Tales of Triumph and Regret

In Commentary And Analysis by Rice Cube229 Comments

I started thinking about this even before the Cubs laid a goose egg against the Cleveland Baseball Club the other night. I don’t actually recall the last time a club with a losing record, including the Cubs, had multiple All-Stars, but even though I’m not sharing tweets in case Elon Musk forgot to pay his server bill again, we heard from the players themselves that Marcus Stroman, Justin Steele, and Dansby Swanson were selected to the All-Star Game, so that’s cool and all…

…except for the part where, as before, we lament the inconsistent offense and occasional missteps that have plagued this team while they stay within striking distance of a winnable division, yet have found themselves in a position where they have to hope other teams start losing. We are now a month from the trade deadline and the front office has been, well, overtly noncommittal to anything, from buying/selling to extending Marcus Stroman. I think we all kind of scratched our heads regarding the plan this offseason even after they had signed Swanson, but now there are some tidbits that are on my mind as we wait out this rain delay.

  • Christopher Morel: We waited through weeks and months’ worth of plate appearances given to guys like Luis Torrens, Edwin Rios, Miles Mastrobuoni, Eric Hosmer, and probably other guys I’ve tried to forget now as Morel killed minor league pitching and was not given as many reps as he probably should have gotten at third base. Granted that Nick Madrigal has been more than serviceable as a defensive third baseman and has suddenly shown an ability to get an occasional extra-base hit, but that seemed like a major waste and missed opportunity. Which brings us to…
  • Not doing more to shore up the offense: Despite the commitment of big money over the offseason, the fact that we still questioned the plan and had to squint to see what should have been a solid offense in a weak division suggests that more good bats could have been brought in to help this team out. I think many of us were high on Cody Bellinger and Trey Mancini and those moves were defensible, but I honestly don’t know what it is about putting on a Cubs uniform sometimes that makes supposedly good players forget how to hit. I imagine it has to do with good pitching always having the advantage, but that can only explain so much, right? And just like the Mets, we have the issue of…
  • Not clicking all at once: between the sometimes iffy bullpen, the obvious struggles for Jameson Taillon, and the occasional brain fart on defense, there is no margin for error for this team if they want to be competitive which stems from all those missed opportunities in both the offseason and in-game. It makes me wonder what the deal is with onboarding historically good starting pitchers and incorporating guys into the bullpen even with a vaunted Pitch Lab, but I’m guessing the baseball nerds who are smarter than me will just chalk that up to noise. An uncomfortable suspicion is that it might have to do with the coaching, no matter how likable they are, and maybe that’s something that needs to be addressed.

I think this team is obviously more talented than the one we were subjected to last year, and that’s what makes this middling performance even more flabbergasting, because like a misbehaving kid, we know they could be and should be better. I think a plan that improves the chances to success includes a better onboarding of pitching, a more malleable coaching scheme to help the hitters do what they are capable of, and strategy-building that squeezes as much as possible from the margins. This is very generic wording, but it makes sense, doesn’t it? Don’t give up outs, don’t do dumb stuff, because until the front office has a clear direction to shore up this new core that’s here for at least the next three years together, there is no room for error, and even when they’re better, stay vigilant to ensure that good habits stay and bad habits go away.

I still think guys like Seiya Suzuki can justify their contract, and that guys like Stroman are smart to keep around, but I guess we’ll see what happens once this rain delay is over and they actually start playing again. I wouldn’t mind a push for a playoff spot, but like we’ve been saying on the podcast for what seems like months now, honestly, we just want them to play better so we can see a path forward even if they fall short. Sometimes it sucks to be on the outside looking in, but when all we see are missed opportunities, I think that says something about the people entrusted to build this team…

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  5. andcounting

    Gameday shows the pitch that hit Giminez as a borderline strike. That has to be fixed. The Rizzo rule probably needs to exist.

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  15. Author
    Rice Cube

    Perkins,

    It’s particularly bad for Taillon, who has good stuff that could play if he had more confidence and could execute more consistently, it’s like a weird sporadic bout of the yips

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  16. berselius

    Immaculate Grid 91 5/9:

    ⬜️⬜️🟩
    ⬜️🟩🟩
    🟩🟩⬜️

    Addicted to this now (dying laughing). And also not very good at it.

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  20. Perkins

    berselius:
    Immaculate Grid 91 5/9:

    ⬜️⬜️🟩
    ⬜️🟩🟩
    🟩🟩⬜️

    Addicted to this now (dying laughing). And also not very good at it.

