***Official 2023 Chicago Cubs Thread***
- Thread starter BigJCy
- Start date
Need to see a lot more than one 20-9 shellacking.
With that said Candelario might go down as one of the best, "under the radar" pick ups of the trade deadline (for any team).
Tauchman needs to play damn near ever day. He just makes stuff happen. Also, Belly needs to be hitting 2nd or 3rd every game. Can't afford to leave ABs on the table with him hitting 4th.
Wish they could have picked up a left handed reliver at the deadline but the asking prices must have been steeper than the front office was willing to pay. I still think this team is playing with fools gold right now but I'll enjoy it if they can keep in the playoff race while playing better competition this month.
Getting prospects that are 2-3 years away for Belly doesn't meet this teams timeline. They need to be competitive now. They have a streaming service they are trying to justfiy $20/month for. Grabbing a couple high upside 20 year olds doesn't help accomplish that.
I also think it's time you put some of these guys, including the manager, in some high leverage situations. See what you have in Happ, Nico, Suzuki, Amaya, etc., as well as what you have in a manager, once you are playing meaningful games in August. It's a bit of a stress test.
Fool's gold or not, you figure out alot about the team and the manager in the next 6 weeks.
I was just looking at his splits. This season his average and slug are down against lefties with his OBP pretty much the same as against righties. However it’s a tiny sample size with only 33 at bats against LHP.
Looking at his career numbers, he actually has a higher average and OBP against LHP, with his slug down compared to RHP. So I’m not entirely sure why he gets platooned as much as he does. With Suzuki’s struggles, I’d say let Tauchman play every day for now. Need our best lineup out there pretty much every game at this point
PCA went 0-3 with 3 K's in his I-Cubs debut.
Matt Shaw went 2-5 in his A debut with a double. I would've argued it was a triple but they must've given the center fielder an error.
Matt Shaw went 2-5 in his A debut with a double. I would've argued it was a triple but they must've given the center fielder an error.
I'm fine with holding onto Bellinger at this point. If they were out of it like it looked like they were just a couple weeks ago before the win streak it would have been in their best interest to trade him if they were going to sell. I just hope they now try to resign him after the season but being a Boras client they probably will ask for 2-3 years more than what is a reasonable length to sign him to so will be interesting if the Cubs FO will give into their demands or let someone else take that on and potentially regret it later.
The bullpen is where the high leverage tests will be the most important. Hard to trust anyone outside of Alzolay and Leiter (although he's been roughed up a bit lately too) and Palencia has been pretty solid but he's still just a rookie. Merryweather had a 0.00 ERA in June over 12 innings but then had an aweful July with 6.17 ERA in 11.2 innings. Assad was good in July with a 0.47 ERA as mostly long reliever but prior to that he had some rough stretches too. If they may the playoffs the bullpen is what concerns me the most being able to hold a small lead with guys in high pressure situations.
The other thing that stands out to me regarding Tauchman is that beyond performing well, he seems loved and respected by his teammates. And he grew up 30 miles north of Chicago and won't be a free agent until he's 35, so I'm sure he's playing for something more than money.
My only Tauchman concern is I believe he best serves as a 1 or 9 hitter, and I'd throw Madrigal and PCA on that list as well, and you can't build a winning team around 1 and 9 hitters. Once PCA is up, I don't see Tauchman playing much outside of a 4th outfielder unless Suzuki or Happ accept a trade.
My only Tauchman concern is I believe he best serves as a 1 or 9 hitter, and I'd throw Madrigal and PCA on that list as well, and you can't build a winning team around 1 and 9 hitters. Once PCA is up, I don't see Tauchman playing much outside of a 4th outfielder unless Suzuki or Happ accept a trade.
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Yeah Tauchman may be this year's version of Frank the Tank where the Cubs caught lightning in a bottle but long term probably is not going to keep up. The Cubs have been on the other side of the issue too when they had the core guys from the 2016 team where we lacked guys like this to set the table for the heart of the order so doesn't bother me if we have some options at leadoff and essentially a 2nd leadoff in the 9 spot if we can find some answers to the holes in the heart of the order.
Tauchman is a grinder at the plate those 7, 8 pitch ABs add up. If he platoons with Suzuki next year you can play Candelario at 3rd and Mervis at 1st. Obviously there'll be days PCA, Madrigal and Tauchman will be in the lineup together but it doesn't have to be everyday.
Here's my 13 for 2024
C. Amaya Gomes
1B. Mervis Candelario
2B Hoerner Morel(DH mainly)
3B Madrigal Candelario
SS Swanson
LF Happ
CF PCA Tauchman
RF Bellinger Suzuki (only when Belli is elsewhere)
Tauchman is a 4th 5th OF and won't get a multi year deal. But he's the perfect guy to have in that role. He's a grinder that has a strong understanding of the zone. I don't see him being a guy that falls off badly.
No they don't. They were supposed to be more competitive this year but nothing close to what they've been thus far. There is zero pressure.
The "high leverage" stuff you speak of also doesn't trump the team's long term goals of viability. You see it CONSTANTLY in sports when a team "jumps the gun" on priorities and makes mistakes that hinder the organization for years. Remember the Bears going all in on Kahlil Mack? It ****** that team (along with the bad management that made that and other decisions) for half a decade.
The Cubs don't need to win "now". Why? They aren't ready (at least this year). I also guarantee you that maximizing assets will maximize monetary returns in the long run. A smartly run team gives you a better team and keeps you in a longer competition cycle (look at the Dodgers for example). The last thing we/the Cubs need is losing cite of the objective to "learn about the team" over the next 6 weeks. After 105-110 games I think we have a pretty good idea of what we have anyway.
Because they are a team worth 3.8 billion dollars. Because they are trying to induce people to pay for a standalone streaming service. Because Jed is very much on-record saying this isn't a full rebuild.
Too big of team in too big of market to be messing around with 7-8 year rebuilds.
PCA could be called up for end of year playoff run - his gold glove CF defense and speed on bases could be a valuable weapon.
i forget the rules exactly but i think it's max of 45 days on roster and 130 ABs or less to avoid "starting the clock" on your rookie status.
so if Cubs still in in wild card hunt don't be surprised if he's called up by end of Aug even if he's not hitting that great for Iowa.
i forget the rules exactly but i think it's max of 45 days on roster and 130 ABs or less to avoid "starting the clock" on your rookie status.
so if Cubs still in in wild card hunt don't be surprised if he's called up by end of Aug even if he's not hitting that great for Iowa.
My money would be he comes up April 18, 2024 for the homestand against the Marlins.
Rookie status really only matters for individual awards, organizations usually look at service time. First year of service time is 172 days on the active roster or IL, with the league year being 187 days. I'd assume they roll out with Happ/Tauchman/Suzuki in the OF next year with Belly rotating at OF and 1B. Cubs will be 18 games in.
Only way I see PCA coming up at the end of this year or starting the year on the Opening Day Roster is if one of our main four outfielders gets hurt
I think the only way PCA is on the opening day 2024 roster is if Happ or Suzuki get traded in the offseason. In my ideal scenario Suzuki gets dealt. PCA takes over for Tauchman early in May after another month in Iowa.
Long term we have the Jaguar 2025. PCA 2024 and Canario 2024 as our future. Signing Bellinger longterm still makes sense since he can still play first if all pan out. As we know they all never pan out. But even if they do Mervis can DH.
