The CHGO Cubs Sunday crew discusses this week’s lowlights as the team enters a potentially era-altering month of July. After Justin Steele’s emotional “wake the f*** up” rally in the dugout on Saturday, the Chicago Cubs’ offense is still struggling. Starting pitcher Jameson Taillon acknowledges that the team’s “funk” has turned into something more serious. Javier Assad is placed on the injured list with a forearm strain, further stressing an already injury-plagued starting rotation. Kyle Hendricks, after an encouraging month, gave up 7 runs in one inning.
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he [Music] this is the chgo Cubs podcast my name is Corey I am joined as always by Brendan we are coming to you on Sunday June 30th and the Cubs have a bad week Brendan they dropped two of three in Milwaukee that was preceded by dropping three of four in San Francisco and I’ll tell you Brendan I had initi this morning thinking about last night and how the game I had planned to come on here and launch straight into a an effusive loud praising of our leader perhaps our captain now in Justin steel and we’ll talk about that we’ll talk about that moment but I think very typical of the 2024 Chicago Cubs that they have that moment that we all see it’s widely talked about some of us on this podcast got themselves a viral social media Moment by uh you know clipping that I’m not going to name any names I’m just available you know my best ability is availability cor but very typical of the 2024 Chicago Cubs to have that moment that unites really most if not all of the fan base feels like a potential galvanizing let’s go on a run like it it doesn’t erase all of the troubles from the team but like maybe this is that moment that we all look back on that turns the season around whatever and we get to Sunday Nico starts the game homering on the second Pitch you’re thinking maybe that was the moment and then the rest of the game like so much of this season Brendan just an absolute dumpster fire galvanizing moment Gone In The Wind more bad baseball more errors more Grand Slams for the opposing teams and here we are with another series loss there’s a lot to talk about I can go into several different directions based on what you introduced all starts before we talk about steel in general the defensive mishaps that we’ve seen this year the outs on the basis that we’ve seen this year is completely unex acceptable we can go through offensive funks the projections may not be accurate guys may regress but at the very least when the front office goes and signs the most expensive manager in history gets rid of a World Series folklore Legend and pays $10 million for that position at the bare minimum I expect abs abolute whistle clean baseball yeah that’s it botching pickles losing Baseballs in the light making outs on the basis lack of awareness however you want to describe the mishaps and the errors it’s unacceptable that this team has made the most outs on the basis and even if you look at outs on the bases at second at third base at first base with Runners on third most outs in the league this is unacceptable whatever the reason whatever the process that can’t happen and to be frank I’m more upset about the general offensive malays but when I have to watch games where I also see that it draws a visceral ey Cory yeah so here’s what I want to talk about on today’s show uh a lot of the stuff that is continually an issue for this team we I’m already working myself up it’s been two it’s gonna be one of those episodes but again I had hoped it would be the other direction I really hoped it would be focusing on that home run as they won two of three and but it’s going to take a slightly different direction some things that I do want to get to in this podcast though just to lay out somewhat of an agenda for you I do want to talk about Kyle hry on Sunday um you know uh he’s had that good outing in relief against St Louis it’s quality start but then and and look good for most of today but then that seven-run inning obviously derails you can have whatever feeling you want about Kyle should have been out of the inning if he and hap catches a catchable Fly ball but still you know he wasn’t as sharp today gives up the Grand Slam etc etc I do want to talk about Porter Hodge I know he has caught your Brendan uh he’s been quite good since his MLB debut for the Chicago Cubs so I do want to talk about Porter hodj and the potential there potential Bullpen roll there um Luke little doing some nice work this weekend uh I want to talk about Cody Bellinger I know that’s a big discussion point I think we’ve broken down a lot of these players in depth uh but maybe not Bellinger as much in the last you know few weeks and things like that uh talk about Javier Assad that was a discussion that we’ve had um in terms of his short starts what does that look like he’s pushing on Innings limits how is that going to look and unfortunately he lands on the I that’s sort of answering part of that at least to start uh but yeah I see our our good friend Greg Hut uh in the chat um and Ethan Roberts is back that’s very exciting that’s very happy to see for him I I do want to start with Justin seal though um again it did not wake the team up as he uh eloquently put it on Saturday uh they took a snooze on Sunday that being said I do want to talk about that moment and you and I had a conversation last week about how the team felt a little flat about how a lot of their postgame commentary and the commentary from Jed or Carter or Dansby when they talk things like that was so focused on um we just got to be better it’s frustrating but we’ll get there we believe in this group this that and the other and what what boiled over was you watch that Inning on Saturday and it was another it’s one thing if this team is just losing games one thing if they’re pressing they’re struggling things like that but what that Inning on Saturday Encompass was what we’ve seen through so much of this season which is not just getting beat or the other team hitting a good pitch and you lose on a a home run it was a lack of fundamentals and an embarrassing level of play especially on the defensive side as you mentioned we talked about the outs on the bases and things like that but that inning it had it all for the 2024 Chicago Cubs it had messing up a rundown it had lack of Fielding soft infield grounders not turning double plays or making outs quick enough and then the new one which is a really fun one to continually watch this team and different players mess up is it seems Brendon that no one else in the Outfield knows how fast PCA is they’re all surprised that he’s next to them or calling them off or anything it’s as if they’ve never seen the guy run they have no idea where he is there’s no awareness as you said as a popup drops in Shallow center field because three of them can’t communicate with each other to catch a ball yeah it was another embarrassing lowlevel display from a 200 plus million dollar team with veterans highly paid players and the highest paid manager in baseball history and whether it it doesn’t erase all that we’ve seen it doesn’t erase that inning but thank you to Justin steel for finally showing that emotion it was about time that somebody expressed that this level of play was not acceptable we know it’s not acceptable I don’t think that they go into the clubhouse and laugh at off or anything I’m sure these standards are set these plays are talked about but as fans sometimes it’s nice to just see it that’s what I said last week I don’t know if I want Council to get ejected throw a trash can L Panella throw a Bas whatever I don’t know what I want but I want to see something some fire some life from this team some clear acknowledgment that shares the frustration we share of watching them not be able to execute a rundown like they teach kids in middle school and we got that moment from Justin steel I don’t care if it didn’t turn into a a winning streak and a series win on Sunday I don’t care if some people because I see it out there too I I I think there was something with strowman over the weekend too some people don’t like the players yelling at their teammates in public they deserve to yelled at Brendan they deserve to be embarrassed by having a national moment that everybody sees on TV that everybody’s talking about their play has been embarrassing from the start of the season to now and it’s not again not just about losing it’s about these poor fundamentals these poor decisions these just lowlevel plays we’ve seen from them and I’m glad Justin steel showed that emotion I’m glad he showed he cares and I’m glad to see it bubble over like that they deserved to have that moment the rest of the team and to be clear and even listening to him in the postgame Justin steel holds himself to the same standard he’s not above it it wasn’t a show up your teammates or anything like that it was a we have to be better than this we keep doing this and it’s not acceptable you can keep saying we’re better than this we got to turn it around we got to do this but you need to see it and this was yet another inning another one of just this nonsense this poor play this garbage from this team I tweeted during the inning that it was another clown show that’s what it felt like and so I’m glad Justin steel did it that is what leadership looks like not all the time but sometimes tough love is what you need we all think back to Rizzo yelling at a oldis Chapman and that was a moment you felt like he was a leader of this team he bled for the Chicago Cubs and for them to play well on the field and deliver results and that’s what that moment felt like for Justin steel whether it turns into a season saving moment or anything like that that’s what you want to see from players it’s it’s a sport there’s a lot