Cubs ongoing 2016 Season Thread

[anotheridiot]

Zobrist 2B
Heyward RF
Bryant LF
Contreras 1B
Baez 3B
Russell SS
Almora CF
Ross C
Lester P

Rizzo out with the stiff back, should be interesting.

 

[ChicagoIrish]

Absolutely would not trade Schwarber.

 

[ChicagoIrish]

Jason Heyward......Finally starting to get out of this season slump........I was starting to frown upon this guy.

He is? .236/.325

 

[Johnny Sleeper]

.270/.341/.446 in June.

Heyward always starts slow. His career line for March/April is .225/.318/.387. In May he's a career .245/.346/.391 hitter. After the all-star break he's a career .287/.373/.447 hitter.

 

[ChicagoIrish]

.270/.341/.446 in June.

Heyward always starts slow. His career line for March/April is .225/.318/.387. In May he's a career .245/.346/.391 hitter. After the all-star break he's a career .287/.373/.447 hitter.

Worth every bit of that $184 million, huh?

 

[Johnny Sleeper]

Yes he was. He has already accumulated 1.3 WAR and as the bat continues to heat up he'll end up with his normal 5 WAR season. That's a $40M season for a clearance rack price of $15M.

 

[wood20ks]

Well not sure if Heyward is worth it,but for that type of money,there should be no slow starts.......

And damn Arrieta is finally coming down to earth so to speak........hope HE gets out of the rut hes in......

 

[Johnny Sleeper]

Arrieta has really struggled. The Cubs are 2-3 over his last 5 starts. He's gotta do better than that 2.00 ERA he has over his last 5 starts! He's gotta start hitting HRs to provide the offense in his starts or else he's gotta go. Seriously, his ERA has gone up from 1.72 to 1.74 during his "rut". Did he go from being the best pitcher in baseball to the second best? Is that "coming down to earth"?

In the three games they lost the offense scored a combined FOUR runs and no more than two in a single game! Is that on Arrieta? If he has to throw a complete game shutout just to get the game to a 10th inning he's probably going to pick up a few more losses in the near future.

 

[ChicagoIrish]

I think what he means is Arrieta is 2-2 this month with a 2.35 era. Nothing to complain about, I know. But it's easy to get lost in that performance he put up last season, coupled with the start to this season when he ripped through April with a 1.00 era.

2.08 era in May, 2.35 era in June.

 

[ChicagoIrish]

Yes he was. He has already accumulated 1.3 WAR and as the bat continues to heat up he'll end up with his normal 5 WAR season. That's a $40M season for a clearance rack price of $15M.

Which ranks him #85 among position players. Again, worth every penny of $184 million dollars. . .

 

[Johnny Sleeper]

Last year Arrieta went 1-3 with a 3.99 ERA in May and the Cubs were 2-4 in his six starts. In June he was 3-1 with a 2.45 ERA and the Cubs were 3-2 in his starts. He wasn't going to maintain a sub 1.50 ERA all season. He could easily end the season with a sub 1.50 ERA, but every pitcher has a rough stretch. Last year Kershaw had a 3.42 ERA on May 21st and ended the season at 2.13.

When you pitch like Arrieta has been you can't expect him to maintain it forever. He is breaking records and anytime a player is doing that you have to expect some regression at some point. Even if you expect him to have better final numbers than last season, and he is on pace for a better record and ERA, you still have to expect an occasional "rough" outing.

 

[ChicagoIrish]

I'll be plenty happy with a 2.35 season era. There's no way he matches the 2nd half of last season, that was an unreal run.

If a 2.35 month is a "rough" month, I'll take that every damn time.

 

[Johnny Sleeper]

Which ranks him #85 among position players. Again, worth every penny of $184 million dollars. . .

He's not going to get $184M. He's going to get $78M then opt out. However, since he is only making $15M this year he is definitely worth it as his performance for the season will be worth 3-4 times that much. Granted he won't be as good of a value as Bryant, but right now only Bogaerts, Lindor, Syndergaard and Seager are challenging for that.

 

[ChicagoIrish]

He's not going to get $184M. He's going to get $78M then opt out. However, since he is only making $15M this year he is definitely worth it as his performance for the season will be worth 3-4 times that much. Granted he won't be as good of a value as Bryant, but right now only Bogaerts, Lindor, Syndergaard and Seager are challenging for that.

Help me out here, he can opt out after 3 seasons, correct?

If he continues to have a bad season at the plate, and then it happens again and again, we will then be stuck with him for the remainder of his contract, right? He won't opt out unless he thinks he can get more money.

 

[Johnny Sleeper]

He is following his career trend. His like a Castro in April and early May then get going and hit like a stud the rest of the season. The injury from sliding into the wall delayed his getting going a bit. He'll finish with a line around .270/.350/.425 as he always does. Rizzo was hitting .236 at the start of June and then he got going. I'm a lot more concerned about Addy getting going than I am about Heyward not putting up his normal numbers.

 

[anotheridiot]

I guess some of us still see Heyward as the guy that ends up getting Schwarber, Soler or Almora traded. Sczcur is a real good defensive 4th outfielder, someone needs to be kept on the bench until he might opt out.

 

[Johnny Sleeper]

Schwarber needs to be traded. He is a player without a position. The Cubs are 2-3 games worse if Schwarber is healthy. They have won several games based on great plays by Bryant in LF that saved runs. Almora will be the starting CF next year. Soler will be the 4th OF and Szczur will be the 5th OF. Bryant in LF and Heyward in RF. Baez at 3B.

 

[ChicagoIrish]

Trading Schwarber would be absurd. I can't even believe we're having this discussion.

 

[ElTexan]

Trading Schwarber would be absurd. I can't even believe we're having this discussion.

How is it absurd? He's a natural DH or 1b. We already have Rizzo.
I love Schwarby, but a trade could make a lot of sense and isn't at all absurd.

 

[ChicagoIrish]

How is it absurd? He's a natural DH or 1b. We already have Rizzo.
I love Schwarby, but a trade could make a lot of sense and isn't at all absurd.

A natural 1st baseball? Since when? Schwarber is an athletic guy, who can adjust in left field if given the time.

Yes, it's absurd.