Brewers have started up 1-0 in half their games

Yelich up to .356/.462/.797

what on earth

According to Theo, Russell was moved by actor Terry Crews’ journey.

— Jesse Rogers (@ESPNChiCubs) May 8, 2019

double puke

as part of russell getting called up, ben zobrist is going on leave for "personal reasons"?

hope everything's ok for him

Unreal how an actual NFL team cut their star running back and may get rid of their star wide receiver bc of similar behavior and the cubs are clinging to this dude and curating a rehab journey narrative for him.

https://cdn-s3.si.com/s3fs-public/2019/05/06/derek-dietrich-mustache.jpg

https://img.mlbstatic.com/mlb-images/image/private/t_16x9/t_w1024/mlb/prkxxsk9mlbz7dgzsh2w

DIETRICH TO THE RESCUE! pic.twitter.com/eYSqUGxFcD

— FOX Sports Ohio (@FOXSportsOH) May 6, 2019

another big NL central series this weekend - brewers/cubs. right now the brewers are a half game behind the cubs, but the cubs have a run differential of +54 and the brewers have a run differential of +2.

Pirates color commentator Bob Walk was upset about Ozuna tagging up on Munoz's deep fly ball in a 12-run game 🧂🧂🧂 #timetofly pic.twitter.com/kjBsdh5IS2

— VHS (@VanHicklestein) May 10, 2019

the play-by-play guy on that clip is trying to defuse a bomb on live television

they have kind of a fraught relationship. as if you couldn't tell

sort of impressive to give up 17 runs without allowing a homer tbh

Those Whitey Herzog Cardinal's teams were really good at scoring runs without a homer, but that was as fast a running lineup as you would find ever in baseball and half of them were switch hitters.

Bob Walk would probably tag on his own guy for not tagging up and doing the right baseball move in the 6th inning if the Pirates were up 12 runs. "Three innings to go, anything could happen..." You just know it is true.

the gentlemanly thing to do would be to stand between 2nd and 3rd base and wait to be gingerly tagged out, then tip your cap and jog to the dugout knowing that you helped your fans go to bed 2 minutes earlier

then tip your cap ^in the direction of Bob Walk^ and jog to the dugout knowing that you helped your fans go to bed 2 minutes earlier

just a small edit, otherwise accurate

joe block (frogbs you may remember him, i think he did brewers games for a while) is a dweeby bald dude who has at least a passing understanding of advanced stats.

bob walk is protective of the pirates and otherwise just bitchy about literally everything in the vein of jim kaat or (i'm told) cardinals color guys.

it is legit uncomfortable to listen to them work together, which is why i never do it. (and the other pxp guy, greg brown, is just corny as hell)

i mean at least when keith hernandez is bitchy you can sense gary and ron laughing at him; with block and walk it's just tense

yeah I remember Joe Block - he was kind of a wet blanket personality wise but he was a good announcer who seemed fairly smart

Brewers are lucky to have a good TV broadcasting crew - so good in fact, that Brian Anderson is out a bunch of the season because he gets poached for NBA playoff games. Bill Schroder is sort of your standard "cranky ex-player" type but he's still pretty good. Between his thick Midwestern accent and the name "Bill Schroeder" I don't think you could hire anyone more appropriate for the Milwaukee Brewers. You can practically see the case of Miller Lite under the desk.

from what i've heard, the cubs have a decent broadcast team

otherwise, without hearing all 30 teams' broadcasts, i will nonetheless confidently declare that the NL Central is the worst division for broadcasting

from what i've heard,

that was very ambiguous, but by that i mean what i have literally seen and heard

firsthand. while watching their games. fuck

i don't even know, because if i'm watching a game at home, i rarely have the sound on or up. i am very fond of the radio broadcast team of pat hughes and ron coomer though.

i keep getting reminded that starting next season there are basically going to be no cubs games broadcast on over-the-air local TV, and it feels like a gut-punch each time. it's such bullshit

yeah i like the cubs guys a lot. except when kasper does 'cubs win! . . . cubs win' i mean

i keep getting reminded that starting next season there are basically going to be no cubs games broadcast on over-the-air local TV, and it feels like a gut-punch each time. it's such bullshit

i keep forgetting about that. "i don't even have a tv", and i watch everything through mlb.tv (+ a VPN making it seem like I'm browsing from a different time zone when I want to watch a local game)

even when i hear non-Mets broadcasters on mlb.tv, so few of them register, except Kirk Gibson sounds semi-comatose on Tiger games

i can now watch everything on my tv *except* mets games, which is unfortunate

need to figure out how to make roku work with a vpn

Yeah, it sucks not having all games on local TV, but the MLB Streams subreddit is a savior, in case anyone is interested.

pirates are out here defying pythagoras

my prediction of jon lester's decline appears to have been premature

Bryant has been absurd lately, i was out for dinner and the cubs game was on and i pointed out to my kid that Kris Bryant was up and mentioned, "he's been on fire lately" and he immediately hit a home run.

keston hiura comin up (to milwaukee)

drink every time someone calls him 'a professional hitter'

#Brewers prospect
Keston Hiura is a hitting machine.... Look at this beautiful base hit spray chart from all his @milb games 😍😍😍 pic.twitter.com/TOIjZ9AzmS

— Daren Willman (@darenw) May 14, 2019

could be the end of the road for Travis Shaw, who has put up -0.7 WAR so far

he seems to have conveniently developed a wrist injury, but yeah. lets them move moustakas back to third too

almost killed a pitcher for his first hit

I pitch in softball and that shit hurts

NL central has the top three wildcard teams

BDIB

Kris Bryant, 3 HR tonight...

i know willson contreras can't catch every cubs game but why have they consistently paired yu darvish, the wildest pitcher they have, with back-up back-up catcher taylor davis?

oh wait, back-up catcher victor caratini is back and catching tonight, that's a little better

1915 Reds threads are pretty nice I think.

http://cdn1.creativecirclemedia.com/kentuckytoday/original/20190519-214256-reds.jpg

ooooh yeah

this reds/brewers game is odd (luis castillo and zach davies both out after three innings) but entertaining

these two teams have played some weird-ass games over the last couple years, I love it

just like that we've got an RBI HBP to bring it to 9-11

so much MANAGING going on in this game

Something Wick This Way Comes (to the cubs)

Fugly game by the Reds pitching. Hernan Perez and Orlando Arcia deserve today's Bill Hall Award (tm) for down lineup Brewer to hit like they are going to the Hall of Fame against the Reds.