of money there’s a lot of tension and adrenaline stuff boils over they should be frustrated and I was glad to see it glad to see it overdue when I saw it I texted you I’m like oh my God steel just went berserk in The Dugout like Carlos and brono style but the difference between Zano and steel is Zano may have done that more frequently the fact they came from steel someone who shown to be even measur throughout the course of his career he himself has said he doesn’t scream that often on the mound there’s only been a few instances one against the Giants last year and one in London ste’s pretty even mannered when a player shows that type of emotion when the expectation is him being relative L calm it means more and those instances I believe personally are necessary of course you don’t want to maybe show your teammates up it is embarrassing but it’s not to gloss over as each one of these blowups as being the same this is different in that it came from steel it was rare and it was a consequence of two months of poor embarrassing play some level of accountability had to be had now Steele said he may have should have controlled his emotions and done that behind the scenes likely going forward he may do that more he’s still young growing through the process as well David Ross for example as a player not as a manager but Anthony Rizzo was talking about Ross and the impact he had and Rizzo would say that within the clubhouse Ross would straight up come to Rizzo say hey you’re effing flat today and that’s the accountability that keeps guys in their brains in tune intact attention the level of attention on the field doesn’t Inspire confidence doesn’t Inspire that the process is optimal so when a team gets yelled at when you’re embarrassed in front of your teammates coming from a guy who never does that it means more I personally think that’s leadership I think that’s putting yourself out there risking your embarrassment screaming at your teammates in front of cameras to inspire wins to change the Dynamics of the team unfortunately the next day they hit snooze they went over for 20 after Nico Herer hit a home run to lead off the game it’s unfortunate but I finally felt as if this team this roster was showing some public sense of urgency and and an idea that they are not satisfied as a fan forget the wins I felt hurt for once off season yeah like I said it it it’s one of those things and I see it in the in our YouTube chat if you’re in our YouTube chat hello welcome appreciate you joining us on this fine Sunday afternoon drop in the chat let us know what you’re thinking if you’re listening on your podcast feed later hello happy Monday have a good good day at work wherever you may be listening um I again I I don’t think some folks in the chat saying like there’s nothing to wake up this team they’re they’re not going to get woken up they they need better players they should have been woken up months ago etc etc like I hear you I agree like I said the moment from steel doesn’t have to turn into anything in a vacuum from him and where we are in this team I like the moment that that’s the point of this discussion uh it doesn’t have to mean anything it doesn’t have to turn them around that’s not you know Seal’s responsibility but I I think ultimately I’m just glad to see it as we said it just felt uh it gets tiring hearing all those empty platitudes from the front office and from the other players and they don’t need to you know Dansby doesn’t have to go on his podcast and spend the whole hour saying I need to be better I’m mad at myself like that you know I’m not asking for that but we keep watching this same piss poor baseball repeatedly and at some point it’s just nice to see something from someone that expresses what we feel as fans which is this is unacceptable it’s been going on all year and we’re tired of it like and somebody show us that this standard is not acceptable so that’s what it is but uh unfortunately as we said it at least for the moment does not turn into a galvanizing moment a thing turns the season they you know get their Bell R uh on Sunday and that caps off as we said a two and five week so ultimately uh they didn’t capitalize on the niname homestand they had a rough trip here and now they come home the couple of the Philly stars are injured Brendan so you’ll miss them uh but I’m not I’m not so sure that that’s going to matter so ultimately that’s where it is and so you know was another frustrating weekend in Milwaukee um and that’s what you got and you know then after you kind of pull back from the steel moment um and giving him all the credit in in the world for that like I said it’s it’s what leadership looks like not all the time but sometimes that tough love tough love is necessary and if you know I I know he said you know he felt a certain way after the game or whatever but if teammates didn’t want to be embarrassed they shouldn’t play embarrassing baseball so yeah I know I I I knew you were going to say that too that’s such a that’s how it is if they don’t want to be called out by that then they shouldn’t play embarrassing baseball and then those moments wouldn’t need to happen anyway uh so that leaves us in a similar spot like you said Sunday was a very familiar game from the offense nio horer gets it started and then just nothing for the rest of the game um so that’s that’s where we have it we’ll talk about it there’s there’s plenty to talk about uh but I think you know I see it in the YouTube chat too like I don’t know man I the the the the council discussion and all of this I don’t know I still believe he’s an excellent manager I think these players got to be better um I had wanted to see some of that fire from him same as you know if you remember last year like we were clamoring for David Ross to at some point defend seya Suzuki when he was getting all those bad calls occasionally you always want to see that from the manager but I think this is one of those where it’s you know the the roster isn’t good enough the team’s not good enough but yeah as you said Brendan when you are paying a manager that much uh he’s not the one running the bases he’s not the one messing up a rundown things like that but buck stops with you it’s your team you’re the manager you’re the one making all the money like I think it’s fair for people to uh I I think it’s fair for people to expect more when you’re the leader of the team whether you can control it all directly or not it’s your Clubhouse well you’re getting paid that amount of money to make sure that the environment in process is 100% functioning when you make errors when you make outs on the base paths it represents something is not functioning now to be clear I still have a lot of confidence in Council I think he runs laps around David Ross in projecting the worst case scenarios in the future I think he makes more right decisions than wrong decisions and the criticism of the defensive base running I’ll be quite honest it is kind of minor in the grand scheme of things especially when the roster is quite literally broken at this point seven games under 500 but it boils over in frustration when you see those mistakes made at the very least as I said before I do the adre I expect perfect fundamentals I demand perfect fundamentals and I’m especially I do demand it and especially when we have a precedence of 2016 when they were perfect defensively on the base paths they didn’t make any mistakes and so I’m always reminded of that even if you have all the talent in the world fundamentals and that does stop with the guy in The Dugout making all the calls you do have to have some introspection and frankly Craig I need better results from the fundamental perspective let me do the ad break here we’ll get back at it yeah Mando whole body deodorant we will have you smelling great all summer Mando’s array of odor controlling Solutions ensures you’ll be fresh from head to toe the solid stick and invisible cream tube control odor for 72 hours but you can start Odor Control in the shower with the 4 inone cleansing bar and a acid ified body wash which helps stop odor before it even starts I personally love how fresh Mando smells it is clinically proven to control odor better than a shower with soap alone 12 hours after a shower the average man’s grundle odor level was a five out of 10 but with Mando the average grundle odor is a zero out of 10 Mando starter pack is perfect for new customers it comes with a solid Stick deodorant again that cream tube deodorant two free products of your choice like mini body wash and deodorant wipes and free shipping we have a discount code to help you 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this space and to to look at this week and to say oh so the Cubs can’t score enough runs they blow a bunch of leads and they play in a a lot of close one-run games that come down to little itty bitty margin things and they lose a lot of those you don’t say get out of here who could have possibly predicted that and you know so we sit here on a Sunday after a two and five week and I remain just especially annoyed I keep saying this I don’t care if you and I are right I don’t get paid by the Chicago Cubs to be right about all these decisions to be right about every free agent but it’s so annoying at how predictable this season was and all of these games you watch and it’s it’s so predictable Brendan and it’s especially frustrating that this deep into this process the retool whatever you want to call it under Jed hoyer’s leadership produces such a predictable outcome this deep into the season and even he was talking the other day he said it’s too early to talk about selling or the trade deadline and things like that but he admitted they’ve dug themselves a hole and they have to start playing better and you look around we’ve we’ve looked at