This team needs a complete rebuild. Wily, Bryant, Rizzo, Hendricks and Javy can be the core. Everything else must be rebuilt. Lester is old and his contract will expire eventually....everyone else is a pile of shit. This is a Ted Thompson built team right now. They will compete for a playoff spot each year but unless they catch lightening in a bottle they are not built to do shit beyond the regular season finale. Theo has wasted so much god damn money and has had so many terrible draft picks that a rebuild seems virtually impossible. Might have to bite it and trade Bryant or Wily to get a new "wave of talent".

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

For a lineup that has several hitters (Contreras, Bryant, Rizzo, Heyward, Baez) all having good to all-star type seasons, this offense goes quiet way too often.

Hard to understand a lineup with some of the numbers these guys have to just not hit as a team so consistently.

No leadoff hitter, bad baserunning and poor situational hitting. I think all 3 of those things are direct orders from the front office. They do not care about a traditional leadoff hitter, stealing bases and going first to 3rd take runners off base for the big home runs and situational hitting does not exist in their mind. Grip it and rip it with huge launch angle every single time no matter what.

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

There is definitely a need for more contact hitters - as good as the 5 I mentioned have been at least statistically, guys like Russell, Schwarber, Almora have been bad, but I'm still shocked as to why this lineup is so all or nothing, even given your points. I think we'll see significant changes this off-season if they don't right the ship and make a significant run here, but they have repeatedly downplayed the need for a true lead-off -hitter. They have a mixed record in free agency so will be curious as to how they fix some of these glaring holes with the bullpen, contact hitters and a starting rotation that has been good, but is getting older.

Rizzo is 30, too old to be a part of any core going forward, hes a FA in a few months. Let him walk.

Trade Bryant, he can reload the farm and he's a Boras client, we ain't gonna re sign his soft ass for 300 plus million when hes 29.

Try to lock up Baez n Willy on reasonable deals, I'd give it a go this year with what we got but major changes in the off season.

_________________

I have to wonder if these guys can be contact hitters if they are asked to do so? I feel like it is beaten into them to swing as hard as they can in certain parts of the strike zone regardless of count or situation. Look at the 9th inning tonight. Heyward and Javy both popped up in foul territory. That tells me they were swinging balls to the wall based on the pitchers velocity so when the ball starts to break they just nip it..and the huge launch angle has them under it and thus popping it sky high.

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

Rizzo is under contract through 2021. I am all in on trading Bryant for a massive haul. He puts up numbers but not W's. I don't want Rizz to go because he is not that expensive for his production and he is the only one that seems to walk his own path instead of following front office batting instructions.

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

Rizzo may resign, but it can't be on a 4 or 5 year deal. He's still a very good player so wouldn't want to let him walk, but he's a 1B whose age is entering some risk.

I can see Contreras as being a trade high candidate if they really wanted to shake things up. He is a catcher so there could be some wear and tear there unless they have thoughts about eventually moving him to 1B.

Baez is definitely not going anywhere and it's hard to see Bryant leaving. The Cubs aren't a mid-market team so I would expect that they would keep him, but doubt they get any discounts.

Zorbrist, Schwarber, and Russell are all probably in danger of not being back and they can't think Almora is a starting caliber hitter at this point.

I really hope that situational hitting comes into the logic somewhere, but I think they are trying to win the game in the 9th inning so looking for a blast.

Im all for trading KB this off season, The Braves are loaded with young talent. If you are gonna compete against Atlanta n L.A. then you've got to trade KB and fond an Acuna or Bellinger.

_________________

Lack of a real lead off hitter has killed this team since Fowler.

Look at 2016 - when Fowler led off and got on base their record was ridiculously good.

Seems like the other poster said they have something against a traditional lead off hitter.

Get Billy Hamilton back to the NL. He’s better leading off than anyone we have now n

The Cubs are old, the average mlb team is 26 years old. We've got to get much younger and faster.