Thames seems to like hitting Reds pitching. I think a couple of years ago he hit like 10 HRs against him.

And all of this is without Braun, who is a long time Red nemesis.

Jay Bruce used to be the guy that hit a ton against the Brewers.

Yelich was out too

Anthony Rizzo hit one out that would have gone about a mile if the Budweiser sign above the Wrigley video screen hadn't gotten in the way.

https://www.mlb.com/video/anthony-rizzo-homers-12-on-a-fly-ball-to-right-field-kyle-schwarber-scores-kris-?t=most-popular

<3 david freese

who told yadi that neck tattoos and white hair was a good look

bengie

His new neck tattoo is actually a lot better. Before it was just a set of music notes 🎵🎶

I'd like to know how much the Reds team batting average went up this weekend as they went (42-116) .362 at the plate in the 3 game series. Cubs now have lost 2 series to the Reds in May.

Not that it matters in the big picture as Derek Dietrich has pretty much emulated his success in some ways both with the home run power and certain panache, but Scooter Gennett must have been hurt pretty bad in spring training. He was out 1/2 of spring training and is heading into June, out two months without starting back playing yet. Don't think they expected it to go this long.

yadi looks like he’s seen attack ships burn off the shoulder of orion

when he makes his big league debut tonight, génesis cabrera will become the 2000th player to appear in a game for the cardinals since they joined the NL in 1892

(mitch keller recently became the 1979th player to appear for the pirates)

cubs sign carlos gonzalez to a minor-league deal. local sports radio dudes point out this shows how the team feels about ian happ.

just a head's up - one of the cardinals top prospects is Dylan Carlson, which is the same name as the Earth guy.

could be cool

génesis cabrera will become the 2000th player to appear in a game for the cardinals

"Cards! You've got Genesis!"

I could see Carlos Gonzalez as a nice platoon player and pinch hitter. It's kind of an old Yankees type signing. Might hit or miss, either way they can afford to give him a shot. Cargo's stat line is a pretty classic peak around age 30 so far, but hey he hit the lottery with one big deal. I'd figure after that kind of deal, baseball is a hobby (albeit that pays well). I'm sure Cargo would like to play in the playoffs and have a shot at winning a ring.

The Cardinals have lost seven consecutive one-run games in May. You have to go back to July 1970 to find that many one-run losses and zero victories in the same month.

not sure if the second sentence is MLB-wide or just cardinals history - probably the latter

I would imagine - assuming these are 50/50 your odds are 1 in 128 out of any given 7-game stretch of one-run games, I would guess some team accomplishes that misfortune every year

pretty sure this is the first time since jason thompson circa 1982-85 that the pirates' best hitter is their first baseman

in between there have been a couple serviceable guys and an astonishing number of flat-out awful ones

3+ hour rain delay. this trio must have been ragin

https://i.imgur.com/JmI64CS.png

Brewers/Pirates yesterday was nuts

The Brewers placed Gio Gonzalez on the injured list with a dead arm.

that's pretty ominous, doesn't "dead arm" usually mean TJ? not to mention Chacin is *also* on the DL, though he's been fairly garbage in nearly every start thus far. on the flip side Jimmy Nelson is set to return Wednesday, the Brewers could potentially have a decent starter in their rotation for once

nah, 'dead arm' is pretty common. not a good sign or anything, but it happens.

I kind of always just took it for basic over use inflammation.

"pretty sure this is the first time since jason thompson circa 1982-85 that the pirates' best hitter is their first baseman"

Bell starting to hit like he looks. He's built like Frank Thomas, football player build.

Pirates have had a lot of formerly serviceable guys at the end of their careers playing first who are most known for playing with other teams.

The move Brewers fans have been dreading. Hiura goes back down to make room for Travis Shaw’s return from IL. https://t.co/L7ciO1hak2

— Adam McCalvy (@AdamMcCalvy) June 3, 2019

seems like a dumb move

idk. i mean shaw did hit 30 homers the last two seasons, but he also did not look cured in his triple-a stint

tough all around when every team needs 15 relievers

I am sure he'll be back fairly soon but yeah, pretty disappointing. he looks big-league ready.

I'm pretty sure the longterm solution is gonna be DFA'ing Aguilar - he's actually been *worse* than Shaw, and I think his prior success is a bit more flukey. Plus, we already have Eric Thames...you can always use middle infielders, while bad 1B/DH guys do nothing but clog up the roster

Moustakas just broke his finger so Hiura will probably be coming back in a day or two.

Cardinals first round draft pick UK pitcher Zach Thompson is from the county in Indiana where I grew up. Jeremy Hazelbaker who had one season as a utility guy for the Cardinals also wen to the same small county high school. I'm sure there are going to be a few less Reds fans growing up in the area and a few more Cardinal (sic) fans. Not like it is a big push to follow the Cubs or something else than the Reds these days in Indiana.

Unfortunately, he is Zack with a K, and for that reason alone, i don't like the cut of his jib

so you have also bounced Britton from the brotherhood?

lol, watch the first part (the fielding segment) of this video of the guy the cardinals drafted in the second round yesterday:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5c4v_sSfQU

mmmmm

Today @baseballpro, how #Rays Austin Meadows has fulfilled the potential that always lurked in his bat, becoming one of baseball’s best hitters. It’s a story of approach and mechanics, and of the #Pirates looking awfully silly again. https://t.co/b1BKvUnYgf

— Matthew Trueblood (@MATrueblood) June 5, 2019

all three pirates color guys have now said stupid shit that drew national attention just in the last month. i think only steve blass was obviously racist, so maybe that's a minor victory

craig "dumbass" kimbrel signs 3-year, $43M deal with Cubs

what was he originally asking for?

