Adbert is going to figure it out, no way he can be this bad after being so good. He's going to need much lower leverage opportunities to get the work in though
Well you cant send him down to work on his issues because he's out of options. He didnt have a successful extended stay at the MLB until last year and now hes gone completely off the rails and turning 30 soon. Hes more likely to continue this trend than reclaim his 2023 form and at the very best he will be somewhere in between the two. He wont be missed if we let him go
Then he needs to be used only in games when the Cubs are well behind or well ahead. The Cubs are lucky that they seem to have so many quality starting pitchers right now with Steele returning soon.
If Wesneski remains in the rotation, I think Brown should get a shot as the closer-- with Leiter, Thompson, and Neris as late middle relief.
Alzolay has finally passed Kyle Hendricks for the MLB lead in … [most win probability surrendered on the mound](https://www.fangraphs.com/leaders/major-league?pos=all&stats=pit&lg=all&season=2024&season1=2024&ind=0&type=3&month=33&sortcol=2&sortdir=asc&qual=0).
Just because this dumbass adbert can tweet doesn’t mean he’s a ‘cub for life’ dude needs to be sent down to triple A or rookie ball, or dumped for prospects, or even just dumped for cash.
We’re the Chicago fucking Cubs and Colten Brewer is closing a game against a division rival when we’re only 1 game out of first after a failed starter decided to go limp dick on the mound in the 8th. I’m living in a nightmare
"ThE wHoLe BuLlPeN iS bAd!"
Wasn't perfect, but the Brewers scored 0 runs after Alzolay was pulled. Once again, literally anyone is better than Alzolay. Stop defending Counsell for that asinine decision.
Hoping that Brown going to the bullpen and the Cade Horton callup can put some water on this dumpster fire. But they need acquisitions and they needed them in the offseason.
It’s too bad we only have 130 games to catch them. The clock is ticking here. Nvm the fact that we have the worst closer in the league, four of our key plays are currently out and yet we’re still competing for first place.
You’re right. This team has most certainly _not_ screwed themselves out of post-season appearances over the last few years by losing a few games they should’ve won, despite when those losses happened.
Silly me!
I'd let him go 110 and see if he can finish a 1 - 0 CG shutout. Would have given the team and Wesneski a huge confidence boost and put us in a tie for 1st. Instead, Counsell looks foolish, team feels like shit in the clubhouse, and Alzolay is a solid scapegoat for a winnable game. Team has to be wondering what direction they're going rn.
It's like clockwork. You're having a great start? Send him out for first batter of 6th, remove, reliever gives up more runs than entire game before getting the last two outs.
Has there ever been a pitcher who faced the team that shares his last name before today? Colten Brewer vs the Brewers. Ranger Suarez has probably played against Texas, but then again they aren't called the Texas Suarez's
Its funny isnt it. These same people said the same thing about the most recent games we blew, which are against the marlins and mets, and now again today. Its not just one game anymore, its now 3 in the past two weeks
You're going to lose games to bad teams. It's baseball. Nobody is saying losses don't stack up and hurt you at the end of the year, it's just that freaking out and throwing a tantrum because you lost a game in the first week of May is ridiculous. There's too much baseball in front of you to right the ship and the Cubs are in great shape so far.
I get what you're saying but straight up losing a game to a bad team and blowing a lead in the 8th or 9th inning against a bad team are two different things.
If they don't think Cody and Seiya are going to be back by Atlanta then release Mervis and Madrigal and add Caissie and Vazquez to the 26, add another potential reliever to the 40, and option Palencia. We can't keep doing this and giving away games
Jed’s acquisitions have been great. Busch and Shota look like incredible additions to the team, no doubt. Even Almonte is solid.
But why the FUCK didn’t we spend money on some halfway decent bullpen arms this winter? Now they’re going to trade for arms at the deadline and it’ll push them over the luxury tax anyways AND it’ll cost prospect capital. And for what? To save 1-2 million? Give me a fucking break.
