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MLB: ***Official 2018 Chicago Cubs Season Thread***

It was hilarious to see the Brewers intentionally walk Baez tonight. Lester was sharp tonight and the bullpen good once again. I hope Eddie Butler keeps this up, I was wondering how he made the roster after how he pitched last season but he has been sharp so far Nice to see Heyward come up big in a PH spot. As much as he and Schwarber have struggled at times I love how those 2 guys keep at it and don't let their slumps get the best of them.

I wonder just how long Maddon will let Happ fail in the leadoff spot. 4 K's in 6 AB tonight, it looks like a repeat of the Schwarber fail at leadoff last year. Looking over this roster I have no suggestions for the leadoff spot because no one has been a consistent on base guy or disciplined at the plate. Bryant fits that but you want him in the heart of the order with guys on base.
 
CYdTracked said:
It was hilarious to see the Brewers intentionally walk Baez tonight. Lester was sharp tonight and the bullpen good once again. I hope Eddie Butler keeps this up, I was wondering how he made the roster after how he pitched last season but he has been sharp so far Nice to see Heyward come up big in a PH spot. As much as he and Schwarber have struggled at times I love how those 2 guys keep at it and don't let their slumps get the best of them.

I wonder just how long Maddon will let Happ fail in the leadoff spot. 4 K's in 6 AB tonight, it looks like a repeat of the Schwarber fail at leadoff last year. Looking over this roster I have no suggestions for the leadoff spot because no one has been a consistent on base guy or disciplined at the plate. Bryant fits that but you want him in the heart of the order with guys on base.
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Why not try Almora for a week or so?
 
CYdTracked said:
I wonder just how long Maddon will let Happ fail in the leadoff spot. 4 K's in 6 AB tonight, it looks like a repeat of the Schwarber fail at leadoff last year. Looking over this roster I have no suggestions for the leadoff spot because no one has been a consistent on base guy or disciplined at the plate. Bryant fits that but you want him in the heart of the order with guys on base.
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Schwarber at least took walks when he wasn't striking out when leading off.
 
ISUTex said:
Why not try Almora for a week or so?
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It's been five games for Happ, every player has ups and downs during the year, they are just magnified early in the season due to small sample size. Rizzo has been just as bad so far. Happ hit really well out of the lead off spot all spring I wouldn't give up on him just yet
 
Heyward had a good at bat last night even before he hit the homer, worked a full count, hit a couple hard foul balls. I would like nothing more than Heyward to suddenly turn back into a .275/.350/.475 type guy that the Cubs could slot into the two spot and get his glove in the lineup everyday (in other words, be the player they thought they were getting). That would be best case scenario for me, I get no enjoyment into watching him ground out to second over and over.
 
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CyJack13 said:
He obviously should have been starting, just another great move by Joe MadDumb by not having him in there.
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I assume this is JimLad territory. Joe put together a great looking lineup for facing a Lefty (despite my nitpicking earlier). It was a great day to give a couple of your lefty hitters a night out of the lineup.

I cringed watching Knebel go down. I'm no Brewers fan but I still couldn't stop saying that you hate to ever see that.
 
CyJack13 said:
Heyward had a good at bat last night even before he hit the homer, worked a full count, hit a couple hard foul balls. I would like nothing more than Heyward to suddenly turn back into a .275/.350/.475 type guy that the Cubs could slot into the two spot and get his glove in the lineup everyday (in other words, be the player they thought they were getting). That would be best case scenario for me, I get no enjoyment into watching him ground out to second over and over.
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How would he turn back into something that he's never really been? He's never hit all those marks in the same season, and the closest he's ever come was in his rookie year when teams didn't know how to pitch him, and his walk year...surprise, surprise.

He's in the early stages of his prime so maybe the light will come on for him, and of course he has another walk year (option)coming. The more likely scenario seems to be that he is what he is at this point...an elite defender, good clubhouse guy, and an average at best, non middle of the order bat in what is typically a premium offensive position. It will be interesting to see what the market will bear and if he exercises his option(s) going forward.
 
ca4cy said:
How would he turn back into something that he's never really been? He's never hit all those marks in the same season, and the closest he's ever come was in his rookie year when teams didn't know how to pitch him, and his walk year...surprise, surprise.

He's in the early stages of his prime so maybe the light will come on for him, and of course he has another walk year (option)coming. The more likely scenario seems to be that he is what he is at this point...an elite defender, good clubhouse guy, and an average at best, non middle of the order bat in what is typically a premium offensive position. It will be interesting to see what the market will bear and if he exercises his option(s) going forward.
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I would take average at best in a second. That would be a gigantic improvement from nearly the worst hitter in the game that he's been the past two years.
 
ca4cy said:
How would he turn back into something that he's never really been? He's never hit all those marks in the same season, and the closest he's ever come was in his rookie year when teams didn't know how to pitch him, and his walk year...surprise, surprise.

