2015: The Back To The Future Season

[Powdered Toast Man]

Kyle Hendricks = stopper. 

Who knew?

6 strong innings. You can tell he loses it on the 3rd trip through the order...he starts missing his spots.

I watched on and off last night...are the Cubs still being as patient as they were in the beginning of the year? I can tell Anthony Rizzo was really annoyed with the strike zone early and he rushed through his next AB after his first, swinging at low pitches and going down to one knee multiple times.

Good job outta Bryant last night, too. He fell behind 0-2 and laid off some good pitches to get his second walk of the game. So maybe I answered my question...they had 5 BB last night, one was an IBB to Ross.

Yeah Rizzo's simply slumping.  His strike zone has uncharacteristically widened of late.

On the bright side, it looks like Bryant may have worked his way out of a slump.  First game in 10 that he didn't whiff once, he was on base thrice, and scored the only run.

Really can't wait to see Soler back in this lineup.  Denorfia playing everyday makes baby Jesus cry.

I also want to see Soler back, but to be fair, Denorfia has batted better than Soler did (OPS+ of 114 vs 101)...

Denorfia is *fine* but right now the Cubs have 3-5 dead ass hitters in their lineup per night not including which of the better hitters might be slumping at any given time.

For a team that's in a playoff hunt they have a lot of improvements to make.

Yeah, I don't have a problem with Denorfia at all. He's an all around solid player and he's a great 4th outfielder.

As far as improvements, I'm curious to what you mean? Do you mean improvements, like from a trade? Or do you just mean simply improving by scoring some goddamn runs? It's time for these dudes to heat up. Lay off that junk low and away and make the pitchers come back toward the plate.

Castro and Montero in the middle of the lineup seem to have been killing the offense. I like the way Maddon puts Rizzo and Bryant atop the order, but there is nothing behind them to protect them. Fowler is not doing much at the top of the lineup either.

Dare we talk about shifting the lineup around when Soler comes back?

[Eli]

Denorfia is *fine* but right now the Cubs have 3-5 dead ass hitters in their lineup per night not including which of the better hitters might be slumping at any given time.

For a team that's in a playoff hunt they have a lot of improvements to make.

For all the talk of the Cubs building an offensive juggernaut, they really only have two consistently good hitters on the major-league roster. Coghlan and Montero are fine but no one is going to lose sleep over facing them. They're basically stuck waiting for the younger guys to develop. It is what it is.

[SKO]

Denorfia is *fine* but right now the Cubs have 3-5 dead ass hitters in their lineup per night not including which of the better hitters might be slumping at any given time.

For a team that's in a playoff hunt they have a lot of improvements to make.

For all the talk of the Cubs building an offensive juggernaut, they really only have two consistently good hitters on the major-league roster. Coghlan and Montero are fine but no one is going to lose sleep over facing them. They're basically stuck waiting for the younger guys to develop. It is what it is.

Yeah. They obviously have to put the development of Bryant and Russell and Soler above contending, so if those guys are going to be normal rookies there's just not much to be done. All we can really do is hope they go back to the way it was earlier in the year when they all played well enough to make us forget they were rookies.

[Slaky]

Denorfia is *fine* but right now the Cubs have 3-5 dead ass hitters in their lineup per night not including which of the better hitters might be slumping at any given time.

For a team that's in a playoff hunt they have a lot of improvements to make.

For all the talk of the Cubs building an offensive juggernaut, they really only have two consistently good hitters on the major-league roster. Coghlan and Montero are fine but no one is going to lose sleep over facing them. They're basically stuck waiting for the younger guys to develop. It is what it is.

Yes. And I'm not really a huge Fowler fan at the moment either. I mean he's not awful but...wait yeah, he's been awful.

[Eli]

Denorfia is *fine* but right now the Cubs have 3-5 dead ass hitters in their lineup per night not including which of the better hitters might be slumping at any given time.

For a team that's in a playoff hunt they have a lot of improvements to make.

For all the talk of the Cubs building an offensive juggernaut, they really only have two consistently good hitters on the major-league roster. Coghlan and Montero are fine but no one is going to lose sleep over facing them. They're basically stuck waiting for the younger guys to develop. It is what it is.

Yes. And I'm not really a huge Fowler fan at the moment either. I mean he's not awful but...wait yeah, he's been awful.

I looked the other day and was actually surprised to see how rough his numbers were. I was in favor of giving him a 3-4 year extension since there's no clear CF option in the system, but that seems pretty unappealing now.

[Powdered Toast Man]

Denorfia is *fine* but right now the Cubs have 3-5 dead ass hitters in their lineup per night not including which of the better hitters might be slumping at any given time.

For a team that's in a playoff hunt they have a lot of improvements to make.

For all the talk of the Cubs building an offensive juggernaut, they really only have two consistently good hitters on the major-league roster. Coghlan and Montero are fine but no one is going to lose sleep over facing them. They're basically stuck waiting for the younger guys to develop. It is what it is.