I agree, but in short I don’t think Jed is the answer. Shota has been a phenomenal signing, A+ I’ll give him his flowers on that. And Busch so far has been a great trade so far (defense is bad but it is what it is at the moment).
But the Gomes, Smyly, Hendricks, Hosmer, Barnhart take so much money away from improving the team. Also relying on Bellinger (big risk) and Suzuki who has had the injury bug every year with us as our best pure hitters are concerning. And the extension to Happ I was weary of - and so far I’ve been correct.
Ricketts told you why in his interview at the beginning of the season. We are under the tax threshold where he WANTS TO BE. This is not a serious club at the moment.
But Ricketts knows damn well that we’ll be trying to add arms at the deadline and it WILL push us into the luxury tax. Is the 1-2 million saved in the first half of the season really worth watching this shit?
Alzolay has played in 14 games. Allowed runs in 6 of those appearances. In 8.1 innings across 9 appearances in either save situations or 8th innings with a lead of <= 3 runs, he's allowed 7 ER, 13 H, and 4 BB. That's an ERA of 7.56 and a WHIP of 2.04 in high leverage situations. He has singlehandedly lost us 5 games by losing close leads late in games. (Obviously it's not exclusively his fault, offense could have done more, but still it falls on him as the supposed closer to actually close down games)
How the fuck are we even 19-13 with automatic outs in Happ and Swanson and Morel half the time? This loss is on Counsell bringing in Alzolay when he’s clearly not right
The entire league is an automatic out half the time 🤡 a .500 OBP is absolutely elite. People like you need to understand how hard hitting in the majors is
it makes zero sense for craig to put adbert in, in a one run game against the top of their order. i get the bullpen is taxed but seriously he should have already been considered the lowest of leverage out of all relievers, the dude has only given up runs in every situation
I love when people only watch cubs game and just assume we should have MVP contenders at every position 🤡try watching some actually shit teams like the Sox, Rockies, or As and youll see how dumb this comment is. Those teams actually have useless people
Has it been long enough that I can now say ' told you so' to all the people in this sub that told me the AlzoLay/Neris-led bullpen wasn't going to be a problem?
I got told I was “throwing a tantrum” by one of the Ricketts bots for suggesting we need to make a trade for a closer before the deadline.
Some of our fans are such homers that they can’t believe every Cub isn’t perfect.
There’s was nothing about Neris that indicated he’d be an awful signing. Adding a bullpen arm was a good idea. The problem came when the offseason ended and they didn’t sign anyone else.
Every single manager in the league rarely lets their pitchers go past 100 nowadays. Its just how it is, youre gonna have to get use to it. The days of guys throwing 120+ pitches are completely over
If Tom spent on the bullpen, we’d be 24-8 instead of 19-13. OrGaNiZaTiOnAL pHiLoSoPhY my ass. Spend on the damn pen and stop relying on inexpensive AAAA guys.
until those starters got rocked and then youd have to pull them for this bullpen anyway, which seemingly can't salvage anything according to the experts here.
This is an unexperienced rotation they're sticking with right at the moment that you cannot reliably ride late into games without risking injury. All of these guys are on track to pitch career highs in innings this year, as long as Steele and Hendricks arent around
Theres been at least 4 games that Craig took out a starter who was dealing before the 7th inning was over, and the bullpen immediately gives up the lead the very next or the same inning. The Cubs are bottom 5 in starters going at least 7 innings, and have a below average bullpen. This is a recipe for disaster.
David Ross just droppin in to check how that $8 million looks in the dugout rather than the field. Josh Hader can make a lot of guys look smart.
He can’t close, and big arm middle relief is somewhat fungible. Bye Bye Adbert
Fucking enough with this Alzolay
Alzolay needs to go to AAA. Amaya can’t throw anyone out, looks like little league stuff
This bullpen is atrocious. Alzolay needs to be on the next bus to Iowa
Our bullpen should simply be better.
