One of the highlights of the year has been the entrance into the league of a Sosa.

Edmundo Sosa

The first Sosa since Sammys fall from Grace.

Interesting that the new Sosa is on the Cardinals of all teams.

Lets see if we can go out on a winning note.

Hopefully Davies' last start as a cub.

Davies vs Hudson

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I thought Davies was already shut down. Who the hell knows who is even playing. Half the team got hurt and the other half is in virus protocol. Brennan should get some ab's but you can't start the clock.

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That's my purse! I don't know you!

Ortega great catch to rob Goldschmidt of a homer.

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well he didnt start tonight.

But as if on queuq, he comes up in the 9th inning and laces a sharp single as part of the winning rally.

I am the Steve Stone of these boards.

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brutal baseball.

when the chips were down..........fargas can't move the runner with poor bunt attempts and Kohn-tre-ras ran right through the thirdbase coach's stop sign and was out by 10 feet. what an undisciplined clown. decade after decade of the same ridiculous mistakes and poor baseball. nothing ever changes with this club.

I think Davies would have started if the Cardinals had not already clinched the WC spot, but once that happened why bother.

I wasn't sure why the fuck Contreras was PH in the first place. And then he goes and tweaks a muscle running into second.

I'd like Contreras to sign an extension, because I think that top-quarter catchers are hard to find. But I don't think Contreras likes Ross or v.v., so I think he gets dealt this off-season.

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"When people want their version of the truth, they go find it, no matter how baseless their beliefs." -- Ken Rosenthal

i remember hearing in 2016 that contreras was rated highest of all young talents in the budding cubs system (2012-2015), by the cubs themselves. thought he looked great his first few years and i was hoping he'd be johnny bench for a decade.

right. too much of a hot-head and undisciplined to be johnny bench.

maybe you're right - pick the clubs with the top 3-4 catching prospects and get a deal done. if the cubs truly believe in amaya, then get back a good pitching prospect.

Got to believe it's tank mode one more year with play stoppage uncertainty. Thing about Contreras, there's not a whole lot of catchers at his level.

He would be a really good fit with the Blue Jays in a contract year.

With the Blue Jays, Alejandro Kirk has a lot of promise but he's too young at 22 to be an everyday playoff catcher, and their #1 prospect is a catcher named Gabe Moreno who crushed AA this year and saw a couple of AB in Toronto due to COVID issues. I don't think the Jays would give up Kirk, but for a full year of Contreras to let Moreno develop with a full year at AAA, they have some good minor league pieces.

For example, they have a SS/3B named Kevin Smith who got rushed up way too young for a few games in September due to a rash injuries and clearly isn't ready yet, but who hit well at AAA. He's blocked behind Jordan Groshans, whose service time clock they didn't want to start. Get Smith and have him play every day SS/3B at AAA next year while they figure out if Nico Hoerner is too fragile to be an everyday player and if Patrick Wisdom is going to turn into Jerome Walton, and get the Jays to include their next best catching prospect.

I think Amaya is one of those guys whose career COVID screwed over, his service time clock is already started, he was hurt much of this year, he only played 23 games this year for a shitty Tennessee team where he got pitched around most of the time (21 BB, 17 H) so even if he had double power he wasn't going to get a decent pitch to hit. There is absolutely no way he can start in Chicago next year, and at this point he probably projects out to a ceiling of Victor Caratini. Regardless of what happens with Contreras, Amaya needs at least 300 PA at Iowa next year before anybody can say anything about him even coming to Chicago as a backup.

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"When people want their version of the truth, they go find it, no matter how baseless their beliefs." -- Ken Rosenthal

great win!

Ian Happ the centerpiece of it all with another HR.

25 HR and a .760 OPS for the year.

Imagine if he had even a mediocre (as opposed to terrible) first 4 months. His numbers woulda been ridiculous.

Last time Cubs were in STL, they had their team, they lost 3 of 4 but the one win was a wild comeback in the 9th from a 5 run deficit. Tonight was similar.

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Cardinals playing all their guys.

Sosa back in the lineup.

Molina also startin'.

Kinda surprisin'.

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Molina moved to 1B and they took their best hitters out after the first few innings. This is a "feature" of limiting September rosters to 27, there aren't 8 guys on the bench nor a third catcher.

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"When people want their version of the truth, they go find it, no matter how baseless their beliefs." -- Ken Rosenthal

Whistler let me put it in simple terms in deference to your intellect. Happ fucking sucks.

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Proud member of the white guy grievance committee

It aint the six minutes. Its what happens in those six minutes.

I don't think Happ sucks. But he's streaky as all hell and I do think that playing CF was a bit too much for him. Losing his job to a journeyman AAAA player in Ortega and then getting playing time after the selloff and realizing that nobody wanted him... It seems to have focused him a little more.

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"When people want their version of the truth, they go find it, no matter how baseless their beliefs." -- Ken Rosenthal

Called in the 7th due to rain and the fact that nobody in either organization really gave a shit.

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"When people want their version of the truth, they go find it, no matter how baseless their beliefs." -- Ken Rosenthal

Happ has a decent ops. But, he goes into long deep slumps he can't dig out of. He'll never make big dough, or figure into the Cubs long-term future plans. He is better than JHK, but that's not saying much. Never gets called "a great guy" for his charity coffee work.