Fear The Chorizo

Not to mention, the Cubs picked up an ace - Darvish - and turns out, unlike toasters, aces don't come with guarantees! Plus their 2017 trade of Quintana was hardly for an ace, and it cost them probably the top prospect in all of baseball without any Vlad Guerrero DNA. If the Mets are serious about trying to build a contender this offseason, I don't see an obvious starter available who would be considered an ace via trade.

If anything, reading through this thread has sealed my opinion to stay away from this board during Brewer off-days and the immediate following morning - particularly following a Brewer loss...too much time not watching baseball for some creatively crazy posts to be constructed!

Their long-term failure to develop front line pitching is what has held them back from taking that next step-- well of course it has. Does anyone honestly disagree with that? Since Jopal keeps referencing the Cubs and their true tear-down / rebuild, all I'd want to know is where are their developed front line pitching is - both the year they won the WS and right now. There is zero, since they either bought it or paid hansomely for it via trade. Baez, Almora, Bryant, Schwarber, and Happ were drafted 9th, 6th, 2nd, 4th, and 9th overall in the 2011-2015 drafts - and Contreras was a former 16-yr old international signee during the Jim Hendry/Lou Pinella regime working his way through the minors at the same time. That's simply hitting on several high draft picks in succession (picks made by multiple GM's, Baez was a Hendry pick) while having a mix of high school, collegiate, and international picks in and around the same age to come up together. When you think about it, the Brewers did much the same thing with the likes of Fielder, Weeks, Hardy, Braun, Hart, etc. To me the Cubs' rebuild mirrors what Milwaukee did in the early-mid 2000's, only that once they were ready they had vastly more financial and prospect resources to buy the veteran pitching needed to win it all. Further the team has already called up their top pitching prospects, Burnes, Peralta, Taylor Williams, so there is no pitching help on the way from the farm system Um, wrong, unless you expect normal farm systems to somehow have 2-3 ace-caliber prospects sitting at all minor league levels. That notion is fantasyland, particularly after considering the Brewers' system has just graduated Hader, Williams, Peralta, and Burnes into what appear to be permanent MLB staff spots within roughly the last calendar year. That fails to mention the fact that Nelson emerging as a true drafted and home-grown upper rotation anchor until that fateful injury (awful timing for a team ahead of schedule in contending). Even after this year's deadline deals and recent callups, I'd argue the strength of the Brewers' system is the depth they have in pitching prospects starting at AA and working all the way into rookie levels. Back on topic - if the Brewers miss the playoffs this season it will be a disappointment due to them essentially holding a spot all season long - last year the wild card race sort of backed down towards the NL Central division standings, while this year the Brewers have had the NL's best record most of the year and now the wild card standings are creeping up since there really isn't a dominating NL squad. It's crazy looking at the Red Sox being upwards of 50 games over 0.500 and the other AL playoff team records compared to the NL. It's like the NL has taken a page from the NFL in having a huge blob of middling/decent teams who could all make a run if things break their way, but the league forgot to keep 1-2 juggernaut teams around that are the prohibitive favorites. I would expect the Brewers to make similar moves this coming offseason whether they make the playoffs this year or not - find a way to upgrade the catcher position via trade or free agency, sort out the rotation logjam by trying to deal Davies, Woodruff, Peralta, or another arm, perhaps go after a starter hard via trade but I think that would be better served for 2019 trade deadline, get Burnes primed for a 2019 rotation spot (perhaps Hader, also), and set the stage for Hiura at 2B while keeping Schoop as the opening day 2B starter and eventual utility option between 2B and SS.

put up another zero and get back up hitting again Edit: so much for that...

just stinks that we have Hernan in these last two spots instead of Braun because of the apparent injury...

lol, time to stop following this game for my sanity's sake....

WTH braun...was he just in the OF too long last inning?

