Chicago Cubs fans - Rebuilding Year 2023

[docsoliday1]

exactly. Joe preaches it constantly that these are human beings and it gets lost in the mix all too often. A huge part of the World Series Championship was the way this team gelled together outside of their technical athletic talent.

Right!

And I guess for me, being a Cub is WAY MORE than simply being a good player. I don't consider Harper to be Cubs quality any more than I would've considered Barry Bonds or Mark McGwire. We have a lot of good players now and they're not arrogant primadonnas or steroid using bums.

I'm not saying Harper is the latter, but he most definitely is the former.

 

[FINFAN]

Right!

And I guess for me, being a Cub is WAY MORE than simply being a good player. I don't consider Harper to be Cubs quality any more than I would've considered Barry Bonds or Mark McGwire. We have a lot of good players now and they're not arrogant primadonnas or steroid using bums.

I'm not saying Harper is the latter, but he most definitely is the former.

I put him in the high maintenence/distraction to the club category myself.

 

[FINFAN]

Rizzo announced as the Marvin Miller Man of The Year Award! A FANTASTIC HONOR AND SO WELL DESERVED~ Way to go , Riz!

 

[docsoliday1]

Rizzo announced as the Marvin Miller Man of The Year Award! A FANTASTIC HONOR AND SO WELL DESERVED~ Way to go , Riz!

Now that's CUB! Says better than my attempt to explain why being a Cub is more than just being a good player!

 

[Sepo]

I put him in the high maintenence/distraction to the club category myself.

Welcome, Truth77...

Weighing in on the topic here...

Theo insists that “character” must trump all in the clubhouse. They reportedly struggled with this when signing Chapman, but it’s also the reason why they let Miggi go.

Here’s a Yahoo Sports article from last year on Bryce’s character ills. He’d need to mature fast to supposedly fit the mold for next year.

https://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mlb-...ve-people-a-reason-to-hate-him-195239435.html

On JHey. Thank goodness for his D. But I’d be lying if I said he didn’t drive me crazy. Something’s off with his swing: bat speed, weight shift, something. It’s like he has a crutch on needing to fully turn on it. All playoffs I was bargaining on his key at-bats: “Please, please, please, I’ll forgive you for the last 2 years, pleeease make up for it on this at bat”. My kids thought I was crazy. He definitely saves his share of bases with his arm and threat of his arm. Hopefully Chili can work it out or at least we can give him more cover with improvement around him in the order.

Would love to see Rizz master hitting it opposite field... or even bunting. Have to conquer that shift.

Agree with FF, may need to play it smart in 2018 early moves and see what shakes out for mid season and / or have $$ for 2019 where it may be great pickin’s.

 

[Sepo]

One more time drain:

This 40 min video is an EXCELLENT summary of the entire (he forgot the 0-6 NLCS game 3 though) 2016 playoff run with a running box score, lineups, and key plays... pickoffs, defensive, many non scoring... with a lot of radio broadcast too. Opponent runs too. Easy to forget how close we were to disaster too. To quote Kewz, “all the feels”...

 

[FINFAN]

Welcome, Truth77...

Weighing in on the topic here...

Theo insists that “character” must trump all in the clubhouse. They reportedly struggled with this when signing Chapman, but it’s also the reason why they let Miggi go.

Here’s a Yahoo Sports article from last year on Bryce’s character ills. He’d need to mature fast to supposedly fit the mold for next year.

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mlb-b...ve-people-a-reason-to-hate-him-195239435.html

On JHey. Thank goodness for his D. But I’d be lying if I said he didn’t drive me crazy. Something’s off with his swing: bat speed, weight shift, something. It’s like he has a crutch on needing to fully turn on it. All playoffs I was bargaining on his key at-bats: “Please, please, please, I’ll forgive you for the last 2 years, pleeease make up for it on this at bat”. My kids thought I was crazy. He definitely saves his share of bases with his arm and threat of his arm. Hopefully Chili can work it out or at least we can give him more cover with improvement around him in the order.

Would love to see Rizz master hitting it opposite field... or even bunting. Have to conquer that shift.

Agree with FF, may need to play it smart in 2018 early moves and see what shakes out for mid season and / or have $$ for 2019 where it may be great pickin’s.

