Let's Talk About Baseball!!!

[El Bastarde]

Tigers sweep Sox and are 1 game below .500 and 2.5 behind Cleveland. Given I figured we'd be DFL, this isn't so bad. I guess the secret is to greatly lower your expectations.

[Harpua]

Well this season is brutal.

Oof. You are not kidding, and I don't see the O's competing any time soon... unless they get a ridiculous package for Machado. They might be able to if they could get ATL to make a deal, though I am not sure they are looking for a rent-a-player. All signs point to Philly for him.

^^You want Dexter Fowler back

He was huge for The Cubs in 2016 - especially in the WS. Even though he is wearing the uniform of The Cubs' arch-rival, I still love the dude. That said: Hard pass.

Tigers sweep Sox and are 1 game below .500 and 2.5 behind Cleveland. Given I figured we'd be DFL, this isn't so bad. I guess the secret is to greatly lower your expectations.

I read an article a couple of weeks ago about how the AL Central is historically bad right now. The fact that The Tigers are only 4 games back right now despite being two games below .500 is nuts. Losing Cabrera just adds insult to injury (or maybe it is the other way around).

The Cubs split a doubleheader with The Dodgers yesterday. In the first game they were winning 3-2 in the 9th with two outs and two strikes. They ended up losing 4-3. Does Detroit want Justin Wilson back?

They are also still going with this Ian Happ thing, and it is absolutely driving me crazy. According to Baseball Reference, Almora has the best WAR on the team, but he is still competing with a 0.0 WAR / -0.7 WAA player for playing time. I get that you have to let the kid develop, but there is a separate league for players who are in Happ's stage of development. He is so young and has a ton of potential, but he isn't ready for the show and it is hurting The Cubs.

[Harpua]

What the hell is happening in St. Louis??? Dexter Fowler is having the worst season of his career (.167 AVG...WTF?!), and the manager stops talking to him, the GM does two interviews calling him out, and the fans are basically ready to tear him to shreds.

I did laugh at this though...

Personally, I’m glad the Cardinals are languishing in the sewer and are clumsily trying to Cardinals Way their way out of this mess, because they’re a shitty team run by shitty people and cheered on by shitty fans. Fuck them. I hope Dexter Fowler doesn’t even bother to wear shoes to the dugout anymore.

[Phinst]

^
Yes it is a mess.

My guess would be he doesn't want to be in St. Louis and as for baseball I think he got by for his Athleticism, and in his age he is losing that, after that he doesn't have much.

I do think he could thrive on a all star team who can go deep in the playoffs(like the cubs when he was there) But I think he his lazy and only puts his best forward when he wants to

Yes our GM called him out, and then retracted which made it all really bad, most of us in St. Louis just wished he would of said nothing publicly or stuck with his words.

This does not help with his trade value as well after those remarks. On the other side Dexter could use that as ammunition to get his stuff together and then maybe a team would at least take some of his contract off the Cardinals hands.

Apparently this is not the only time he has been called out by a GM

Dexter Fowler the latest Rockies player called out by Dan O'Dowd
https://www.purplerow.com/2013/11/26/5147632/dexter-fowler-trade-rumors-rockies-dan-odowd

As far as the coach it is my understanding that he doesn't respond to texts from the manager.

As for the Deadspin. lol. I realize it's deadspin, but our fans are far from shitty.
I will agree we have lost the Cardinal way, or I should say the way the Cards ran there organization no longer works.
People are all about money and destinations it seems. The Cardinals used to thrive on bringing in guys for less money, because they wanted to be a Cardinal who has been a winning franchise. That's all they needed to lure people here.
But It is also has been mentioned that players don't want to be coached by Matheny a sub-par manager, who got lucky with the talent he gained the first few yrs he came aboard.

St. Louis as a city is stuck in wanting to move this city forward. Every other city I see they are building and making the community better. we have failed miserably in that area. The crime and national racism stories don't help either. while I believe some of this to be true, we also know how media can be and it's not always as bad as it seems.

[Harpua]

^ You and I had just joked about Fowler, but I didn't realize just how shitty he has been this season. I thought we were just talking "Heyward bad."

Also, I like to joke about the Cards and their fans, but most fans for most teams are just... normal folk. Some might be more entitled, some might be more fair weather, but for the most part fans are fans.( An obvious exception being Packers fans...what a bunch of ghouls... amirite?)

[SirChompsAlot]

White Sox?

[El Bastarde]

"Justin Verlander feels sorry for shittiness of old team; gives up multiple homeruns in the loss as a gift."

Gee, thanks buddy!

[Harpua]

Lotta trades made today. I want to know how Buccos fans are reacting to their big move (adding Archer). I for one am shocked that they are going for it.

[El Bastarde]

Does this mean that Tampa now officially has nothing but bullpen guys?

