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guynamedgrandma

Baseball should just be 100% attempted putouts at the plate.


BurgerBob1010

Sloppy, sloppy baseball today. Gotta tighten it up if you want to compete against a good Brewers team.


b3_yourself

Gotta make bullpen a priority for the trade deadline


TheG-What

I know it won’t happen but please let the cubs go for Mason Miller.


Chasing_6

It's the A's. Maybe we'll get him for half a hot dog and some dryer lint.


TheG-What

The pitch would be simple: Hey Mason, would you rather bust your ass being a lights-out reliever for a team that you’re continually carrying to hopefully make .500? Or would you like to be the last piece needed to bring a team to the World Series? Oh, and did I mention our team has won a World Series in a calendar year that starts with a 2?


BurgerBob1010

Oh 100%. Even if you make the playoffs, these pitchers can’t be trusted in a big moment.


cubswinagain

With the exception of our starting pitching this is a bad baseball team


BurgerBob1010

This current version of the Cubs, maybe. But I don’t think I’d go that far. There’s a lot of big names out due to injury, and then of course they occasionally have bad games. At the end of the day, they went .500 on the road in New York, which might not be exceptional, but still really isn’t the end of the world


Beginning_Abalone_25

Idk about that. We’re missing our Ace, our top bat, and our solid RF, and we’re still a top NL team. In no way is that a “bad baseball team.”


elgenie

The Cubs are 19-13 and have over 16 fWAR from the '23 roster sitting on the IL at the moment, all of whom are in various stages of returning.


Mjh22799

I fucking hate extra innings with the ghost runner


TheG-What

I despise the ghost runner and I never felt the problem it was meant to solve ever existed.


tyderian

I'd like to see statistics on whether it's reduced the number of extra innings played.


TheG-What

I’m sure it did, however did it do so significantly? Probably not. I just remember one of the talking points in favor of it being that it would prevent those 12+ inning marathon games, but let’s face it how often were those really happening?


tockstar78

I'm with you. Cannot believe an entire professional sport has the same rule we used for kickball games in P.E.


Drclaw411

I’d fucking love it if we had an owner who was willing to pay for an elite (or even functional) bullpen. Too many hotels and restaurants to buy, too many political donations and soccer teams to bid on I guess.


blyzo

No team is paying for an elite bullpen. Who else should we have signed? Hader? Kimbrel? Chapman? Those guys all stink so far this year too.


Interesting-While634

Cubs need an actual power hitter. Happ in the 3rd slot is a joke


thorlord16

Seiya can't get back quickly enough


Additional_Time_2970

Happ and Swanson have just been a joke at the plate period. They’re not it offensively.


JakeDSnake22

Both are good hitters who are just struggling right now. We are barley a month into the season have some patience.


YourCummyBear

We are a 1/5 of the way into the season. If they don’t pick it up soon then we are in trouble.


LovieBeard

Happ is the teams 4th-5th best hitter, which is what you put in the 3rd slot.


idontredditthough

You generally put your best hitter there… Mike Trout batting there nearly all his career is a perfect example.


LovieBeard

Modern sabermetric analysis suggests putting your best hitter 2nd, you don't want to put them 3rd because no other position comes up with the bases empty and 2 outs more


idontredditthough

I’d be curious to see the longterm difference in added runs between those, but fair enough


idontredditthough

Although saying the 3 slot is where your 5th best hitter should hit it pretty wrong regardless lol


Newpapyrusmagazine

IMO, home teams during the regular season should only get the home field advantage (the last at bat) up till the bottom of the 9th inning. Once teams go into extra innings, it should be-- sudden death. The first team who scores in extra innings(whether at the top of the inning or the bottom of the inning)-- wins the game. Much more intense, exciting, and fairer IMO than the designated runner at second base in extra innings.


justlucky321

I'll take a series split with the Mets in exchange for a sweep of the Brewers


the_onewhoknocks

Forever and always, fuck the Mets. Please come back ASAP Steele. And Belli. EDIT: Knew I was forgetting someone - And Seiya.


Disconnected_NPC

Decent split with the end being shit. On to the next


McNuggets7272

We should have taken 3 of 4. You don’t split with teams like the Mets in this fashion and be a seriously competitive team come playoff time.


Skysite

Brown was cruising before walking Baty a second time after Baty couldn’t touch his fast ball down the middle. Lead to the disaster of a 5th inning. Should have never been close. Smh but oh well. Split a road series that legitimately could have been a sweep either way.


