Bleacher Bums Forum

In 2016, Cubs won games at the current type of level as the Astros, Yankees and Red Sox this season...AND our starting pitching was absolutely lights out most every day in the 1st half of 2016!

This season, our bullpen has been excellent overall and Lester has been GREAT; however, Lester is ONE-FIFTH of the rotation!  Hendricks has not been good very often, Quintana hasn't been good very often, Chatwood hasn't been able to throw strikes and we've gotten little out of Darvish, who hasn't pitched at all in a while. 

Meanwhile, Rizzo has struggled most of the 1st half, Bryant has been playing hurt (and hasn't played at all for a while).

So, overall, our starting pitching has not been good and the two KEY guys in our offense have not played at their typical levels.

We're lucky to be where we currently are in the standings.

I think you might want to park him in the bullpen for a bit to save innings for the playoffs to be honest.  He threw 130 innings last year and his career high is 150.2 in 2011.  He is already at 61.

Good points about Monty, guys!  We'd be screwed without him and should assume he will remain one of our top guys, so "protecting" him will be important.

Getting Carl Jr. back will help, if he's healthy.  We need to assume Yu won't be back for a while (and hope he comes back at some point at all this season as the real Yu, but who knows?)

We're near the halfway point and it sure seems likely it will be a dogfight for us the rest of the way...as it almost always is for the competitive teams. 

We all want to see the offense hit its stride, but i'm a lot less concerned about the offense than about our starting pitching. 

If, somehow, our starters are good the rest of the way, we are very highly likely to make the playoffs, whether the offense takes it up a notch or not.

Cubs are a mess.

KB, CJ, and Darvish are on the DL.

Hendricks and Quintana are struggling.

Chatwood is broken.

Still, they're on pace for 90 wins.  If the season ended today, they'd be the first wild card.

Welcome to Cub fandom in the modern era.

I agree with Jeff's assessment.  This is a team that could explode in September and cruise to another World Championship.  It could also implode in September and miss the playoffs.  It has a lot of talent, but not a lot of consistency or balance.  It is what it is.  Right now there is a lot of trade talk, but little about Cub involvement.  We really could only deal from the main roster, so it's not surprising.  Another starter to counter the potential Darvish issue and Chatwood horseshit would be nice.  One or two contact hitters to balance the k's in the lineup would be super, but I don't think it will happen.

I think the major conflicts on this board between a group that sees the Champion capable Cubs and the crap capable Cubs is primarily born of the disappointment that the Cubs are not the dominant team we felt was coming out of the 2016 World Series.  I don't think I was alone to think that all these young stud players would only get better and we would continue to spend FA money wisely, and here we come, DYNASTY.  And it hasn't happened.  We've stumbled.  We've choked.  Now and then we see the team we dreamed we would be, and then disappointment and frustration.

Jeff is right.  This is the new age of Cub fandom.  I dreamed it would be different, but, you know, it's a hell of a lot better than BEFORE 2015.

Choked? 

You're probably taking that word too harshly that what I mean.  Substitute what you wish, failed, been unluckly...

Some Cub players have under performed based on their past accomplishments.  Rizzo, Chatwood, Quintana, and Hendricks fall into that category.  Others have not progressed as much as some might have hoped.  Others have had health problems that have slowed them down.  My view is that the under performers are likely to improve, in some cases markedly, in the second half.  The inconsistency of the young players is likely to continue, but Happ, Russell, Almora, and Schwarber have all performed well overall and I doubt any of them has reached his peak.  Injuries are impossible to project, but it seems likely that Bryant will come back strong, and CJ should be ready soon.  No doubt, this Cub team should be in better position in the standings than it is, but somewhat underperforming in the first half is not that big a deal.  They simply will need to perform closer to their talent level (and avoid bad luck) and they will win the Central, probably with ease.

3 straight NLCS isn't failing, being unlucky............

I think you and Cletus are taking that out of context.  In paragraph I and III, I am agreeing with you.  All those NLCSes and wins and such certainly aren't failures and unluckiness.  Go to paragraph II; it is there that I am talking about the debates and divide on this board regarding the DAILY experience with the Cubs.  It takes a lot of confirmation bias and blindness to believe that the team never falters during the season.  My main point was that I believe that they can overcome that in the end.  I'm done.

My guess is that Darvish will be fine after a few more weeks of rest.