He's in the early stages of his prime so maybe the light will come on for him, and of course he has another walk year (option)coming. The more likely scenario seems to be that he is what he is at this point...an elite defender, good clubhouse guy, and an average at best, non middle of the order bat in what is typically a premium offensive position. It will be interesting to see what the market will bear and if he exercises his option(s) going forward.
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I think everyone from the fans and front office would be tickled to death if he opts out of his contract after this season. The reality is no one is giving him a 5 year $106 million contract or better which is what he has left on his Cubs contract if he stays the full length of it. he has another option after 2019 too if he reaches 550 plate appearances. He also has a full non trade clause through this season and a partial no trade clause in 2019 and 2020. So unless he just hates Chicago which I doubt is the case he's not opting out and the only way the Cubs will ever be able to trade him would be to eat most of his contract or take another bad contract back and he probably would not net much for prospects right now either.
 
CYdTracked said:
I think everyone from the fans and front office would be tickled to death if he opts out of his contract after this season. The reality is no one is giving him a 5 year $106 million contract or better which is what he has left on his Cubs contract if he stays the full length of it. he has another option after 2019 too if he reaches 550 plate appearances. He also has a full non trade clause through this season and a partial no trade clause in 2019 and 2020. So unless he just hates Chicago which I doubt is the case he's not opting out and the only way the Cubs will ever be able to trade him would be to eat most of his contract or take another bad contract back and he probably would not net much for prospects right now either.
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That's what I think as well, especially in a year where the big boys are loading up for the Harper, Machado etc class. Then again, I never thought he'd get what he did in the first place. His glove is awesome but that swing?? Usually left handed swings are a thing of beauty. His? Not so much.
 
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I'm actually wrong with the total value left on Heyward's last 5 years. It's actually $118.5 mil over 5 years because I looked past the $2.5 mil a year signing bonus on top of the base salary. That's an average yearly value of $23.7 mil so yeah I don't see him opting out of that contract at all. This season and last are actually his most expensive seasons though at $28.2 mil a year. They apparently front loaded his signing bonus in the first 3 seasons: http://www.spotrac.com/mlb/chicago-cubs/jason-heyward-7231/
 
ca4cy said:
That's what I think as well, especially in a year where the big boys are loading up for the Harper, Machado etc class. Then again, I never thought he'd get what he did in the first place. His glove is awesome but that swing?? Usually left handed swings are a thing of beauty. His? Not so much.
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I know it is hard to totally overhaul a swing, but I wonder what would happen if he totally reworked it during an off season and got rid of that rhythmic spasm he has while awaiting the pitch. It seems to me that stillness would help with inaccuracies of swing but I guess a lot of batters have success despite twirling the barrel of the bat while awaiting the pitch.
 
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VeloClone said:
I know it is hard to totally overhaul a swing, but I wonder what would happen if he totally reworked it during an off season and got rid of that rhythmic spasm he has while awaiting the pitch. It seems to me that stillness would help with inaccuracies of swing but I guess a lot of batters have success despite twirling the barrel of the bat while awaiting the pitch.
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Maybe he should try hitting RH.

It just the damndest thing. It's like it's too long and too choppy all at the same time. I've never seen somebody tie themselves up as much as he does.
 
VeloClone said:
I know it is hard to totally overhaul a swing, but I wonder what would happen if he totally reworked it during an off season and got rid of that rhythmic spasm he has while awaiting the pitch. It seems to me that stillness would help with inaccuracies of swing but I guess a lot of batters have success despite twirling the barrel of the bat while awaiting the pitch.
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He just spent a whole offseason after his first year with the Cubs trying to overhaul his swing and it didn't do him much better last season. Thought he was working on it some more again this last offseason but I could be wrong. This whole team has problems at times with chasing bad pitches. Even Bryant can be struck out with a high fastball or a breaking ball away in the dirt and we all know just about any junk pitch you throw to Baez he's going to swing as hard as possible and corkscrew himself into the ground when he whiffs. It's refreshing when you watch a guy like Zobrist who usually has a patience at the plate and can work a count. It's too bad that doesn't rub off more on some of the more aggressive swingers on the team.
 
CYdTracked said:
He just spent a whole offseason after his first year with the Cubs trying to overhaul his swing and it didn't do him much better last season. Thought he was working on it some more again this last offseason but I could be wrong. This whole team has problems at times with chasing bad pitches. Even Bryant can be struck out with a high fastball or a breaking ball away in the dirt and we all know just about any junk pitch you throw to Baez he's going to swing as hard as possible and corkscrew himself into the ground when he whiffs. It's refreshing when you watch a guy like Zobrist who usually has a patience at the plate and can work a count. It's too bad that doesn't rub off more on some of the more aggressive swingers on the team.
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The sad thing is that just two years ago everyone was raving about how good these guys were at being patient, drawing walks and getting pitchers in pitch count trouble.
 
VeloClone said:
The sad thing is that just two years ago everyone was raving about how good these guys were at being patient, drawing walks and getting pitchers in pitch count trouble.
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They were second in the MLB in walks last year, they still do that. Their offense was also better in nearly every category last year than in 2016.
 
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