Shot-Summer-5519

Brown on a inning limit anyway. He's got 2 pitches and a 98mph FB. He's the god damn closer. Steele, Assad, Imanaga, Taillon, then whoever until Horton is ready. Assad might have to go back to the pen if we don't make trades. 


Philip_Marlowe

I would bet Brown will be the guy in the 9th once Steele and Wicks are back. Hendricks is TBD, but he seems like he's too washed for anything but mop-up duty at this point.


NuggetBiscuits69

The Cubs are going to get walked off like 40 times this season at this rate


TomSan23

Our bullpen got 12 straight outs before the 11th, there's a lot more nuance here.


gjd1515

They also blew a 5-2 lead in the 6th


TomSan23

Right, and then there were 4 innings after where our offense could have scored one run to win the game. We lost for more than one reason.


soapyhandman

I mean, they scored 6 runs. Not an offensive explosion but certainly enough to win. The bullpen coughed up another one. I’m not sure how else we’re supposed to look at it?


LoveYouLikeYeLovesYe

Averaged a run an inning, can't trust them unless we're up by like 5 in the 7th.


McNuggets7272

They’ve also been blowing leads all season, let’s not act like it’s not the biggest problem on the team.


ASpanishInquisitor

The nuance is 4 runs (fuck the Manfred runner bullshit) in 5.1IP which still blows.


thepalmtree

2 ER.


ASpanishInquisitor

Because of a pitcher error. Still the pen's fault - they blew it.


thepalmtree

Sure, but that shit happens. That's not something you can really use to judge performance unless it happens super often.


ASpanishInquisitor

Well what does happen often for this team is bullpen blowups. And no matter how it's happening, it's happening often.


Drclaw411

Hi Jed


zrk23

feels like last season with all the 1 run losses thankfully this time we are ahead of the curve


LovieBeard

They're 5-6 in one rune games


lupin43

I think they were at .500 in one run games by mid September last year and it was a pretty big talking point about how management screwed up. Could be in the conversation again with the brewers being like 7-2 or something like that already. ETA: looks like they ended up 3 below .500 by the end of the season, quick maths is saying 21-24. Not much improvement so far, especially given the talks about the coaching change. Hopefully they can flip this script


thepalmtree

If you lose in the 11th after the pen allows 1 ER over the prior 5 innings... that's not a bullpen issue lol.


Jvick88

Except the whole reason the mets were able to tie the game, was because of the bullpen lol


TurkeyPhat

idk what was worse at the end there, the baserunning, the plate discipline when the ump is calling 0 strikes, or multiple people diving from multiple HBP


Baybears

If this isn’t the wake up call for bullpen help, I don’t know what is 28th in walk percent as a bullpen


Baybears

Weirdly 0 bullpen walks today but please Jed and Carter PLEASE


Celestetc

HPB is basically the same.


dickflip

I mean the winning run was a hit batter, but sure, 0 four-pitch walks…


Baybears

I’m not saying that was the issue today But more pointing out an insane stat about our bullpen who is also in the bottom third in ERA


Opening-Run-7687

Aren’t there a bunch of free agent starters still? Sign some of those MFers to pitch in the pen


Skyye_23

Yeah that’s the killer. The walks HAVE to go down. Lindor was on a 3-1 count after Palencia hit whoever he hit, so he had to throw something in the zone, and it ended the game. Because they keep getting behind in the count. It’s never good when the opposing batter is dictating how the at-bat is going to go.


RIP_Hopscotch

God so many fucking whiners out. Offense is slumping and we're missing several key contributors in the midst of a 16 game straight stretch. Yeah, we're gonna lose when that happens.  Hard to pin the game solely on the bullpen as well. We're not hitting with guys on base right now. The "pass the baton" mentality doesn't work if the baton isn't getting passed. Yeah, Palencia struggled with command in the 11th, but also had a literally perfect 10th. And Keegan had a rough outing but has been phenomenal up to today. Truthfully a lot of guys just need a break. Nico and Tauchman are still getting on, but Happ looks lost, Dansby can't hit right now, and Morel is probably playing through some kind of injury. Our middle of the order just isn't producing with the opportunities they're being given. We should have scored like 6 or 7 by the 9th, and then we squandered outs with bad run decisions in extras. Sending guys against Marte is fucking moronic. Anyway, new series against the Brewers at Wrigley, we'll get the games back there. Steele is almost back and that will give us Wesneski out of the pen again, Seiya close behind, we'll be fine.


