Cubs Stuck In A Free Fall

Good morning Chicago fans! Happy Memorial Day! Thank you to all who have sacrificed and served our country. Salute to you 🙏

On a lighter note, let’s memorialize a few things in Chicago sports:

Kyle Hendricks’ ERA

Bulls’ relevance in the NBA

Eloy Jimenez’s hamstrings

Cubs’ ability to hit the ball

TROPHY TRACKER

1-2-3-4-5-❌-7-8-9-🏆

Results:

W - Cubs 4, Braves 3 (F/10)

Walk-offs at Wrigley never get old! Nico Hoerner was the hero with a walk-off single as he and Dansby Swanson returned from injuries.

• Cubs bullpen 🔥 5.1 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 6 K

• Braves were a ridiculous 0-for-14 with runners in scoring position

• Javier Assad legitimately struggled for the first time this season and somehow only gave up 2 earned runs

L - Braves 9, Cubs 2

Max Fried threw a complete game and shut down any hope of a Cubs win.

• Justin Steele looked significantly better in this outing. Unfortunately, he was removed in a 3-1 game, and Jose Cuas immediately gave up 5 more runs in the inning.

• Porter Hodge made an IMPRESSIVE major league debut. He struck out the side on 10 pitches against Ozzie Albies, Marcell Ozuna, and Matt Olson. 💪

L - Braves 3, Cubs 0

Make that a third straight series loss for the Cubs. Another day, another shutout…

• AJ Smith-Shawver made his first start in the majors this season for the Braves and pitched 4+ scoreless innings

• Ben Brown stepped back into the rotation with Kyle Hendricks moving to the bullpen, and he rose to the occasion (4.0 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 6 K)

• Christopher Morel’s unlucky stretch may have reached its apex: he hit 3 balls over 100 mph and none of them landed for a hit

L - Cardinals 7, Cubs 6

After Friday’s game was postponed due to rain, the Cubs lost a heartbreaking game on Saturday by blowing a late lead in St. Louis.

• Mark Leiter Jr., one of the best relievers in baseball this season, entered the 8th inning with a 4-3 Cubs lead. Leiter had previously allowed 2 earned runs all season but gave up 4 earned runs in 0.2 IP to make it a 7-4 game.

• The offense finally showed up!! 8 starters recorded a hit as the Cubs hit 5-for-13 with runners in scoring position and had 12 total hits in the game.

L - Cardinals 4, Cubs 3

Sunday night’s rain delay must have tired out the offense as they disappeared again and closed out the week on a four game losing streak.

• Ian Happ hit 2 HRs to account for all 3 Cubs runs, and Paul Goldschmidt hit 2 HRs to account for all 4 Cardinals runs

• The Cubs loaded the bases in the 8th and had 2 runners on in the 9th and came away empty

• Javier Assad allowed 4 earned runs in 5 innings - this was the first time all season Assad allowed more than 2 earned runs

Week Record: 1-4

Season Record: 27-26 (2nd place - 3.5 GB)

Star of the Week: Porter Hodge

The star could go to a bunch of relievers this week as the starters took a step back and the hitters were MIA.

Hodge debuted on Wednesday and immediately left his mark on the team. He has faced 8 batters in 3 separate outings and has 6 strikeouts 🔥

Play of the Week: Nico Hoerner Walk-Off Single

Roster Moves:

• Tuesday: Activated Dansby Swanson from the IL and called up INF Luis Vazquez from AAA, optioned Pete Crow-Armstrong and Miles Mastrobuoni to AAA

• Saturday: Activated Drew Smyly from the IL, optioned Jose Cuas to AAA

News & Notes:

• Kyle Hendricks was moved to the bullpen before his originally scheduled start on Thursday

  • He has made one appearance as a reliever so far. He gave up 2 ER in the 8th and 9th innings in the Cubs’ 3-0 loss to the Braves on Thursday

• Friday’s rainout in St. Louis will be played as a part of a doubleheader on July 13th

• Adbert Alzolay has been shut down from all throwing and will be re-evaluated in approximately one week

• Jordan Wicks started a rehab assignment at AAA

• Cubs legend Ryne Sandberg shared an update on his fight with cancer: his latest scans showed NO cancer!!! Stay strong, Ryno!

• Shōta Imanaga was interviewed on the Pat McAfee show, and it was extremely entertaining 😂

• Hector Neris started giving the player and pitcher of the game a W flag every time the Cubs win a game

  • I still haven’t tracked down the important details on this - are we talking a giant W flag that gets passed around after each game, or are they small W flags that hang in players’ lockers? I hope they’re collectible small flags so we can see multiple rows of flags in certain lockers by the end of the season.

• Andy Martinez wrote a great article on Luis Vazquez’s childhood and journey to the major leagues 🙌

• The Cubs have lost 9 of their last 12 games and have quickly gone from 24-17 to 27-26

• Bleacher Nation summed up the Cubs offense very well after the Braves series concluded:

TROPHY TRACKER

1-2-3-4-5-❌-7-8-9-🏆

News & Notes:

• OTAs started last Monday and will continue through this week

  • The media’s first attended practice was Thursday. By all reports, the defense was flying around, and the offense was struggling to move the ball through the air. Kevin Byard later said the offense owned them on Day 1, and it will continue to be a back and forth battle in practice.

  • Byard and others have been in Caleb Williams’ ear about staying the course through tough days, and practicing against this defense will only make him better.

  • Matt Eberflus was happy with great attendance from the players throughout the offseason

• Justin Fields spoke to the media for the first time since his trade to the Steelers

  • Fields said the Steelers was his preferred destination and commended Ryan Poles for making that happen

• Shoutout to Director of Wellness Carla Suber! This article from Gabby Hajduk highlights the impact Suber has on players starting with their very first meeting. She is clearly respected in that building.