    Immaculate Grid 91 5/9:

    ⬜️⬜️🟩
    🟩🟩⬜️
    🟩🟩⬜️

    5/9 today for me as well. Was perfect yesterday, but today not so much.

    Edwin Jackson is a surprisingly useful player for this game.

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  25. berselius

    Whoo, mlb’s increasingly useless website told me that this game didn’t start for another 45 minutes.

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  48. andcounting

    If losing this game doesn’t do it, the only thing that could make the Cubs fire Ross is if he calls for universal healthcare.

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  62. Perkins

    This is such a strange team. I haven’t followed closely enough to have a strong opinion on Ross, but it definitely feels they’re less than the sum of their parts. At least some of that must fall on him, though the roster construction was obviously based on volatility and having a shot in a weak division.

    I’ve been trying to place this team in comparison to other Cubs teams of my lifetime and it’s tough. In April I hoped they’d be like the 2015 team, a pleasant surprise a year or so ahead of schedule. After the swoon and a few hot streaks, I thought they might be more like the 2007 team that was underwater most of the first half before catching fire. Now they’re looking more like the disappointing 2005 one that had alternating hot and cold stretches, though the roster composition gives some more long term hope they won’t bottom out in the future.

    Frustrating season.

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  71. andcounting

    It really seems like the Cubs need to choose between having a backup 1B or a third catcher. The fact that they’re constantly hamstrung by their own roster construction to the extent that they lost the DH on consecutive games (or close to it, I can’t remember) and they’re using one of their crap-hitting catchers at DH today is such a stupid look.

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  75. Author
    Rice Cube

    andcounting,

    If they’re basically giving up soon it might make sense to cut bait with certain guys and give all the playing time to Morel and Mervis and Young and see what they can do to change minds. Money’s already spent anyway

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  76. andcounting

    Rice Cube,

    But even if they’re going for it, what is Mancini bringing to this team the rest of the way? If you can’t expect to get a return in a trade that’s because everyone is in agreement he’s not going to deliver results on the field. That ship———> sailed.

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  88. andcounting

    Rice Cube,

    Well, I meant the gameday scorer and the ump, but as a catcher you’re supposed to throw it through the runner if they’re inside the baseline, right between the numbers. You force the ump to make the call. If he had held the ball, there’s no interference call to make.

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  94. Author
    Rice Cube

    Rice Cube:
    Getting Merryweather back out there after being somewhat shitty yesterday is an interesting vote of confidence

    Leiter being out there again makes sense but a fairly shaky inning so far, ugh

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  97. andcounting

    When a team plays dumb, uptight, or lazily I think you blame the manager.

    They’re not playing lazily, but two out of three ain’t good.

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  107. Author
    Rice Cube

    berselius:
    Was at a cookout, sounds like it was quite the #umpshow today

    – poor “strike” calls on the edges but at least that seemed to be for both sides
    – complete lack of interpretation of the blatant runner in lane rule violation
    – calling Dansby out on strike 2 which was possibly a ball

    Those are just the ones I can remember

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  108. Author
    Rice Cube

    The post-game with David Ross was justifiably frustrated, he basically called out the umps (justifiably) and also mentioned the roof randomly closing in the middle of an inning as the broadcast mentioned quizzically earlier before the meltdown

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  110. andcounting

    Rice Cube,

    Typically if Coomer goes off on an ump who’s had a bad game, Pat will balance it out somehow, which is pretty much what happened all game long. But when the home plate umpire lost track of the count after just a blatantly abysmal game already, Pat lost all patience too. It was pretty hilarious to listen to.

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  112. BVS

    Rice Cube,
    False

    I think the throw would have beaten the runner and Amaya’s response was frustration about the runner in the way.

    Correct on the strike discussion though.

    I’m beginning to recognize this ump’s name and that’s a bad thing.

    Bottom 9, 10, and 11th innings are the first baseball I’ve seen in 3 weeks.

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  117. berselius

    Immaculate Grid 93 6/9:

    🟩⬜️🟩
    🟩⬜️🟩
    🟩⬜️🟩

    Once I’m stuck I just start guessing Edwin Jackson in every empty square (dying laughing)

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  119. Author
    Rice Cube

    BVS,

    Now that I think about it the fact that the Contreras Brother ran basically over the ball and didn’t give either of the fielders a proper attempt to field it should probably have been ruled interference right away, but I’m not as familiar with this rule as I should be. The video folks I shared are usually really good at interpreting the rules so I felt like the saving grace for otherwise shitty umpiring that day was a poor throw by Amaya but I guess he also didn’t have much chance to do anything else since the runner was in the way, if anything he should have wound up and chucked it right between the shoulder blades as that would have had a better chance of getting a judgment call than whatever you call that Mancini attempt 🤷🏻‍♂️

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  121. Perkins

    berselius:
    I’m also completely baffled that the most popular Cubs-Orioles pick wasn’t Jay Carrieta.