_________________

He has all the attributes you want in a leadoff hitter.......except he can't hit.

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

Pretty sure that Billy Hamilton can't get to 1B often enough to be a regular positional player. Lots of speed, but can't steal 1B.

Theo has 2 roads he can travel down. 1- Stay the course and fight it out with the crew and cards to get eliminated immediately in the playoffs. 2- unload your precious college bats to get Whit from the Royals. On paper he fixes virtually everything with the offense.

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

What would it take to get him? They do have that SS who I saw is a top ~50 prospect. Is that enough or would they need to add another top prospect?

From all accounts, KC isn't willing to him move though.

In all probability, the Cubs will add another bullpen arm and they will roll the dice on this season. I think Zobrist will qualify as their offensive add, but he's probably a month away still.

It's sad that since last offseason, Theo and Jed have all this time to fix the offense and the bullpen, and both have just gotten worse. Cishek and Strop are done, don't want to see them for a while. You still don't have a solid lefty in the bullpen. The closer situation is still suspect. You are getting fluke year from Heyward. You have no 2nd basemen, LF, CF, and no bench. These 2 geniuses constructed a winner.

_________________
Fuck Edwards and Zobrist

KC is just playing hardball. He serves no purpose to them right now. Nico and that stud catching prospect would do it but that would also completely deplete the system. I would try to give them Schwarber and Nico.

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

It's not as if they didn't address the closer spot - it just hasn't worked, but agree with you on the rest of that bullpen.

2B is not something I would put on them -- Zobrist/Russell/Bote, etc. should be enough to get the job done, but it hasn't and now they have this Garcia kid.

CF is a big problem and LF is just too up and mostly down.

They were limited this off-season to add to their budget, but didn't pursue any trades of note.

Still, long way to go this season, they are bad on the road, but they can still right the ship.

His name hasn't been coming up at all over the last 10 days or so. I think if they were to get KC to think, Schwarber doesn't offer much value. I'm not sure what type of value he even has at this point given that he's an awkward defensive player and a streaky hitter.

Another off the radar move that could help the Cubs quite a bit would be to pick up Jonathan Villar from the Orioles. He plays 2b and SS pretty well, leads off, steals bases and has pop. Cubs have seen him plenty from his days with the brewers. He would not cost much and would be the leadoff hitter the second he was acquired.

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

Closer was addressed, but way too late, and not sure Kimbrel is good. 2B is a bunch of eh. Zo was old and Bote has been bad and Russell has underachieved for a long time. Bote is lucky he asked for that deal, I wouldn't pay his ass shit now. The budget shit is a joke. You have more than enough money. If you want to be the Yanks and Dodgers, you can't be scared.

_________________
Fuck Edwards and Zobrist

Kimbrel is fine. He just had an off night tonight like all closers do. But he's been pretty much lights out. But the others are just total crap.

I'm almost at a point where I don't want to even follow the team anymore. LIke hardcore follow. It's a broken record to keep blowing games like this.

As the other poster said, ya we're in a shit division and we can probably struggle along and win a WC spot or maybe the division but when it comes to the playoffs, forget it. They're not beating the Dodgers, Braves, Giants, Nationals, Phillies.

The Brewers starting pitching is such trash, and the Cubs have 5 runs the whole series so far. Their pitching had been awful for a while now

_________________
Fuck Edwards and Zobrist

Theo trolled -

Brewers broadcast -shot of theo

https://www.mlb.com/video/keston-hiura- ... off-homers

A lot of leaky vaginas in this thread

theo sucks


who knew

Heard that horseshit again this morning on my way home from work.

Zpack: KB is the 4th best player in tbe NL thus year.

Do these dumbfucks only watch the cubs and look at fangraphs to see who has the highest war?

_________________

FIP over 8, WHIP 1.67, 4 homers in 10 inn. Far from fine.

_________________

Why don’t they just call up some more waves of talent?

_________________
Elections have consequences.