this before but after this series in Milwaukee you are sitting 11 and a half games behind the Milwaukee Brewers who once again for another year continue to outclass you in a division that should be yours to be running at this point at least at this Point Brendan this many years removed from when it was last a division you were sitting on top of and then you look at this wild card race five and a five out of the final wild card spot and the only two teams you’re not behind in the National League are the two that are Beyond out of it the Marlins and the Colorado Rockies everybody else in the National League is on top of the Chicago Cubs we talked about it you can use whatever word you want from frustrating unacceptable etc etc yada yada it remains just exhausted exhausting is a good word unbearable I I don’t even know but it it it’s it remains especially frustrating that this was exactly the concern so many of us had it’s down to how they would play the games Bren like specifically how the games would play out and we just sit here and watch it every night every single night every single Sunday morning afternoon we suffer through this actually Greg hus tweeted out I believe it was Saturday and it kind of resonated with me and to paraphrase Greg’s tweet he said the tone from the fan base being more negative is a disservice to bringing in young fans like Greg’s former self who grew up in an environment of fans who are generally more optimist mytic wait till next year and it kind of resonated because I do see such negativity around this franchise and while I understand this because the expectation is now risen with a World Series and a ton more money involved I’m disappointed that a lot of these errors or poor play Just amplifies that that negativity and it clouds the optimism and I wish we get we can get back to a point where we’re talking about maybe some of the more optimistic trends that we’re seeing I don’t like coming on the show Corey talking with you about all these numbers I rather talk about the next guy coming up I rather talk about what pca’s doing even though he’s kind of in a funk I rather talk about Porter Hodes cut ride fastball I rather talk about Justin Steel’s new Sinker and change up but it’s difficult because at the same time they also see everyone in the chat they’re frustrated they’re spending out money you spent thousand you’re an idiot by the way you spent thousands of dollars on season tickets right and so it’s such a delicate balance and those errors and that poor play just unearths that negativity and that’s why I dial in on some of the fundamental errors that we’re seeing I would love and I will do by the way because I I maybe I am more generally optimistic but I would love to get back to a point as you and I podcasted in 2015 16 17 18 19 20 many years now or the overwhelming tone of those podcasts were what needs to happen next and it was always underneath the cloud of optimism and for the first time doing this in 10 years I don’t fize if we have that and it sucks and I it’s it’s a really bad feeling to have and I think I think you know as you see in our YouTube chat I think that stems from a few things you know one even you and I lowered our expectation threshold for this team you know we weren’t even holding them to being a World Series or bust team we were going along with their plan and their timeline and all that and just hoping they could win a a bad division win a winnable division be a for sure fire on paper playoff team and they couldn’t even meet us at those expectations and as a lot of people have said you and I have talked about this a lot everything changed when the Chicago Cubs won the World Series in 2016 that did happen but it this doesn’t feel like a moment for the which which year though which year 2016 I just froze I froze a little bit thinking about that John leester Jersey behind you yeah they once they win the World Series the the white whale has been caught it’s just like an endless loop the white whales been caught Brendan and then the expectations go up ticket prices go up the area around brigley gets built up all this stuff and after a while even though a lot of us you know just one before I die etc etc the years go on start to say well you know two we’re still paying for these tickets you’re still raising these prices you’re still charging $14 for a beer I I think the team can continue winning yeah we don’t have to stop at the one and we haven’t been met there as a fan base so I think that’s why it is tough to focus on the positives and to be optimistic because a lot of us have lowered our expectation threshold of what we’re asking of team with a top five you know continually top 10 often top five payroll highest game day experience price in the league etc etc and we’re not even holding them to the highest standard that I think we should be holding them to and they’re not even meeting us there it’s disappointing and there’s no there’s no way to sugarcoat that and like I said kind of pairs well with the steel thing like it would be one thing if they’re just losing games just not happening it’s not clicking they’re playing good baseball but they’re just getting beat on a nice a nightly basis game of inches things happen that’s not what’s happening dude yeah they’re they’re playing an embarrassing level of Defense on a nightly basis sometimes the base running on a nightly basis and I genuinely I don’t recall um I genuinely don’t recall an offense that felt this like lifeless and flat and passive in in a long time I don’t recall watching I mean you can count like 2021 like the latter part I guess but that doesn’t I don’t think that really that’s not what I mean you know no it’s for the first time doing this with you now for almost 10 years this is the most exhausted i’ I’ve been covering the team we can go back to you know 2018 in that late Brewers run that won the division we can go back to 2019 and the termination of the Madden era those were frustrating still during those eras there was still some general sense of optimism the Epstein was great at this he was so good painting a Rosy picture even if the current times were dark and you trusted a front office and you trusted Theo because he had just won the World Series and he had won multiple World Series prior to coming over to the CBS this time is different because baseball’s changing so fast the current front office in their fourth season has missed the mark it does represent some broken processes it does make you think if they have the right system in place to capture the next winning era and that is what’s distracting and I I I see every I see all this in the in the chat it’s should we trade Nico should we trade hap can we trade Bellinger when will we fire Hoyer and we never really have those types of disc discussions ever where it’s completely moving over and that degree of change is unprecedented yeah even before Tom Rick bought this team and I I mean it is g to be an interesting discussion obviously you start July here tomorrow uh and we’ve noted you know it’s not exactly uh an easy schedule coming up for the Cubs uh before the allstar break you have three with Philly at home the Angels come to Wrigley field then you have three on the road in Baltimore and three on the road or excuse me four on the road in St Louis that’s not a particularly easy schedule especially because Philly is really good even if certain players are hurt or not they’re really good whether Bryce Harper is in the lineup or not um Baltimore really good that offense good luck to the Cubs pitching staff on that one and St Louis you haven’t played well against all season and that’s a series on the road and amidst a pretty tough schedule here with only a couple off days so it’s a tough schedule so if they’re going to bail themselves out it’s going to have to be soon and it’s going to have to be against some good competition but it do go trade for gunar Henderson your problem it does start to get the the conversation moving into a direction of yeah like what what does a trade deadline look like and how do you build for the future because you we’ve talked about it you have a bloated roster that is underperforming so when you look at making additions if you’re not moving certain guys around it gets difficult to figure out well if you want to add a power outfielder where’s he playing who’s he playing over with this current roster you want to add a first baseman who’s who’s dhing who’s playing first base every night like where are these guys going and it’s easy to look at third base with morell’s overall production and the continued defensive uh unease we’ll call it that catcher position obviously it’s been a nightmare for this team all year but those are only a couple positions and sometimes those aren’t the easiest positions plucking great catchers that are either great defensively or great offensively or both is not the easiest exercise in baseball especially when you sit out trades uh where those players move uh but let your division rival go and get um your old catcher’s brother who’s you know now an All-Star and all that but I digress I’m it’s not like I’m mad about that or anything yeah I can tell you’re going to have to move things around if you want to add money and stay under the tax you got to move money around if you want guys to play certain positions then you have to move some of the guys that might play those position so it does become a very interesting conversation going forward if this roster costs this much and is performing at such a level well then that’s too much money and it’s not getting you where you want to be so do you trade some of these guys I think anything is on the table for this team Brendan because what you have right now is not good enough and it does not look like it is as simple as just adding one