Cubs Mid Season
- Thread starter Bobber
- Start date
No meltdown from this Cardinal fan. The Cards are actually hanging right in there in their division, especially considering all of the injuries.
What say you, RebeccaCy?
I said close, and by that I meant that A LOT of Card fans thought they were a lock for the Division, and they have struggled to get on top of arguably the worst division in baseball.
I personally thought the Cardinals would do about exactly what they have done. However, I also figured the Brewers would run away with the division.
That's the ****** part. The Cubs finally suck enough to get a #1 pick and there isn't a Strasburg or Harper to pick. Still to early to say how good next years draft is though.
Agreed. I thought it would be a three-way race between the Cards, Brewers, and Reds. Didn't expect the Pirates to be doing so well!
CycloneErik
Well-Known Member
Arguably? I think it's pretty clear that the NL Central is the worst division in baseball.
By all rights the Cardinals should be the Royals of the National League. Small market that should be a bottom feeder, but somehow they win. Great fan support and a true baseball town. Now that Busch is owned from across the sea Cardinal baseball is the best thing going in St Louis
I didn't expect much from the team this year and so far they have lived up to my low expectations. LaHair and now Rizzo have been bright spots and DeJesus has pretty much lived up to what you could expect for a budget free agent signing. Right now the Cubs are in the middle of tearing down the bad infrastructure Hendry set up and it may even get worse before it gets better. They are taking chances on cheap young guys (Stewart, Valbuena, LaHair, Wood, Volstad, etc.) that may or may not pan out while whatever talent there is in the minors develops and buying time hoping to dump some contracts like Soriano and get what they can for Dempster, Soto, and maybe even Garza. Once they clear the payroll and stock the minors a little I think we'll see some aggressive free agency summers where they start filling in the holes around the young talent that remains on the roster but that may not happen till after the 2013 season unless they find someone to eat more of Soriano's contract than expected which is a long shot.
Soto needs to go, he's only going to get more expensive and a duo of Castillo and Clevenger should be pretty solid as both seem to be pretty decent with the bat and behind the plate. Soto had 1 good rookie year then has basically tanked offensively and unless he sheds some weight and commits himself to being more patient at the plate is not going to get any better than he is now. Position wise just have to hope Jackson and Vitters adjust to MLB pitching once they get their chances and I see both probably being called up once rosters expand and getting full time AB's to see what they are made of.
Pitching is a mess but there are some decent pieces there if they can strengthen the top end of the rotation and find some bullpen help. They won't invest in pricey veteran relievers till this roster shapes up though, there is no point in it if the offense isn't going to be consistent enough to score runs and the Cubs have lost their fair share of low scoring games because of the offense this year.
Soto needs to go, he's only going to get more expensive and a duo of Castillo and Clevenger should be pretty solid as both seem to be pretty decent with the bat and behind the plate. Soto had 1 good rookie year then has basically tanked offensively and unless he sheds some weight and commits himself to being more patient at the plate is not going to get any better than he is now. Position wise just have to hope Jackson and Vitters adjust to MLB pitching once they get their chances and I see both probably being called up once rosters expand and getting full time AB's to see what they are made of.
Pitching is a mess but there are some decent pieces there if they can strengthen the top end of the rotation and find some bullpen help. They won't invest in pricey veteran relievers till this roster shapes up though, there is no point in it if the offense isn't going to be consistent enough to score runs and the Cubs have lost their fair share of low scoring games because of the offense this year.
Word for word my thoughts exactly. The main difference between Crazy Cub fan now and Crazy Cub fan just after HS is that the current Cubs actually have a farm system to look forward to and be half excited about. The pitching is suspect but we will rake it in after trading the vets. I'm just mad I didnt get out to see Rizzo in DSM at all.
CycloneErik
Well-Known Member
Rizzo had his only major league Cubs defeat out of the way.
I don't think it's too much to say that we will never lose again.
Next year is right now.
I don't think it's too much to say that we will never lose again.
Next year is right now.
Only 13.5 games out of first! Rizzo is the first Cub since at least 1920 to have 3 game winning hits in his first 5 games....had the go ahead shot tonight.
Tonight is a prime example of the Cubs future. Rizzo homered, the Shark had a nice outing and a cheap young guy in Valbuena had a HUGE 3 run double to win the game and even Clevenger was 2-4. I was skeptical of calling up Valbuena over Vitters but after tonight he's hitting .246 with 3 HR 10 RBI in just 16 games while Stewart hit .201 with 5 HR and 17 RBI in 55 games. Not saying Valbuena is going to be a stud but it shows why management took a waiver on him in April and saw some potential there even if he just winds up being a stop-gap player. The Cubs used to be very right handed and this year they are almost too left handed to a flaw but you can never have too much left handers IMO.
And there you are Rebecacy, been waiting to see your input. Thanks for your 2 cents worth. Amen to the Champs!
Yeah, how else can they maintain the "Lovable Loser" motto? God I love the fact your franchise is our cross-town rival...
You know I get that as a White Sox fan you and yours have every reason to pile on. You won a World Series, and it didn't change the fact that the Cubs were still way more popular. I'm not even a Cub fan, but I do like listening to Brenly, and I think Moreland has gotten a lot better, certainly better than Santo.
The thing is that I am actually intrigued by what Epstein and Hoyer are trying to do. They are actually trying to run the Cubs like a real baseball franchise. I honestly don't know if that has ever happened before. They are trying to build a foundation from the bottom up, what a concept...
The problem is that the Cubs have **** in their upper system (AA AAA), so that is what they are trying to do now, build up a farm system. I think their last two drafts have been fairly good, and so we will see what happens in 3-4 years. I think there is no reason for any Cub fan to expect anything for at least another three years.
I also expect that Sveum will be long gone by the time they are ready to win.
as a bucs fan I guess you should know a little something about sucking, huh. 19 consecutive losing seasons, the longest in North American professional sports history.
