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2018 Chicago Cubs


Disco Missile

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I was driving home when Twitter was blowing up, figured it ws the same fan posts about being at the game.

What a fucking finish! Bote has a spot, 3rd, 2nd, 1st, anytime a guy goes down, throw him.in there. Hes been a great call up each time.

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We get Chatwood out.of the rotation, and Hamels gets away from Texas. Win win. I think it was a good move, didnt cost much and Hamels has good numbers on the road. Joe (and myself) wanted something more, but I bet the Mets wanted the entire farm, plus picks for Degrom.

As for Darvish, I have no hope, the guy has rehabbed twice this season, just hope he can come out of the pen in Sept and October and get guys out.

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37 minutes ago, Dewey said:

We get Chatwood out.of the rotation, and Hamels gets away from Texas. Win win. I think it was a good move, didnt cost much and Hamels has good numbers on the road. Joe (and myself) wanted something more, but I bet the Mets wanted the entire farm, plus picks for Degrom.

As for Darvish, I have no hope, the guy has rehabbed twice this season, just hope he can come out of the pen in Sept and October and get guys out.

All of this although we shall see what happens with Chatwood if and when the entire staff is back and healthy.

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I feel like Hamels is the type of guy that will turn it on now that he’s back on a contending team. He’s a competitor, and when you’re on a team that clearly isn’t going anywhere, I could see how it would be tough to be motivated every 5th day. Change of scenery on the NL favorite, I think he’ll surprise some people with what he has left in the tank. 

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43 minutes ago, Dewey said:

 and Hamels has good numbers on the road. 

Yeah, well, that's kinda what I thought about the Chatwood signing -- decent numbers away from Coors, high ground ball rate, etc., etc.  And look how that turned out.  Of course, I didn't count on Chatwood walking a million batters every game, either.

Hopefully the new environment will be good for Hamels.

 

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Maybe, but hes pretty comfortable pitching in Wrigley. Texas' park leads the majors in home runs. The biggest hope is that a good team, NL, away from Texas, maybe he finds that gear again. Hes had a great career, is the same age as Lester. Again, its hope, nothing more.

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Team has looked like hammered dog crap since the break.  Barely splitting at home against the worst team in the NL?  That ain't gonna cut it.  Struggling with the Royals.  Hitting like crap with RISP.  Fuck this noise. 


They’re 10-10 while missing Bryant and Morrow for much of that time with 14 of those games against >.500 teams. Settle down.
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53 minutes ago, DanRydell said:

 


They’re 10-10 while missing Bryant and Morrow for much of that time with 14 of those games against >.500 teams. Settle down.

 

Maybe somewhat of an overreaction,  but I don't think anyone can honestly say this team has been playing champion-level ball lately.  And it's not particularly attributable to missing Bryant and Morrow.  (Bote and Strop have been stellar in their roles.) The team in general simply isn't hitting on all cylinders.

The Cubs are 10-9 since the break, mainly against teams that are either shitty (Royals and Padres)  or barely above .500 (Bucs and Cards). You can try to spin that however you want, but the numbers don't lie.  Chicago has been mediocre since the break.  They need to break out of the funk soon because the schedule this month is relatively easy on paper -- it's an opportunity to put some distance between them and second place. 

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I agree that they have played like shit and just insanely inconsistent. I do put a lot of that on health as this team has maybe had 2 weeks all season completely healthy it feels like. It’s still amazing that they have the best record in the NL even though it’s a down year.

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Doesn't get much more exciting than that ending. 

What do you do with Bote when Bryant comes back?   

Bote's batting .320 on the year, just pinch hit-grand slam-walk offed in a nationally televised game, and plays a great 3rd base.  Maybe better defensively than Bryant.

Edited by Monster
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28 minutes ago, shnsajax said:

Send down De La Rosa?

But how do you keep Bote on the field?  Definitely hitting better than Russell, but not sure I've ever seen someone go from 3rd to short stop before...outfield maybe?  Just seems a waste to leave him on the bench all game...he's playing as well as anyone on the team.

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1 hour ago, Monster said:

But how do you keep Bote on the field?  Definitely hitting better than Russell, but not sure I've ever seen someone go from 3rd to short stop before...outfield maybe?  Just seems a waste to leave him on the bench all game...he's playing as well as anyone on the team.

Manny Machado switched from 3rd to SS pretty well. Baez routinely moves around the infield. Zobrist as well. Its not an impossible task. 

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Figuring out where to play Bot when KB gets back is a good problem. Whoever is the minor league coach that tweaked his swing, give the guy a raise. Home run to tie a game and now a GS to win a game. 320 avg, guy has been a savior this season at the plate and in the field.

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2 hours ago, Dewey said:

Figuring out where to play Bot when KB gets back is a good problem. Whoever is the minor league coach that tweaked his swing, give the guy a raise. Home run to tie a game and now a GS to win a game. 320 avg, guy has been a savior this season at the plate and in the field.

And apparently hitting the ball harder (avg velocity) than anyone else in the entire league.  

If I took the names off the jerseys and was confident there'd be zero emotional fallout, I'd move Baez to short and KB to second base and leave Bote at 3rd.  KB's fielding % is .959 (2nd worst for a position player on the team after La Stella).   Bote's fielding % is 1.000

Russell has 14 errors already (3rd worst fielding % on the team) and looks distracted some games...combine that with a .266 batting average, and he's odd man out, for me, unless something changes by the time KB gets back.

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Manny Machado switched from 3rd to SS pretty well. Baez routinely moves around the infield. Zobrist as well. Its not an impossible task. 