5+ years, triple digits, I believe

triple abbreviated digits

The New York Daily News reports:

President Donald Trump’s acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney along with other Republican Party bigwigs are hosting a campaign retreat for donors in Chicago this weekend where guests will be feted with a Wrigley Field reception in a “Friends and Family” suite including a Cubs-Cardinals rivalry game, according to a published report.

Cubs co-owner Todd Ricketts is a host of the invitation-only event. Ricketts also is finance chair of the Trump Victory Committee, which is a joint fundraising venture of the president’s re-election campaign and the Republican National Committee.

gross.

all three pirates color guys have now said stupid shit that drew national attention just in the last month. i think only steve blass was obviously racist, so maybe that's a minor victory

― mookieproof, Wednesday, June 5, 2019 2:39 PM (two days ago)

I guess Blass would bust a blood vessel if he was a barves broadcaster — they're having an Ozzie Albies palm-tree necklace giveaway night.

it's his last year, at least. and few of us know what it's like to have a disease named after one's self

he's literally been involved with the pirates for almost 60 years; i guess he must have secretly hated dave parker and the we are family team

I think some people on TV just chatter their way into trouble by not thinking about what they are saying and then trying to save face that they are not an idiot, when it is obvious at least in this case they were.

I find myself rooting for the Cards this weekend as the Cubs need to go die as long as the Rickettses are around

reds are 111 runs better than the pirates. and a game behind them

pirates also have a worse run differential than the marlins

Mike Moustakas has 20 home runs already

pirates: last place in the division, worst run differential in the league, worst team ERA in the league, second-worst home attendance in the league

also their biggest trade acquisition in forever, chris archer, has a 5.73 ERA and -0.2 bWAR. it's gonna be hilarious when they decline the 2020-2021 team options on him

Archers performance isn’t even the worst part of it!

at least meadows and glasgow have had minor injuries that will *probably* keep them from winning major awards

brian reynolds looks ok??

Meadows looks right back on track. Not sure about awards tho (all star yes, maybe silver slugger).

There is plenty of season left for this number to get back to what you usually might see, but the Reds Pythagorean record on Baseball Reference is right now pretty wacky.

Pythagorean (37-31)
Actual (30-38)

cardinals call up rangel ravelo, who has hit .301 in 838 minor league games over 10 seasons

sounds like he's just about ready.

Moves: OF Tyrone Taylor will begin a minor league rehab assignment tonight with the AZL Brewers Gold.

INF Brett Lawrie has been released.

— Brewers Player Dev (@BrewersPD) June 18, 2019

Marty Brennamen was pretty fun today driving home listening to the Reds comeback. You could tell he was pretty disgusted like 'yep the Reds are going to lose again' especially after Barnhart and Votto striking out on seven pitches was going to strand the opening double by Peraza.

Then you had the couple singles by Senzel and Winker and the game was over with the game won. Marty seemed genuinely surprised by the turnabout and was actually laughing.

Reds sweeping the Astros is also par for the course for this oddball club.

i too am open to adding a controllable hitter

The @Reds, who rank 3rd in @MLB in team ERA, have the ingredients for a second-half run at a playoff spot, as one NL Central observer said to me this week. The Reds’ front office is open to adding a controllable hitter at the deadline, source says. @MLBNetwork

— Jon Morosi (@jonmorosi) June 20, 2019

NL CENTRAL RUN DIFFERENTIALS

Cubs: +63
Reds: +41
Cards: +12
Brewers: +6
Pirates: -77

The Matrix (1999)#BornToBaseball pic.twitter.com/jRvrDjSG0W

— Cincinnati Reds (@Reds) June 21, 2019

This was a pretty fun play from last night. It looked like Cain was taking a weird angle to go get the ball but he played the carom perfect and what a throw which led to the ugliest slide that actually worked you might see all year. Jesse Winker runs like a dad playing softball.

I'd think having a game where you get hit by a pitch three times in the same game is probably more rare than hitting three home runs in game, Derek Dietrich has accomplished both this season.

this is by far the most interesting division race in baseball

brewers, cubs, or cardinals could all be in 1st by this evening, depending on how the games go, and the reds are going to be a part of that race soon, especially if they are trade deadline buyers.

Make that 6 HBPs in a 3 game series so far for Derek Dietrich, which I guess is some sort of record.
I guess the Brewers don't like the swag.

no judgements, bc i'm sure divorcing your spouse when you've been married for more than a decade and have kids is tough, but it still seems weird to me that zobrist is apparently missing almost the entire season

it's really strange, i just wonder if there's something really fucked up happening there.

makes me wonder if he's going to come back at all, dude is 38. would be a sad way to leave the game though.

yes but he nearly had a 4 WAR season last year, dude is aging pretty well. his power is way down this year but he's barely played so who knows. this situation is indeed very odd...baseball players barely take a game off for the birth of their own children

i can barely send an email when my spouse is really mad at me, i can understand not being able to concentrate on a slider when going through a messy divorce.

but yeah, it is true that players don't tend to take off much time for such things

Whoa, knowing nothing about this (and I know it's 2019 and all) but I was reading up and was not prepared for HER being the cheater... That's a huge buck of the old MLB stereotype.

Oh man, she is a Xtian singer and he used her music exclusively for his walkup music...

Oh and they were big Megachurch personalities as well... ugh.

On a less TMZ note, rumors have it that if all goes without a hitch, tonight is Kimbrel's last appearance in the minors before getting called up.

/\@/\

man, fuck the braves. the tomahawk chop is awful enough, now they've got this guy closing games. it's a bummer because i very much like their new crew of acuña and albies and inciarte and swanson

oh wait, he's with the cubs now.

man, fuck the cubs

Braves got Keuchel, the other K-surnamed FA holdout.

lol KM. Plenty to hate when they get together and have a testosterone-spraying contest like last night. Josh Donaldson started that shit and didn't get any of the heat for it. God knows what'll pop off when McCann catches instead of Flowers.

i only saw clips so i couldn't tell what set contreras off. was he mad that tyler flowers actually knows how to frame pitches?

I think that's what it boils down to. He said he didn't like Flowers butting in with comments while he was having words with the ump.

gotta love catcher drama

Ryne Sandburg had the similar type of absence, walked away in 1994 and was out of baseball in 95 before coming back.

craig counsell has a good disappointed face

pirates with some nice stats-padding tonight

'maybe colin moran is actually good!'

