Good start to the month of June

Combined no-hitter. Eight walks, but who cares?!

Out of Baez, Bryant, Contreras and Rizzo. Who do you think will be traded?

I would think Braynt is as good as gone becuase there's no way he's coming back as a free agent. Good chance of that with Baez as well.

Don't go rizzo

Why are the Cubs acting like a small market team.

Looks like a total rebuild which makes no sense .

And now Kimbrel

At least you're getting nick madrigal

now baez


no foundation left. no way bryant resigns!!! why not baez. WTF. I was done with MLB this year, but i am done with the cubs. SOME BS

And there goes Bryant.

You had to know this was coming after they weren't able to get any deals in the spring and then they hit that losing streak.

Cubs going scorched earth

No one is safe. Marisnick to the Padres.

Has there ever been a team that traded away So many "face of the franchise" like this?

On the bright side, at lease we still have Hoerner.

Baez, Bryant, and Rizzo all homer in their debuts. I'm glad that they are all with contenders this season before they hit their paydays.

This Frank Schwindel is impressive.

Full NTC

Seiya Suzuki in agreement with Cubs, pending physical, source tells @TheAthletic. Five years, $85M.

— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) March 16, 2022

that is good. I saw they are one of the top places for correa. Are they actually going to spend some money!

Sorry if this has already been posted or mentioned before.

I got a record player for Christmas last year and I've been slowly building my vinyl collection. I found David Allen Coe's album, Once Upon a Rhyme. It has the song we all know and love, " You Never Even Called Me by My Name."

We all know that Steve Goodman wrote this song. He recorded it in 1981. His version does not have the same final verse, as that was written especially for David Allan Coe. You know, the verse about mom, trucks, rain, and prison.

Well, getting this album made me do a deep dive on Steve Goodman.

He was born in Chicago in 1948 and became a singer songwriter. In addition to "You Never Even Called Me by My Name, he also wrote a Grammy winning song, "City of New Orleans" recorded by many including John Denver and Willie.

Perhaps the song you might know of his and maybe didn't realize, is "Go Cubs Go," written and recorded in 1984.

The Cubs clinched the NL East on September 24, 1984.
It was going to be their first appearance in the playoffs since 1946.

Steve Goodman passed away from Leukemia on September 20, 1984 at the age of 36.
He never got to see the Cubs clinch the division or play in the playoffs.

So when you hear that song played, think of the guy that wrote it but never got to see the Cubs in the playoffs.

It makes that choke job in San Diego that year even sadder.

His name is said every day in bars like the Chicken and his song played and sung 60+ times a year by 40k Chicagoans, so he does live on in a bit in some of us.

162-0, here we come!

Marcus Stroman was the first hurler to get nabbed by the pitch clock.

cubs actually might be a major league team this year and we can get this discussion going again. Last year I check out.

I'm in

I'm in as well.

Frustrating end to the weekend after an exciting Opening Day. Obviously need more production from everyone else besides Swanson, Happ, and Hoerner.

I think Taillon will settle in as the year gets going, and I was encouraged by Stro and Steele's outings. Excited to see Wesneski throw this week against Cincy. Hopefully Smyly continues his form from the end of last year and got all the bugs out in ST. Expecting at least 2 wins coming out of Cincy

Quote:

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Frustrating end to the weekend after an exciting Opening Day. Obviously need more production from everyone else besides Swanson, Happ, and Hoerner.

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Would love to see Bellinger step up.

Agreed. He's had some good AB's that just haven't resulted in hits. Hopefully he'll get it going this series

TexAg1822 said:

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Agreed. He's had some good AB's that just haven't resulted in hits. Hopefully he'll get it going this series

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Ask and ye shall receive.

Haha what a beauty! Refreshing to see

Swanson busting his ass to score a meaningless run from first today in the 8th vs. Rangers.

I
Love
It

Smyly got something cooking today.

Offense does as well, obviously.

Bummer way for it to end, but what an outing for Smyly

Such a fluke way to lose a perfect game/no hitter. What a game for Smyly.

I've learned in the past week that I really don't like David Peralta.

Gomes is really starting to become one of my favorites on the team.

TL;DR warning. I'm jumping on a soapbox.

Rewind to the game last night. It's the top of the 6th, Nationals up 1-0, and Cubs have the bases loaded with one out. We pinch hit Mancini for Rios, even though it's against a right hander. Mancini strikes out. Hosmer pops out. Inning over. No runs.

1) Rios is a man without a position. Literally his only job is to hit. If you don't trust him against a right handed pitcher in a high leverage spot, why is he on the team?

2) The two first basemen now have an 89 wRC+ (Hosmer) and an 87 wRC+ (Mancini). Mancini failed last night, but he's at least hitting better lately after a horrific start (187 wRC+ since 4/20). He also provides a RHH option at the position, so let's ignore him for now.

3) Hosmer is a below average hitter at a position where average really isn't good enough. His walk rate is close to a career low, K rate is close to a career high, ground ball rate is top 10 in the MLB, hard hit rate is bottom 5 in the MLB, and soft hit rate is top 5. So he's hitting a ton of soft grounders, barely any power, and not getting on base.

4) It's kind of poetic that this inning included failures from our two first basemen and another left handed power hitter while Mervis is sitting idle in AAA.

All this to say, I no longer see a reason why Mervis is not on this team. At the very least send Rios to AAA, move Hosmer to the bench, and let Mervis take Hosmer's starts at 1B and DH. There should be nothing blocking him from playing time. It's also not like he's a kid,: he's a 25 year old that has nothing left to prove at AAA. I can see why they are hesitant to bring up Morel. He's 23, barely played at AAA, and we want him to be a super utility player. He needs the guaranteed defensive innings. Plus, all of his positions (3B, 2B, SS, CF) have entrenched starters that are playing well. I'm fine with having him wait for an opening through a struggling starter or injury. If the front office wants to prove that they want to contend this year, Mervis needs to be on this team ASAP. How many of these last 4 close losses could he have made a difference in? Even if it's just one, you can't afford to wait any longer.

Couldn't agree more with everything you just said.

For the life of me I don't understand why Rios is still here despite his lack of opportunity. Like you said, either you trust him (so he needs to play) or you don't (so either DFA him or option). I also don't like the AB's he's taking away from Nelly.

Mancini has a longer leash due to his contract I think, and Ross seems to love him. I'm encouraged by his results post-Oakland.

With that said, you hit the nail on the head with the Mervis discussion. I don't understand it, and it seems to be the general consensus among the fan base. I know they value their presence in the locker room but there are ways to still achieve that and have Mervis up, it definitely couldn't be worse