people keep blaming hitting for the problems in early 2024. I rather think it was more obvious--alzolay, morel, hendricks, cuas, gomes, amaya, pca were all zeroes in their respective defense or offense roles. Neris > Alzolay an ultimately Hodge > Neris, Hendricks improved, Amaya improved, Bethancourt > Gomes, Miller > Cuas, PCA improved. In the case of Amaya and PCA, it WAS hitting. But mostly it was defense that was the problem that got fixed.
Hitting was the problem especially at home where they averaged less then 4 runs per game compared to over 5 runs per game at home. And they were streaky and would go games without scoring then put up 15 runs in back to back games then go cold again
@@randylewis8628 In April they averaged 5.4 runs per game home and away. When they started losing leads due to the disfunctional bp they also started hitting less. Correlation?
The correlation between the Cubs winning and Morel leaving is bogus. Many guys weren't hitting. Gomes and Wisdom were hopeless. Dansby was doing squat. Amaya and PCA were hitting poorly. They made adjustments and Pete and Miguel looked vastly improved at the plate. Dansby really picked it up post all star break. Dumping on Morel is pretty unfair. He DID hit 18 homers for the Cubs last year. Kyle was brutal before he pushed Reset. The bullpen was a trainwreck early. Adbert didn't have it and "No Mas Cuas" and "Heart Attack Hector" were no solution. The injuries to the pitching staff were mind boggling. You are correct in that Jed didn't have a Plan B in place in case Adbert did not come back in top form. A top notch closer might have saved 5+ games in the first half. Morel was hardly the issue.
I never said anything about Morel causing the Cub's 2024 swoon. I said that Bo Bichette "defensively [...] put up a -16 DRS in 2022--that's Christopher Morel levels".
Morel was horrible for Tampa when he went there, I wish him luck but I think he got alot of opportunities honestly, he showed some flashes but I never felt like he was a stable player, felt very up or very down
Great stuff, guys. I wish I could make it to Cubs Con. I will be moving back to Chicagoland this coming year. Hopefully, can I catch you guys at the 26' Con.
Workman & Vazques are both VERY good defenders at 3rd base. Vazques is a great SS so 3rd will be no problem. Id prefer they put the 5+ million towards the Bullpen instead of bench pieces that can be filled by waiver claims & DFA's
Boog sounded like a company man in that interview. Like the spokespeople who are telling the public that there’s nothing to worry about with the drones, even though they don’t know what they are. Basically-There’s nothing to see here, and you don’t have the same access that I do so don’t worry about it anyway….
I think the Cubs go into the spring training with Shaw and Gage Workman competing at 3B. Maybe even BJ Murray if they need to start Shaw/Triantos at 2B to fill in for an injured/traded Hoerner. (I have no delusions that BJ is a long term solution, but maybe he's adequate as a cheap stopgap.) Bo Bichette is OK, but that's assuming he _fully_ rebounds from injury. But even if you trade away whatever it takes to get him from the delusional Blue Jays who think their window is still open, 1) you're still paying him almost $18M for 2025, 2) he's a rental, 3) his power has regressed every year since his first full season, and 4) defensively we're talking about a guy who put up a -16 DRS in 2022--that's Christopher Morel levels!
It was a good point made about Morel. But I believe it wasn’t just that the defense was so bad. He was not hitting well either. However, it took ridiculously too long for cc to get him out of the cleanup spot. The person hitting ahead of him was getting nothing good to hit for almost 2 months. Which goes back to the point about urgency. Counsell and Jed let that go in WAY too long. It’s just one of many examples like this from the team last year.
The key to this season is pca and amaya stay solid offensively like they did from july on if they do they make playoffs if not itll be another long year just my opinion
The cubs showed no urgency to move Morel down in the order in May and when they did it was to the 5th spot while I was thinking bat him 8th or Iowa. This year there are better options for third. Play Shaw at third, but have a backup. Maybe Triontos or a veteran. Where is Bote?