Thanks Sepo for posting the article..seeing Harper's behavior in print cements my opinion of him even more. Sad that he chooses to overshadow his athletic ability with his attitude. On JHey~ take a look at this if you have not seen it.

https://www.vivaelbirdos.com/st-lou...nals-bean-hit-by-pitch-impact-hitting-batting

That hit he took to the face and jaw will never quite leave him and his retooling of his swing justifiably involves more than just physical. I am sure he has received any psychological assistance he would like as well, and the Cubs are one of the best teams in support (could be why he wanted to come here) You would be hard pressed to find another ball player putting in as much work as JHey does in the off season on their swing, except Schwarber. Apparently Chris Taylor did the same( but I am skeptical on him going from 2 HR in 2 years to 25 in one? JUST on a retooled swing?) Keep in mind JHey was usually in front of Javy who also was unreliable for most of the year, putting more pressure on JHey to come thru. Javy's bat was at his best when he was playing SS and KNEW he had to step up with no Addie. When Javy plays in the PR league, it takes months to get him to to shake off those bad habits. The rules there are not the same and a bit more of a scrapper type play is allowed, swinging at crap etc. It is frustrating yes, because we know these guys are better than their results show.

Chili has his work cut out for him but what a great match for the Cub franchise. I think the guys will get along with him right away and the one's who tend to be lazyish (Javy) about their consistencey will flourish under him. It certainly won't happen overnight but quick fixes aren't the objective , I don't think.

 

[Sepo]

I’d only seen the shortest part of that clip before, never the whole thing. Hurts seeing it again.

Yeah, drives me crazy was a bit harsh. I should add, bc of his potential. He was really getting hot in September too... around the Brewers series. He’s all heart.

 

[FINFAN]

One more time drain:

This 40 min video is an EXCELLENT summary of the entire (he forgot the 0-6 NLCS game 3 though) 2016 playoff run with a running box score and key plays... pickoffs, defensive, many non scoring... with a lot of radio broadcast too. Easy to forget how close we were to disaster too. To quote Kewz, “all the feels”...

I'm good with way more than "one more time"~ us fan's saw something incredible unfold last season. Dex knew it, that's why he came back (well, that and he didn't get an offer he was after and really didn't want to go to Baltimore)

 

[FINFAN]

I’d only seen the shortest part of that clip before, never the whole thing. Hurts seeing it again.

Yeah, drives me crazy was a bit harsh. I should add, bc of his potential. He was really getting hot in September too... around the Brewers series. He’s all heart.

He always heats up in September..I was lucky enough to talk with Pat Hughes after the Cub/Giants game 9/4/16. He was heading out of Wrigley and we were walking the same way. I thanked him for calling yet another amazing game(I listen to him and Ron on my transistor) , the team was heading straight to Milwaukee and loading into the busses. JHey had an error in the field but redeemed himself knocking in the winning run in the 13th inning, so that came up and both Pat and I said Jason loves September, lol...almost a jinx. We talked how the Cubs had the best home record and Pat's exact words were "This is a very special team..we are all so very fortunate to witness these young men who are on the verge of making history" I shook his hand, thanked him for his time and watched the busses head to Milwaulkee as he headed to his car. JHey is the epitome of We Never Quit and I understand his contract is a bit of a roadblock, but to me he is worth every penny. Besides, when the broadcasting deal is complete contracts like JHeys will not be nearly as big of an issue.

 

[Pacolovestacos]

The pitch to the face has absolutely nothing to do with Heyward's current struggles. In fact, once Heyward was in St Louis (after Atlanta), his offensive production soared. What's hurting him is his injured wrist. I have no idea if it ever healed properly but that is the culprit behind his struggles, not the pitch to the face.

 

[docsoliday1]

Theo insists that “character” must trump all in the clubhouse. They reportedly struggled with this when signing Chapman, but it’s also the reason why they let Miggi go.

Here’s a Yahoo Sports article from last year on Bryce’s character ills. He’d need to mature fast to supposedly fit the mold for next year.

I don't think Miggy's was nearly on the level I've seen from Harper. He had a valid point whereas Harper is just a jerk no matter which way you slice it. As I said, Miggy did have a valid point, the steals are counted against him. On the other hand, to throw the pitcher under the bus, while technically true is a conversation best had with the manager or GM and not the press.