player and wiping your hands and saying okay great now now it’s solved now it’s perfect I think it’s going to be more more chess maneuvering than that and I let’s let’s jump into I wanted to talk about in particular I wanted to talk about Cody Bellinger because I think it’s it’s an interesting conversation and one that I think does highlight a a good portion of what has gone wrong with this offense in particular and I wanted Cody Bellinger back I believe you wanted Cody Bellinger back uh but we expressed con concern throughout the entire off season I imagine I said this exact phrase on every single episode Brendan that even before they signed him we kept saying well if you just Reign Bellinger you’re just replacing the offense you got last year if you don’t sign Bellinger then you’ve lost your best overall producer so then when they did sign Bellinger it was like that’s great you’ve you’ve replaced that production hopefully but you didn’t add anything to it we expressed that the entire offseason and here we are the issue is that Cody Bellinger is not performing like he did last year he is underperforming that now now as you tweeted today and I know you’ll get into some of the metrics and things like that his overall production is fine he’s very good Defender very good base runner and his overall offensive production is fine they’re not paying him to be fine the roster is not constructed for him to be fine that is not necessarily Cody’s Bellinger’s fault he’s given a contracts he signs it he’s doing his best he wants to earn more money I think in his mind he’d like to outperform it opt out and get a nice big long contract from someone whether that’s the Cubs or not but when he’s your big ad bringing him back as we’ve talked about you’re putting him in a position where he has to perform at a certain level because you’re asking him to be your biggest run producer you’re asking him to be one of the middle of the orat I was looking at a thread from our friend Matt clap and he tweeted during the game today that Cody Bellinger last hit a ball at least 315 ft on June 16th he has what nine homers yeah that that is not enough slug from the guy you’re paying to be your Slugger and again it’s all back to Jet this is his roster he built the roster to the point that Cody Bellinger needed to be that guy but him not being there it it it drastically affects this offense’s ability and again that’s not to say that it’s like let’s be mad at Cody Bellinger or anything like that it’s the person who put the roster together but Bellinger not being at that exact level that he was by the end of last year and that overall production it’s it it hurts this offense because that’s how it was constructed it was necessary for Bellinger to mirror what he produced in the second half last season that that was necessary given all of our different projections from the current roster at this time last year the Cubs were in a similar place and in fact in July 17th they were seven games below 500 July 17th they won 10 of their next 11 games it changed ja Cub’s Outlook they bought Jer cond delario and Jose quas they did that not just from one guy performing well across the lineup they performed well Gomes talkman Bellinger Swanson herner Morel seya they all hit well over 300 in that 10 game span they all slugged with isolated powers on average of 260 the entire Squad after that trade deadline two guys carried over that type of production seya Suzuki and Cody Bellinger both those guys through September had waited on base averages over 400 right now the Cubs not only need that boost from the entire lineup but they need two guys to fill the same void that was filled by Bellinger and seya last season Bellinger on pays for 18 home runs is a disappointment no matter however you want to chop that up the contract in a vacuum of $28 million per year they’re paying him to be about a three- win player he’s on Pace to be a two- win player a League average player that’s fine he’s not a massive disappointment a massive bust but he’s not living up to expectations unfortunately that’s our reality why that’s happening I’m not entirely sure but it’s a it’s a result of a long-term Funk Corey if we look at Bellinger last seven weeks this has been going on his expected weight and on base average since May 8 has steadily declined and plateaued at 260 he said an expected weighted on base average for seven weeks of 260 I mean we can be frustrated with everyone else on the team I can be frustrated at Dansby Swanson Nico Herer recently say everyone but they can’t afford their thre hitter to perform that poorly and that was always a possibility it’s it’s built into his contract he did not get paid 180 plus million over seven years because this potential was always accounted for by other teams we’re seeing it now there’s still room to turn it around like the Cubs did last season but it is going to take an instant change and it’s going to take an instant change from Cody Bellinger and the rest of the team but most importantly it has to come from Cody Bellinger he is the anchor of this lineup and until we see him emerge there’s always going to be some underlying negativity of the entire outlook for the season well and so this again though like just to make it clear is what I think the key frustration is with Jed and how this roster was built you were banking on Cody Bellinger repeating or coming near repeating one season out of his last several it was always a dangerous game and this was always a possibility again he’s having a fine season but you’re not paying him to be a fine player you didn’t build your lineup for him to be a fine player you needed him to the person he was in that latter portion of last season it’s a good contract too by the way you know three years around 28 million per year that’s a good gamble right as you’re saying but when you gamble only on that to stabilize your offense then there’s some wavering some shakiness with that gamble well and when it pairs with how the rest of the team is built again Michael Bush we’ve talked about it has been great that trade looks very nice you know he’s not performing at an elite level but he’s looked I know you tweeted this too like much better on defense throughout the year he’s clearly improving at the position from when we started the year he looks good like a nice piece to the lineup uh but you also took a calculated risk in Christopher Morell as much as we have talked about the good process from Morel the K rate still down about 10% from last year walk rate still up three or 4% from last year but the results are not there Brendan and the defense has been suspect All Season he’s gotten better I think a little bit in certain aspects the throws look better more to Michael Bush’s chest things like that but still whiffing on some plays dropping some balls just unees is I think is a whatever word you want to use there but you look at the overall production now he’s a sub 100 WRC plus guy 15 homers obviously you like that but the overall numbers are not good enough the batting average the Ops all of this if the process doesn’t lead to those results it’s July you put him at third base a premium hitting position you’re not getting the defense you’re not getting the production in the lineup and again Christopher Morell is 24 years old I believe in him long term as a hitter but this team was construct ConEd that you needed a better version of Cody Bellinger you needed to hit on some of these known risks Michael Bush looks good you’ve got PCA in there he’s 22 years old trying to learn how to hit at the major league level it might take a second yeah might take a minute but you can’t really that yes it’s taking a minute but he’s 22 years old Brendon like Dansby has been hitting better but still not where he needs to be Nico finally looking good hitting some homers maybe that hand is finally feeling better but he’s getting up there where you need him to be and your catching position has been an absolute nightmare the entire season so the premise of this roster was always built I think our guy uh Cody delmendo in the chat just said this like it was built around Bellinger coming back getting around that same level of production and these other guys stepping up you’ve gotten it in some areas but when you risk hey hopefully all these unproven known Commodities need to hit for this offense to be good well they’re not and so guess what this is where we are all right let’s take an ad break here you’re depressing me over there you know that’s you’re depressing me we can talk about Porter Hodge next if you want no I want I think we should stay on this tone all right we’ll ride it out you’re you’re you’re the lead guy you do whatever you want Lucy nicotine what 100% pure nicotine always tobacco free available in pouches gum and our favorite Breakers Breakers are pouches but with a capsule of 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to you um Cubs trade for Gosman Horton comes up trade for Brandon low to play Third Base Mo comes up Owen Casey DH gming is easy that one was for you he’s he’s pandering to you with the uh you know N N’s a smart guy over there so I appreciate that n it’s a good suggestion so let’s talk um you know again look like I think that’s the state of the offense it’s been the state of the offense for some time you know some of the guys get going we see better Trends from some of them other guys go the other Direction and overall even the guys you’re getting solid good production from it’s not at that Elite level it’s not at that strong enough level to really carry the lineup and so at best it feels like even when things are going you have a lot of good complimentary hitters good hitters that can fit into uh a lineup but you don’t have the Stars you don’t have the big guys to round out said lineup and then