Yu complete me: Chicago Cubs 2018

chatwood is batting .250, they should convert him to an outfielder and have him replace heyward

i can imagine him having trouble hitting the cutoff man

can't wait to hear maddon's thoughts on this one

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DeT2L9TV0AIJEgA.jpg:small

ahhh, thanks joe

Maddon on the slide: "It was a perfect play by Rizzo. My concern is that they're teaching the fans the wrong thing, also. Because the fans' reaction to Rizz the next time he came up indicates that they think he did something wrong. And that's what's so wrong about all of that."

— Wes Crosby (@OtherNHLCrosby) May 28, 2018

very surprised pirates fans did not support rizzo for that play

he'll probably wear one tomorrow whether the pirates mean to or not, because he stands on top of the fucking plate

Watched several games lately w/my kid while my dad was visiting, and for some reason he’s under the impression that while Bryant and Rizzo and Schwarber and Baez are outstanding hitters, the real tough out in the lineup is Jason Heyward.

“Oh yes, here’s Jason Heyward. He is THE best hitter. He’s going to hit a home run, I just know it! (*Heyward bounces one to second*) Oh nooo Jason Heyward whyyyy???”

he definitely looks like someone who should be hitting a lot of home runs

i'm really enjoying old man zobrist killing it this season

Heyward with the 2 out, walk off salami!

beaver falls' own joe namath guaranteed it

5+ Walks in a game

Mark Buerhle: 6 times in 493 career starts

Bob Gibson: 7 times in 482 career starts

Max Scherzer: 8 times in 309 career starts

Tyler Chatwood: 8 times in 12 starts this season @ckamka @jaysonst @Cubs @MattSpiegel670

— Mike Garrigan (@MikeGarrigan23) June 7, 2018

i would not be mad if they kept montgomery as a starter when darvish came back and ended or at least suspended the tyler chatwood experiment

Buerhle was something.

pretty slick defense today, especially the double plays by baez and heyward/contreras

#Cubs Darvish session did not go well. Chatwood will start Saturday

— Carrie Muskat (@CarrieMuskat) June 28, 2018

#Cubs Maddon says Darvish had some pain in his arm during bullpen. He'll return to Chicago and Joe says they'll figure out next step

— Carrie Muskat (@CarrieMuskat) June 28, 2018

Let’s start with Chatwood. When I examined his season back on May 22, he had a 3.14 ERA despite an 18.3% walk rate and 102 FIP-, the latter figure mostly on the back of an unsustainable 3% HR/FB. Since then, his walk rate has actually increased; since May 22, he’s recorded an 18.8% walk rate. That’s bad. Not only has Chatwood produced the highest walk rate among pitchers with 30 or more innings this season, but his 18.6% mark would actually represent the second highest among qualifiers* since the integration of baseball.

https://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/why-the-cubs-and-yankees-should-swap-tyler-chatwood-and-sonny-gray/

imagine how good this team would be if they had more than one reliable pitcher

john lackey is available

https://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/the-cubs-are-on-pace-for-their-worst-rotation-ever/

congratulations jon lester, who was declared by tim mccarver to be "probably the NL cy young award winner for the first half"

not helping his odds today. might have to edit my earlier post on the cubs' number of reliable pitchers.

lester's been getting good results but i think degrom and scherzer and nola are waaaaay in front in terms of standout NL seasons

i agree

hahaha what is McCarver's droolcup full already

lol at this inning -- double walk walk single walk walk, nobody out yet. I guess I'll go start dinner.

come on, rain...

congratulations jon lester, who was declared by tim mccarver to be "probably the NL cy young award winner for the first half"

― Karl Malone, Friday, July 20, 2018 11:55 AM (one hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

well he *is* 12-2 with 88 strikeouts in only 111.2 IP, Max Scherzer has collapsed for 5 losses and clearly those 182 K in 134.2 IP make his defense bored and therefore listless when they come to the plate.

Tyler Chatwood gives out more free passes than a cheap gym franchise.

-Ben Carsley, BP

just over .500 since the all-star break despite series against the padres and royals, fortunately the brewers have kept the same pace.

https://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/some-of-my-favorite-javier-baez-statistics/

this is really good on weird changes baez has made (including being more aggressive at the plate) that are somehow working

just read that David Bote has the highest hard-hit percentage in MLB (albeit an extremely small sample size.)

second walk-off slam this season for them iirc, first walk-off slam by anyone with their team down to their final out and down 3 runs since 2011.

hamels is looking like a great pick-up so far: over 18 innings with the cubs, he has 1.00 era and 20 Ks, with no homers. obviously unsustainable but still promising.

especially now that lester's luck appears to be running out

Lester needs rest that he's not going to get. Not sure why there's so much confidence in Justin Wilson as a reliever, but we got what we got. Sure glad that Strop has stepped up this year - he's fun to watch.

I think the big question, is who gets sent down. I vote Russell and put Baez at Short and Bote on Second Base, when Bryant returns.

russell is def the one guy who i don't have much confidence in when he steps up to bat. he's great defensively though.

breaking down the details

https://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/david-bote-and-the-maximum-swing/

it feels like every single game this season has started with them giving up 2-4 runs in the first inning or two

in support of that statement: https://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/hamels-and-pray-for-rain-and-pray-for-more-rain/

Quintana's downturn is depressing.

One of the hardest games I ever sat through - can't bring myself to look at scorecard again. Best quote I saw on reddit's /r/ChiCubs channel: Worth remembering that Quintana's affordable contract was a big selling point. That financial freedom allowed them to acquire both Chatwood and Darvish. I have a pretty big oven if anyone's head wants to join mine in it.

If everyone is healthy, the Cubs have six lineup spots for:

- Kris Bryant
- Javier Baez
- Kyle Schwarber
- Daniel Murphy
- Ben Zobrist
- Addison Russell
- Albert Almora
- Ian Happ
- Jason Heyward
- David Bote

That is a first-world problem.

— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) August 21, 2018

how are the cubs not a 100-game winner this year? it always seems like if the starting pitching could revert back to anywhere close to what most people expect (esp for quintana, lester) they'd instantly be unbeatable again

xp a reminder that september expanded rosters are bullshit

Daniel Murphy?

Oh just saw the news.

i mean that's a great offensive lineup but also they had one run in each of their last four games so ???

Rizzo has been more or less struggling all season, Bryant is injured, Heyward is Heyward, Happ and Almora have wrc+ of 100, sure it's a very good lineup but a four game funk can happen to even better lineups.

Was Hendricks ever good or was that just my imagination.

2016 he was very good

on june 18, 2021, the cubs were alone in first place in the NL central with a 39-31 record

since then they are 66-115