Machado is a dumpster fire at short.

But yeah, you can put Baez at SS and Bote at 2B to get him some more at bats when Bryant comes back. Or put Bryant in left and Schwarber on the bench when facing a lefty.
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1 hour ago, Monster said:

And apparently hitting the ball harder (avg velocity) than anyone else in the entire league.  

If I took the names off the jerseys and was confident there'd be zero emotional fallout, I'd move Baez to short and KB to second base and leave Bote at 3rd.  KB's fielding % is .959 (2nd worst for a position player on the team after La Stella).   Bote's fielding % is 1.000

Russell has 14 errors already (3rd worst fielding % on the team) and looks distracted some games...combine that with a .266 batting average, and he's odd man out, for me, unless something changes by the time KB gets back.

Russell is 3rd out of all MLB shortstops in defensive runs saves, and 6th overall out of all positions in defensive war. Comparing his fielding% to other positions on the team is really meaningless.

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I'm guessing nobody missed it but just in case they did-

 

 

 

Just unreal. And Bote's story is one that happens a lot in baseball and people just don't know about it. A few highlights from twitter last night-

 

Kane County is the Cubs Low A ball affiliate-

 

Also crazy when you think about what some of the borderline guys go through to  make it to that moment-

 

 

Possibly the first time that happened in MLB history, (absolutely the first time it has happened in modern baseball history) Down 3-0, bottom of the 9th, bases loaded, 2 outs, 2 strikes. 

 

 

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28 minutes ago, shnsajax said:

Russell is 3rd out of all MLB shortstops in defensive runs saves, and 6th overall out of all positions in defensive war. Comparing his fielding% to other positions on the team is really meaningless.

So you're saying that committing errors when the ball is hit to you, is meaningless.   But being in the game when your team wins is very significant?  What a weird and random argument.   Russell's 14 errors is tied for the most in the national league (any position).    I'm not saying he's horrible, but he's been below average, league-wise, defensively.     And he has the lowest OPS for any position player on the team.   I like Russell, but if I want to get Bote into the lineup, I'm platooning Russell.  

I had to look up 'Defense runs saved'.   That's an interesting, but rather abstract stat, honestly.  (What was his fielding % with with balls hit to this or that exact point on the field.  How did he do with balls that were projected to be caught 60% of the time based on trajectory/speed).   Not discounting it, but I'm not sure it trumps actual errors made.

 

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18 minutes ago, Monster said:

So you're saying that committing errors when the ball is hit to you, is meaningless.   But being in the game when your team wins is very significant?  What a weird and random argument.   Russell's 14 errors is tied for the most in the national league (any position).    I'm not saying he's horrible, but he's been below average, league-wise, defensively.     And he has the lowest OPS for any position player on the team.   I like Russell, but if I want to get Bote into the lineup, I'm platooning Russell.  

I had to look up 'Defense runs saved'.   That's an interesting, but rather abstract stat, honestly.  (What was his fielding % with with balls hit to this or that exact point on the field.  How did he do with balls that were projected to be caught 60% of the time based on trajectory/speed).   Not discounting it, but I'm not sure it trumps actual errors made.

 

This is beyond wrong and I don't know how to help you. Lindor has 13 errors this season as well, are you call him a below average defensive SS? Simmons has 8 does that place him in the middle of defensive SS? You are also moving Bryant to 2nd base, a position he has never played. Now I am not saying that moving Baez to SS might not be a bad idea, but calling Russell a below average defensive SS is beyond stupid. So you are saying that a SS with lesser range, that gets to less ground balls and as a result makes less errors is more valuable. 

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35 minutes ago, JimmyHoffa said:

I'm guessing nobody missed it but just in case they did-

 

 

 

Just unreal. And Bote's story is one that happens a lot in baseball and people just don't know about it. A few highlights from twitter last night-

 

Kane County is the Cubs Low A ball affiliate-

 

Also crazy when you think about what some of the borderline guys go through to  make it to that moment-

 

 

Possibly the first time that happened in MLB history, (absolutely the first time it has happened in modern baseball history) Down 3-0, bottom of the 9th, bases loaded, 2 outs, 2 strikes. 

 

 

It was the most dramatic ending a baseball game can have.    

They mentioned he wasn't hitting all that well in the minors, but those stats are amazing compared to what he's done so far in the big leagues.  He's a great underdog story and seems like a good guy.  

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19 minutes ago, Monster said:

It was the most dramatic ending a baseball game can have.    

They mentioned he wasn't hitting all that well in the minors, but those stats are amazing compared to what he's done so far in the big leagues.  He's a great underdog story and seems like a good guy.  

 

I think he was hitting around .250 at Iowa. 

Just looked it up- .268 Avg, .836 OPS 13 HR.

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28 minutes ago, shnsajax said:

This is beyond wrong and I don't know how to help you. Lindor has 13 errors this season as well, are you call him a below average defensive SS? Simmons has 8 does that place him in the middle of defensive SS? You are also moving Bryant to 2nd base, a position he has never played. Now I am not saying that moving Baez to SS might not be a bad idea, but calling Russell a below average defensive SS is beyond stupid. So you are saying that a SS with lesser range, that gets to less ground balls and as a result makes less errors is more valuable. 

Baez has less range than Russell?   I can't even tell what you're arguing at this point...the validity of your cherry-picked stats?   

But okay...if it's your lineup, and Russell is untouchable (despite his team low OPS and imo, defensive medicority), how do you get Bote onto the field?   

 

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