Look the hell out, National League


First in all of baseball in Batting Average against

Yeah, they have been on a good roll and with lots of home games in May, they could start looking pretty respectable. No pressure from high expectations thats for sure. Starting pitching has been real good and with Gregg doing a nice job as well as Russell, they are really just a couple more dependable bullpen guys away from being really solid. Things are looking encouraging.

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Go Cubs!!!!

9 blown saves

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"That's what the internet is for. Slandering others anonymously." Banky
“Been that way since one monkey looked at the sun and told the other monkey ‘He said for you to give me your fuckin’ share.’”

Gotta wonder where they might stand if Marmol (and Others including Fujikowa) had not blown all those games. It's the bullpen that was really holding them back most. Sure the offense started out slow, but take away 6-7 of those blown saves and they are in a nice spot. At least they have removed Marmol as closer. Things are looking up.

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Go Cubs!!!!

I believe one non Cub fan on this board predicted they would play decent baseball for the first couple of months but was quickly shouted down by the die hards.

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

If they have Kevin Gregg to start the season, they are a dominant 21-19

Wild card pick starting to look good.

It would be fun if it worked out that way, but I seriously doubt it will. But it's nice to see them winning more regularly. Lets see where things stand at the All-Star break. With all the home games this month, it could start to get interesting. But as Lou said, lets not get too giggly here...

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Go Cubs!!!!

Picking up Gregg is fine, but a great example of not giving GM's tons of credit for the fact that the guys they chose sucked...and they had to go try someone else.

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"That's what the internet is for. Slandering others anonymously." Banky
“Been that way since one monkey looked at the sun and told the other monkey ‘He said for you to give me your fuckin’ share.’”

This is the most any 16-22 team has ever been celebrated


BigFan, you seem on a mission to discredit ANY and ALL GM's

Other than Russell, I don't like anyone much in the bullpen. Gregg has done a good job and I'm happy about that. But I fully expect him to struggle at times too. If he were elite, he wouldn't have been available to pick up off the scrap heap. Yeah, they did a lousy job of putting the pen together. But sometimes you get guys to step up that you were never counting on. That could happen...or not. It's nice to see them on a better path.

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Go Cubs!!!!

The one thing that is really good about this year is all of a sudden you have two pretty solid young starters in Szmardzija and Wood. The young pitching is a problem and that helps a lot.

Samardzija isn't young.

Let's not get ahead of ourselves. They are probably playing the best ball they will play all season and are still well below .500. The bottom will be dropping out soon.

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

He's 28. That will do.



No one is getting ahead of themselves, this is obviously a tongue in cheek thread

The starting pitching from some of the guys has been unreal. You can't expect this to keep up.

The guys that matter are all contributing and doing well.....except for Shark who has been roughed up a bit but started out well. The problem is that there is absolutely no one else on the horizon right now to join those guys that matter this season. Jackson needs to stay healthy and go on a tear and they need to trade DeJesus and then he might get called back up before Sept. There is a lefty reliever in AA who has been absolutely lights out....but Russell already dominates in that role.

I want to see Theo and Jed go into poach mode and snag a good young player from a panicking Angels or Blue Jays team.

I want Bourjos and Garrett Richards for Dejesus and Garza.

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

It's good to see them playing better ball. Don't underestimate the positive effect the 3B platoon has had also but clearly the turnaround of the bullpen plus the solid starting pitching have been major positives and if that holds up, they may actually have a chance at a .500 record this year.

The dilemma then becomes do they unload talent at the deadline again??

You should have said this before we all went out and got Cubs 2013 World Series Champs tattoos.

Travis Wood has a 46% fly ball rate and a BABIP of .186. I'm guessing a slightly correction happens when the wind starts blowing out.

Zip it, Old Man River


No you're right. But he's been lights out. Just have to hope he's still decent even with the correction.

Not at all.

Rizzo, is a very good accomplishment.

If you read what I said about him, he is the product of 6 years of work for Jed and Theo, that is why his success was so important to them. Rizzo is the result of how Theo wants things done. While he has plenty of room to improve, the signs are there of a true all star.

But when all the guys you chose for your team suck and you pick up a guy from the scrap heap, I just dont think the GM should be getting the credit, when the reason they had to get the guy is that the other 6 or 7 pitchers sucked.

With regards to negotiating a deal with a 2nd year player, I also just dont think it is that hard.
It's a good move for any team and has been done for years now. You negotiated with a kid who has one other option. Dont sign the deal and hope he gets better each year. The GM/Team has some pretty good leverage, so the 'congrats' to a team or GM, as if they accomplished something that took a special talent. Sorry.

Draft a player that you say is going to be a 5 tool player, and have that guy become an All Star, or an impact MLB. Then I am impressed. Of course drafting a 2nd,3rd, etc...finding talent that nobody else is finding. Thats impressive.

Travis Wood deal is turning out to be really impressive

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"That's what the internet is for. Slandering others anonymously." Banky
“Been that way since one monkey looked at the sun and told the other monkey ‘He said for you to give me your fuckin’ share.’”