Bottom Feeder Baseball In Chicago

Good morning Chicago fans! Happy Father’s Day to all the dads out there! I fired up the grill this weekend for my first Father’s Day. Enjoy grilled food while you can before Netflix’s upcoming Joey Chestnut vs. Takeru Kobayashi hot dog eating showdown called “Unfinished Beef”. It got me thinking…there is a lot of unfinished beef in Chicago sports:

Michael Barrett vs. A.J. Pierzynski

Derrick Rose vs. LeBron James

Corey Crawford vs. Jonathan Quick

Michael Jordan vs. Scottie Pippen

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RESULTS

L - Rays 5, Cubs 2: The same old song and dance was on repeat again. A dismal offensive output ended with Hector Neris blowing a save on a 3-run HR by Brandon Lowe.

• Jameson Taillon threw 6 shutout innings in his best start since early May

• Situational hitting continues to be a problem and defy all normal baseball randomness. The Cubs tallied 10 hits but were only 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position.

W - Cubs 4, Rays 3: Cody Bellinger delivered the elusive big hit in the 7th inning as the Cubs barely hung on for the win.

• Bellinger’s 3-run HR was the Cubs’ only hit with runners in scoring position (1-for-6)

• Hector Neris nearly blew his second consecutive save - he allowed a solo home run before Brandon Lowe flew out with runners on 2nd and 3rd to end the game

• The Craig Counsell lineup blender is here!! Morel-Busch-Bellinger were the 1-2-3 hitters. Anything is better than Patrick Wisdom at the leadoff spot again 🙄

L - Rays 3, Cubs 2: Another low-scoring heartbreaker highlighted by bunts concluded another ugly series loss for the Cubs.

• Justin Steele deserved a better outcome after pitching a gem (6.0 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 5 K)

• The Cubs only managed 3 hits and scored both of their runs on 3 consecutive bunts in the 5th inning (I guess Craig Counsell now endorses bunting because NOBODY can hit)

• Mark Leiter Jr. squandered the 2-0 lead when he allowed 3 ER in the 7th

L - Cardinals 3, Cubs 0: A shutout in a 1:20 Friday afternoon game at Wrigley Field may be the most deflating baseball game you could see.

• Jordan Wicks took Ben Brown’s spot in the rotation but was removed in the 2nd inning due to injury

  • Kyle Hendricks pitched 4.1 IP of shutout baseball in relief 👀

• The bullpen was forced to maintain a 0-0 tie headed into the 8th when Hayden Wesneski allowed his 5th HR in his last 9 appearances

• Patrick Wisdom hit a ball to left in the 8th inning that would have been a 2-run HR in better wind conditions (111 mph exit velocity, .970 xBA, wind deflection of 62 feet according to Mike Petriello on Twitter)

W - Cubs 5, Cardinals 1: It was a Shōta Saturday as the Cubs won their first 9-inning game by more than 2 runs since MAY 15th in Atlanta!

• Shōta Imanaga (7.0 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 6 K) and Tyson Miller (2.0 IP, 0 ER) shut down the Cardinals

• Ian Happ provided elusive insurance runs with a 3-run HR in the 7th

L - Cardinals 2, Cubs 1: Another day, another 5-hit effort, another series loss. 😭

• Miles Mikolas brought his 4.59 ERA to Wrigley and easily held the Cubs in check

• The situational hitting is STILL terrible. They hit 2-for-10 with runners in scoring position and left runners at 2nd or 3rd in the 7th, 8th, and 9th innings.

WEEK RECORD: 2-4

SEASON RECORD: 34-38 (Last place, 8.5 GB) 🤢

⭐ STAR OF THE WEEK ⭐

Jameson Taillon

After a rocky 5-start stretch ending in a 5-run outing against the White Sox, Taillon put together a great week with 2 quality starts.

12 IP, 11 H, 2 ER, 3 BB, 8 K

🎥 PLAY OF THE WEEK 🎥

Shōta Imanaga Strikeout of Brendan Donovan

ROSTER MOVES

Tuesday: Placed Ben Brown on the 15-day IL with a strained neck, activated Colten Brewer from the 15-day IL

Saturday: Placed Jordan Wicks on the 15-day IL with a right oblique strain, recalled Keegan Thompson from AAA

Sunday: Selected contract of RHP Ethan Roberts and optioned him to AAA, DFA’d Jose Cuas

Signed RHP Jorge Lopez to a minor league contract. Lopez was in the spotlight in New York before being DFA’d by the Mets. He threw his glove into the stands after getting ejected and had questionable comments after the game. I’m wondering if his new contract includes extra money to get his glove back.

NEWS & NOTES

Shōta Imanaga’s locker nameplate now reads “Mike Imanaga II” because Mike is the name he uses at Dunkin’ Donuts when he orders coffee 😂

Ben Brown’s injury has been diagnosed as a stress reaction in his neck. Counsell said it’s a rare injury, and his timeline for a return is unknown. Sounds like every Cubs fan’s injury when watching this team…

Jose Abreu was released by the Astros in the second year of his 3-year contract signed in November 2022. The Cubs were reportedly close to signing him that winter, so thank you Jed for not pulling the trigger.

Prospect Moisés Ballesteros hit for the cycle in AA on Friday! Talk about a catcher out-performing the two catchers on the big league squad!

Total number of hits this week:

📉 Swanson: 1, Amaya/Gomes: 2, Hoerner: 2

📈 Suzuki: 5, Busch: 6, Bellinger: 7

TROPHY TRACKER (6/10 ➡ 🏆)

NEWS & NOTES

Officially signed TE Marcedes Lewis to a 1-year, $2M contract. This will be Lewis’ 19th NFL season 💪

Signed WR/Returner DeAndre Carter to a 1-year contract. Carter returned 4 punts for the Bears back in 2020.