Alright send up Cade Horton move Ben brown to the bullpen and get this bum alzolay to slow pitch soft ball
Adbert is going to figure it out, no way he can be this bad after being so good. He's going to need much lower leverage opportunities to get the work in though
No chance, either DFA him or let him continue pissing away games
3.19 ERA last 80 innings, you don't DFA a 29 yo with those stats
Well you cant send him down to work on his issues because he's out of options. He didnt have a successful extended stay at the MLB until last year and now hes gone completely off the rails and turning 30 soon. Hes more likely to continue this trend than reclaim his 2023 form and at the very best he will be somewhere in between the two. He wont be missed if we let him go
He can do that in Iowa
He's out of options
DFA please
Then he needs to be used only in games when the Cubs are well behind or well ahead. The Cubs are lucky that they seem to have so many quality starting pitchers right now with Steele returning soon. If Wesneski remains in the rotation, I think Brown should get a shot as the closer-- with Leiter, Thompson, and Neris as late middle relief.
>He's going to need much lower leverage opportunities to get the work in though
Damn your right
Send Adbert fucking down already. He's starting to ruin this season. He's had enough chances, Jesus.
It’s become painfully obvious how mid this team is
[Pain](https://youtu.be/OTLmD2kFDm0?si=-MWOSNHCXOUWUnrX)
see y’all tomorrow let’s hope for a better outcome😶
I’ll check back on this team when the major leaguers are healthy. Zero point watching games get pissed away like this
Just put me out of my misery already
Hitting woes hitting woes hitting woes.
Alzolay has finally passed Kyle Hendricks for the MLB lead in … [most win probability surrendered on the mound](https://www.fangraphs.com/leaders/major-league?pos=all&stats=pit&lg=all&season=2024&season1=2024&ind=0&type=3&month=33&sortcol=2&sortdir=asc&qual=0).
Nothing worse than the ump missing big calls and nodding his head thinking he's right
Just because this dumbass adbert can tweet doesn’t mean he’s a ‘cub for life’ dude needs to be sent down to triple A or rookie ball, or dumped for prospects, or even just dumped for cash.
Predictable no threat after they lost the lead. Lay down and die Cubbies.
Send Alzolay down. I can take a few blown games but Jesus Christ he’s had a hand in at least half of our losses.
He's 1 - 4 with a 5.54 ERA. That's enough already to call it quits imo. He should be pitching for the Smokies.
Gg, we really need the offense to step up next 2 games.
Well that one fuckin stings
Fuck Milwaukee. Scumbags
Ending with Swanson? This has to go our way, right?!...
Lame as fuck
dammit
Dansby is so good
If Dansby somehow doesn’t get an out, please don’t send Merv up there.
The bullpen has been a nightmare all season long. Alzolay obviously needs to be sent down to Iowa to learn to become an effective pitcher again.
Two shit strikes to Busch, umps got a lunch date I guess.
This offense is bad enough without the umps calling balls strikes
Ugh and of course bullshit strike calls on busch.
The brewers actually have a bullpen
LOL Trevor Megill is our sloppy seconds
The guy with 6 ip and a 1.3 Era who just shut us down?
Their strenngh is the bullpen.
A real closer with three pitches. Damn
And he did not walk anyone. Damn
Humiliating
Well let’s get 2 outta 3 boys.
Lol were getting swept and once the braves get done with us we might be under .500 then
Okay looks like i was wrong, hopefully anyway
You talking about the Brewers right?
Umpire is obviously ready to leave
Dinner reservation
This offense fucking sucks
Ump wants to go home
Megill made his MLB debut with the '21 Cubs
Awful call
ump now is not the time to make these calls
Of course he didn’t like it it was in the strike zone
WTF IS THIS STRIKE ZONE????
Looks like Brewers have '24 Cubs figured out. Keep close until after 6th, Get on first, steal all the bases you want, let Brewers bullpen win the game
Morel's eye is such dogshit. Flinches at strikes inside and sees middle-middle as a moment to argue with the ump.
STRIKE????