On JHey. Thank goodness for his D. But I’d be lying if I said he didn’t drive me crazy. Something’s off with his swing: bat speed, weight shift, something. It’s like he has a crutch on needing to fully turn on it. All playoffs I was bargaining on his key at-bats: “Please, please, please, I’ll forgive you for the last 2 years, pleeease make up for it on this at bat”. My kids thought I was crazy. He definitely saves his share of bases with his arm and threat of his arm. Hopefully Chili can work it out or at least we can give him more cover with improvement around him in the order.

I remember his first year in Atlanta...he was on fire. Then pitchers figured out what he couldn't hit. I think getting his jaw crushed had a lot to do with it. It's not just his BA, though...it's OBP and also smart base running that helps make him a more rounded and better player in my book.

Would love to see Rizz master hitting it opposite field... or even bunting. Have to conquer that shift.

That would be AMAZING! I'm hoping to see a lot of improvement with our hitters...several struggled and I'm hopeful Chili can help them.

Agree with FF, may need to play it smart in 2018 early moves and see what shakes out for mid season and / or have $$ for 2019 where it may be great pickin’s.

As a player, I'll admit Harper is good.
As a person, won't get that same response.
As a Cub, would be disappointed and would be much harder (for me) to cheer for him and his Jupiter sized ego.

 

[FINFAN]

Brandon Hyde promoted as the new bench coach

http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2017/11/09/cubs-promote-brandon-hyde-bench-coach-maddon/

 

[FINFAN]

Kyle Hendricks and his fiance' Emma get married in CA next weekend and Jake is attending. The trade rumors will blow up twitter when Jake is spotted in CA

 

[docsoliday1]

Kyle Hendricks and his fiance' Emma get married in CA next weekend and Jake is attending. The trade rumors will blow up twitter when Jake is spotted in CA

That's it. Tell Kyle the wedding needs to be moved to Chicago!

 

[FINFAN]

That's it. Tell Kyle the wedding needs to be moved to Chicago!

lol ~I'll see what I can do. He's back here for the winter(other than the wedding and their honeymoon in Bora Bora) so why not? Let's just hope he isn't like KB and semi exhausted the season after getting married .

 

[robinb]

Weighing in on the topic here...

Theo insists that “character” must trump all in the clubhouse. They reportedly struggled with this when signing Chapman, but it’s also the reason why they let Miggi go.

Here’s a Yahoo Sports article from last year on Bryce’s character ills. He’d need to mature fast to supposedly fit the mold for next year.

https://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mlb-...ve-people-a-reason-to-hate-him-195239435.html

Sorry, nothing there makes me hate Bryce Harper. Yes, he's a cocky young player. So what? What better team to mold that confidence and fire for good than the Cubs with our "veteran" young players and Maddon? He would certainly make things interesting!

For your viewing pleasure, Bryce Harper getting hit by Strickland (who was also #6 on the list) in May:

FWIW, I had to look at the link on my phone. I couldn't get past #3 on two different browsers.

 

[Pacolovestacos]

Sorry, nothing there makes me hate Bryce Harper. Yes, he's a cocky young player. So what? What better team to mold that confidence and fire for good than the Cubs with our "veteran" young players and Maddon? He would certainly make things interesting!

For your viewing pleasure, Bryce Harper getting hit by Strickland (who was also #6 on the list) in May:

FWIW, I had to look at the link on my phone. I couldn't get past #3 on two different browsers.

Pretty much. I post on several Cubs forums and this has to be the only place where people are actually suggesting they don't want Harper because he's cocky. LOL

 

[FINFAN]

Sorry, nothing there makes me hate Bryce Harper. Yes, he's a cocky young player. So what? What better team to mold that confidence and fire for good than the Cubs with our "veteran" young players and Maddon? He would certainly make things interesting!

For your viewing pleasure, Bryce Harper getting hit by Strickland (who was also #6 on the list) in May:

FWIW, I had to look at the link on my phone. I couldn't get past #3 on two different browsers.

Meh (except for the part of Harper getting clocked, lol)

 

[docsoliday1]

Sorry, nothing there makes me hate Bryce Harper. Yes, he's a cocky young player. So what? What better team to mold that confidence and fire for good than the Cubs with our "veteran" young players and Maddon? He would certainly make things interesting!

For your viewing pleasure, Bryce Harper getting hit by Strickland (who was also #6 on the list) in May:

FWIW, I had to look at the link on my phone. I couldn't get past #3 on two different browsers.

Robin...sorry, but I'm not sure what you mean by Strickland being #6 and not being able to get past #3. I only see one video, so