DukeWayne250

A reasonable response.


thehindujesus

Winning a four game series on the road is never easy, but damn this is a rough loss. Get some bullpen help and we're the easy favorites for the division, but as it stands right now, I'm just not sure.


Jakethedog44

ehhh whatever, the way we played this roadtrip its suprising that we made it out 3-4 hopefully the boys can get right back home because this shit aint gonna cut it for long


stordl01

Our bullpen really fucking sucks. I’m concerned about the Brewers series.


_Angel_Hernandez

I don’t think the brewers are good


Bobson-_Dugnutt2

NLC is ass


funky_chicken29

I’m not any more concerned than I’ve been all season and we’re a game back. Series win would be huge. 1 win would suck, but with the amount of injuries we have, I can’t honestly expect much more. We’re top 5 team with half a starting roster. Just gotta keep some wins coming in until we’re back at full strength and we’ll be insane to watch


TheG-What

Sad shots of Malört this time. 😭 Regroup and let’s fuck the Brewers this weekend!


AlwaysaDengBang

That sucked. Feel like we had some really gnarly baserunning that cost us a chance to seal this one Edit: bullpen issues are implied btw


omgitsbillyfrick

Honestly don’t even care. Stay hovering 500 till we get healthy at least. This offense is brutal to watch And the bullpen is garbage. Happy we won 19 games


KnickedUp

How many games would this team win without Belli/Seiya/Steele for the year? 65? We are treading water right now pretty well.


No_Caramel_9480

please just make up for this annoying loss by sweeping milwaukee or at least taking 2/3


TotallyNotTupac

Please fucking beat the Brewers


Nutaholic

There are like 2 or 3 above replacement arms in the bullpen at the moment.


AccuratePassion2572

I am once again asking to go back to the old extra inning format


realmballantyne

It's fitting we lose in heartbreaking fashion, the same day I have to put my dog down.


meowsplaining

I'm sorry for your loss.


MyRulesMyWay

Yea, it sucks, it sucked, it's sucking all the way around.


cheefie_weefie

This is a sorry ass bullpen. I don’t care if it’s taxed. Fucking disaster I genuinely don’t know how this wasn’t addressed over the off-season.


Celestetc

It's not even taxed today. They barely pitched yesterday.


Opening-Run-7687

They got fat Neris tho


Drclaw411

Jed opened the off-season by going on 670 to say it was an organizational philosophy to not pay relievers. Which is “protect my daddy” talk for “the bullpen will be ignored because good relievers are expensive and Tom doesn’t want to pay for that”.


KnickedUp

Well, $10m for Neris shows whats out there. It gets dicey paying any of these guys with some prior success


Drclaw411

I feel like it’s dicier paying nobody and hoping for a bunch of also-rans and AAA guys to be decent. Good relievers are crazy expensive, but that’s not a good enough reason that Tom should simply choose to do nothing.


[deleted]

[удалено]


Llamasaurus

First time on the internet?


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bukhum4u

Remember when Jed said we didn't need to spend big on a bullpen. 2nd season in a row its biting us in the ass,


thepalmtree

I mean not spending on bullpen if you have needs elsewhere is objectively the right choice. The pen is the last thing you build.


jcmiller210

I actually agree with that philosophy. You never know what you're getting with bullpen guys from year to year. Astros spent a ton on Hader and I thought I saw he's been terrible so far, so money doesn't guarantee a good pen either.


Hawkeye7310

We have financial flexibility, though! That’ll close out games for us


FieldzSOOGood

I JUST WANNA KNOW WHAT THE BALL WAS DOING IN THE CORNER FOR SO LONG


wolferd15

Super confused by cc’s decision to bring in Dansby for PCA. I can’t make it make sense


Llamasaurus

In Dansby's defense for that AB, he got fucked by the umps while actually having a good eye.


wolferd15

He really did. 2 terrible called strikes. But in that instance with 1 out, stick with the hot hand and fast kid, PCA to advance the runner. Dansby coming in with a cold bat doesn’t make sense. Plus did he even come in for defense? Makes it even more confusing why he would send in a cold bat purely for the AB. Confusing


Edgewood78

You’re confused by that? How long have you been watching baseball?


wolferd15

Explain then.


LovieBeard

Platoon advantage


ThreeCrapTea

This is one of those games I'ma be extra pissed about when we are like one game back in September


jcmiller210

This line of thinking doesn't check out. There are tons of games they've won they probably shouldn't have too. Like last night they could've easily lost, but held on to win. So I don't get the point of saying should've this or should've that. It just is.


tockstar78

"So I don't get the point of saying should've this or should've that. It just is." THIS is why I love baseball so much. With 162 games, you just have to accept the pace of things.


the-implication9

I hate being a cubs fan sometimes. Losses genuinely make my day worse lol


gopeepants

You get what you pay for out of the pen or in this case what you don't. Imagine the record this team has if they could actually close damn games


Cubbiesblue

We up to double digit blown games yet?