unfortunately at any given time you have two to three or four just kind of black holes in the line and you know we were at the we were at the chco tailgate uh Takeover in Milwaukee on Saturday and you know we were talking with some of the folks in our group and I remember there was an occasion I think later in the game when PCA came up and there was Dansby was on second I believe and you know like should he bunt there was one out should he bunt because he bunts a lot would you bunt him over to try to get the Run and I was like if the catching position wasn’t hitting ninth like but what’s the point of bunting like they’re not going to get a hit so that I’d rather PCA swing obviously he’s you know struggling and still adjusting to Major League pitching but I’d rather he swing bun for what so that the catchers can ground out or strike out what’s the point of that and so that’s how it’s felt for most of the year you know again it it it does fall on like the guys need to be better it’s how the roster was constructed it’s it’s not an easy ask but you know you’ve seen an haap kind of turn things around and get his numbers to at or better than his kind of career norms and things like that that’s what you need from the rest of these guys you need the th those guys to do it and then when that happens you need inap to stay where he is not then he goes into a funk because that’s how it’s felt too so I don’t have the solve there it was always a flawed offensive construction and we’re bearing the fruit of that pretty much on a daily basis um go ahead I was saying there were positive signs early on with Morell with bush especially in April now Bush went through that funk came out of it in June looks pretty good you look at the biggest contributors over the past two months Ian haap Michael Bush since May 1 this includes some of their early May uh slump they have a 360 and 350 weight on average for hap and Bush the rest of the team not even close Nico 300 Dansby 290 PCA 220 talkman even talkman had a great April he’s been injured 285 I don’t know what you do with Amaya he’s a 214 weighted on base average since the beginning of May his popup time throwing his second Bas is among the worst in the league and his framing his rating bad I love his personality but if this were a competitive team you would have to get rid of Amaya he he’s not doing anything well and I hate to say that I know he had an interesting upbringing through the system several injuries the pitchers like how he calls games this is not good enough he’s performing among the worst catchers I’ve ever seen in recent memory M Maya so it’s good that you see happen and Bush start to produce like this but then the question is what about Christopher Morell he’s produced at League average over the past two months and there was always questions of saying oh well just be patient wait the expected numbers look good but since June those expected numbers we’ve held on to are no longer there since the beginning of June his expected W has actually gone down and over the course of the last three weeks his expected weight on base average is under 300 so that process that was yielding positive battle ball profiles is no longer there and that does make you think okay well why is that happening and does this mean that maybe Council should start to spread out a bats differently and maybe if the Cubs do end up being competitive should they at least account for the possibility that Mor will have to go through a funk again now I still think he looks generally optimistic the whiff rates have not gone back up the walk rate to your earlier Point has remained steady and generally he hits the ball harder than most guys it’s just it hasn’t re resulted in basic hits nor a positive bad ball profile I still think he gets there but right now it’s not good enough to project a competitive team yeah and look a as we talked about he again with the roster construction he was asked to be the cleanup hitter for the majority of the Season until you know recently as as we had talked about for weeks before it happened like moved out of that clean off spot doesn’t matter if you believe in the trends or what the expected data say when your cleanup hitter you need results it’s July it’s crazy like I love the guy I believe in him as a hitter long term but it it that that stuff doesn’t matter when the results don’t come four months into the season and they’re asking him to learn a new position in your fourth year in a competitiveness and clean up and and in order for that to offset the defensive issues he can’t be a League average hitter he needs to be a 360 plus yes yeah so I I don’t know it’s it’s it’s frustrating anecdotally it feels like he’s in a weird spot where he has bought into his ability to have that PL plate discipline agree he’s missing his pitches and he’s missing his pitches he’s he’s it’s he’s now in that spot where he has to fine-tune the adjustment because he’s taking F hitable fast balls for strike three and he’s clearly either looking for a different pitch or he’s chasing a walk in some of those at bats again I’m not in his head I’m not dissecting every single at bat like a hitting coach but when you see guys taking hitable fast balls like over the plate very hitable fast balls especially for a hitter like him for strike three and kind of giving that like what kind of look you’re caught in between the process is veering I think too much in maybe patience and you’re sacrificing a little it almost reminds you of SE a little bit I was about to say the same thing like a more extreme version of SE yes you love the plate discipline you don’t want guys swinging at bad pitches walks are good despite what I think Dusty Baker once uh said about Adam Dunn if I remember correctly you did say that well done yeah but you all you have to be aggressive as well especially when you’re able to put so much oomph on the ball like seya and Morel can you got you got to be swinging at hitable pitches you know so you I think he’s in he’s in between one of those adjustments periods like you love the rate coming down but you have to find that right balance between doing that and keeping your aggressiveness to the point that you’re ready to jump on a center cut fast ball in a two- strike count where you should be looking to protect the plate anyway instead of just staring at it as it goes by that’s my you know loose analysis of that and I agree we have a comment from Nick uh uh mum he says quote I feel these nerd metrics no offense to you Brendan I appreciate that Mick have swayed the cubs too much I have to believe other teams look at the numbers but then look at the player as a baller I I first off I agree these nerd metrics especially how they’re presented on on broadcast on ESPN I kind of hate it and I know I’m you know doing this podcast and presenting all these graphs I get it but you guys are tuning into a niche podcast by the way so this is what we do but uh I I actually do agree with that and when we listen to Cubs players they actually don’t use a lot of what we’re talking about I listen to Dany Swanson Ian ha the past week Swanson was ripping Chase rate contact rate half talking about situational hitting they don’t talk about the game that you and I talk about the game Cory so make that abundantly clear at the same time when we listen to Dustin Kelly and Bellinger and Morell talk about the changes they’re making especially when our guy Ryan Herrera talks about this uh they they look for their zones they try to make the best wings based on their strengths and for seya and Bellinger and Morell that seems to be an ongoing process with Bellinger he did make that adjustment on elevated pitches last year seya second half once he got ahead of the count any pitch middle in he was swinging at and crushing this season seya actually more aggressive when ahead of the count and Swinging up pitches against the zone that shouldn’t be swung at for damage ironically enough Morel is a whole different brand so many different changes on and off he’s still a young guy 25 but it’s too slow that’s where I come back at no matter what metric we’re talking about expected metrics are always in retrospect you can try to project going forward but the biggest thing I always try to communicate and tell fans is that we’re looking at snapshots of variability that have little projected value can’t project this sport you can only explain what happened and everyone’s always changing something always always changing something and so you try to find those shot to explain the explanations in retrospect well also to your point Cory looking at what’s going on in the current moment in the current moment they’re missing their pitch for some reason I don’t exactly know why well and I think you know just on the the metric stuff I I do think and I hope I mean it’s my sincere hope that you know Brendan and I when we use a lot of those metrics we’re properly contextualizing them and you know I I don’t I I don’t think that we are a show that just reads out those numbers and says yeah that number is good and you know there’s no context or anything I think we uh try you know and hopefully do a good job of properly contextualizing when we want to use those and I think our discussion of morel is a good highlight of that we weren’t suggesting that because his expected weight on base average or things like that or even cutting the K rate and walk rate which are simple metrics like we weren’t suggesting that his production was good because of those things we were suggesting that he’s 24 years old he’s a cost controlled player who can be in this organization for several years that stuff is worth paying attention to when you’re trying to forecast how he might fit into those plans but under no circumstances would we have told you that well yeah his Ops is 670 