Yes. And I'm not really a huge Fowler fan at the moment either. I mean he's not awful but...wait yeah, he's been awful.

I looked the other day and was actually surprised to see how rough his numbers were. I was in favor of giving him a 3-4 year extension since there's no clear CF option in the system, but that seems pretty unappealing now.

Hey, Ian Happ plays CF! 11 of his 12 game so far, in fact. What's the other option in CF for the Cubs other than Fowler after this season?

[World's #1 Astros Fan]

Denorfia is *fine* but right now the Cubs have 3-5 dead ass hitters in their lineup per night not including which of the better hitters might be slumping at any given time.

For a team that's in a playoff hunt they have a lot of improvements to make.

For all the talk of the Cubs building an offensive juggernaut, they really only have two consistently good hitters on the major-league roster. Coghlan and Montero are fine but no one is going to lose sleep over facing them. They're basically stuck waiting for the younger guys to develop. It is what it is.

Yes. And I'm not really a huge Fowler fan at the moment either. I mean he's not awful but...wait yeah, he's been awful.

I looked the other day and was actually surprised to see how rough his numbers were. I was in favor of giving him a 3-4 year extension since there's no clear CF option in the system, but that seems pretty unappealing now.

Fowler is a streaky offensive player which I suspect make his numbers look a little misleading.  Not to sneeze at a guy who sports a career .361 OBP (and .777 OPS), but it's a little unnerving to have that kind of fluctuation out of your table-setter.  As goes Fowler, so goes the Cubs offense it seems.

[SKO]

I know I'm the idiot that bitched about Chris Coghlan but I actually think switching him and Fowler in the order vs right handed pitchers make sense. Coghlan has a .349 OBP. Fowler still seems good for the occasional extra base hit,  might make sense to try and squeeze some RBIs out of him rather than ask him to set the table.

[Slaky]

Denorfia is *fine* but right now the Cubs have 3-5 dead ass hitters in their lineup per night not including which of the better hitters might be slumping at any given time.

For a team that's in a playoff hunt they have a lot of improvements to make.

For all the talk of the Cubs building an offensive juggernaut, they really only have two consistently good hitters on the major-league roster. Coghlan and Montero are fine but no one is going to lose sleep over facing them. They're basically stuck waiting for the younger guys to develop. It is what it is.

Yes. And I'm not really a huge Fowler fan at the moment either. I mean he's not awful but...wait yeah, he's been awful.

I looked the other day and was actually surprised to see how rough his numbers were. I was in favor of giving him a 3-4 year extension since there's no clear CF option in the system, but that seems pretty unappealing now.

Fowler is a streaky offensive player which I suspect make his numbers look a little misleading.  Not to sneeze at a guy who sports a career .361 OBP (and .777 OPS), but it's a little unnerving to have that kind of fluctuation out of your table-setter.  As goes Fowler, so goes the Cubs offense it seems.

I'm hoping the Damon Buford Corollary comes into play soon because you figure Fowler can't get much worse than he's been - so maybe he's about to go on a tear. I don't usually look up a players' contact type to see if he's just hitting into bad luck and to be honest, with my sister in law in town, I haven't been able to watch as much Cubs baseball as I'd like to.

Someone fill me in.

[Eli]

Denorfia is *fine* but right now the Cubs have 3-5 dead ass hitters in their lineup per night not including which of the better hitters might be slumping at any given time.

For a team that's in a playoff hunt they have a lot of improvements to make.

For all the talk of the Cubs building an offensive juggernaut, they really only have two consistently good hitters on the major-league roster. Coghlan and Montero are fine but no one is going to lose sleep over facing them. They're basically stuck waiting for the younger guys to develop. It is what it is.

Yes. And I'm not really a huge Fowler fan at the moment either. I mean he's not awful but...wait yeah, he's been awful.

I looked the other day and was actually surprised to see how rough his numbers were. I was in favor of giving him a 3-4 year extension since there's no clear CF option in the system, but that seems pretty unappealing now.

Hey, Ian Happ plays CF! 11 of his 12 game so far, in fact. What's the other option in CF for the Cubs other than Fowler after this season?

That'd be great if he could stick there and take over in 2017. McKinney and Zagunis have both settled into corner spots, it seems. I doubt Fowler would take a one-year deal to stay, but that might be ideal.

[Slaky]

Denorfia is *fine* but right now the Cubs have 3-5 dead ass hitters in their lineup per night not including which of the better hitters might be slumping at any given time.

For a team that's in a playoff hunt they have a lot of improvements to make.

For all the talk of the Cubs building an offensive juggernaut, they really only have two consistently good hitters on the major-league roster. Coghlan and Montero are fine but no one is going to lose sleep over facing them. They're basically stuck waiting for the younger guys to develop. It is what it is.

Yes. And I'm not really a huge Fowler fan at the moment either. I mean he's not awful but...wait yeah, he's been awful.

I looked the other day and was actually surprised to see how rough his numbers were. I was in favor of giving him a 3-4 year extension since there's no clear CF option in the system, but that seems pretty unappealing now.

