RC is back in Chicago, and took some time in between building lots of furniture to talk with AC about the Cubs…
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As we get settled in our new apartment back in our former neighborhood in Chicago, I note that the Cubs finally won a series for the first time in forever, and right before a much-needed off day too. There is probably some kind of irony in the fact that I can no longer piggyback off berselius’ MLB dot TV for Cubs games since I’m blacked out, and that the building’s complimentary (read: I already pay for this with my amenities fee) cable doesn’t include Marquee. Of course, I did remember while shuttling around Chicago that, oh yeah, I AM in Chicago! And therefore could listen to Pat Hughes on the radio, so that will be fun when my wife sets up her record player (which doubles as a radio) so I don’t have to randomly go to the car.
Anyway, the Cubs still suck, but the rest of the National League sort of sucks too, and they’re not so far behind that it is impossible to make a comeback as they did last season, but also they’ve really dug themselves a hole for sucking ass for such a prolonged period. However, at least the Cubs have their mandated All-Star representative who probably gets the nod even without the at-least-one-per-team rule:
[Shota] Imanaga was named to the National League’s pitching staff on Sunday, making him the first Cubs rookie to be named an All-Star since Kris Bryant in his Rookie of the Year campaign in 2015. Imanaga was the lone member of Chicago’s team to make the Senior Circuit’s squad for the Midsummer Classic, which is set for 7 p.m. CT on July 16 (on FOX) at Globe Life Field in Texas.According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Imanaga joins Sam Jones (1955) as the only Cubs rookie pitchers to earn All-Star honors. Imanaga is the first official rookie pitcher to make an All-Star team for Chicago since 1958, when rookie rules were first established by MLB.
MLB.com
You can’t say he doesn’t deserve it, and although there have been a couple of blowup starts of the type we feared, Shota Imanaga has been rock solid and thus far has more than earned his contract and at least some brownie points for Jed Hoyer, who still has some explaining to do for whatever all this is right now. There may yet be some additional Cubs picked as replacements for the already-named players who bow out due to injury, pitching on that final Sunday before the break, or who just want a five day vacation. For everyone else, they do get a long break to recover and see what they can do to push for some additions before the trade deadline.
I’m not entirely sure which Cubs actually deserve it given their prolonged slumps, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see a couple picked in reserve and none actually starting from the position player corps, but you can start voting for All-Stars at this time. As in previous years, MLB is letting online voters stuff the ballot box with five votes per account per day, so if Seiya Suzuki stans make a million burner accounts each and just bot it up, maybe him?
Looking at the list of guys on the primary ballot, some thoughts…
The pitchers are selected by the managers of the All-Star squadrons so there’s a good chance guys like Shota Imanaga and Javier Assad might get picked, and between now and then if the position guys actually heat up like we hope they do, then I think their peers may select them to the squad. Since the ballot box is open now, do as Chicago does and go stuff it, I suppose.
After the Draft, RC, Berselius, & BVS hang out to talk about the Cubs strategy, the All-Star festivities and what we liked versus what they need to change, and the usual stuff about whether this team is good enough to avoid a sell-off and make a pleasantly surprising postseason run.
You can check out the podcast page or just click on the embedded players below. You can also use the sidebar to get to our Apple Podcast pages and leave a nice review and rating if it pleases you.