Puig made a helluva game-winning baserunning play just now

yeah that was a weird way to lose. looked like a beer league softball play.

Puig has had a couple of crazy games against the Brewers on the basepaths.

The one play earlier in the game when Puig was going into second and the throw was on time but Arcia wanted NOTHING to do going in hard to tag him.

Reds are kind of in a put up or shut up position on this season. They seem by the numbers to be perhaps better than their record and possibly capable of making a move, but they seem to not be able to get past 3 or 4 below .500. Offense seems to be coming together just as the bullpen is starting to fall apart.

two yadi related things:

- the cardinals broadcaster referred to him as "the hall of famer" earlier in tonight's game
- he is having an awful season. his plate discipline is awful (3.3% BB%), which means his OBP is awful (.288), his power is non-existent (.109 ISO), which all means his OBP is unplayable (.658)

OPS at the end, not OBP

division standings are funnier than ever today

Reds have an off day on Friday, that's something that has to be pretty rare to happen.

Bucco comeback w/ 5 in the 9th to tie Brewers 6-6

alas for nowt as they lose in the 10th, having to pinch-hit a pitcher (Musgrove) with the tying run on second

couple days ago they ph'd with pitcher steven brault, who is batting .381/.381/.429 and it worked

in any case, smh

heard yelich was pumping balls into the allegheny in HR derby practice

Reds going with Kluszewski-era sleeveless jerseys today. Puig and Dietrich lookin doubleplusgood with the bare arms

Is this the correct "Cubs Hate" thread?

Amazing. Todd Ricketts, Cubs co-owner & RNC finance chair, apparently failed to tell @AssessorCook that he tore down his old house & built a bigger one there (& the old Assessor never checked it out). He’s effectively dodged thousands in prop. taxes since https://t.co/VNKi1CtJJj

— Kim Bellware (@bellwak) July 9, 2019

hope he can afford to pay the backtaxes and the slap on the wrist he might be facing

Phil Ervin went 6 for 6 last night for the Reds football game against the Rockies 17-9.

Coors Field...it does a batting average good!

https://www.mlb.com/news/six-hit-game-c266043102

Pretty good names on that list.

The Schnozz did it...Ernie Lombardi

Jimmie Piersall

Kirby Puckett

Chone Figgins

dakota hudson: bad at bunting, bad for america

I keep confusing him with Dakota Fanning

standings by expected win/loss record (based off of run differential)

Cubs: 55-41 (+68)
Reds: 50-44 (+29)
Cards: 49-46 (+14)
Brewers: 48-50 (-9)
Pirates: 43-52 (-54)

it must be Joey Votto's fault

This years Red's club is even more weird than usual. They seem to get shut down and score nothing then win 14-2.

David Bell has pretty much completely torched the bullpen at this point, they are cooked and I got a feeling they are going to lose quite a bit more going forward.

Best news for the Reds would be to go hard on the sell and try to flip some guys for some more arms.

I kind of like Tanner Roark...he's a guy I could see moving, but if they could sign him for 2 more at the right deal, he's a pro and pretty much out there every time his time in the rotation comes up.

Puig is also hitting well now. I'd think there would be interest in him as he could be one of those x-factor type guys for a stretch run. I think the Reds would like to extend him, but I'm guessing there is more money out there than Cincy will commit.

https://d31029zd06w0t6.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/sites/54/2019/07/web1_onlinereds-2.jpg

Juan Graterol listed as an idealistic 205 pounds in your scorecard.

Club losing both of it's catchers to injury at the same time is pretty ominous for the rest of the season. Pitchers are a cowardly lot and seem to be easily started like deer, it seems losing their battery mate often times causes them to lose ability to pitch.

are you all going to the gun show? it's in the reds vs cardinals game this afternoon (reds in throwback sleeveless jerseys)

need to see some Harrison Bader guns

There are more people at a Northern KY gun show than at a Reds game.

-doh... Hot as it has been this weekend in Cincy, the Cards series hasn't been packed, which it usually would be.

Of course, I AM one of those silent ones that say f'all that cost, I'd rather watch them or not on TV. Most of the time the Reds play totally stupid when I turn them on TV anyway.

I think there is a portion (probably sad) that are waiting for Marty to go totally BROCKMIRE at some point this season in his final season. You can kinda hear his disgust at points, earlier when the Reds loaded the bases with no outs and then did bupkus he was like "this is why this club is 8 games under .500 going nowhere" spiel.

Brewers just hit a go-ahead grand slam in the bottom of the 8th and lost

cardinals tied a major league record with eight extra-base hits in one inning (against the pirates)

14 total bases for dejong

from rosenthal:

For all the talk of the Pirates trading Vázquez, the team shows little appetite for actually making such a move, sources say.

Vázquez, 28, will earn just $12.5 million combined in 2020-21, and the Pirates — who also hold $10 million club options on him for ’22 and ’23 — believe they can return to contention as soon as next season.

The way club officials see it, the team’s collapse and last-place standing in the NL Central stem in part from injuries at various points to starting pitchers Jameson Taillon and Trevor Williams, catcher Francisco Cervelli and right fielder Gregory Polanco. Other clubs do not hold the same view, believing the Pirates essentially are fooling themselves, and should move Vázquez at a time when his value is soaring.

“The well-run teams are realistic and have a good feel for their talent and how it stacks up to their competitors,” one executive said. “The poorly-run teams do not.

“The Rockies are a great example. They thought they were building off a 91-win team (last season) without appreciating how fortunate they were and that their true talent was well below that.”

Time will tell if the Pirates prove correct in their self-evaluation. Perhaps they are gun-shy after getting burned as buyers last season in trades for right-hander Chris Archer and reliever Keone Kela. The performance of even top closers is volatile; long-term control of relievers is generally not coveted the way it is with other players. Still, Vázquez could bring a haul.

pirates suspended a reliever last week and the bullpen coach today, which means they have as many suspensions as wins since the all-star break

Happy birthday Clint Hurdle, cardinals legend Tom Pagnozzi, and in a distant last, annoying broadcaster Ricky Horton

Man how much do the Brewers regret not signing Wade Miley right now

Reds rookie skipper David Bell has been ejected from 7.7% of the games he’s managed. That seems like an unsustainable pace, but personally I believe in him.

