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Yeah 1TD – I meant 4th place, not 5th. Thanks for the correction! I get that the Cubs were solid in the 2nd half last year. But the Pirates are quietly getting better and while I think the Cubs may see a slight overall record improvement, I doubt that they get over .500 with their poor lineup combined with average starting pitching and likely a bad bullpen. I see 4 average-ish hitters with Haap being the only one of those who may end up above average. Then the red of their lineup and bench will be poor or abysmal. They just aren’t going to score that many runs – even at Wrigley. The only true upgrade they made is at defense, which is why I think their record improves slightly. But the bullpen is definitely worse. And I think their lineup is likely worse too.
With all of the countless changes, I had to check and make certain there wasn’t a new expansion team or revised division format, Jnevel…Haha! At any rate, I haven’t really kept up with the Pirates, so I’ll take it under advisement that they should be better. I’m simply guessing about the Cubbies and that guess is based only on that I happened to notice last year that they were winning a lot of games during the final couple of months of the ’22 season. At any rate, I could very well forsee them coming out of the gate and losing 17 out of 20 games simply because…They’re the Cubs!
Good comment, Bling. We will see how it plays out as far as their bringing in Swanson. Could work out well – who knows.
One thing I learned early on following baseball, just when you think you have it all figured out, something goes exactly the opposite of how you thought it would and you are (once again) humbled.
That’s right, BikeMike. Just when you’re certain the next one’s going to be hard heat, here comes the breaking ball.
Second baseman Nico Hoerner and the Chicago Cubs are in agreement on a three-year, $35 million contract extension, sources tell ESPN. Deal buys out one year of free agency, but Hoerner still will hit the market at 29. Final two arbitration years priced ~$15M and FA year at ~$20M.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) March 28, 2023
What do you folks think of this?
Oh. The Marlins are THIS team, now. Okay. I dig it! pic.twitter.com/WlnPVHBMNu
— Cody Decker (@Decker6) April 14, 2023
Assuming he’s getting paid for the promotion, do we want fan interference to be something that potentially pays off?
As much as I enjoy the Cubs being knocked down a peg I think that promotion is in poor taste actually.
Gotta admire how he stuck to it until he ended up in the right situation for him.
.@PatrickWisdom5 is having fun in the Windy City right now.
The @Cubs slugger has posted an OPS of 1.008 and 6 homers this season (5 in the last 4 days)💪 pic.twitter.com/SAFQCT8wSe
— MLB Network (@MLBNetwork) April 18, 2023
And Bellinger’s playing pretty well after signing up for 1 year with his new team. Remains to be seen if he can continue to produce, but a lot of teams passed on him. If he’s healthy, and it looks like he is, he could be a nice sign up for the Cubbies. He’s only 27 and hey, he’s a former NL MVP, ROY and GG’er.
Cubs pitching a lot better without you know who behind the plate. His inability to frame pitches is costing strikes and leading to more hits for the opposition.
His inability to block pitches in the dirt is leading to free bases for opponents base runners.
All in all it feels like the new backstop is a major contributing factor to the inflated ERAs of our pitchers….
Maybe Cubs are glad we took him off their hands….
The Cubs with Contreras were tied for 17th in wild pitches last year, which is middle of the pack.
This year so far the Cardinals with Contreras are tied for 4th in wild pitches.
That suggests the wild pitch issue is not a Contreras issue.
Whether right or wrong, my mindset has always been that a WP is just what it says it is and a PB is an equally descriptive term that illustrates precisely what happened on the field. Therefore, in my view, a WP is never an issue which should be associated with the C, and a PB is never an issue which should be associated with the P.
Molina prevented wild pitches.
It’s like defensive driving. Who cares who’s fault it would be – just avoid the accident.
That’s was a big reason why the Cubs let Contreras go, pitch framing. You have to wonder how much offensive production an almost 31 year old catcher has in front of him.
If you’re concerned about poor pitch framing, you should get behind ABS/RoboUmps to come to MLB ASAP!
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