2024 Cubs

[jeffy]

5-4 on this trip and .5 games out of 1st.

Not bad at all.

[mrfelina]

What are they going to do with Alzolay?

What a mess.

[1060Ivy]

Alzolay pitched a clean inning today but will be surprised to see Alzolay continuing with closing duties.

And it’s appears to be offical - Albert is no longer the closer

https://chicago.suntimes.com/cubs/2024/0...-field-mlb

Options are becoming more clear

Brown seems like he could be dominant with a great 2 pitch arsenal but don’t know if you want to place those expectations on a rookie who has been developing as a starter. Yeah, guessing that 95% plus of relief pitchers were initially developed as starters.

Guessing that Neris and Leiter will get first opportunities with Neris most likely being the first option

[Butcher]

Neris is not a good option.

[1060Ivy]

Hendricks on IL as is Smyly. Wesneski and Little have been called up

Cooper is DFA’d. Guessing he’s gone as Wisdom and Mervis are now on roster. Preferred Cooper over Wisdom but that’s just me.

No clue when / if Hendricks returns. Both he and Smyly are on 15 day IL

[mrfelina]

Liked Cooper over Wisdom too.

Guess power will win out every time these days.

[1060Ivy]

Belli is on the IL - fractured rib

PCA is getting called up

[jeffy]

Belli is on the IL - fractured rib

PCA is getting called up

Son of a bitch.

[funkster]

Feels like non stop injuries this year.

[mrfelina]

And yet the keep on with the kind of resiliency they're showing.

Impressed.

[1060Ivy]

Cubs have depth primarily via prospects that have been able to step up and produce at the MLB level. You never know how prospects develop and how they’ll react when in the MLB. The Cubs farm system has provided wins so far in this first month of the season

[jeffy]

1st place, with a little help from our friends around the league.

[1060Ivy]

Nice to lead the division - even in April with 3/5 of expected starting rotation and 2 of most dependable bats in line up on IL

May not last for more than a day but team is responding extremely well to adversity

Go Cubs

[MrSheps]

It is indeed pretty amazing that they're winning some of these games. Hoping we can split at least in NY. But in some ways, the Cubs are reminding me of the Brewers of recent years, and the Cards NOT of recent years, in which you're scratching your head at the record based on what's on the field and who they're playing. Let's hope it continues and the team can get healthy.

Thought I'd share that my wife and I have been taking my son to different ballparks the Cubs are visiting over the last several years, trying to get as many in as we can while he's still young and before traveling with us loses its luster. In very last minute fashion we decided to go to Boston last week as my son had random days off from school at the end of the week. (We live in LA, so it's quite the trek.) I had never been, but Fenway was a treat. We did a tour on Friday and then saw that night's win, and then attended the blow out loss, which was a lot less fun obviously.

Anyway, I guess the Cubs aren't likely back in Boston for another couple of years, but happy to share some recommendations should anyone be headed there. Same for other parks, we've now done all the California stadiums, Phoenix, Toronto, and Detroit. We're also going to go to KC this year, and try to pick off one of the parks around the DC area while visiting family.

[Butcher]

I've hit Fenway a bunch of times. Saw Pedro Martinez pitch there years ago, which was absolutely electric. My daughter goes to school in Boston now and so I've been back there with her a couple of times, too. Not to state the obvious, but it feels the most like Wrigley of any other stadium in baseball. The only thing I really don't like about it is the seats are facing the wrong way the farther down the foul lines you go. If you're down the first base line into the OF, the seats aren't facing the mound, they're facing the outfielders -- so you're spending the entire game looking to the left. You don't notice it so much for an inning or two, but by the late innings you're like, "why does my neck hurt?" Seems like something they could fix if they really wanted to.

Everything else about it is great.

Wrigley has much more of a neighborhood vibe surrounding the ballpark than Fenway, but you can tell that they're trying to change the area surrounding the park to make it much more of a destination beyond just the game lately.