and he’s hitting 190 but he’s good because of these things I don’t think that’s what we said I hope we do a good job of contextualizing all those things and a lot of the time you know using those metrics and talking through that type of lens firstly it’s just how you and I kind of analyze the game and stuff like that but it is also the stuff that these front offices use I think even going back to the initial comment that you know the that Jed or the Cubs lean too much on that I don’t necessarily think that they did I think when we went through the offseason we were using a lot of those Advanced metrics WRC plus uh weighted on base average in particular to point out that they did not do enough on the offense using those metrics so I think and it is interesting because I think Dansby is is a good kind of case study for the the middle ground on that because he’s a player that Waits well on wins above replacement but the offense doesn’t look great and depending on how you value the defense and all that I understand why he’s a little bit of I don’t want to say a poster child but he’s going to be someone that people look at when they say well I don’t you know oh he’s a five win player who cares I watch him you know hit 240 with a you know 700 Ops I don’t know how much I care about the wins above replacement right like so I think in that regard perhaps the Cubs front office improperly kind of calculated this but I think using the advanced metrics we told y all off season that this offense wasn’t going to be good enough and that’s what we were using so I hope I hope we contextualize all of that properly and it’s it doesn’t feel as though you know we’re just putting those numbers out and claiming it’s good and I I I hope we do a good job of that I this is a whole different conversation that we can have but the I even hate the premise of advanced metrics the the word uses of advanced metric this should be so intuitive it should be so simplified that in a way the word advance is pretentious it really is and when I watch Like These ESPN broadcasts they shove it down your throats like crazy and I’m even watching like stop it I don’t care about any of this because the context is not there when you use these metrics it should tell a story that’s intuitive of course when we watch Morel oh that makes sense you know he’s not stking out that much that’s a good thing I don’t need to have expected WBA and the calculations and everything be sh and just leave it as is it should tell a story and I think my intention is always to tell that story and also share a lot of the same disappointment when the results don’t come and when the results don’t come we can try to contextualize why it’s not aligning with bad ball profiles that tend to have better results anyway I’ll throw it back to you actually let me do this ad break here before we uh continue on yeah uh some beers can say they’re brewed for baseball but only Blue Moon is brewed by baseball beer and baseball just go together no beer goes better than the one that was literally born in a ballpark I love Blue Moon I love Blue Moon watching Justin steel scream at the Cubs Dugout when I saw that three blue moons were cracked open Corey I was so pumped up so bold Flavor bright explosion of color an iconic orange slice ritual guarantees a one-of-a-kind beer experience that’s perfect for Spring weather is best served with his signature orange garnished to Showcase this beautiful hazy color bring the ballpark to you with blue moon Belgian style wheat ale it’s one-of a kind every time get blo moon delivered by visiting get Bloon beer.com cgo to see your delivery options that’s Blue Moon beer.com cgo Blue Moon made brider celebrate responsibly Blue Moon Brewing Company Golden Colorado and by the way that’s why I don’t think I’m a nerd by the way like I I totally get all the advanced Metro tricks and noise and all that stuff just saying yeah uh well I also like the implication of the comment uh cuz he apologize to you I like the implication that I’m not a nerd um in that in that context that’s I I appreciate that I don’t think you’re a nerd either I really don’t think both of us are nerds you know I know some true nerds so I I saw it earlier in our YouTube chat we still have a couple things that we got to talk about so we’re going to be a little long here today appreciate you tuning in on this Sunday you guys know Brendon and I are the the team can have a two and five road trip Brendan and we still might talk about them for 90 minutes cuz we’re sick in the head um nerd or not we’re definitely ill in the head 100% that I can confirm yeah so I I see I saw it in the YouTube chat and I now I can’t find the comment so I apologize for not giving credit because it did make me laugh well find it was it it was related to when I I you know said the thing about Dusty Baker and the walks and someone replied uh at least the Cubs aren’t clogging the bases Dusty be happy Yeah from Nick uh Nick G Dusty would be happy the Cubs aren clogging the bases uh but then in parentheses says it’s it’s because someone was thrown out on the bases it’s very accurate right they would take the walk and then get thrown out trying to advance to third ball that’s right is that what two plan stands for thrown out on the basis thrown out it’s an acronym I had no idea get out of here that’s crazy that crazy yeah it’s it’s an acronym uh Google says thrown out on the bases like a NM poop I I I don’t think I knew I had no idea that’s what it meant yeah I don’t think I knew that the end stood for that look at um couple super chats do want to get to Fernando uh appreciate you as always hello guys wish it was a better outcome today I you know Brendan and I get a lot of losses on the Sunday show it is what it is um then we have one from Anthony capriotti appreciate that Anthony and this was back to the earlier discussion but I you know it’s an interesting point uh at this point it needs to be discussed if Jed is the right person to orchestrate the impending selloff that’s going to be a talking point for sure and it is a worthwhile one if they find themselves in a position where the only option is to sell it it is not a viable strategy to buy it doesn’t make sense etc etc to give up what it costs to make this team better to climb up that wild card race when the trade deadline is indeed here in a month should Jed be the person to make those calls in a vacuum I would argue no if they’re forced into that position then he should not be I don’t want him making moves to save his job I don’t want him to be panicking and things like that but as we’ve said before um you know this is one of those things that we’re you know we’ve said before you’re going to learn kind of how Tom views all of this and what is acceptable to him and things like that um and evil whack says yeah it’s also difficult uh to have someone new come in and be making those trades or you know at this point is anybody interested in Carter Hawkins doing anything no offense to him but you know he’s a his interviews are pretty milk toast kind of stuff and I don’t think anybody’s clamoring get rid of Jed and let Carter do it you know the Carter era I yeah I don’t think that anybody’s particularly interested in that um but well and you know so Donnie in the chat says we’re there Corey it’s June 30th it’s Cell mode again I I am only speaking through the lens of how I think this organization is going to operate if they can find themselves within a couple games of a wild card spot it doesn’t have to be good enough for me it doesn’t have to be good enough for you but there’s a certain point where Optics wise business-wise they’re going to pursue trying to sneak into the playoffs I don’t know what that exact threshold is uh I’m aware of where they are in the standings I’ve said before my standard is certainly not let’s go for that third wild card spot let’s just sneak in you know that’s good enough for me like no it is not but the organization is going to look at things a little differently that’s just the reality of the situation um so before we get out of here I do want to talk Kyle Hendrick obviously struggles on Sunday um look good for those first few Innings but then you know kind of like uh Ian hap trying to catch a fly ball it flutters away in the sun um and goes off the rails from there but pairing that with Brendan Javier Assad hitting the injured list um with a forearm issue so we’ll see how long that takes ETA ET Etc uh we also saw Hayden wisneski get a start this week um so curious your thoughts just on the state of the the pitching staff um you know it felt like today from Kyle just missing more spots than we’ve seen um just not getting the ball clearly where him and Amaya were trying to throw it and execute against the hitters I see you’ve put up uh a graph um so curious about that curious what you think about Assad and you know if he’s able to come back how they should kind of work him back in here and you know weski getting that start lot of starting pitching thoughts for you yeah not feeling good uh yeah that’s what it is uh we had a discussion about Javier Assad last week and we’ve had ongoing discussions about Assad throughout the course of the season the big concern with Assad was just durability and stamina this is a pitcher who had Innings at the big league level last season and he was around 90 Innings prior to being iel at the midpoint of the Season he was on Pace for 170 to 180 Innings this season the expectation he can do that every fifth day is insane unfortunately caught up to him forearm strain shut him down sounds more precautionary if anything he was even apparently throwing today or doing baseball movements which is encouraging but there was a quote from Theo about u darish in 2018 in a paraphrase what Theo said he said can’t necessarily rely on you