• A new episode of 1920 Football Drive was released on YouTube. Watch here and see some awesome behind the scenes footage:

  • Inside look at the scouting meetings, 1-on-1 interviews, pro days, and Top 30 visits with Caleb Williams and Rome Odunze 👀

  • Live feed from the draft room as Ryan Poles anxiously sat through picks 5-8 to see if Rome would fall to them

  • Poles and Ian Cunningham were making so many jokes during the draft 😂 You can tell they enjoy their jobs and the people in that building.

TROPHY TRACKER

1-❌-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-🏆

News & Notes:

• 🚨 Traded a 2024 2nd round pick (61) to the Islanders to move up 2 spots (20➡18) in the 1st round and 4 spots (54➡50) in the 2nd round of the 2024 Draft 🚨

  • Any movement leading up to the draft is exciting! I like seeing the Hawks make proactive decisions.

  • Trades this far in advance of the draft are the most difficult type of trade for me to grasp. How do they know how the board will fall on draft night? Are their player tiers already set in stone this early, and are they extremely confident in their 1st round projections?

  • The priced seemed a bit high, but in this phase of the rebuild, quality of prospects > quantity of prospects

  • Do they have a specific target at #18? Do they think the Top 50 of this draft is special?

  • We won’t know if this was a good trade for years to come, but it will be fun to monitor during the draft

• Re-signed F Brett Seney to a 1-year, 2-way extension at a $775K cap hit

  • Seney was named team MVP for the Rockford IceHogs last season by recording 23 goals and 40 assists

• Scott Powers’ recent mailbag article included helpful insight on the Blackhawks’ offseason

  • The team will discuss the possibility of a Patrick Kane return 😮

  • Possible positional targets in free agency: top-line winger, second-line center, veteran defenseman

• Unrestricted free agent D Nikita Zaitsev reportedly signed a multi-year contract with SKA St. Petersburg of the KHL

• More windy conditions surrounding a Chicago team…Corey Pronman and Scott Wheeler released a new NHL mock draft and had this to say about the Hawks’ pick at #2: “Feels like the winds are blowing in the direction of Ivan Demidov but my gut instinct is that if it’s close between the two, an NHL team will prefer the big, impactful defenseman they’ve seen in person for two years.” (Artyom Levshunov)

TROPHY TRACKER

❌-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-🏆

News & Notes:

• Alex Caruso was named to the All-Defensive 2nd Team 🎖

  • The NBA had positionless All-Defensive teams for the first time ever this year, and there ended up being ramifications. The 1st team was only big men: Bam Adebayo (Heat), Anthony Davis (Lakers), Rudy Gobert (Timberwolves), Herb Jones (Pelicans), and Victor Wembanyama (Spurs)

• GM Marc Eversley did NOT get hired as the Pistons President of Basketball Operations - Trajan Langdon (Pelicans GM) got the job

• Lonzo Ball revealed more details about his injuries and recent operations - he said he received a meniscus from a donor and had new cartilage put in his knee 😦

• According to Jake Fischer, the 76ers may be interested in Zach LaVine in a trade if the Bulls are willing to include draft capital

• I’ve enjoyed tracking the ridiculous amount of coaching turnover in the NBA and NHL - Billy Donovan is now the 7th longest-tenured coach in the NBA after the Cavaliers fired J.B. Bickerstaff

• DeMar DeRozan won the NBA Fan Favorites Assist of the Year award with his 360 assist to Coby White against the Bucks. Here is Coby delivering the news:

Kyle Hendricks

Hendricks is a world champion and the ultimate pro.

A demotion to the bullpen could easily cause anger or frustration, but Hendricks faced the media on Wednesday and was genuinely positive.

He understood his recent results were unacceptable and embraced the opportunity of contributing from the bullpen. All he wants is to win, and you could tell he was excited to learn from and spend time with the other relievers.

Hopefully the new role provides a confidence boost and gives him time to regain his form on the mound.

Here’s a clip of his session with the media:

The Blackhawks should bring back Patrick Kane.

With Scott Powers’ recent report that the Hawks will have internal discussions about possibly signing Kane this offseason, the closed door to a Kane reunion seems to be cracked open.

Kyle Davidson was clear in the 2023 offseason when he said Kane and Toews would not return to the Blackhawks. He rightly respected the star players and dynasty years but wanted to start fresh with a new young core. His main justification for moving on was for new leadership to grow outside of the ‘shadow’ of the previous core.

Now that Kane has spent a season and a half away from Chicago, the new era of Blackhawks hockey has already arrived. Connor Bedard is the face, and other young players have already debuted at the NHL level. Davidson is about to draft his 3rd class of players with a total of 7 first round picks.

Powers also reported the Hawks’ desire to sign a veteran top-line winger to play with Bedard. Why not now? Kane recovered from his hip surgery and played well for Detroit last season with 47 points in 50 games. He is 35 years old but looks like he could play in the league for many more years. Kane provides the most skill, scoring prowess, and championship experience that could be added to Bedard’s line to help in his and the team’s development. And Bedard may be the most skilled center Kane has ever played with.

The Hawks aren’t looking to sign young superstars to decade long contracts this summer. They are still rebuilding, and they are still waiting on their prospects to graduate to the pros. Bringing Patrick Kane home to finish his career in Chicago on a short-term deal checks all of their boxes this summer.

How about a Hall-Bedard-Kane / Reichel-Nazar-Kurashev top 6 next season??

Thanks for reading! Enjoy the holiday with family and friends! Hopefully the Cubs don’t ruin it this afternoon 🤷‍♂️

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