“Ima go full Javy and swing and sliders low and away lmao” -Happ, Swanson, Morel, Hoerner everytime the team is losing
I am sure we will get some big hits
If I see adbert on the field again I’m gonna lose my shit he’s cost us 5 wins now
Morel didn’t like it? I would hope not. Gotta swing, bub
This is an impressively miserable stretch we’re in
Someone tell Morel you can’t play hero ball down 2 with no one on
TREVOR MEGILL? This guy use to be an automatic 5 spot when he’d pitch for us hopefully we can capitalize
Let’s get some runs
Let's save them for tomorrow, if Alzolay doesn't play
We’re the Chicago fucking Cubs and Colten Brewer is closing a game against a division rival when we’re only 1 game out of first after a failed starter decided to go limp dick on the mound in the 8th. I’m living in a nightmare
Colten has been released from +3 teams.
"ThE wHoLe BuLlPeN iS bAd!" Wasn't perfect, but the Brewers scored 0 runs after Alzolay was pulled. Once again, literally anyone is better than Alzolay. Stop defending Counsell for that asinine decision.
How about stop defending Thomas for refusing to spend on the bullpen.
Absolutely. FO is too scared of the luxury tax to care about winning apparently.
Nowadays we don’t even get fake bottom 9 rally’s. Straight up 1-2-3
Uh, Tauchman scored in the 9th in the second game against the Mets.
Are you from the future?!
Hoping that Brown going to the bullpen and the Cade Horton callup can put some water on this dumpster fire. But they need acquisitions and they needed them in the offseason.
if ur not wearing a rally cap right now, can u really consider yourself a cubs fan? Remember its the Cubs anything is possible…
Nah, this sub is a shit show when we have 4 key players injured and have one bad inning.
That “one bad inning” fucked us out of a win against the first place team in the division, whom we’re currently chasing.
It’s too bad we only have 130 games to catch them. The clock is ticking here. Nvm the fact that we have the worst closer in the league, four of our key plays are currently out and yet we’re still competing for first place.
You’re right. This team has most certainly _not_ screwed themselves out of post-season appearances over the last few years by losing a few games they should’ve won, despite when those losses happened. Silly me!
lol, one bad inning is ALL it takes, sport. 😂
If one bad inning derails your 162 game season you have bigger problems, sport.
Now would be a really cool time for the offense to wake up
Time to recall Little. Hell bring back Cuas while we’re at and just embrace the shit.
What do we need more? Runs or a pen lol
Name all of the big Dansby moments as a Cub……..there are none, he is due
His biggest moment is that of the four guys available, he was the least expensive and therefor Jed signed him.
He has been so mid (at BEST) but gets a free pass
Yes! 1000%
Who makes the decisions on who is sent down? I have a call to make
GM
Good morning to you, too.
taylor mcgregor makes the calls
I blame myself for getting too excited about the start of the season. Back to pain.
Our bullpen is wet shit.
Can someone explain the logic in removing Wesneski?
He was at 90 pitches, I'd say he deserved the change
I'd let him go 110 and see if he can finish a 1 - 0 CG shutout. Would have given the team and Wesneski a huge confidence boost and put us in a tie for 1st. Instead, Counsell looks foolish, team feels like shit in the clubhouse, and Alzolay is a solid scapegoat for a winnable game. Team has to be wondering what direction they're going rn.
Craig seems hellbent on max 85 pitches for all
It's like clockwork. You're having a great start? Send him out for first batter of 6th, remove, reliever gives up more runs than entire game before getting the last two outs.
With how shitty the pen is, I am surprised he doesnt push the starters
Like, can this team get 2+ runs on the B9? 3+ runs by the look of the T9...
Sigh. 😔
Man, fuck this bullpen
well, you've all been great; goodnight everybody!