Hey, Ian Happ plays CF! 11 of his 12 game so far, in fact. What's the other option in CF for the Cubs other than Fowler after this season?

That'd be great if he could stick there and take over in 2017. McKinney and Zagunis have both settled into corner spots, it seems. I doubt Fowler would take a one-year deal to stay, but that might be ideal.

McKinney-Happ-Zagunis Left-to-Right?

You already gave up on Soler?

[World's #1 Astros Fan]

Denorfia is *fine* but right now the Cubs have 3-5 dead ass hitters in their lineup per night not including which of the better hitters might be slumping at any given time.

For a team that's in a playoff hunt they have a lot of improvements to make.

For all the talk of the Cubs building an offensive juggernaut, they really only have two consistently good hitters on the major-league roster. Coghlan and Montero are fine but no one is going to lose sleep over facing them. They're basically stuck waiting for the younger guys to develop. It is what it is.

Yes. And I'm not really a huge Fowler fan at the moment either. I mean he's not awful but...wait yeah, he's been awful.

I looked the other day and was actually surprised to see how rough his numbers were. I was in favor of giving him a 3-4 year extension since there's no clear CF option in the system, but that seems pretty unappealing now.

Hey, Ian Happ plays CF! 11 of his 12 game so far, in fact. What's the other option in CF for the Cubs other than Fowler after this season?

That'd be great if he could stick there and take over in 2017. McKinney and Zagunis have both settled into corner spots, it seems. I doubt Fowler would take a one-year deal to stay, but that might be ideal.

McKinney-Happ-Zagunis Left-to-Right?

You already gave up on Soler?

It was a bad attempt at self-deprecating humor which only BH would understand were he still alive.

And I misunderstood what Eli was saying so I went and deleted the stupid comment before shlepping myself into my Room of Shame and then schtupping myself.

[Bort]

Denorfia is *fine* but right now the Cubs have 3-5 dead ass hitters in their lineup per night not including which of the better hitters might be slumping at any given time.

For a team that's in a playoff hunt they have a lot of improvements to make.

For all the talk of the Cubs building an offensive juggernaut, they really only have two consistently good hitters on the major-league roster. Coghlan and Montero are fine but no one is going to lose sleep over facing them. They're basically stuck waiting for the younger guys to develop. It is what it is.

Yes. And I'm not really a huge Fowler fan at the moment either. I mean he's not awful but...wait yeah, he's been awful.

I looked the other day and was actually surprised to see how rough his numbers were. I was in favor of giving him a 3-4 year extension since there's no clear CF option in the system, but that seems pretty unappealing now.

Hey, Ian Happ plays CF! 11 of his 12 game so far, in fact. What's the other option in CF for the Cubs other than Fowler after this season?

That'd be great if he could stick there and take over in 2017. McKinney and Zagunis have both settled into corner spots, it seems. I doubt Fowler would take a one-year deal to stay, but that might be ideal.

McKinney-Happ-Zagunis Left-to-Right?

You already gave up on Soler?

It was a bad attempt at self-deprecating humor which only BH would understand were he still alive.

And I misunderstood what Eli was saying so I went and deleted the stupid comment before shlepping myself into my Room of Shame and then schtupping myself.

It's time for Huard to remove the Tronsuit of Judgment and don the Tronsuit of Shame.

[InternetApex]

Denorfia is *fine* but right now the Cubs have 3-5 dead ass hitters in their lineup per night not including which of the better hitters might be slumping at any given time.

For a team that's in a playoff hunt they have a lot of improvements to make.

For all the talk of the Cubs building an offensive juggernaut, they really only have two consistently good hitters on the major-league roster. Coghlan and Montero are fine but no one is going to lose sleep over facing them. They're basically stuck waiting for the younger guys to develop. It is what it is.

Yes. And I'm not really a huge Fowler fan at the moment either. I mean he's not awful but...wait yeah, he's been awful.

I looked the other day and was actually surprised to see how rough his numbers were. I was in favor of giving him a 3-4 year extension since there's no clear CF option in the system, but that seems pretty unappealing now.

Hey, Ian Happ plays CF! 11 of his 12 game so far, in fact. What's the other option in CF for the Cubs other than Fowler after this season?

That'd be great if he could stick there and take over in 2017. McKinney and Zagunis have both settled into corner spots, it seems. I doubt Fowler would take a one-year deal to stay, but that might be ideal.

McKinney-Happ-Zagunis Left-to-Right?

You already gave up on Soler?

It was a bad attempt at self-deprecating humor which only BH would understand were he still alive.

And I misunderstood what Eli was saying so I went and deleted the stupid comment before shlepping myself into my Room of Shame and then schtupping myself.

It's time for Huard to remove the Tronsuit of Judgment and don the Tronsuit of Shame.

The one with the pee stains that glow under blacklights? OH NO!!!

[Tonker]

Can the Cubs play the Mets every day?