Cubs ongoing 2016 Season Thread

[ElTexan]

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.

He is nowhere near as athletic as even any of our own other OFs. You're blowing smoke up your own ass.
He's a pudgy power hitting lefty. That spells 1b all day.DH if in another league.

 

[Johnny Sleeper]

Schwarber is as athletic as Prince Fielder and that was before he blew out his knee. Schwarber is a great hitter that belongs in the AL. Send him to the Yankees with Gleyber Torres and McKinney for Miller and Betances and the bullpen is set for years. Strop, Wood, Rondon, Betances and Miller for this year. Wood will leave after this year if he can find someone that will let him try to be a starter. Stop is either gone or paid after 2017. Then Rondon and Miller after 2018. So you basically set the bullpen up through 2018 and assume that you can develop a few high end bullpen arms as they need to be replaced.

The Cubs have a natural LF in Kris Bryant. They have CF covered with Almora. RF belongs to Heyward. Szczur and Soler are your 4th and 5th OFs. Eloy Jimenez is the stud prospect in the pipeline for when Heyward opts out.

Baez takes over 3B, Addy is set at SS, Zobrist has 2B through at least 2017 and Rizzo is set at 1B for a long time. Throw in LaStella and one of Kawasaki, Candelario or Villanueva as the other infielder off the bench. Then Contreras will take over as the primary catcher soon with Montero as the backup and Ross will be gone after this year. Ian Happ, who just got promoted to AA, will probably be up at some point next year and take over 2B in 2018 pushing Zobrist to a utility role.

Schwarber is just an extra bat that is a disaster in the field. There is no DH spot for him. If the new CBA does magically bring the DH to the NL the Cubs can promote Vogelbach who is hitting .301/.421/.540 in AAA. Otherwise, he'll be traded this off-season to an AL team.

 

[Johnny Sleeper]

HR #3 for Bryant! What a game for him! Three HRs and two doubles. Rizzo makes it back-to-back! Now if only Arrieta could remember how to pitch and the bullpen didn't suck.

 

[anotheridiot]

first time in major league history someone hit 3 home runs and 2 doubles in the same game.

 

[ChicagoIrish]

First time in league history someone hit 3 homers and played 3 different positions in the same game.

 

[ChicagoIrish]

He is nowhere near as athletic as even any of our own other OFs. You're blowing smoke up your own ass.
He's a pudgy power hitting lefty. That spells 1b all day.DH if in another league.

A guy who plays baseball at the major league level, and also made the Ohio all state football team at LB. With numerous division 1 offers.

. . .yeah, he's not athletic

 

[anotheridiot]

wow, that was a wild game. Everyone praising Maddon, but would have hated to see Patton, Wood or Strop getting hurt chasing a fly ball out there.

 

[Johnny Sleeper]

The only move I can be critical of was pulling Almora for Coghlan. It was already in the 11th and the slight upgrade from Almora to Coghlan at the plate wasn't worth emptying the bench. It's not like Almora has been bad with the bat. So it just seemed odd. Wood and Patton going back and forth between LF and the mound was interesting and a smart move to get the matchups he wanted. Javy's blast to make sure they knew they weren't going to be able to come back and crush their spirits was great.

 

[anotheridiot]

I will be critical of bringing Coghlan back at all. He has wasted away in Oakland, should not be playing anyway with our bottleneck outfield and Javy should be pushing Bryant or Zobrist to the outfield on a daily basis. Almora with a home run today, using the right center gap, great defensive outfielder, another diving catch today, but they bring back Coghlan after blocking with Fowler and Heyward.

 

[JohnU]

Almora with a home run today, using the right center gap, great defensive outfielder, another diving catch today, but they bring back Coghlan after blocking with Fowler and Heyward.

Hoping you aren't pinning any potential on anybody against the Reds, who are easily the most embarrassing team we have seen in Cincy in more than 30 years.

 

[Johnny Sleeper]

I guess you knew Almora would be ready this soon? He hit 272/.327/.400 in AA last year. While that is solid that is not anything that you get excited about and expect him to only need 2 months in AAA over. Almora made a huge jump in the off-season which is great, but realistically he was looking like a September call up, at best, with the information the team had when they signed Fowler.

It is also a good thing they signed Fowler otherwise that OF would be in even worse shape. That is why you stack you team like Theo did. Injuries happen! Remember last year Addy came up before he was ready because of injuries and the need of him to play 2B. Schwarber got his extended look because Montero got hurt. To not have signed Fowler when given that opportunity would have been incompetence on the part of Theo and Hoyer. Soler going down, Schwarber getting hurt because he is playing in the wrong league, LaStella going down, etc. You have to have depth when these things happen. The recent skid had a lot to do with the injuries and the team adjusting to rookies like Almora, Contreras and bullpen arms. If Theo hadn't loaded up with depth including, but not limited to, Fowler, Zobrist and Heyward this team would be in a free fall right now. Trading for Coghlan was because of the injuries. Coghlan comes over and picks up where he left off last year with a .372 OBP over his first 17 games. He could end up DFA'd when Fowler and Soler get back.