Bears’ rookies continued OTAs last week. Wednesday was the final day as the team now has a month-long break until training camp begins.

Caleb Williams said the team will set up joint workouts during their break and wants to include defensive players as well.

Caleb Williams started a new investment firm called 888 Midas.

TROPHY TRACKER (6/10 ➡ 🏆)

NEWS & NOTES

Pierre LeBrun reported that Kyle Davidson is working the phones looking for a Top 6 forward and Middle 6 forward in free agency this offseason. Last week, the Jake Guentzel conversation started. I wouldn’t be shocked at a Top 6 and Middle 6 addition, but I would still be surprised if Davidson hands out long-term contracts.

TV Analyst Darren Pang went straight to Twitter to refute a report that his relationship with former play-by-play voice Chris Vosters was “strained”:

Former head coach Jeremy Colliton was hired as associate coach for the New Jersey Devils.

TROPHY TRACKER (2/10 ➡ 🏆)

NEWS & NOTES

The Bulls are reportedly interested in moving into the Top 10 (from #11) in the draft.

Former assistant coach Maurice Cheeks is leaving the Bulls to join Chicago’s old friend Tom Thibodeau on New York’s coaching staff. Cheeks had originally requested a move to a lesser role on the Bulls’ staff for the upcoming season.

Coaching staff carousel:

❌ Cheeks, Longstaff, Fleming

✅ Unseld Jr., Craig

TROPHY TRACKER (1/10 ➡ 🏆)

Caleb Williams

In response to a fan’s social media post that Fanatics won’t be able to ship his Caleb Williams jersey until AFTER the start of the NFL season, Caleb Williams offered him tickets to a Bears game this season.

It’s impressive to see a rookie take action and show some love to a fan online. This is quite the precedent to set for our new QB. Thanks for caring for the fans!

Jed Hoyer accelerated the Cubs rebuild.

I’m sure that statement is controversial in the midst of a brutal stretch of Cubs baseball.

The rebuild started with the 2021 trade deadline. Some may argue the rebuild started when they traded away Yu Darvish after a 2nd place Cy Young finish in 2020 for a bunch of teenagers. When you force a couple players out due to ownership’s “biblical losses” but keep the rest of the roster in tact, you’re still trying to win.

Before the dominoes started to fall with Anthony Rizzo’s trade to the Yankees, the Cubs top prospects were Brailyn Marquez, Brennen Davis, and Miguel Amaya. The farm system that didn’t develop ANY pitching during Theo Epstein’s tenure and saw all of their talent graduate to the big league club was depleted.

The only solid major leaguers remaining after the trades were Ian Happ, Willson Contreras, and a struggling Kyle Hendricks.

Most organizations don’t use the term “rebuild”, and I don’t recall Jed Hoyer saying the word. However, when you have a bottom 10 farm system and trade away most of your major league roster, that’s the only option. It was a full rebuild. Jed was tasked with an overhaul of the entire organization. The previous core was not performing anymore, and the farm system had been vacated for win-now moves.

Yes, this season has been disappointing. No, I don’t know how this season will turn out. In an ugly National League, the Cubs are still close to a Wild Card spot. Not to mention we saw quite a turnaround JUST last year. It is possible.

2022-2024 could have easily looked like 2012-2014. Do you need a reminder about the state of the Cubs after Theo Epstein was hired in the fall of 2011? They won 61/66/73 games in the following three seasons. The entire plan relied on the elite position players in the minor leagues. It was a long-term plan with not much to show off at Wrigley Field until 2015.

A full rebuild was on the table after the 2021 trades, and I would have accepted a few rough seasons to prepare the organization for consistent winning. The Blackhawks are in the middle of that effort, and there is a light at the end of the tunnel. But Jed decided to accelerate the process, spend some of Tom’s money, and try for the elusive “compete while looking to the future” plan.

After trading away the core, the Cubs signed Seiya Suzuki and Marcus Stroman. Before the 2023 season, the Cubs signed Dansby Swanson, Cody Bellinger, and Jameson Taillon. Before the 2024 season, the Cubs signed Shōta Imanaga and Hector Neris and traded for Michael Busch.

Yan Gomes was respectable behind the plate in 2022 and very good in 2023. Makeshift bullpens somehow figured it out every season. Veteran talent was brought into town to win baseball games ASAP. The Cubs only had one losing season (74-88) in 2022 before narrowly missing the playoffs (83-79) in 2023.

We could have suffered through a group of nobodies on pace to break the record for the most losses in MLB history (not that anyone is dealing with that today). Instead, there was one tough season.

This season could be the last season where the “already here” and the “not yet” stay divided. The Top 5 farm system and elite pitching development program that Jed has built in just 3 years is about to take the league by storm. We eagerly wait for the new set of top prospects to make the final jump, and we hope this team can put it all together even before they arrive.

Pete Crow-Armstrong, Owen Caissie, and Matt Shaw could be stars.

You could make an entire starting rotation from homegrown players and current prospects: Justin Steele, Jordan Wicks, Javier Assad, Cade Horton, Ben Brown, Hayden Wesneski

2025 better live up to 2015 or more, or else an accelerated rebuild was all for naught. The final strings Jed Hoyer pulls need to be right.

Alden Gonzalez - Story on former Cub Jeremiah Estrada (ESPN)

Brett Siegel - NBA Mock Draft 3.0 with sourced intel (ClutchPoints)

The Athletic - NHL Staff Mock Draft 2.0 (The Athletic)

Mark Lazerus and Scott Powers - Blackhawks’ Dream Offseason (The Athletic)

Thanks for reading! Have a great week enjoying some air conditioning and watching boring baseball.

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