— Anthony Castrovince (@castrovince) July 31, 2019

End of the roster move for the Reds that could be potentially interesting is that outfielder Aristides Aquino was called up from Louisville with all of these dealings going on. Aquino is an older prospect at age 26 and was kinda going nowhere and did some shifting in his approach to get the ball up in the air and in the last two seasons has been just blasting long home runs all over the place. He hit something like 3x 450 ft. shots in a couple games a few weeks back.

At least Aquino could be in the tradition of Wily Mo Pena and Juan Francisco.

https://www.mlb.com/video/franciscos-mammoth-blast/c-19127709

zobrist played in south bend over the weekend, so i guess he's coming back

Zach Davies to the DL

that's 4/5ths of the Brewers starting rotation to the DL in like 2 weeks

Aquino does have some power.

Cards definitely look smart for not giving Albert Pujols that ginormous contract, still two years left to go. His swing is looking real slow to me.

I was just ragging on my cousin, the Cardinals Fan from New Jersey, over the Redbirds now being tied with the Mets, and that got him off the phone p quick

the alex reyes story is getting really sad. this will be the third straight season to be lost to a season ending injury.

for a very brief time, before all the injuries, his stuff was electric

Pretty good first week or so in the bigs for Aquino. The way he swings and his build reminds me a bit of Jose Bautista.

He's got three HR through six innings tonight!

Aquino hit 3 shots over 450 feet across 2 games at Louisville a few weeks ago. The video of the one to dead center was a lunar landing, it look like it was a golf shot.

Reds are back to 3 under .500 for the first time in a while, this seems to be their ceiling so far this season. Alot of people both in the media and fans seem to be waiting for them to go on a run, which they have not done. Getting Bauer and if Sonny Gray is healthy and productive, they should be able to stay in some games. Bullpen is pretty cooked though. Be nice to see Votto get hot just getting on base left and right. Suarez has tore up some pitching with his power, but the guy will look totally lost at times striking out like mad too.

We will see, any chance to parlay these good seasons by individual players into the post season is going to be decided in the next week or so. They need to win series especially head to head with Nats, Cards and Pirates. For it to be a legit playoff shot, I think they will need to rip of a week full of wins, as that would plant them near the top of the NL Wild Card and even out that 1-8 start.

reds have been jobbed by their run differential -- they're pretty good, and the NL central is not insurmountable

that said, they need to go on a run and our best beloved joey votto should fucking wake up and lead it

the reds can make a run, imo, but their problem is that there are also several other NL teams that could also go on a run - WAS, MIL, STL, NYM, ARI, SFG (?!?!). or continue a run, in the mets' case

As I said, 3 under .500 seems to be their ceiling. They have knocked on that door I think 4 or 5 times now this season and then like Sysyphus rolled back down the standings to start again.

Alright, so here's my issue with this, and really, one of my issues with this entire organization:

Everyone, from the top down, is so fucking smug.

They think they're playing chess and we're all only capable of understanding checkers. https://t.co/ilAd6DXGMI

— Jim Rosati (@northsidenotch) August 11, 2019

pirates are now 4-24 since the break. the elite closer they hung onto because they're so close to competing has made two appearances in their last 15 games because there are no save opportunities. (they didn't even use him today, for christ's sake, during which they allowed seven runs in the seventh and eighth to blow an 8-4 lead.) but at least they understand 'the game within the game'

the opportunity to be judgmental

i accept

Yu Darvish has been Scherzer-like in the second half. With Hendricks having some recent meltdowns and Jon Lester completely disintegrating it’s a pretty good sign that he’s turned things around. But I don’t expect the Cubs to go anywhere if (not when) they make the postseason.

hell of a loss for them tonight

yeah i agree, i think the cubs have a good chance to win the division and then crap out in the first round of the playoffs. unless they can somehow convince the league to let them play all their playoff games at wrigley

despite the (good) add of castellanos they've still got holes in the offense (happ/almora/kemp) and the bullpen is frightening

i think the cubs have a good chance to win the division and then crap out in the first round of the playoffs.

this is probably true of whoever ends up winning the NL Central tbh

true

although i guess the NL Central winner will have the benefit of playing the NL East winner (most likely), while the wild card survival champion will have to play the Dodgers in round 1

pretty ugly exposé of turmoil in the pirate clubhouse today in the athletic. imo they should go hire mike matheny -- it would really help me jettison all fondness for the team

Let’s slow things down here, you don’t understand what you’re saying

as the millennials say, step on my throat mike matheny

Well the Reds pretty much did what deep down I figured would happen sliding back. They have had a few starters get totally pounded in the last week.

Got to figure whoever was on the spot and picked up Aquino in their fantasy leagues are doing great in the playoff hunt. Anyone mashing 10 HRs in 16 games helps in that arena, but impressive to start in the bigs.

alright, let's get real. which team is going to win the division, and which (if any) will nab a wild card spot?

i am going to be pessimistic and say that the cubs will win the division, cardinals will get one of the WC spots (along with the Nats), and the Brewers will just miss. but i think it's just as likely that no wild card teams come from the NL central this year.

i guess a lot of teams are frustrated with the lack of moves made at the trade deadline this year, but it seems bonkers that the cardinals didn't make a move for starting pitching, especially considering their OF surplus. here's who they have right now, either on the roster or on the cusp:

