Wanted to put something up yesterday, but was sick.

Almora: Really pushing for playing time, and he is having some great at-bats. The defense, yet again, remains stellar. He’s just a smart player, and considering he’s the youngest/least experienced, it’s great to see.

Almora was the guy who really opened my eyes in the Red Sox series. He doesn't seem to have any obvious weaknesses and your point about the great at bats was on display all weekend. By Sunday night I really didn't want to see him up there.

BBREF doesn't like his D. -1 in 144 innings, works out to -9 to -10 per full season. UZR/150 is the same.

Yeah, I'm not going to take a lot from those small samples at this point.

In that Schwarber article linked on the main page, this is Theo's quote on Schwarber's D:

“He’s underrated as an outfielder because he f----- up two balls against the Mets in the NLCS in 2015,” says Epstein. “Everyone saw those plays, and now they think he’s some kind of bumbling idiot in the outfield. And he’s not.”

That's pretty much all I've been saying since then. He's far from graceful and is never going to threaten gold glove, but he's just not a disaster.

Tommy Birch‏ @TommyBirch 4h4 hours ago
Looks like Jeimer Candelario won't be available for today's I-#Cubs game. Chicago can add another player today and he could be it. #MiLB

Haven't seen anything official, but he might be the 26th guy tonight. With a huge pen right now, he could even stay up and one of the many other RP could go back to Iowa.

EDIT: Kasper just confirmed on air.

Lots of AAA stuff in here.

Wanted to put something up yesterday, but was sick.

Bullsh*t. You were out drinking with Matt Harvey, weren't you?

EDIT: Nevermind. Thought #3 was referring to Schwarber rather than Almora.

Tommy Birch‏ @TommyBirch 6m6 minutes ago
Victor Caratini, who had a 4-hit game last night, has a 4-hit game today after ripping a double into the game. He's 4-4 today. #Cubs #MiLB

Bullsh*t. You were out drinking with Matt Harvey, weren't you?

Irrelevant. I told my boss where I was.

I can't stand John Lackey, but he pitched his a* off tonight. What a time for seven shutout innings.

Had the game-winning RBI, too! Dude played hero tonight, that's for sure.

#slumpbuster

It's official, the Eddie Butler era begins Friday.

Currently the Cubs are tied for the most errors made in the NL. They have the most unearned runs allowed. Their offense has the most runners let on base.

I think both the errors and RISP are things that aren't worth worrying about and they'll take care of themselves.

I'm much, much, much more worried about the starting pitching. Hendricks looked good again yesterday, so I'm mostly ok with him and Lester. I'm neutral to slightly concerned on Arrieta (and don't trust him), but am on full alert with Lackey and Anderson (if he even comes back).

I'm starting to worry about both Schwarber's and Contreras's bats. Neither have been able to adjust yet to how they're being pitched. I'm a little concerned about Contreras's defense (or real struggle with controlling WPs), but not at all with Schwarber's. Russell and Rizzo have both struggled and adjusted before, so I'm confident they will again.

Arrieta was just a guy in the back half of last year. He looks like a guy with a brilliant but all-too-brief prime.

Hendricks, Lester, & Lackey are all down form last year, but all around what is reasonable for them.

Errors aren't a big deal - but the club also has a below average Defensive Effeciency; this a year after scoring a historic number in that stat. Yeah, they'll get better. But also: what the hell? Can't blame it all on Schwarber.

I maintain Schwarber is fine out there, and will so publicly as often as needed. I think Zobrist has been really bad*, wherever he's played, but that overall the OF of Schwarber/Heyward/Zobrist is worse, maybe even significantly so, than any OF configuration we saw last year. Jay also looks stretched in CF, to me, and I know the numbers aren't crazy about Almora yet.

The IF has been good, in some cases better than last year (Bryant looks better, but as noted, Zobrist worse). I think/feel/can be proven wrong it's just the pitching is flat out giving up harder hit balls and have been a little unlucky on softly hit ones.

*All relative, btw, so I don't know if I'd say Zobrist in RF has been worse than Schwarber in LF, but in terms of plays I think they should be making but aren't, Zobrist has been worse (IOW, he's gotten to fewer balls, including cutting off ones that turn into extra base hits, than Schwarber).

Grimm demoted for Butler. Almost surprised it wasn't Pena, but Pena's been ok. Also makes me once again question why Maddon went to Grimm first on Sunday night in a 1 run game (and that was his only appearance in his week back up)...

@darenw: Since the start of 2016 Carl Edwards Jr has the best fastball by BAA (.127, 18 for 118) & 5th best curveball (5 for 50, .100). He's awesome

Pretty good first start for Butler. He was throwing 97 with movement. The secondary pitches weren't really memorable. His command of the fastball was spotty, but only 1 walk after a two walk first.

Health is becoming an issue. Bryant scratched right before the game and is out today (sick), Jay left with back spasms, and Russell can only PH. Oddly enough, they could use Szczur right now.

they might be calling up Happ today, have an open spot on the 40 man roster.

Happ is up, hitting 2nd and playing rf. Zobrist also banged up, but haven't seen who is down or on the DL.

pena went down

I don't really feel like writing a whole new post, but I've finally begun to feel frustrated with this team. Virtually every single hitter is doing worse than last year* and every SP is worse than last year. There's regression, there's luck evening out, and then there's this. Whether the cause can be blamed on the defense or age or bad luck (really, I feel like there's just been a ton of bad luck, especially hitting with RISP) or whatever other bullshit narrative you prefer (miles/injuries, hangover, pressure, complacency, etc), it just is ####### annoying. I still don't think there's much that needs to change - I'm all aboard a trade for some sort of SP - and it's a shame it's overshadowing how great the bullpen has been (of course, in the few instances where the bullpen has had a hiccup, it's still ended in a loss because of something else going wrong too).

Thankfully the division is still gettable. I'm not at all convinced in the Cardinals, and the season will catch up with the Reds and Brewers. Since I'm an optimist at heart, I'll continue to enjoy the good things. I talked about it in ST, but Ian Happ sure *looks* like a helluva player; he's got a beautiful compact swing, a fairly advanced approach, and that magical versatility Joe loves (he hasn't been challenged much in the OF so far, though he did turn a fairly routine catch into an adventure yesterday in RF).

*Not counting Jay or Almora, since both are essentially new and in Schwarber's case, he obviously worse than 2015; going by OPS+, Bryant is exactly the same, Heyward is better but still well below his career (and all the way down to 87), and both LaStella/Montero are doing better but in limited roles.

Seconded. They've now played nearly 1/4 of the season at about the same level as the skid going into the All-Star break last year.

I'm not happy either, and there are real reasons to be concerned, but there's still plenty of time to get back on track. For context, some stretches last year:

17-20 from June 1st through the All-Star Break (the worst stretch from last year of equal length to the number of games played so far this year)

28-28 from May 11th through the ASB (more than a third of the season playing .500 ball)

It's strange how closely this team is tracking the Blackhawks' run so far:

1) Breakout season with unexpected run to conference finals
2) Championship run the next year
3) Hangover season to follow that up

Of course, the Cubs haven't had to deal with the personnel turnover that teams deal with in the NHL, although I think that effect was overstated in the Hawks' case anyway. And at any rate, the trajectory so far is identical.

Who would have guessed at the beginning of the year we'd see this lineup:

Schwarber LF
Bryant RF
Rizzo 1b
Happ CF
Candelario 3b
Russell SS
Contreras C
Lackey P
Baez 2b

Or that it, for the most part, makes sense with how everyone is performing?