Chicago Cubs 2015 Thread

ibahawkeye said:
True but this is more hindsight. I wasn't really concerned coming into the series when his last 2 starts (1 impressive shut out and 1 not so impressive but still a win) and he would be starting on full rest.
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I think his last two starts prior to this series both showed cause for concern. Against the Pirates he was missing his location much more than usual, but he got lucky in that game, hard hit balls right at guys, and pitched better once he got into the later innings. But like you said the rotation was set up as good as it possibly could be headed into this series.
 
NEIChawk said:
I just hope they can make some sort of series out of this....to go 0 for NLCS is driving me crazy....Did I imagine this or did Zach Grienke opt out of his contract (I think 3 years w/the Dodgers)? Would he be an option?
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That's a lot of money to tie up in old pitchers especially if they plan on extending Arrieta.
 
The off season will be fun to watch, and seeing who they bring up from the farm system (as pitchers go anyways)
 
ibahawkeye said:
I know Cubs have certainly out performed the expectations for the year but I'm still struggling to not be disappointed because I had high hopes of how the pitching rotation was set up for the series.
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Same here. I know the 7-0 vs the Mets in the regular season doesn't mean anything in October, and it's a better Mets team now.. And yes, it's still been a fun season, and punking the Cardinals in the NLDS was great.. But I was hoping for better than being down 3-0 in the NLCS. I really thought the Cubs had a good chance to take this series. Dang it.
 
HawkeyeMike23 said:
CJ Edwards? Not much else for pitchers close to the MLB level, maybe Pierce Johnson but if he's starting for the Cubs that's probably not a good sign.
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Yeah, seems like I read a while back that the front office's philosophy is basically to bring up the bats through the farm system and write checks for the pitchers. I'm not aware of a whole lot of top-tier pitching talent in the farm system. So, hopefully Theo can do some damage in acquiring more pitching this off-season.

I'm also wondering if the Cubs need more balance between power & contact in their lineup. I know it worked out in the WC game and the NLDS, but they're really living and dying by the long ball. Too many solo shots, and not much offense if they aren't hitting HR's. Although they BB a lot, lots of K's and one of the lowest team batting averages in MLB.
 
1977Hawkeye said:
Yeah, seems like I read a while back that the front office's philosophy is basically to bring up the bats through the farm system and write checks for the pitchers. I'm not aware of a whole lot of top-tier pitching talent in the farm system. So, hopefully Theo can do some damage in acquiring more pitching this off-season.

I'm also wondering if the Cubs need more balance between power & contact in their lineup. I know it worked out in the WC game and the NLDS, but they're really living and dying by the long ball. Too many solo shots, and not much offense if they aren't hitting HR's. Although they BB a lot, lots of K's and one of the lowest team batting averages in MLB.
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There's potential top end starters in their system, they are just all at the A level or lower right now. I think they will definitely upgrade their rotation this offseason but it might not be by signing a Price/Grienke type like a lot of fans are expecting, but rather some middle of the rotation type arms.

I agree with your second point, but I think there's a lot of potential improvement still to come from the young guys. Soler, Schwarber and Bryant will most likely always be high strikeout guys but they should continue to increase their OBP over the coming years. It would be nice to find a high OBP guy who can play center, Jason Heyward would seem to fit the Cubs needs if they want to open up their checkbook for him.
 
Great season for the Cubs, 97 wins, wild card win over the Pirates, NLDS win over the Cardinals. Far exceed my most optimistic expectations for this year. Can't wait to see what the roster looks like come opening day. Theo and Co. have the Cubs set up to contend for a long time.
 
It was a hell of a ride. Hard to not be a little frustrated by how that series went but overall I'd say the season was a wild success and certainly makes me excited about next year. Pick up a top end starter or two and a closer and the Cubs will be a 100 win team and probably have the best WS odds in the league. Fun times.
 
HawkeyeMike23 said:
There's potential top end starters in their system, they are just all at the A level or lower right now. I think they will definitely upgrade their rotation this offseason but it might not be by signing a Price/Grienke type like a lot of fans are expecting, but rather some middle of the rotation type arms.

I agree with your second point, but I think there's a lot of potential improvement still to come from the young guys. Soler, Schwarber and Bryant will most likely always be high strikeout guys but they should continue to increase their OBP over the coming years. It would be nice to find a high OBP guy who can play center, Jason Heyward would seem to fit the Cubs needs if they want to open up their checkbook for him.
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Thanks. I follow the Cubs pretty close but am admittedly not as privy to what they have in the lower levels. So, presumably, guys that might hit the majors in a couple years, but probably not for 2016, I would guess? If the Cubs are in "win now" mode for 2016, then I think they will really need to go out and add someone this off-season, a guy that can come in and improve the rotation right away, IMO.

Agreed on the young players - hopefully they get better and build on what they did this year, and don't have the proverbial sophomore slumps. I know Bryant K'd quite a bit in the minors, so he will always be a pretty high K guy, but 199 this year.. If he can improve that to even 150 or so, I'm sure he'd be a beast. I have similar thoughts on Soler, Schwarber, and Baez. If they can make contact more consistently, they'll be deadly.

I'm hoping to see Heyward in a Cubs jersey next year, no doubt.
 
1977Hawkeye said:
Thanks. I follow the Cubs pretty close but am admittedly not as privy to what they have in the lower levels. So, presumably, guys that might hit the majors in a couple years, but probably not for 2016, I would guess? If the Cubs are in "win now" mode for 2016, then I think they will really need to go out and add someone this off-season, a guy that can come in and improve the rotation right away, IMO.

Agreed on the young players - hopefully they get better and build on what they did this year, and don't have the proverbial sophomore slumps. I know Bryant K'd quite a bit in the minors, so he will always be a pretty high K guy, but 199 this year.. If he can improve that to even 150 or so, I'm sure he'd be a beast. I have similar thoughts on Soler, Schwarber, and Baez. If they can make contact more consistently, they'll be deadly.

I'm hoping to see Heyward in a Cubs jersey next year, no doubt.
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Yeah, the closest impact arm starter is Duane Underwood who will probably start in AA, he could possibly be up by the end of this year but more likely 2017. The rest of the potential top end starters (Dylan Cease, Carson Sands, Justin Steele, Bryan Hudson) will be 2018 or later. So any pitching improvement will have to come from outside the organization for next year. The one possible wild card is Justin Turner who they picked up from the Marlins at the end of 2014, similar background to Arrieta, former big time prospect, great stuff but has struggled at the MLB level. He was hurt most of this year, but he'll have a shot to make the team out of spring training.
 
Well great season, disappointing series but great overall season. We did live a little too much by the HR and I said that before the Mets series started as we really didn't have a ton of "hits" vs the Cards just some big bombs. I don't see them spending huge money for a 30 year old pitcher like Grienke. I could see them making a trade of prospects for a guy like Ross from the Padres or Sonny Gray or the guy from the Indians (Carasco?). They want some control with the arms. Arietta is actually 29, so even giving him a long contract could be iffy. He had a great season, but He has really only had 1.5 great years or so and at his age does that warrant $20mil a year? I do agree with above posters if Heyward can play CF well he could be intriguing. CF is our biggest need positionally. I wish we could just put Schwarber at Catcher but time will tell what they do. He would make a great DH.
 
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