Ryan feltner from Colorado they should check in on for the rotation. He has the stuff as far as pitching that the cubs love, he has 4 years of control so he probably wont be the cheapest to acquire but he is cheap as far as salary and you get him away from Colorado he is easily a sub 4 era guy
Why would they hire Craig Counsel and not give him enough talent to win a weak division, It's like making Peanut butter and jelly sandwich and not buying any jelly
Is their something wrong with the farm system ? Your big worries are having a utility guy for third and a guy to play 2nd for 2 or 3 weeks. You guys ever heard of James triantos or Louis vazques. We don't need to sign a guy like that get a closer
what’s the difference between shaw at 2 or 3? either way he’d be immediately thrust into a starting role and i’d rather have nico than paul dejong. i still think keep nico at 2, sign dejong as a stopgap guy until Shaw is comfortable to handle everyday 3b. every team needs a Nico Hoerner he is a straight up BALLPLAYER do not get rid of him. trade some of our vast unproven far system for somethin not Nico who is a proven quality bat and gold glove
Shaw is far better at 2nd then 3rd right now. Id start him at 2nd and flip Nico for pitching. Then trade for Alec bohm. If they are going all in actually go all in.
Kim will be out even longer than Nico. Also if they signed him id put him at 2B and Shaw at 3B. I would just stay away in general as Nico is a better offensive player
Did you hear the word "want" in any of our conversations? We were simply saying these are possible (and potentially) likely scenarios based on the rumors. It would be irresponsible for us to ignore the rumors.
Are you okay with Shaw at 3B to start the season or do you want to see the Cubs go after someone else?
good with Shaw.
Good with Shaw; LFG!
Get Nolan
Shall is good. Need to "BRING THE KIDS"
@RedneckOutdoorsman4life Absolutely not--that guy is washed up (or nearly so).
people keep blaming hitting for the problems in early 2024. I rather think it was more obvious--alzolay, morel, hendricks, cuas, gomes, amaya, pca were all zeroes in their respective defense or offense roles. Neris > Alzolay an ultimately Hodge > Neris, Hendricks improved, Amaya improved, Bethancourt > Gomes, Miller > Cuas, PCA improved. In the case of Amaya and PCA, it WAS hitting. But mostly it was defense that was the problem that got fixed.
Hitting was the problem especially at home where they averaged less then 4 runs per game compared to over 5 runs per game at home. And they were streaky and would go games without scoring then put up 15 runs in back to back games then go cold again
@@randylewis8628 In April they averaged 5.4 runs per game home and away. When they started losing leads due to the disfunctional bp they also started hitting less. Correlation?
The correlation between the Cubs winning and Morel leaving is bogus. Many guys weren't hitting. Gomes and Wisdom were hopeless. Dansby was doing squat. Amaya and PCA were hitting poorly. They made adjustments and Pete and Miguel looked vastly improved at the plate. Dansby really picked it up post all star break. Dumping on Morel is pretty unfair. He DID hit 18 homers for the Cubs last year. Kyle was brutal before he pushed Reset. The bullpen was a trainwreck early. Adbert didn't have it and "No Mas Cuas" and "Heart Attack Hector" were no solution. The injuries to the pitching staff were mind boggling. You are correct in that Jed didn't have a Plan B in place in case Adbert did not come back in top form. A top notch closer might have saved 5+ games in the first half. Morel was hardly the issue.
Exactly dude.
I never said anything about Morel causing the Cub's 2024 swoon. I said that Bo Bichette "defensively [...] put up a -16 DRS in 2022--that's Christopher Morel levels".
Morel was horrible for Tampa when he went there, I wish him luck but I think he got alot of opportunities honestly, he showed some flashes but I never felt like he was a stable player, felt very up or very down
Craig was to blame for close to ten loses too
Great crossover pod!
Great stuff, guys. I wish I could make it to Cubs Con. I will be moving back to Chicagoland this coming year. Hopefully, can I catch you guys at the 26' Con.
Find a way to make it happen! 🙌🏻
You are right Sam
When is Cade Horton going to make his MLB debut? How close is he to being ready?
Should have been last year if it wasn’t for the injury. Let’s hope ASAP. April or May
Bo Bichette is a very intriguing idea. He's young, but just had a really bad year. I'd definitely take a flyer on acquiring him.
💯
Workman & Vazques are both VERY good defenders at 3rd base. Vazques is a great SS so 3rd will be no problem. Id prefer they put the 5+ million towards the Bullpen instead of bench pieces that can be filled by waiver claims & DFA's
I am "Locked on Cubs"
Boog sounded like a company man in that interview. Like the spokespeople who are telling the public that there’s nothing to worry about with the drones, even though they don’t know what they are.