Almora will be the starting CF next year. Heyward will be in RF. We can all hope that Bryant in in LF to maximize the team. Baez at 3B. Addy at SS. Zobrist at 2B, although Ian Happ will be breathing down his neck from AAA after his recent AA promotion and he continues to hit with a .733 avg in AA after 5 games. Happ probably comes up next year to push Zobrist to that utility role you want him in where he will play 2B, LF and RF. I didn't include 3B, because Maddon has only played him there 4 times in their several years together so clearly Maddon doesn't like him at 3B. LaStella will continue to be the backup 3B, with Bryant getting the occasional start there at 1B and in RF, and Baez will slide to SS when Addy gets a day off. Soler and Szczur will be the utility OFs. Contreras and Montero will be the catchers. Schwarber will be gone, hopefully to Oakland in a package for Sonny Gray and Doolittle. Although to the Yankees in a package for Miller and Bentaces would a more direct way of addressing the current weakness. The rotation hasn't been an issue this season, but you never know when Hammel will drop off and Gray gives them a 4th "ace" with Arrieta, Lester and Lackey that has a few years of team control and they can opt out on Hammel after this season if they don't include him in the package for Gray. Hammel would be fine as the long reliever down the stretch.

 

[anotheridiot]

No, I thought Almora would be helping later in the season. Fine, Heyward is 26, same age blah blah blah, so it was great having him playing Center field. Right had Soler, Zobrist, Bryant, left had Schwarber, Zobrist, Bryant, Scuzzy on the bench as the fifth, Baez getting regular playing time. Putting fowler ahead of them all after he turned down the 15.6 million dollar offer was what lost me. Ended up being Schwarber, soler, bryant, Zobrist sharing time in left field. Little did we know that Joe did not plan to use Mr superulitlty as our full time second basemen. LaStella is just clogging up starts for Baez.

Yeah, great, Fowler got us off to a great start, but immediately Soler became an outfield liability after no mention of bad defense last year.

 

[Johnny Sleeper]

Last year Soler was a negative defender by every metric you can find. It was said during the off-season that Zobrist was going to be the starting 2B this year and Baez would start the season in the super utility role. These things were only unknown to you if you weren't paying attention.

AAA was the first level since A ball that Almora did not start out extremely slow and have to adjust. Thinking he might be up late in the season is one thing. Expecting him to take a huge jump in projection over the first two months of the season is something totally different. I expected him to be up because of his defense in September and hoped his bat would be ready enough by then. What he did with his bat in AAA was totally unexpected.

Are you really complaining because the Cubs added better players than what they had? You are actually complaining about them making the roster better? You are complaining about them trying to win a World Series?

 

[anotheridiot]

What was the deal 5 years ago? Develop position player kids, buy pitching. They have changed the path.

 

[Johnny Sleeper]

How was that the deal 5 years ago? The plan was to build a championship team. That means acquire assets and use them in the best way possible. Most of the talent on the team was brought in via trade or FA. How many players on the roster were drafted and developed by the Cubs? Baez, Bryant, Contreras, Almora, Edwards Jr, Soler and Szczur. Did I forget anyone? So one full time starter in Bryant and a bunch of role players and a relief pitcher is all that the Cubs have drafted or signed as amateurs. Everyone else was either traded for with assets or brought in through FA.

The goal is to win championships. The goal is not to have a lineup full of guys you drafted. It doesn't matter where the players come from as long as they are the 25 best you could get. You draft and develop the best bat because bats are always in demand in the trade market and if you don't need a bat at that position, or you don't have that position on your lineup card, you can trade a big bat and have at least 15 teams that could use more offense. A big bat has a higher probability of developing than a pitcher. So you play the math, develop as many assets and then maximize those assets.

Right now to maximize the assets they need to trade some prospects, which could include Schwarber, for some big arms in the bullpen that have a few years of team control on them. It doesn't matter what those players might be in 2-3 years. If you are going to wait for an organization to develop a full 25 man roster you are going to always have holes that keep you from winning.

 

[ElTexan]

Bats cooling, middle relief struggling, relying too much on the home run. Feels like 2015.

 

[Johnny Sleeper]

Best winning percentage in baseball. Nine game lead in the division. Most runs scored in the NL. Best ERA in the NL. All teams go through slumps. Hopefully, they get their out of the way in June and July and are healthy and peaking come the playoffs.

 

[wood20ks]

Best winning percentage in baseball. Nine game lead in the division. Most runs scored in the NL. Best ERA in the NL. All teams go through slumps. Hopefully, they get their out of the way in June and July and are healthy and peaking come the playoffs.

They`ve been slumping for a little while now..........and we are slumping vs good teams and a bad team(Was,STL,MIA and now NYM).That's not a good sign even if we are slumpg.
And Arrieta I believe has finally lost his magic.he was just an average pitcher before he came here.
So I`m hoping he can regain what he had.......

We need Dexter back....asap.

And hate to say it,but,I`m losing confidence fast.............

 

[Johnny Sleeper]

Nine of their last 16 loses have been in 1 run games. When they fix the bullpen that will solve a lot of the issue. Getting Fowler back will also help. Almora has been solid, but they need another high OBP guy at the top of the lineup. I'd like to see them leave Almora in CF and put Fowler in LF when he is activated. Almora is the better defender and he is hitting well.

 

[ChicagoIrish]

And Jason Heyward still sucks