Yeah, this is going to get ugly now...what a farce. Not a must win but easily one of the more important games of the year given standings and stage of the season, and the Brewers get done in by sticking with a struggling starter followed by nowhere near their best available reliever

I predict this game somehow ends due to weather after 7 innings of play with the score being 6-5 Cubs - and we all set our hair on fire about just how many stupid things CC did to make it so.

I guess deciding to leave Guerra in the game has the advantage of eliminating another high leverage situation to bring in a pinch hitter for the pitcher's spot - he'll just give up more runs to extend the Cub lead. Really confusing last couple innings from CC - don't challenge a play that probably costs you a run, and don't get aggressive with pinch hitting from a deep bench by leaving a scuffling starter in to make an out at the plate and continue scuffling on the mound while a fresh bullpen should be ready to roll.

there sure better be a more high leverage situation to pinch hit for the pitcher's spot than right here in this game...I would've thought pretty hard about getting a bat in to hit in that spot with a rested pen, an off day coming up, and sketchy weather in the area.

If they don't get a healthy and productive Bryant, Morrow, and Darvish back to help down the stretch, the cupboard is pretty darn bare. Consider that the only position players the Cubs have on their 40-man that aren't already on the current active roster are Bryant (DL) and some OF called Zagunis, and the fact that there isn't a single healthy one of their 40 man pitchers who isn't already on their active roster that would be considered an up and coming prospect. It's basically the three guys on the DL who all still have questionable return dates, Drew Smyly (who is recovering from injuries of his own and could be garbage regardless), and a pile of AAAA fodder who could either be lightning in a bottle for two weeks or implode. If the arms toward the bottom of their 40 man are brought in during the September roster expansion to try and ease the strain of their schedule, their bats better be mashing if they need them to contribute consistently in competitive games.

Seeing that the injury likely has prevented him from throwing a pitch on a MLB mound for more than 12 months, that would perhaps be the worst move to try and make. He's going to get a marginal at best pay bump in arbitration, I'd rather they just see what Nelson can do when (hopefully not if??) he ever gets back to 100% health. It's still his throwing shoulder, not an ACL or ankle break or something that has nothing to do with the functionality of his arm, so even though he injured it while not throwing a baseball there has to be concern until he proves he's the same pitcher to justify any sort of longterm extension talk, IMO. I also think if his prognosis does look good for next season, his agent would advise Nelson not to take that kind of extension as it would control him at far below market price for an upper rotation starter through too much of his prime production years. If Nelson would sign a 5 year extension at that price, I'd be worried as a fan that his team knows he's likely damaged goods.

Nope - they just had a day off and have an off day thursday...use your best to lock down a win against the team you are chasing and use the days off to your advantage. I don't want Knebel or a fresh off the DL Williams throwing a meaningful pitch in this game, regardless of the score. No lifelines on a game like today, I don't care if it looks too aggressive. On that note, have yourself a game, Mr. Chacin!

It would be so un-Brewers, but man would it be sweet to just curb-stomp the Cubs and Cards this week.

out of the south at about 5-10mph...not significant, but straight out to left center. Summer day approaching 90 with relatively low humidity and a helping wind is gonna make balls fly like crazy, regardless of the wind. Hopefully Chacin has a good slider today. MLB.com says wind is blowing in from center at 8 mph. weather.com, the flags, and Ryan Braun's bat disagree with MLB.com

out of the south at about 5-10mph...not significant, but straight out to left center. Summer day approaching 90 with relatively low humidity and a helping wind is gonna make balls fly like crazy, regardless of the wind. Hopefully Chacin has a good slider today.

the way wrigley plays on a summer day like today, it's going to take a lot or runs to win. 3 in the top o' the 1st is a good start.