darish coming back from his injury at the time for this Cub staff to be confidently projected going forward we need to have perfect health we need to have no possible injuries or even hiccups along the road we need to have a track record of durability sha doesn’t have that track record of durability Justin steel although he’s the least of my concerns still have to acknowledge that September last year didn’t end well had some fatigue even had a little bit of a back issue uh we have to acknowledge all this so when we approach this trade deadline regardless of them selling or not I think what’s undeniable is they need more pitching help even if they want to make it through the season I think they should go out and try to get another starting pitcher to account for Ben Brown not recovering at a good expected rate to account for Kate Horton’s Prospect injury buildup and maybe he won’t even pitch until a few more months because they’re being super careful to account for Assad and the forearm stuff all of this even Hayden West neski is now going to get more starts perhaps that may make you and I uneasy Kyle Hendrick ongoing process a curveball spikiness usage to once every four pitches is interesting optimistic over the past month but still you don’t really know if that’s going to survive and we saw it break today against Milwaukee for the Cubs team to last to prevent these injuries to ensure that the Cubs pitchers are used as they are designed to be used they they need depth and my concern continues this week as it was from last week that they don’t have that dep at the back end because of these injuries right now I’m worried that assag comes back and that stress remains on him I would like more arms I would like actually an armed to be straighted forward like now like today to ensure that more damage is not done yeah absolutely obviously a disappointing start from Kyle Hendrick on Sunday uh but obviously he had had been good so hopefully he can continue to be there we talked about it last week like if you can just get Dependable starts from him obviously blowups are going to happen hopefully next time ianh catches the ball um you’re hug up on that well dude I mean it’s like it I mean it feels like we’ve said things like that a lot you know what I mean yeah every single day and and it’s again starting pitchers need to pick up their defense they need to pick up the offense like you got to make the the the good pitches you can’t give up the Grand Slam things like that but it feels like there’s been a lot of starts where we’ve said oh well if they turn that double play or they made that catch or this didn’t happen the starter would have been out of the inning and it you know it just gets kind of tiring but yeah um you’re just looking for anything from Kyle Hendricks which he had given you in the in the few outings prior to today so hopefully he can continue to do that uh but yeah this was a concern we talked about it last week with Javier Assad that he was nearing Innings limits he hadn’t reached before obviously this is his first time starting every fifth day at the major league level from the start of the season to the point at which he got injured and it was one of those things where you know especially the short starts the kind of fatigue showing through those starts and as he pushed towards 8090 100 pitches um not that I expected him to get hurt but we were monitoring stuff like that for a reason whether it I don’t like his comments explaining the injury he said he’s been dealing with this for two weeks and you know how I am I’m more like cautious and pessimistic that sounds like the Cubs yeah um just hear me out on this when I was watching the last start kept going like this I’m like in my mind of like I’m like oh that’s probably nothing but you never know and it’s like time and time again I feel as if we hear those comments oh I’ve been dealing with this for a couple of weeks we heard it even with alive heard it for so many pictures in the past like can we do better on capturing these these blips of fatigue or injury and this keeps happening if you caught this to weeks ago maybe you change how you operate you know and maybe Assad comes back faster and you don’t put more stress on the other pitches on the staff so that that is still a problem for me that they can’t stop these injuries Cory even Shing over there they wouldn’t be the Chicago Cubs if they didn’t let a guy play down and hurt for a couple weeks or 10 days before they put him on the I or something like that it’s I will never understand that even though even though I desperately ask questions like genuine questions why this happens I so but you know again it it all just illustrates when we came into the season we talked about how you know you liked a lot of the names that they had as far as their pitching depth you were curious to see what certain guys could do whether was was neski or Assad or Jordan Wicks uh but you know we talked about how you need that big group it’s not just going to be five guys that make all of these starts from the beginning of the year to the end of the year uh you don’t have a rotation of five John lesters in there that are going to make those 32 starts and throw 200 Innings um and so this was always a concern you needed that depth that depth was going to be tested and it is being tested so uh hopefully the injury for Assad isn’t uh a a long-term thing hopefully Kyle can be better in that next outing Hayden can make the most of these opportunities but uh like with a lot of this team it’s it’s a lot of question marks so I want to end uh on something positive uh and oh that wasn’t positive huh that wasn’t positive right there that entire 75 minute conversation I don’t think so um I mean we said nice things about Michael Bush that was positive you’re right and Justin steel you’re right other than that um no but I talk to me about Porter hod okay um you know again one of the things that it comes along with the way that the Cubs have built the bullpen for the the last several years I mean a a frequent strategy we’ve seen of them bringing in older guys trying to reclaim their their former selves uh or bringing up new guys and trying to solve some of these things within your own system uh there’s going to be adjustments es and flows there’s going to be struggles uh but we’ve seen some really nice stuff uh from Porter hodj and as we go forward here you know you see it with the injuries lighter’s out merryweather’s out Al’s out you need guys to step up and fill those roles you can’t have the entire pitching staff uh be filled with um free agents or expensive guys or things with that track record you need those guys to come up and and do those things uh and Porter Hodge has done that so reading this one uh since his MLB debut on the 22nd 11 Innings pitch for the Cubs 1.64 erra 15 strikeouts six walks he’s looked real nice talk to me about Porter hod you know how we always describe hitters as unicorns those guys who don’t strike out much and hit a lot of home runs like the Rizzo types today it’s the gunar Henderson types Aaron judge types when I say the unicorns I mean the ones that aren’t the norm and there is a technique to actually capture this uh not to get so in deep with all the math because I just said like 20 minutes ago this is I hate Advanced metrics and whatever but there is a way to kind of capture this and so the technique that we can use actually compresses every like stat cast number that’s available to the public and in a way we can compress this and we can look at the distance between each picture and see how similar guys are and how dissimilar guys are so the question I have with Hodge is is he a unicorn is he similar to most guys is anyone even close to being similar to Porter Hodge and what we can look at on this graph here don’t need know anything but the only thing you can appreciate is the distance between each dot each dot is one pitcher and it’s their four seam fast ball and if you notice on the very top of the graph is Porter hch again the only thing you need to know is that the distance between the points represents some degree of similarity Porter hod is away from every single pitcher when I say oh he’s a unicorn or an outlier this is what I mean he has a four fastball that is not like any four fastball in the league the reason among many reasons is that he has that natural cut ride profile where most for seamers are thrown with some tailing action about seven inches of tailing action for Porter Haj he throws more cutters kind of like Cutters where his Forest fastball actually moves the ABS away from your standard Forest fastball similar Justin steel and it has some relative carry to it and so that’s unique to illustrate this we can look at the Major League average foream we can look at Porter Hodge’s foream and for sake of example we can look at Justin Steel’s foram on one image and this is what it would look like in Gray is your standard Major League average for seam fast ball what you’re looking at is that that gray pitch actually tails in almost kind of like a two seamer but not really but it tails in more red is Porter haj’s forcing fast ball and just below it is Justin Steel’s blue forcing fast ball the difference is that between the gray and the colors they have a little bit more cutting action and they tend to have same type of carry but Porter haj’s red forcing fast ball has more carry and slightly more cut and he’s throwing it three miles per hour faster than Justin steel so in a way you have Porter Hodges forcing fastball a more extreme version of Justin steel is from their right side of course if he can show command that is the problem with Porter Hajj he had a six base on ball per nine rate in Iowa if he can show command I’m talking four base on ball per nine underneath four and still