MLB: 2020 Chicago Cubs Season Thread

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Rabbuk

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Mar 1, 2011
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The wild swinging thing is much more of a 3-4 years ago thing, but reputations stick longer than reality.
Gotta keep Javy. He's long taken over as my favorite Cub of my lifetime. Andre Dawson held on strong, but Javy is amazing.
He is pretty brutal this year, mostly 3 pitch outs
 
  • Agree
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chuckd4735

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This MLB season is starting to look like an NCAA football season. Everyone who is .500 or above is currently looking to play in the post season. Everyone who is below .500 is out.

When more than half of the teams in the league make the playoffs this will happen.
 

CYdTracked

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Mar 23, 2006
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And that doesn't address bad pitches other batters may see because the pitcher is worried about that crazy baserunner - more so than other base stealers.

Despite his high strikeout rate, if I was in the Cubs organization locking him up would be a top priority. Not only is he a + defensively, and a monster on the base paths, but having a player who is that exciting to watch sells tickets. I have heard him called a bad pitch hitter - that is he swings at pitches outside the strike zone but turns more than his share of them into hits. We haven't seen that much of it this year, but that walk off hit (would have been at least a double if the game wasn't over) was a great example. It was a great pitch - just the swing was better.

I would give Javy the big contract before I would Bryant at this point. A few years ago I probably wouldn't have said this but Javy just keeps getting better while Bryant keeps getting hurt and disappointing. I still hope they lock Rizzo up long term too, he's probably the 2nd most liked guy on this team behind Javy and has been pretty valuable in many ways too. I like Contreras too but he has to start showing more consistency with his bat if he wants to get that big deal because Caratini does a lot of good things too and would come at a much lower price tag probably too. The next 2 offseasons will tell a lot about what direction this club is going now that the window with this core is starting to close. Besides Javy and possibly Rizzo and Heyward (too big of contract to unload?) for position players and Hendricks and Darvish for pitchers the long term outlook for them staying with the Cubs is debatable with are they valuable enough to commit big long term dollars to or can you find cheaper replacements that can replace or be more productive than them?
 

HFCS

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Aug 13, 2010
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I would give Javy the big contract before I would Bryant at this point. A few years ago I probably wouldn't have said this but Javy just keeps getting better while Bryant keeps getting hurt and disappointing. I still hope they lock Rizzo up long term too, he's probably the 2nd most liked guy on this team behind Javy and has been pretty valuable in many ways too. I like Contreras too but he has to start showing more consistency with his bat if he wants to get that big deal because Caratini does a lot of good things too and would come at a much lower price tag probably too. The next 2 offseasons will tell a lot about what direction this club is going now that the window with this core is starting to close. Besides Javy and possibly Rizzo and Heyward (too big of contract to unload?) for position players and Hendricks and Darvish for pitchers the long term outlook for them staying with the Cubs is debatable with are they valuable enough to commit big long term dollars to or can you find cheaper replacements that can replace or be more productive than them?

Baez is possibly my favorite Cub ever and the type of player people pay to see. Rizzo is up there. If more players played like Baez I'd be much more likely to watch random non-postseason baseball that isn't connected to following my team.

It's feels weird to compare these guys to childhood heroes from 80s or 90s but they've done more winning and are all-timers.
 

NorthCyd

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SEn8c6V.gif
 

Die4Cy

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Jan 2, 2010
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Javy is close I think too

Schwarber is under also.

Hard to believe given how those three player's bats factored in the 2016 World Series run.

Three important players below the Mendoza line in September and the Cubs are still in first place.