Sure, the Cubs could win all four of those extra games and be 5 games better than the Brewers if we put those four games in a vacuum....or they could lose all four and only be 1 game better in a vacuum... That being said, having four fewer off days from this point to the end of the season is no small issue - less time to rest means a bigger grind for all Cubs' remaining games compared to the Brewers or any other team that doesn't have to play as frequently to reach 162 from here on out. It's a circular argument - you can't take away losses, but you also can't take away wins. At the end of the season pretty much everyone has to play 162 (especially now with all the tiebreaker scenarios with two wild card spots), and the standings on Oct 1 are the only ones that truly matter. Right now the standings say the Brewers are 3 games back. Heres the issue; if the Cubs only lose 4 games the rest of the way, they win. So the Brewers being "only 3 out" now is irrelevant. If you want to debate that knock yourself out. That would give the Cubs 109 wins - yeah, them playing 0.911 ball for the final 7 weeks of the season would be tough to catch up... The rest of this road trip is enormous for the Brewers - playing the team you're chasing and the team hot on your tail in succession will either set the Brewers up nicely for the stretch run or potentially crater their chances if they have a 4-1 or 1-4 type stretch of games. The next time the Brewers see the Cubs, they will be in the midst of their brutal late August-Mid September stretch of games without an off day. It would be fantastic leaving Wrigley on wednesday trailing the Cubs by just 1 game and crushing to be down 5.

yay for treading water - golden opportunity to put a W on the board on the march towards 20 games over 0.500 and the conventional baseball approach had to be followed so hard that it was worth losing, apparently. Going back to this 9th inning guy/closer approach is causing the pen to burn out - Jeffress should've gotten the ball to start the 9th, absolutely no reason to pull him today. Hoping Soria's injury isn't serious, didn't see it on TV but leaving mid-at bat is never a good thing.

I'm going to get even more angered by the fake rally the Brewers muster in the bottom of the 9th to wind up losing by 1 run somehow

Knebel should have been out of the game after walk #2 to start this inning - no excuses for leaving him in, I don't care who had to get brought into the game.

Every Padre batter is pretty much going to stand up there with the bat on their shoulder until they have 2 strikes on them...bad feelings about the outcome of this half inning

Agreed. I would add a caveat, Schoop wasn't brought in to contribute over the course of the entire season. He was brought in for the two month pennant drive, so coming up on two weeks of horrible performance is a big chunk of that time frame. But there's still a lot of games to be played, and Schoop could be the hero in September. That's, of course, when all the people calling for his head will quickly come here to post they were wrong. Just like Chacin. Everyone that wanted to cut him after 3 starts has come back and admitted it :-). lol - there are posters in this thread who called it insane that Chacin got his contract at the time of his signing when compared to the relative bargain value the Cubs got by paying Chatwood ~$12.5 Million per season to apparently walk everybody. Laughing emojii and all...

Brewers 1.5 GB of the Cubs but currently with 3 more games played than them, so trailing in the loss column by 3...schedule gets really quirky between now and Aug 20th, as the Cubs have 3 days off over the next 12 calendar days while the Brewers have 2 sandwiched on either side of a two game set in Chicago. That means that entering games on August 21, the Brewers will have likely played 4 more games than the Cubs with only 41 calendar days of the season remaining. That's a huge disparity that will impact how fresh these teams are heading into September. The Cubs' next 9 games are against the Nats, Brewers, and Pirates, and that stretch from late August through mid September on their schedule without any days off is looking more and more difficult. That 23 straight day with a game stretch ends with an 11-game, 4 city road trip (ATL, Philly, Milwaukee, and Washington) followed by a 3 game home series against the Brewers. Milwaukee actually plays them 6 times during that stretch. In theory, roster expansion in September would figure to benefit the Cubs at a time when they're sure to need extra arms and probably have position players needing a game or two off - the problem for them is outside of players they have on the DL with questionable return dates (Bryant, Darvish, Morrow, etc), I don't see them having any September callups worth playing. If some of those veterans don't come back healthy off the DL soon, their likely september callups are already on the active roster. Both the Pirates and Cards aren't close to being out of the NL Central race, either - the Pirates in particular play the Cubs and Brewers a ton down the stretch.