[GratefulPhish]

We’re ecstatic. It’s not exactly going for it this because he’s under control, along with Kela. The assumption is that by trading Meadows we’ll re-sign Dickerson who has been a stud. Glasnow showed potential out of the pen but as a starter he looked scared to death imo. They could both be future franchise guys, but I like that we traded them for proven big leaguers.

Mostly everyone’s excited because the front office has finally shown they want to win. If we can get a more consistent middle infield (at the plate) before next year, I think we’ll have as good a shot as any in the NL, excluding the Dodgers probably. This is time to go for it imo, because the NL is pretty weak.

[Harpua]

I was watching The Cubs game while listening to the show last night. It was a 1-0 (Nationals) pitcher duel until the 9th when the Nats got to The Cubs bullpen and added two insurance runs, making it 3 -0. In the bottom of the 9th, the Nationals pen loaded the bases. With two outs, enter David Bote.

[El Bastarde]

^He's actually reacting to that Twist segue.

[fone]

And then there's this:

[Harpua]

Ugh. The Cubs' "one solo shot per game" strategy might not be a winning strategy.

[El Bastarde]

^We got you, buddy. The Tigers helped end that silliness earlier this week. We aim to please.

[Harpua]

Talk about a power outage. The Cubs were second in the league in 0 or 1 run games. The only team with more 0 or 1 run games was the O's. Somehow The Cubs managed 95 wins while the O's managed 115 losses. On the plus side they did make the playoffs for the 4th consecutive year, which is a franchise record!

The season was marred by injury (Darvish, Morrow, Bryant) and controversy (Murphy, Russell, and A-Rod / Darvish). So, being completely honest, I'm glad it is over.

I'm pretty sure that Murphy is already gone, and Addison Russell has to go. I would imagine that if he ever takes the field in a Cubs jersey again, he will be greeted by boos. He is kind of a pariah. Maybe a city with less press would be better for him, but in Chicago he is being torn to shreds every single day. I don't know if smaller markets have to deal with this kind of shit, but whenever a Cub steps out of line (even retroactively - Murphy & Chapman) it is all anyone on sports radio wants to talk about.

At the end of the day it is The Ricketts' team and they will do what they think makes the most business sense.

The core of the Cubs isn't progressing like most fans / experts thought they would. Rizzo has been a model of consistency, and Baez took a huge step forward, but Contreras, Schwarber, Happ, Russell and Bryant all took steps backwards.

The Cubs did not offer Joe Maddon an extension, so he will be coaching in 19 as a lame duck, which might hurt their ability to sign the big name free agents.

Good grief, what a season.

... So this is what being entitled feels like.

[El Bastarde]

I've defended Maddon in the past but thought the managing in that Wild Card was a disaster. Maddon pulls a starter who is rolling so he could have the right to pitch Cishek for like the 8th time in 9 games and to later start a shitty pinch-hitter with an awful average...and did this before they ever had bases loaded in the next half-inning.

Not to be outdone, Black pulls Freeland when he's even better and with a lead for god-knows-what-reason. The reliever then immediately gets into loads of trouble and Maddon bails them out by PH-ing Hayward who everyone knew would strike out. I have no clue what these managers are doing. Was kinda glad the Opener experiment blew up in the A's face as well. If relievers were that trustworthy, they'd be starters.

Was refreshing to see a starter last night in Ryu earning the right to get himself out of jams without an overreaction and quick hook from the manager.

[Harpua]

Yeah, PH-ing Heyward is all anyone is talking about in the office these days. Maddon is the most successful coach in Cubs history (maybe there is an argument for Frank Chance, but you know what I mean.) He got us our first WS in 108 years. He has been the skipper for four years and has made the post season all four of those years. I am eternally grateful to him.

That said... He is smart as hell, but some of the things he does drive me nuts. His belief that batting order doesn't really matter drives me nuts. Constantly playing infielders in the outfield drives me nuts. Batting the pitcher 8th was cute at first, but his justification of it implies that they expect to be playing from behind and that drives me nuts.

[El Bastarde]

That said... He is smart as hell, but some of the things he does drive me nuts.

Feels like he's fallen way too far into the sabermetrics snobbery that's taking over some managers. There's now this obsession of not letting a pitcher see batters for a 3rd or 4th time no matter how much they're rolling and I'll never get managers who think it's better to pull a pitcher early so they can use more relievers. It almost feels like he's just a product of a system than some ground-breaking manager.

[Harpua]

There was a meme going around showing which states were supposedly cheering for which team in the NLCS. The joke was that every state but California was cheering for Milwaukee. Let me tell ya: no Cubs fans were cheering for Milwaukee, and few Cardinals fans were. When they lost, I celebrated.

[El Bastarde]

^I was KINDA pulling for the BrewCrew but not in a passionate way. In fact, I'm kinda hoping the Dodgers make it since they've come so close and haven't gotten it done. Someone get Kershaw a ring.