- marcell ozuna (starter, LF)
- dexter fowler (starter, CF or RF)
- harrison bader (CF, defensive wiz, just got called back from a short stint at AAA to learn how to hit the ball again)
- jose martinez (RF, on the IL for another week or so. can't actually play RF, but plays there anyway)
- tyler bro'neill (RF, on the IL for another week or so. may someday hit+ 40 HRs, great speed)
- yairo munoz (an infielder who sometimes, inexplicably, gets asked to start at CF or sub in at RF, where he looks like an infielder trying to play outfield. 70 wRC+.
- tommy edman (exhibit A of how doing really, really well in your first week can change the perception of your manager for the rest of the year, even if you don't deserve it. he is also an infielder that is now being asked to play RF. when he started playing there a few weeks ago, it was noted that he had not played outfield since high school. the announcers love him. mike shildt loves him and says that he is now an everyday player (mainly in the infield as a replacement for matt carpenter, but he also plays 2B). somehow, he starts in RF about twice a week. 85 wRC+, and that's after a recent hot streak.)
- dylan carlson (#2 prospect in the system, now at AAA, shot up through multiple levels this year, is probably better than everyone else on this list except for Ozuna)
- randy arozarena (yet another solid outfielder, just got his first promotion to MLB (he's back in AAA now).

so you have 7 outfielders competing for 3 spots. plus 2 weakass infielders that inexplicably are starting in outfield week after week.

i guess the trade market must have been reaaaaally weak

Brewers are kind of a dumpster fire right now, their offense is pretty good but their pitching staff is such a dumpster fire right now. It was pretty much the worst-case scenario there, the guys who were good in '18 fell apart and none of the new pitchers panned out. Not to mention Jimmy Nelson coming back with a massive thud, getting blown up in nearly every appearance so far. Maybe we shouldn't have put so much faith in a guy who led the league in walks AND hit batters a couple years ago. Zach Davies & Chase Anderson are okay but they rarely can go more than 5. And the relief pitching is a total mess; Hader suddenly turned into bad K-Rod, Jeffress can't get outs in key spots, and Knebel got hurt in Spring Training, so our go-to guy is....Mat Albers!!

so yeah, I'd be surprised if they made it, but they do have some of that "team that could surprise everyone" vibe to them

carlson should be ready by april 15 if not sooner. he's been in AAA for a week and has a 1.500 OPS (bader was also killing the ball in memphis tho)

yeah i think it's more the starters that were available. i don't think they could have pulled off greinke, which leaves . . . cashner? homer bailey? doesn't seem to be much point

yeah, i guess it's true that there didn't seem to be much on the trade market...

it just seems odd that they can't flip some of these guys for some non-OF prospects, at least

just hope STL and CHC beat up on each other sufficiently to let the Mets sneak past one of them

just so you all know, the cardinals were totally about to win that game

That was a pretty fugly weekend in Pittsburgh by the Reds. They need to take those damn pajama uniforms and put them on the mound and set them alight.

Walls seem to be closing in on the Brewers

https://i.imgur.com/0uQd7cz.png

The Pythagorean Reds would like their season back.

Record: 64-73, 4th place in NL_Central (Schedule and Results)

Pythagorean W-L: 70-67, 618 Runs, 604 Runs Allowed

I see Ben "Zobrist vs Zobrist" Zobrist is back and hitting

The Brewers are...

5-5 last 10g
10-10 last 20g
15-15 last 30g
20-20 last 40g
25-25 last 50g
30-30 last 60g

— Adam McCalvy (@AdamMcCalvy) September 7, 2019

Well that’s odd

cubs are getting banged up at the worst time. they played david bote at ss yesterday bc addison russell got beaned in the face and javy is day-to-day but might not play any more this season. apparently they're calling up nico hoerner to play some ss even though he's never played above aa. kris bryant has also been in and out with knee issues and hasn't homered in a while. at least contreras is back.

i could not remember kris bryant's name yesterday and it was driving me batty. i refused to look it up. i woke up in the middle of the night and immediately thought "kris bryant". so don't worry, everything's all good now

Darvish over his last ten games: 2.69 era with 4 walks and 79 strikeouts over 60.1 IP.

since it's the NL central thread, i'll add Jack Flaherty's line over the last 10 games:

0.70 ERA with 14 walks and 81 strikeouts over 64.1 IP
(his 96.3% LOB% and 5.3% HR/FB rates over that period might have contributed to his ERA success, too)

With the way the ball is flying having a good HR/FB might just be a skill? For example, Darvish is still getting crushed in that aspect. I get it’s quite park dependant but I suppose if everyone is hitting the low pitches and going for HRs pitchers must figure at least try to find way to induce fly outs.

btw don't miss that Pirates UZR in the chart

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/the-cardinals-great-and-boring-defense/

just watched Steve Cishek spit the bit vs SD last night, a joy to behold

so much fun to hate the Cubs

I didn’t realize he was still pitching!

technically he is

oh no, the fucking Pirates visit Wrigley this weekend

you get your 18 games against the marlins, they get theirs against the pirates

Six of which are still to play!

https://i.redd.it/g2fbp8nvs5m31.jpg

not so fast...

BREAKING NEWS: Albert Almora Jr. cut his hair

— Jordan Bastian (@MLBastian) September 13, 2019

just the type of move the Cubs needed to make to shore up their outfield

omg Pirates with 4 in the first

throwing error by newly shorn Almora

two seconds after your post and it's 4-2

4-3

this Brault guy must be good

The Wind Is Blowing Out

guess i won't rush home to watch on the laptop

3rd dinger of the inning by the Cubs

done with this one

4-5

lmao

lmao @ the last few posts, not the Cubs winning

brault had allowed five homers over his last 16 appearances going back to may 18. oh well!

dear Mr Manfred

1) fix the ball
2) blow up Wrigley Field

The Cubs have hit three home runs in the first inning of a game for the first time since Sept. 17, 2006, also at Wrigley Field.

Jacque Jones, Ronny Cedeño and Carlos Zambrano did the honors against Eric Milton and Sun-Woo Kim of the Reds.

— Andrew Simon (@AndrewSimonMLB) September 13, 2019

holy shit they're only in the fifth?

lmao

tbh should they get there i still expect the Cubs to make as much of an impact on the postseason as the O's, ultimately.

quite a Bears-Steelers game

I shd've specified Wrigley should be imploded while the Rickettses are holding Trump fundraiser

5 0 5 0 7

pirates tying franchise records right and left today

plunked four batters in a game (last done in 1909)

allowed double-digit runs for the 28th time this season (last done in 1930)

following up on Flaherty, who escaped my notice tbqh

https://www.mlb.com/news/jack-flaherty-is-best-pitcher-of-second-half

great weekend, Buccos

hang onnnn Cards

We could witness more history: The Pirates have allowed 46 runs in this series. One more ties their modern-era record for most runs allowed in a three-game series (June 23-25, 1950). Cubs have hit 13 home runs over three days.