Basically-There’s nothing to see here, and you don’t have the same access that I do so don’t worry about it anyway….
Not only did the Cubs start in Baltimore in the 2nd half of 2017 but I believe it was the Cubs debut of Jose Quintana. 8 scorrless innings.
Nice memory
I think the Cubs go into the spring training with Shaw and Gage Workman competing at 3B. Maybe even BJ Murray if they need to start Shaw/Triantos at 2B to fill in for an injured/traded Hoerner. (I have no delusions that BJ is a long term solution, but maybe he's adequate as a cheap stopgap.) Bo Bichette is OK, but that's assuming he _fully_ rebounds from injury. But even if you trade away whatever it takes to get him from the delusional Blue Jays who think their window is still open, 1) you're still paying him almost $18M for 2025, 2) he's a rental, 3) his power has regressed every year since his first full season, and 4) defensively we're talking about a guy who put up a -16 DRS in 2022--that's Christopher Morel levels!
I was over it about 3 months ago 😂
Sam looks fried Trying his hardest to stay Serious 🤣
Its Human Nature related depending on their status at a certain time.
See ya at Cubs Con 2025💙❤️
It was a good point made about Morel.
But I believe it wasn’t just that the defense was so bad. He was not hitting well either. However, it took ridiculously too long for cc to get him out of the cleanup spot. The person hitting ahead of him was getting nothing good to hit for almost 2 months. Which goes back to the point about urgency. Counsell and Jed let that go in WAY too long. It’s just one of many examples like this from the team last year.
💯
The key to this season is pca and amaya stay solid offensively like they did from july on if they do they make playoffs if not itll be another long year just my opinion
I think PCA is ready to be a 4+ WAR player. Really excited for him this year
The cubs showed no urgency to move Morel down in the order in May and when they did it was to the 5th spot while I was thinking bat him 8th or Iowa. This year there are better options for third. Play Shaw at third, but have a backup. Maybe Triontos or a veteran. Where is Bote?
Matt Shaw played 3rd base mostly last season…how was he graded defensively?
Didn't look good. Weak arm that was 3 hopping to 1st. And his fielding % was .938. he improved on team USA but not sure how much
Ryan feltner from Colorado they should check in on for the rotation. He has the stuff as far as pitching that the cubs love, he has 4 years of control so he probably wont be the cheapest to acquire but he is cheap as far as salary and you get him away from Colorado he is easily a sub 4 era guy
I’ll have to look into him
Why would they hire Craig Counsel and not give him enough talent to win a weak division, It's like making Peanut butter and jelly sandwich and not buying any jelly
Would Sonny Gray be available? I mean the Cards are rebuilding, we hate them I know, but Sonny Gray is really good…
Doubt the Cardinals would trade him to the Cubs
Is their something wrong with the farm system ? Your big worries are having a utility guy for third and a guy to play 2nd for 2 or 3 weeks. You guys ever heard of James triantos or Louis vazques. We don't need to sign a guy like that get a closer
what’s the difference between shaw at 2 or 3? either way he’d be immediately thrust into a starting role and i’d rather have nico than paul dejong. i still think keep nico at 2, sign dejong as a stopgap guy until Shaw is comfortable to handle everyday 3b. every team needs a Nico Hoerner he is a straight up BALLPLAYER do not get rid of him. trade some of our vast unproven far system for somethin not Nico who is a proven quality bat and gold glove
Shaw is far better at 2nd then 3rd right now. Id start him at 2nd and flip Nico for pitching. Then trade for Alec bohm. If they are going all in actually go all in.
alec bohm stinks brother
and you can flip anyone on our farm for pitching let’s actually use some of that #2 overall prospect system
Kim will be out even longer than Nico. Also if they signed him id put him at 2B and Shaw at 3B. I would just stay away in general as Nico is a better offensive player
Hoerner is staying since Paredes is gone
Shaw will be fine. Fix the bullpen and trade for Pablo Lopez.
Why u wanna trade Nico so bad it’s stupid
Did you hear the word "want" in any of our conversations? We were simply saying these are possible (and potentially) likely scenarios based on the rumors. It would be irresponsible for us to ignore the rumors.
Ginger is a disgrace to Cubs baseball
I’d like Arenado