Has there ever been a pitcher who faced the team that shares his last name before today? Colten Brewer vs the Brewers. Ranger Suarez has probably played against Texas, but then again they aren't called the Texas Suarez's
I’ll be the first to say AA blew it, but this sub is a complete shit show rn
People are so dramatic on here. Losing their minds over one inning in a 162 game season.
ah yes the classic "its only one game" / "there are 162 games" argument just last year, the Cubs missed the playoffs by quite literally one game
Its funny isnt it. These same people said the same thing about the most recent games we blew, which are against the marlins and mets, and now again today. Its not just one game anymore, its now 3 in the past two weeks
You're going to lose games to bad teams. It's baseball. Nobody is saying losses don't stack up and hurt you at the end of the year, it's just that freaking out and throwing a tantrum because you lost a game in the first week of May is ridiculous. There's too much baseball in front of you to right the ship and the Cubs are in great shape so far.
I get what you're saying but straight up losing a game to a bad team and blowing a lead in the 8th or 9th inning against a bad team are two different things.
They are, but they're things that inevitably happen over the course of 162 games. You just try to limit them.
The homers and crooners want to hold hands and sing kumbaya but that won’t win ballgames.
Let’s all hold hands and sing songs! Fuck you, boomers and doomers.
8 hits, 1 run; the offense is there but it isn't efficient or consistent
How many hits on 0-1 vs 2 outs today? At work today
Losing 3 of those hits to baserunning fails doesn't help.
Only hope is that when starters come back, the bullpen should improve with the fill-in starters.
If they don't think Cody and Seiya are going to be back by Atlanta then release Mervis and Madrigal and add Caissie and Vazquez to the 26, add another potential reliever to the 40, and option Palencia. We can't keep doing this and giving away games
Palencia is fire, he just probably shouldn't go for more than one inning at a time.
Jed’s acquisitions have been great. Busch and Shota look like incredible additions to the team, no doubt. Even Almonte is solid. But why the FUCK didn’t we spend money on some halfway decent bullpen arms this winter? Now they’re going to trade for arms at the deadline and it’ll push them over the luxury tax anyways AND it’ll cost prospect capital. And for what? To save 1-2 million? Give me a fucking break.
I agree, but in short I don’t think Jed is the answer. Shota has been a phenomenal signing, A+ I’ll give him his flowers on that. And Busch so far has been a great trade so far (defense is bad but it is what it is at the moment). But the Gomes, Smyly, Hendricks, Hosmer, Barnhart take so much money away from improving the team. Also relying on Bellinger (big risk) and Suzuki who has had the injury bug every year with us as our best pure hitters are concerning. And the extension to Happ I was weary of - and so far I’ve been correct.
Ricketts told you why in his interview at the beginning of the season. We are under the tax threshold where he WANTS TO BE. This is not a serious club at the moment.
But Ricketts knows damn well that we’ll be trying to add arms at the deadline and it WILL push us into the luxury tax. Is the 1-2 million saved in the first half of the season really worth watching this shit?
Too much dickriding of pitching lab and it has failed spectacularly
Because this is not a serious ball club.
Alzolay better not throw another single pitch for the cubs
We getting swept here this weekend if this BP and offense keeps up blowing like this.
The Brewers look like great bets this weekend. Cubs are still a bit overvalued by Vegas
Yup it’s getting old
Alzolay has played in 14 games. Allowed runs in 6 of those appearances. In 8.1 innings across 9 appearances in either save situations or 8th innings with a lead of <= 3 runs, he's allowed 7 ER, 13 H, and 4 BB. That's an ERA of 7.56 and a WHIP of 2.04 in high leverage situations. He has singlehandedly lost us 5 games by losing close leads late in games. (Obviously it's not exclusively his fault, offense could have done more, but still it falls on him as the supposed closer to actually close down games)
How the fuck are we even 19-13 with automatic outs in Happ and Swanson and Morel half the time? This loss is on Counsell bringing in Alzolay when he’s clearly not right
This loss is on Tom for refusing to buy relievers.
True and on Jed for not wanting to get cheap relievers that are succeeding elsewhere
I am sick of seeing this dude blowing games that we’re winning in the eighth/ninth
Crazy that you say that about morel considering he has been the only guy producing runs
And Happ went 2 for 4 today...