    Recency bias, I suppose. For Cubs-O’s I used Cubs legend Brian Matusz and for Cubs-Mets, Aaron Heilman. Honestly surprised more people used Matusz than Heilman.

    Immaculate Grid 93 9/9:

    IMMACULATE!
    🟩🟩🟩
    🟩🟩🟩
    🟩🟩🟩

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  123. berselius

    berselius,

    I guess it’s not surprising that most non-Cubs fans don’t know they got him in a trade from Seattle. I think Jaime Moyer’s time with both teams was before my baseball-focused time (dying laughing)

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  125. Perkins

    berselius:
    Perkins,

    I had Arrieta, Baez, Montgomery down the list for the cubs

    I also had Montgomery. Surprised he’s only at 8-9%. I had actually completely forgotten Moyer was ever on the Cubs. (dying laughing)

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  133. andcounting

    berselius,

    I had to work for quite awhile to find a Cleveland-Seattle connection on the googles after I lost that one square. I then also learned David Bell is a really handy card to play.

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  138. andcounting

    Well, the Cubs had no business winning that game and no business losing Monday, so I guess this series is back in harmony. But it doesn’t mean anything if they lose tomorrow and just tread water in the standings.

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  140. Perkins

    andcounting:
    berselius,

    I had to work for quite awhile to find a Cleveland-Seattle connection on the googles after I lost that one square. I then also learned David Bell is a really handy card to play.

    I used Edwin Encarnacion for that one. He’s decently useful, though he’s no Edwin Jackson.

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  143. Perkins

    Immaculate Grid 94 8/9:

    🟩⬜️🟩
    🟩🟩🟩
    🟩🟩🟩

    I wasted my top right pick because I wasn’t sure of other Rays pitchers with a 200K season and completely forgot the most common answer for TB-LAD was a thing. (dying laughing)

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  144. andcounting

    Immaculate grids was invented by a baseball card company to sell baseball cards and no one will ever convince me otherwise.

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  146. Perkins

    Rice Cube:
    Perkins,

    Without playing because I’ll probably run out of time to do things I’m actually supposed to do I’m going to guess that was David Price

    Yeah, it was David Price. Carl Crawford was the player I forgot existed.

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  147. berselius

    Perkins,

    I got it with Alternate Timeline Failed Cubs Prospect Chris Archer.

    I also learned that the most famous strikeout pitcher in MLB history never won a CYA.

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  150. Perkins

    berselius:
    Perkins,

    I got it with Alternate Timeline Failed Cubs Prospect Chris Archer.

    I also learned that the most famous strikeout pitcher in MLB history never won a CYA.

    For the strikeout/CYA one I used Bob Gibson. That 1968 season is the stuff of legend.

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  151. BVS

    I went on vacation and Immaculate Grid because a thing. So I googled it to see what you all were talking about.

    Today for me:

    Immaculate Grid 94 5/9:

    ⬜️⬜️⬜️
    ⬜️🟩🟩
    🟩🟩🟩

    Rarity score was 530, which I think means that the answers I got right are because I’m relatively old. I know nothing about Tampa.

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  152. Author
    Rice Cube

    I want to think that Kim Ng knows what she’s doing and this hopefully jams the door open for more women in baseball along with the Yankees minor league manager and the new ump who ejected her

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  153. Author
    Rice Cube

    https://cupofcoffee.substack.com/p/cup-of-coffee-july-6-2023

    Coke at the White House
    From the New York Times:

    A small amount of a white powdery substance was found in the White House on Sunday evening, according to a person familiar with the episode, and an initial test by emergency response workers determined that it was cocaine.

    A huge swath of the White House staff are type-A twentysomethings from high-pressure east coast schools who work 100-hour weeks in the hopes of achieving massive power and success one day. In light of that I’d consider it more newsworthy if they didn’t find cocaine there.