— Jason Mackey (@JMackeyPG) September 15, 2019

Junior who? fuckin St Loo

Cards about as helpful as the Bucs

Junior Fernandez is going to kick the Mets’ ass a hundred fold in 2020-25 just for that!

I’m more bummed about giant walking the bases loaded. He was unstoppable in the first half but now he’s completely lost it

Giant = Gant

has wainwright announced an intention to retire? he's having a pretty nice season

he has kind of hinted at it, but he also did that last season. and he's also laid some hints about retiring when yadi does (whose contract is up at the end of 2020)

i feel bad for talking so much shit about him last year, hoping that he'd retire. he really seemed *done* done last year, though. his velocity dropped off a cliff and it was just one hanging uncle charlie after another for months straight.

Wainwright has quite a bit of guile and just mixing speeds is pretty effective if he has control. I'd imagine returning depends a whole lot on how the rest of the season plays out.

Those 40s Cardinals clubs are the only players that would have won 3 titles. Wainwright and Yadi would have three rings if they won it this year.

Anthem time! 🎵🇻🇪🎵 pic.twitter.com/yigLc9Awbs

— Cincinnati Reds (@Reds) September 19, 2019

this Flaherty has big (figurative) balls

Uugh, this 9th has been excruciating

Feels so weird to say this but.......go.......Cardinals

Aw heck just caught up

I
Hurt myself today
To see if I still felt

isn't that a shame

glad the Cubs have acquired future HOFer Craig Kimbrel to shut down the opposition.

at least the Mets may finish ahead of the Cubs.

AH, THE PIRATES

YADIER

(first time ive ever posted that)

Kimbrelol

DEJONG

LOL Kimbrel

a perfect final cubs game on WGN

glad the Cubs have acquired future HOFer Craig Kimbrel to shut down the opposition.

― omar little, Friday, 20 September 2019 03:47 (yesterday) link

Or as I said further back in the HOF thread:

Kimbrel looks like he's toast. he had that massive 2017 w/Boston but otherwise the two seasons before and the two since don't seem exactly Rivera-like in terms of consistency and microscopic ERAs. He's a guy that i do not want to see on the hill for the Cubs in an important situation in the World Series (lol?)

Kimbrel threw a meaty fastball up, in Wrigley, in a one run game. And after he got taken deep, he threw exactly the same pitch to the next batter! Juiced ball or not, that's dumb baseball.

Darvish was again incredible...til he wasn’t.

how'd the Pirates win 65 games?

it is a mystery

Assuming the Brewers snatch this WC slot, it's amazing that they gave Travis Shaw 261 PAs (mostly at 3B i think) to the tune of .157/.280/.274.

SLG < OBP is always an amazing accomplishment

not only that but he was constantly coming up during pivotal moments, like it would always be 2 on, 2 out, 1 run game, 8th inning, here's Mr .150

tbh I have no clue what happened to him, he was pretty damn good the last 2 years and he's too young for that sharp of a decline. I wonder if he's been hurt all year.

fire emoji

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/the-cardinals-lay-waste-to-the-cubs-2019-season

don't want to gloat too much - the cubs could very easily be spoilers to the cardinals hopes to win the division. cardinals get dbags + cubs to end the season. brewers get reds + rockies

for those who might care, wainwright is in line to start the final game of the season, against the cubs. could be his last regular season appearance, if he decides to retire and the cardinals get their asses kicked by the braves/nats

rough inning for the cubs

Brewers officially have a run differential of 0

flaherty looking good as he heads toward the bottom of the seventh

In his 4th Major League start today, Cardinals rookie Randy Arozarena has beaten out an infield single, stolen second, stolen home, thrown out a runner at third base from CF, and homered.

— Andrew Simon (@AndrewSimonMLB) September 25, 2019

rip cubes

positives for the cubs 2019 season - javy maintaining his 2018 breakout, darvish's second half, heyward's best season as a cub, contreras rebounding from his bad offensive season last year, hoerner looks like a viable 2b and leadoff hitter option going forward

biggest problem i think was the feast-or-famine offense, so many 1-run losses and cold streaks

i like a lot of the players but cubs games moving from WGN to the ricketts-owned pay channel next season is going to make it hard for me to be an active fan. going to try and follow the white sox more closely instead.

free agents: hamels, zobrist, castellanos, strop, cishek, lucroy

dudes getting raises: kimbrel (+$6m), hendricks (+$4.5m), bryant/baez/schwarber/russell arb 2, contreras arb 1

i could see them non-tendering russell, although he shouldn't be that expensive

brew crew is on FIRE

it helps that they've been playing the padres, reds and pirates, of course. but still, they've been relentless. next up: the feared colorado rockies, playing for nothing

the cubs' attachment to russell is mystifying to me. a below-average hitter/decent fielder at a position where they already have an mvp candidate. and that's not even factoring in his domestic violence allegations.

and nico hoerner appears to be a viable younger/cheaper/less assholish option

it helps that they've been playing the padres, reds and pirates, of course. but still, they've been relentless. next up: the feared colorado rockies, playing for nothing

true but they had like 10 games vs. the Cardinals in April so that's kinda how it goes

we need a schedule overhaul w/ more intradivision games, and 32 teams to make Howie Rose's head explode

the double-a texas league covers a big geographical area and only has eight teams, so division rivals play each other 30 times a year. it's kinda crazy

Gotta say I enjoyed the division format for threads

same

only division where we have fans of each team?

i will make individual threads for every team not in this division next year

I think Jays and Mets can have individual threads because they have an outsized # of fans on ilx.

cubs need a win this weekend to beat their notorious pecota projection

With Cubs out, Maddon isn't playing his "A" lineup in St. Louis, so @Brewers can start their bitching now: "Of course they're going to bitch, and I get it, but quite frankly, there are certain things I really don't give a shit about, and that would be one of them."

