fathom

QUOTE (chitownsportsfan @ Apr 17, 2015 -> 05:14 PM) Really? It's not like the bottom of the lineup is tearing it up. If Eaton and Melky and Jose don't f***ing hit it's going to be a very long year. Just a disheartening f***ing start man. Those three have been brutal. Eaton and Melky especially. At least Jose has a couple bombs. I want them to be in the 1-2 spot, but maybe moving one of them down takes some pressure off?

Goodness, here we go again

QUOTE (Bigsoxhurt35 @ Apr 17, 2015 -> 05:12 PM) This offense is in full suck mode this season This should be the last game of this 1-2 if they struggle again. Got to find a way to get some runners on for the middle of the order.

Well, that was quick. Melky a dynamite 0-11 vs LHP this year

Wow, sick play by Price.

Anyone else find it really shady that Olt's x-ray didn't initially reveal a fracture...but once Bryant's 12 days passed, it all of a sudden did?

QUOTE (shysocks @ Apr 17, 2015 -> 05:30 PM) 8 Eaton 7 Melky 3 Abreu D Avi 6 Alexei 5 Beckham 4 Sanchez 9 Bonifacio In my world Sanchez is with the White Sox (and the first part of the season hasn't done much to dissuade me) but he has some grisly numbers against lefties in his MiLB career too. But he wouldn't be here for his bat anyway. What you'd gain is a better look defensively, one you don't have with Avi in right and Bonifacio at 2nd. I want to clarify again that I'm not suggesting ALR is an automatic sit against lefties but his career numbers against them no longer seem important. If only we still had Viciedo. I'd take Viciedo back on the roster to help against LHP!

QUOTE (bmags @ Apr 17, 2015 -> 05:25 PM) Really disheartening to me that 8 games into the most anticipated year in 10 years, and almost every game so far I have felt we are outmatched, worse yet it's against all division foes. To be fair, the Tigers with Price on the mound might be the best team in all of baseball. On the other hand, teams always seem outmatched when they're slumping. Hard to win a lot of games where your 1-2 hitters are combining to hit around .300 with no power at all.

QUOTE (Armchair Hahn @ Apr 17, 2015 -> 04:01 PM) this. he still struck out 27% of the time in AAA. add on +5% for MLB difficulty. while he would still certainly be capable of 20-25 hrs, i'd put his average at .220-.240. Unless he is the next coming of Mike Trout who strikes out 27% of the time, yet still hits .280 I'm thinking 30 easily. Based off of the stats on mlbfarm, 2/3 of the balls he put in play were in the air. When the wind's blowing out at Wrigley, he's going to be a beast.

LaRoche's numbers since 2013 against LHP are way below his career averages (.590 OPS range). He's 0-7 in his career vs Price, Flowers 0-6. As for the eye test so far this year, LaRoche doesn't seem to be picking up anything offspeed from LHP.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Apr 17, 2015 -> 03:44 PM) People are posting about having both catchers in the line up. Apparently they have forgotten what they have posted about these catchers in the gamethreads. Offensively they have a better chance IMO vs Price than LaRoche does

That 2-3-4 is insane in terms of age and talent. No reason for the Cubs to not have a top-notch offense for the next 5 years.

QUOTE (PlaySumFnJurny @ Apr 17, 2015 -> 03:32 PM) Happy "Kris Bryant Day" everyone!!! I'd be excited too if I was a Cubs fan, but sports radio this morning was ridiculous and unlistenable. Agreed, and it's going to be that way for a while it seems.

Doesn't seem like LaRoche will have much of a chance against Price. Against nasty lefties like Price, I wouldn't mind Flowers/Soto both being in the lineup at C/DH.

Watched Fulmer again tonight. He put up great numbers again, but his velocity was around 90-92 all night after being 94-95 last week. That raises some warning signs regarding his ability to pitch every 5 days.

I think he has an article coming out in the next few days, but Kiley McDaniel has said a few times he's heard teams in the 6-10 range of this draft are planning on cost-saving deals with their first pick (ie: Cubs last year with Schwarber).

QUOTE (LDF @ Apr 16, 2015 -> 08:35 PM) new mock draft 4-15 interesting take. they used to be good with these mocks.... i am wondering what is happening. http://www.mymlbdraft.com/MLB-Mock-Draft They're about 21-23 spots too low on Tate

QUOTE (Tony82087 @ Apr 16, 2015 -> 08:12 PM) No way, I couldn't fathom that..... I was going to make that joke!

QUOTE (Harry Chappas @ Apr 16, 2015 -> 07:36 PM) Media buzz is that his defense is abysmal and he has no position at this tiem. I think Rizzo gets traded for pitching. They would put Bryant in LF, as there's no way they're trading Rizzo. Russell's playing 2nd tonight, so I wonder if they want to fast track him to the majors and keeping Bryant at 3B?

After 3 batters, the Royals have scored 2 runs against Cy Milone

Just to clarify, I wasn't bashing the decision to draft Hawkins. I was referring to the decision to promote him so aggressively after his debut season.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Apr 16, 2015 -> 02:07 AM) Who was drafted shortly after Hawkins that looks much better than him? The rumor was they were going to take Stroman, as they expected Hawkins to be drafted a few picks before them.

QUOTE (Joshua Strong @ Apr 16, 2015 -> 02:01 AM) They did promote Jeremy Harber to assistant GM, an title he shares with Buddy Bell, but he comes from an analytics and financial background. I do want to want to see Bell replaced, he has done nothing for the system. The Hawkins decision alone should have gotten people fired. The organization had a string of toolsy outfielders and didn't come close to developing one. Every prospect that comes up looks unprepared to hit fastballs

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Apr 16, 2015 -> 02:58 AM) The 5th best team in the league makes the playoffs too Playing two superb teams 18 times this year is gonna make it hard for three teams to come out of the AL Central

Tigers with another shutout. 4.5 games behind them after 8 games. Can there be a mulligan on the start of this season?