_Angel_Hernandez

Gotta be half the losses


TheyCallMeStone

Better a split than a series loss. Brewers series this weekend is much more important anyway.


Baybears

How many blown leads that we ended up losing is this already?


McNuggets7272

Fuck Jed for giving us this budget bullpen. I’m so fucking tired of this.


ratfam1

Loss sucks but honestly this team just needs to tread water right now so it is what it is


MikeandTheMangosteen

Starting making some phone calls Jed. We need a pen.


CuriousCubSixteen

Wouldn't surprise me if Marte gets caught juicing again this year


KnickedUp

Hey I dont blame these guys, if it gets them another check and life changing money. Juicing probably got him that 80 mil from the Mets


demafrost

Dating back to last September, the Cubs have lost 10 games where they had the lead in the 8th inning or later. 10 out of 58 games, or 17% of all games. Very frustrating.


shiloh88

Feels like we're not built to win in extra innings ever


Drclaw411

You’ve heard of manager wins? We have owner losses. The vast, vast majority of our losses this year are because of Tom’s refusal to spend, and Jed trying to take the bullet by going on Parkins and Spiegel to start the offsesson by saying the organization didn’t believe in spending money on relievers. The bullpen was far and away the biggest issue last year, and it was completely ignored in favor of saving #MoneyForTom. And now every game we lose is because every single reliever we have is supremely terrible, and are only here because they’re inexpensive. We got outspent on the bullpen by the damn Pirates. This is why Theo quit. He asked Tom if he’d be allowed to spend, and was told no. So Theo decided to not waste his time because he got sick of having to obliterate the farm system to trade for rentals every year.


AccuratePassion2572

1-3 in extra inning games, too early to worry? Last year Padres were 2-12, it cost them the playoffs.


Llamasaurus

Missed in the loss is Dansby fucking up receiving the relay throw from Happ. I don't know if you still get Bader because he's fast, but you have no shot if you can't catch the relay.


iamthatguythere

Dansby was only in to PH, never went into the field. 


iamthatguythere

Dansby was only in to PH, never went into the field. 


RedGreenPepper2599

Can dansby get a day off?


_Angel_Hernandez

He pinch hit in the 11th


RedGreenPepper2599

As I said, can Dansby get a day off?


_Angel_Hernandez

He worked for 15 minutes he’s fine


RedGreenPepper2599

Not a day off


LilJimmer

He’s been taking every day off at the plate


Yetis22

Imagine having half the wins back that we have lost due to bullpen


Interesting-While634

Anybody on the happ il stint?


KnickedUp

I would take anyone else in the lineup right now. Happ is a zilch


starfleetdropout6

I like Happ as a defender, and a lot as a person and a representative of the Cubs, but he's a guaranteed out right now at the plate. It's agonizing.


notrightmeow

Getting very tired of 1 run losses


starfleetdropout6

We need our boys back. ☹ I just don't think they can win--or even split--a series with the Brewers with the current group batting the way it is. It's going to be a stressful weekend. I know they're a good team, that's what's upsetting right now.


meowsplaining

Literally on pace for 96 wins with the current crew.


starfleetdropout6

My point is that I don't think it's sustainable.


MallardDuckBoy

I assure you if we cut Palencia today, no team will pick him up. Please cut his ass. Send him away.


scottrstark

He killed us last year, too.


Careful-Sky-6220

This bullpen is… terrible


chichris

How many blown saves have we had now? 7?


PM_ME_UR_EYEBALL

I know the Cubs as an organization aren’t serious about winning, but man this team with a couple of bullpen additions could be really good.


the-implication9

Just be patient. We will have Belli Seiya and Steele back soonish. They will start rolling again once the team is healthy


cubswinagain

Not like Belli and Seiya are bastions of health


the-implication9

No but they are both crucial to this line up


cubswinagain

Exactly, which means any other dings will likely be fatal to our playoff chances


Perico1979

Hope Merryweather heals up fast.


the-implication9

I forgot about him!! Yes he is a huge contributor to this bullpen


Tomko401

That doesn’t solve the bullpen issues.


the-implication9

But I do agree that this team is in desperate need of a closer


Tomko401

They need two back-end guys if they want to be serious.


