••• 2026 Official Chicago Cubs Thread •••
- Thread starter Cyforce
- Start date
Lots of people here crapping on Shota going into this year but he’s been great so far (as he’s been when healthy).
Cubs starters have been great over the last week or two.
Cubs starters have been great over the last week or two.
Torn about Alcantara. He's hit a ton of HR's, but he's also stuck out around 35 percent of his PA's and isn't hitting for average. But with both Happ & Suzuki free agents after the season, the Cubs at some point should give Alacantara some extended time in Chicago this season to see if he's an option in LF or RF in 2027.
Triantos & Ramirez are both hitting well with the I-Cubs and seem to have decent speed. At some point in the season, they would seem like better options at the plate vs. Kingery. And both have position flexibility.
Nico has been unbelievable to start the year. Showing he deserved that new deal.
Would not be a good look sending him down after giving him a 6 year $115 mil extension. Not saying under normal circumstances without the extension that a brief stint to work on some stuff at AAA would be on the table but last time he was there was 2024 and he was a full time starter all last season. Gotta hope he works out of this funk. Baez had rough patches like this early in his career too although I hope PCA can become more consistent and more disciplined at the plate than Javy was.
Alcantara will be the first one up if there is an OF injury I bet. If Conforto was not playing well he'd probably be on the brink of a call up right now I bet. The one nice thing is the bench is by far better than it was this time last season so there is not an urgency to call up someone up so can actually let them get regular time in AAA to work on things for now.
Agree it's probably beyond the point of sending PCA down to I-Cubs. Plus he's hitting over .200 for the season. So he's struggling at the plate, but with his fielding it's palatable.
But I have the same thought process for PCA as Busch. Maybe Counsell gives PCA more than the occasional day off against lefties. Get his eyes/mind/swing be focused on hitting righties. And maybe that creates an opportunity for Alcantara.
Who cares what it looks like. He’s pulling off of everything. He needs a correction
Hindsight but next time in this situation. They need to double switch Bregman into the lineup (3B) rather than letting Kingery play third.
I always get confused with DH rules. If the Cubs would have moved Bregman to 3B would they have lost DH for the game?
I don't disagree with your assessment but when you give a player of his age a big contract like that you also have to factor in the optics not only for his mental well being but why would you commit that kind of money to a guy you demoted to AAA. He won a glove glove in CF last season too so for as much as he has struggled at the plate he's still valuable in the field. You have to hope the staff can get him out of his funk at the plate.
Yes, once you move the DH to a position then you lose the DH for the rest of the game and the pitcher assumes the spot of the player you sub in for the defensive player you remove.
We are 23 games into a 162 game season. You don’t move your all-star gold glover to the minor leagues because he’s off to a slow offensive start. He’s hitting .225, not great but mot some horrendous start either. Can’t believe someone is actually suggesting that.