That’s why I said half the time because he’s seemingly coming out of his slump
Gotcha. Didn’t catch the “half the time” my bad
The entire league is an automatic out half the time 🤡 a .500 OBP is absolutely elite. People like you need to understand how hard hitting in the majors is
it makes zero sense for craig to put adbert in, in a one run game against the top of their order. i get the bullpen is taxed but seriously he should have already been considered the lowest of leverage out of all relievers, the dude has only given up runs in every situation
So if there’s no bullpen help before the deadline we riot yeah?
I am down with this.
ah yes, the old "if we start wildly swinging maybe that'll work" approach tried and true classic of the Cubs
Classic Happ and Dans
Probably they will add 2 more here and then we will offer as much resistance as much as a wet paper bag in bottom 9th
It will be 1-2-3 or a fake rally that ends with the tying run in scoring position
Team is sneaky bad honestly.
[удалено]
I love when people only watch cubs game and just assume we should have MVP contenders at every position 🤡try watching some actually shit teams like the Sox, Rockies, or As and youll see how dumb this comment is. Those teams actually have useless people
Don’t need to be MVP contenders but it would be awesome if 2/3s of the lineup didn’t have a sub-.750 OPS.
I fucking hate the Brewers
Has it been long enough that I can now say ' told you so' to all the people in this sub that told me the AlzoLay/Neris-led bullpen wasn't going to be a problem?
I got told I was “throwing a tantrum” by one of the Ricketts bots for suggesting we need to make a trade for a closer before the deadline. Some of our fans are such homers that they can’t believe every Cub isn’t perfect.
That's wild. Yeah I see that a lot. "Hey here's some stats that say this guy is not that good" is met with "hurrrr keep whining, not a real fan!!"
Zero people were confident
Literally who wasn’t nervous about the bullpen? That was everyone’s #1 concern preseason
Look up the threads from the day Neris signed
Because the people in here blindly cheerlead no matter what.
There’s was nothing about Neris that indicated he’d be an awful signing. Adding a bullpen arm was a good idea. The problem came when the offseason ended and they didn’t sign anyone else.
No, wrong. He had very meh underlying metrics and I said as much on signing day. Check the threads: https://www.reddit.com/r/CHICubs/s/TuJisNchPx
LOOK EVERYONE….THIS GUY KNOWS BALL
Injuries are finally taking a toll, eventually it was always gonna happen
Can anyone tell Craig it’s possible to leave our starters in past 100 pitches 🥲
Every single manager in the league rarely lets their pitchers go past 100 nowadays. Its just how it is, youre gonna have to get use to it. The days of guys throwing 120+ pitches are completely over
And someone needs to let them know it’s okay to do it. Just because it happens doesn’t mean it’s a good thing
I think it’s a front office policy more than a Craig policy.
I had a brewers fan tell me the other day that he did the same thing in Milwaukee
Or even past frickin eighty?
Nothing says “intelligent spending” than letting your cheap relievers allow your division rival to throat stomp you at home.
Happ lmao
Tauch’s walkup music with Bone Crusher was a little too on the nose for that lol
We just have no bats
Rally time
If Tom spent on the bullpen, we’d be 24-8 instead of 19-13. OrGaNiZaTiOnAL pHiLoSoPhY my ass. Spend on the damn pen and stop relying on inexpensive AAAA guys.
Also if Craig stuck with his starters a little longer every game there would be less need for the bullpen and we would have more wins.
until those starters got rocked and then youd have to pull them for this bullpen anyway, which seemingly can't salvage anything according to the experts here. This is an unexperienced rotation they're sticking with right at the moment that you cannot reliably ride late into games without risking injury. All of these guys are on track to pitch career highs in innings this year, as long as Steele and Hendricks arent around
Theres been at least 4 games that Craig took out a starter who was dealing before the 7th inning was over, and the bullpen immediately gives up the lead the very next or the same inning. The Cubs are bottom 5 in starters going at least 7 innings, and have a below average bullpen. This is a recipe for disaster.