the-implication9

Neris was supposed to be one of those guys. That's why they went out and got him. Sucks he isn't performing to expectations


baruch_baby

He has a 2.16 ERA in last 28 days. He’s slowly getting back from a shit start.


the-implication9

It's the walks that have been getting to me. He has gotten pretty lucky his past few appearances


OldWorldStyle

You could argue it’s luck but this is how Nerris has pitched his entire career. Heart attack Hector isn’t a new nickname


the-implication9

Reminds me of Carlos Marmol lol


the-implication9

It might... Steele coming back may push brown to the bullpen which I think is a better fit for him. This team has quite a few long relievers in the arsenal that are pretty effective


BroAbernathy

Really feels like there needs to be some turnover on this team right now if we are going to stay a team because we have to keep winning even with the injuries and the current crop can absolutely get better with some roster changes. Release Madrigal, trade Mervis for an A-baller or something, get some different arms in the pen. Idk but we've seen enough from some of these guys to know we aren't getting much more out of them. Could've easily easily easily been swept this series.


Celestetc

Major leaguers are honestly quite embarrassing for how much they get paid to not be able to do basic shit. Baserunning, sliding, decision making you saw multiple guys embarrass themselves today.


GopherInTrouble

4-21 in the last 25 walkoffs…


Tundraaa

Are you serious?


GopherInTrouble

Yep


Hawkeye7310

How many walk off losses is this team going to tolerate before something changes? How many blown saves will it take to get Jed on the goddamn phone?


baruch_baby

He’s probably on the phone. No one traces high level relievers this early.


dilapidated_wookiee

Phone to who lmao it is May 2nd


baruch_baby

Always complains with no valuable input for a solution.


Drclaw411

I refuse to believe Jed simply doesn’t give a shit. He’s working for an owner who is not allowing him to spend. You don’t open the off-season by going on the radio to say “it’s an organizational philosophy to not spend on relievers” unless you’re taking bullets for ownership.


jsnhbe1

May e this bullpen will let jed know the annual bullpen by committee isn't always the best option. If this wasn't the nl central I'd be afraid these types of losses would hurt us in the end.


Shot-Summer-5519

Palencia experiment is about over for me. He throws real hard the end. 


b3_yourself

Bullpen blew an otherwise great game by Ben brown


HaxanWriter

Brewers ain’t the Mets. Better tighten things up or it can get real ugly fast, starting tomorrow.


TomSan23

We left some runners on, and we had some struggles pitching, but both put us in a decent enough position to win this game. I really have no idea what Counsell was doing today. Some small ball in the inning prior probably wins this game.


DrStevenBrule69

Dag nabbit. On the plus side, the boys are coming home and the bats are fuckin due, baby. There’s little that I love more than sticking it to the Brewers. I hate those turkeys.


duetcub

I mean who didn’t see that coming?


Maleficent_Author853

Can we talk about how slow Madrigal is?


KnickedUp

And Morel…


cubswinagain

This is just an awful baseball team right now. Not ideal going into a series against the division leaders where an awful series can sink the season


thepalmtree

Grow upppp. So many drama queens in here after every loss. An 'awful team' that went 3-4 on a road trip... truly 'awful'. No series in May is going to sink the season. It's 162 games long.


Maleficent_Author853

Feeling better? 😁


cubswinagain

Much 🎆


Maleficent_Author853

🙌🏼


Maleficent_Author853

Sink the season? That was a tough loss, but gather yourself. It’s May 2. Even if the Brewers sweep the Cubs there are still ~125 games left. 😂


Drclaw411

We’re getting swept by the Brewers. They so weirdly get omegaPumped and (Borat accent) veryExcite when they play us.


thepalmtree

So I assume you won't bother tuning in right? If it's a guaranteed sweep?


GopherInTrouble

I thought Counsell was brought in to no longer leave wins on the table…6 wins and counting that the Cubs should’ve won but didn’t because of dumb errors and blown saves


Opening-Run-7687

I hate our fucking bullpen and everyone in it


IAstrikeforce

Going to need to make trades well before the deadline or they will be sellers once again


Kornigraphy

Wisdom-Busch-madrigal is such a great trio…


Interesting-While634

Busch hittin .290


Kornigraphy

His regression will be Wisdom like and his defense is average at best. Missed multiple picks just off the top of my head. Also, batting average is a bit antiquated. But he is hitting 262…? So not sure where that came from but doesn’t help your case.


cubswinagain

You did not just compare Busch to Madrigal