— Paul Sullivan (@PWSullivan) September 26, 2019

maddon otm

anyway his 'A' lineup last won a game 10 days ago, so

I can sense he's on his way to Queens

nah, mets are too cheap. i'm thinking san diego

wonderful catch by almora just now! that was the second time he robbed yadi tonight (first would have been a double, at the top of the wall).

oooooooof what a double finish
limping near the finish line

Happy retirement to Cincinnati Reds HOF announcer Marty Brennaman! I will long treasure his response to a fan's question about his greatest fear from a 2014 "Ask Marty!" segment! pic.twitter.com/2ccu8nvSXs

— ℑ 𝔇𝔬𝔫'𝔱 𝔅𝔩𝔞𝔪𝔢 𝔜𝔬𝔲 (@NickPinkerton) September 27, 2019

Hurdle out

idg why you’d fire someone hours before the final game

Cubs don't appear up to the task

Don’t get rid of Maddon imo

Great opportunity for Mets and Giants

https://i.imgur.com/iFV9qJF.jpg

i'm 98% sure i'd still say this if the cardinals hadn't ended up taking it, but this was a good season to follow the NL Central! no team ran away with it, with 3 teams with a good shot all the way to end. even the pirates were in first place as of late april, and the reds could be dangerous soon.

https://i.imgur.com/HqKF3O4.png

NL central titles since neal huntington took over as general manager of the pirates:

STL 5
CHC 3
CIN 2
MIL 2

Is Huntington the real problem? From a distance it looks like no matter what the FO does, the Pirates won’t achieve anything with Nutting

that is probably true, but his record of trading and player development is pretty piss poor as well

https://fivethirtyeight.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Sawchik-NLCentralMLB-0924-1.png?w=575

Jesus the Mets being -4 despite deGrom

well, degrom was drafted before 2012. but still

Ha yes, okay.

Forgot the Archer trade. I do think it’s a fireable offense.

The #Pirates have dismissed pitching coach Ray Searage and bench coach Tom Prince.

All the other coaches from manager Clint Hurdle's staff "are candidates to remain on the big league staff pending the conclusion of the
managerial and coaching staff hiring process," per the team

— Rob Biertempfel (@RobBiertempfel) October 3, 2019

i saw someone suggesting fabled gritty pittsburgh native DON KELLY -- currently the astros' 1B coach -- for manager

One neat factoid I came across in a career retrospective of Marty Brennamen's broadcast career was that he did the famous Christian Laettner shot for Duke against UK on the radio. I knew that Marty was a color announcer for UK basketball also for a few years in the 70s, but did not know or remember him doing college basketball tournament games on the radio that late.

david ross is the new cubs manager

pirates have fired team president frank coonelly

It sucks he won't be on ESPN anymore.

what do we think about Ross on the Cubs? felt a little out of left field to me, but i don't follow them too closely.

Apparently everyone in baseball loves Ross. Definitely a cubs legend due to 2016 WS heroics. He was ok as a broadcaster/analyst, I guess.

Honestly, feels like the manager’s main impact on games is to just avoid doing incredibly dumb and unnecessary stuff. The rest is just serving as a figurehead for people like me to yell at when they’re frustrated at the organization for not better decisions years ago

supposedly maddon was thought (by the cubs) to be too much of a players' coach? it kinda seems like ross would be as well, especially when dealing with so many former teammates, but maybe not. that's the only drawback i can think of

there had been talks of the cubs possibly trading bryant or baez or contreras (or...) and i wonder if this hiring makes shedding any of those core players from the 2016 world series team less likely

i'd be surprised if it made any difference -- theo et al reserve that power for themselves and seem sufficiently unsentimental.

apparently kris bryant's service-time grievance is finally to be ruled on this week; if bryant wins, he'll become a free agent after next season.

hard to imagine Ross being a better manager than Maddon but I agree with y'all, it's probably not gonna make much of a difference. I mean the Brewers hire of Counsell worked out pretty well and that was someone I could easily see being too much of an "old-school baseball" sort of guy

we joked about mathenaging -- and matheny did not, in fact, seem very good at managing his bullpen or making strategic decisions -- but for me the fact that he played favorites and let assholes like bud norris shit on rookies daily is much more damaging.

playing basically every day for six months while travelling all over the continent is pretty hard, and even more so when you hate your boss or don't get along with your co-workers. apart from building the strategy of using relievers based on leverage rather than inning, counsell had to sell the idea to players who'd been doing it differently their entire lives. he's able to do that because he's a good manager of people, and i imagine ross is as well.

(joe torre got a lot of shit for things like personally destroying scott proctor's right arm, but the fact that he was able to get his highly paid yankees teams to perform so consistently well is v. impressive to me. i mean, the a-rod/jeter thing, gary sheffield, clemens -- that's a lot of ego to massage.)

rumor has it that pirates gm neal huntington will also be canned, which is unusual because he has two years left on his contract and the team is so fucking cheap

attn karl

https://www.mlb.com/news/memories-of-david-freese-2011-world-series

thank you, i didn't see that! the will leitch story (about the story) is legendary

The Pirates spelled their interim GM’s name incorrectly in their press release. It is Kevan Graves.

— Stephen J. Nesbitt (@stephenjnesbitt) October 28, 2019

“It’s back to the future,” Mark Attanasio says. Here is the new primary Brewers logo. pic.twitter.com/Tw4pDAaWIx

— Adam McCalvy (@AdamMcCalvy) November 19, 2019

Awesome

All the gear I have has that logo anyway so no problem for me

Love the old logo - not a fan of the font.

same

Lots of people today are pointing out something I missed: The Brewers' new alternate road uni looks a lot like a Wolf Cub Scout uniform. pic.twitter.com/ZaHnOBXuvH

— Paul Lukas (@UniWatch) November 19, 2019

i quit on the same day i got my webelos badge

BIRDS OF A DIFFERENT GAME: THE '80S CARDINALS PREMIERES TUESDAY, JANUARY 28 AT 8:00 P.M. ET ON MLB NETWORK

MLB Network Presents Documentary Looks Back on How The 1980s St. Louis Cardinals Dominated the National League

i'm not a MLB network subscriber...are those documentaries usually pretty good? i will definitely try to track it down after it airs because :D