    Yeah he’s got a point

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  154. berselius

    I’m sure the correlation between playing division opponents and bonkers series like this one is actually pretty small, but this is definitely reinforcing my complaints about the new balanced schedule

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  162. berselius

    andcounting,

    It just seems more fun to have more games against the cardinals and brewers at the expense of randos like Cleveland, which is certainly a team that the Cubs have no recent history of playing (dying laughing).

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  168. berselius

    Given how he’s pitched against the Cubs in the past, scoring 3 runs off Peralta is more like scoring 30 runs, so the Cubs are way ahead in this one.

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  171. andcounting

    berselius,

    I see what you mean, ok. I guess that’s true when it’s exciting baseball, but I dislike having 17 games of the season dedicated to two pretty evenly matched mid-to-shitty teams. And it’s doubly bad when one team has a ridiculously favorable matchup against the other. A 90-win team with 14 wins against the same garbage opponent makes for deceiving standings at the end of the season.

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  190. andcounting

    andcounting,

    Like, obviously if the Reds wind up at 86-76 they have a solid chance of winning the division. And obviously the Cubs would have to play really well to get to the playoffs. But the Reds, Brewers, Cubs, Pirates and Cardinals suck this year. They all suck. They are very likely all bad teams.

    The Reds started 29-35. Since then, they’re 20-4. 24 games ago it would have been idiotic to say the Reds were going to play 16 above. 500 over the next 3.5 weeks. Now someone is proposing the Cubs, 6 games under just like the Reds we’re a few weeks ago, have to shoot for 16 above .500 over the next 2.5 months and that seems more ludicrous? And it’s based on some conservative estimate that the Cincinnati fucking Reds are AT WORST a .500 team the rest of the way?

    It is not likely the Cubs are going to play that well. It is also not likely the Reds are a team with a.500 floor. The entire prognostication is a joke, frankly. Just like the Central.

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  191. Author
    Rice Cube

    andcounting,

    Indeed, it comes back to my hope that at some point the Cubs build to dominate rather than this poor attempt at treading water because they really should have taken advantage of the fact that everyone else sucks

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  192. andcounting

    Rice Cube,

    A big problem is they are deep only at starting pitching and nowhere else (defensive catchers, maybe). The plan to be strong up the middle defensively has suffered a bit from the injury bug. Morel is a lot of fun, but he’s not the guy for a defensive forward lineup. Tauchman has been a good stand-in, but overall they haven’t really been at full strength very much all year on the defensive side.

    The missed opportunity if it really existed was probably landing two of the FA shortstops. If this team had Bogaerts or Correa at 3rd, it would be a much different team, I’m guessing. Obviously Sean Murphy would have been a nice trade. But the FA class of this year sure turned out to be filled with a lot of land mines.

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  193. andcounting

    You know what I mean, though? Grading offseason acquisitions, I don’t think the Cubs did poorly. Taillon has been a huge disappointment so far, but I’m still glad they got him instead of Scherzer or deGrom.

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  194. Author
    Rice Cube

    andcounting,

    I think they need to phantom IL him and let him figure it out in Pitch Lab if they want to actually make a run…also the Yankees are getting destroyed so they’ll either be an easy revenge series for the Cubs or will be very angry and do the sweeping, it could go either way

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  198. andcounting

    berselius,

    Perkins,

    I really felt like I was going to get all of them but for some reason I had this indelible memory of John Smoltz finishing his career in Detroit when that’s actually just where he was born. Once I missed that one I rage guessed until it was over.

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  201. andcounting

    Rice Cube,

    I don’t know, how big of a company are they? They won’t continue to operate, I would assume. Maybe they would be able to get something from the guy’s estate, but I imagine there are all kinds of legal protections and corporate loopholes that keep the victim’s families from getting the money they probably don’t need in the slightest.

    When the victim is a billionaire, what are they going to do, lobby for increased regulations of corporations? (dying drowning in money)

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  209. Author
    Rice Cube

    Former Cubs playing against our preferred squadron that I’ve seen so far

    -Donaldson
    -Torres
    -Rizzo
    -Billy McKinney

    Probably missed some but that’s kind of a lot

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  223. andcounting

    I’m curious to know if Taillon called his own pitches a la Hendricks or if he and Amaya had a good rapport going.

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  225. BVS

    Immaculate Grid 95 7/9:

    ⬜️🟩🟩
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    My Yankee Atlanta guess was also picked by .04% (not 4%)

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  228. berselius

    BVS,

    Immaculate Grid 96 6/9:

    ⬜️⬜️🟩
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    I don’t know much about the Blue Jays, bleh.

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