have the effectiveness of his forcing fast ball then he’s a late inning guy no doubt about that whatsoever for him to reach that point he needs to show that command that’s it and this is all assuming that he can still have that Effectiveness with his foring fast ball if he changes in makes tweaks to improve that command this is the expectations when I wash Porter Hodge I’m looking at command where’s the catcher setting up where is he angling over and if Hodge is within that window and that kind of signifies improved command or ongoing need for improve of that command but he’s out any guy man if there’s some optimism I guess you can point towards Porter hod if you want to be pessimistic you can point towards ongoing need for command but guys do improve guys do improve their command and haj’s for team is unlike no other that we’ve seen in the league no if I was going to be pessimistic I would say that they’ll give up on him trade him to the Padres and he’ll set strikeout records with someone else is that I mean it’s kind of funny like not funny like kind of dark funny but even the Brewers they have you know or they’ll move on and start yeah he’ll start games for the Brew hson Ray it’s like oh my God what are we doing over here good stuff goodu good stuff all right well I think that is all that we have for you uh as always appreciate you guys indulging in Brendan and I uh ranting talking whatever about this team for over 80 minutes I thought it was a good conversation on a Sunday yeah you know and and look unfortunately a lot of the conversation feels very similar and I think it may you know as the season continues we want to focus as you said Brendan like on some of these little things but starting the show with how interested we are in Porter Hodge or Luke little it it doesn’t feel right it it just it’s not reading the room it’s not the it’s not the right tone and I I remember watching the show I think it it was earlier this week but um you know when Luke threw it over to our guy Cody delmendo Cody was like what do you guys want me to do do you want me to yell again because it’s the same thing I yelled about yesterday it’s the same thing I yelled about last week it’s the same thing I can’t just I don’t want to I don’t want to just yell about it again it’s the same game they play mostly the same game every day so it’s just where it is it’s frustrating um but as we talked about whether the whether chasing the third wild card and being behind everybody but the two worst teams in the National League is what we want or the rest of the fans want or what the organization wants if they’re close enough as we go through this next month it’s going to be at least a discussion as to whether they all all I say when we say that is that everybody in our YouTube chat is like they have to sell they can’t do anything but sell all I’m saying is let’s see how the next month plays out because it’s not that simple to the people in the front office and the people in the business department of this organization that’s all I’m saying um but it’s very frustrating a two and five week and now you stare having to play a couple of the best teams in the league over the next uh week plus great you you are GNA have to turn things around and this is not going to be an easy time to do it so the clock is ticking the clock is running out because when this episode is if you’re listening to this episode on Monday it’s July like the trade deadline is coming the All-Star break is coming and the time for I think a lot of us are past this Brendan but the time from like they just gota turn it around and play to the back of their baseball card it’s like that it’s July folks well the back of the baseball card might be changing the back of the baseball card might be changing yeah so it’s you know this is uh you’re out of time on a lot of that and you know we went through a lot of those offensive numbers offensive offensive numbers um a couple weeks ago and you know I I remember putting it out there like the this is like two months two months plus of just bad offense bad baseball in a lot of respects for this team and the further we get into the calendar there’s a lot less wiggle room for that feeling like an outlier or feeling like something that is just magically G to change uh at the drop of the Hat it feels more like as a lot of people have said who this team is so if this team is going to indeed wake up as Justin steel begged them commanded them to do on Saturday they had better do it soon and uh wake us all up from the nightmare that has been the 2024 Chicago Cubs that’s the way to end the show stop hit stop hitting Snoop is all I would add to that got to wake up it’s July you got the allstar break two weeks from today if you want to have any semblance of optimism you can point towards that 10 of 11 win streak last season but that’s a crazy thing to hold on to but we all are crazy you never know yep that what that’s what the front office might be holding on to as well well and so with that as he pointed out in the the YouTube chat don’t forget to tune in Cody Luke Ryan tomorrow uh they they got you for for the show if you want you need more Chicago Cubs in your life don’t worry CH Cubs has you covered uh as much Cubs as you can possibly handle oh yeah so off day on Monday and then a six-game home stand uh that starts with three uh with a very good but injured uh Philadelphia Phil’s team and we’ll take it from there just WI six in a row that’s all you need to do six in a row feel better that’s what I want next Sunday we come on we want we don’t recommend any of you hold your breath waiting for that though you know they let me tell you something they win two in a row oh yeah I’m thinking that no doubt that’s how sick I am you know that’s how sick I am good for you uh I think that’s all we have for you Brendan and I will talk to you again next week uh enjoy your week if you have days off this week enjoy your holiday enjoy your off time uh if you’re working going to school whatever you’re doing enjoy it too hope you all have a good week we appreciate you tuning in hanging out with us on another Sunday after another game loss another series loss another series loss to someone in the NL Central Brendan stop me if you’ve heard it before uh two and five this week for the Chicago Cubs not good getting yelled at by their their Ace their their leading starting pitcher and uh that’s the state of things so Bren and I will talk to you again next week hopefully it is a better week of baseball at least one free of uh lacking fundamentals that you might find at your local um you know te- ball game or something like that but we’ll see it’s a it’s a it’s a high bar apparently for CS to leap over so thank you guys for tuning in uh we will talk to you next week and as always go Cubs we all sitting like the mayor sh
18 Comments
Fire Jed Hoyer now!!!
Jed Hoyer is not fit to be a Gm
Jed need Togo … analytics suck …. Maddon was right
Somebody make a statement
What is the system in place ?
Who b carin? Wirlin verlin breakdancer froms Crestwood IL do. He b doin dat cubbies b done dances. Lovable losers fo sho. Dis b he breakdancein partner Chrispeter. #2 Kiss 🤘🃏🎸🍼🧃🪦🕺🌪️😭😂🤣
Rebuild 2.0 I don’t care … just somebody move in some direction
Get Javy from Detroit and lets put him on third. He sucks as a batter but defensively he is better than 90% of what we got on the filed
Go Brewers
Coming from a Brewers fan don't count on Counsell to fire up the team. He was a wet blanket with us and is the same now. I always said you play like your manager that's how the Cubs are playing.
They’re losers. It’s simple.
We knew the capability of these players since last year and its basically the same team so what is the surprise? Its on ownership and not the players. This bullshit of them spending all that money stupid. If a fast-food joint sells a rotten product do you really care about how much money they put in the joint? Time for all the podcasts to call-out ownership and not be afraid of keeping the balance. The players are playing more or less exactly what their stats always were. If a race-horse doesnt have the capability of finishing first what are you gonna do, whip it to death? Go out and spend money on an elite bat and a lights out closer to begin with and dont be cheap Uncle Scrooge bastards (pardon the expression)
Welcome to the Cubs Annihilated Podcast
You're absolutely right about Cody Bellinger, he's not opting out of his contract with his current performance…
Can we go home and just win a series we have just not done anything good in 2 months can we just get hot in july and show the MLB that the chicago cubs can respected on the field for their play once in a while my God does this team not know they have been slowly killing us fans
Epstein Rebuild from Scratch: 9.5 of 10. Hoyer had his chance and this rebuild didn’t went well. Give another president of operations and GM a chance. I am rooting for James Click.
🤣🤣🤣 Veteran team??!! Are you forgetting that our 1st bagman, hot corner, and catcher are young players? Our RF is only in his third year in M.L.B. Not to mention several of our bench/platoon players are on the younger side. And then a fair portion of our pitch staff are young players.
To, this is a team trying to integrate too many younger players at the same time while having high expectations.
I don't often yell at the TV when I'm watching the Cubs (my dad, however, was the maestro at that while watching the Cubs😂) but that Keystone Cops bumbling inning on Saturday, I was screaming at the screen. I'm glad to see Justin Steele lose it on his teammates, he's trying his hardest out there, he's pitched well this season, and all he can do is his best and then watch when it all falls apart around him. He can't do it alone. IMO I saw a team not acting like a team on Saturday.