Addison Kuntz

Is there a more likeable guy on this team than Palencia? The answer is absolutely not.

@anthonycdemaria @ClarkMetAddison I don’t understand why he can’t figure it out. You know you aren’t getting a strike. He has zero approach at the plate. Watching him hit right now feels like constantly banging your head against a wall.

@ClarkMetAddison If Pete did nothing, he might have a walk or two

It’s going to be really hard to win either of these 2 games if Happ, Tucker and Pete do literally nothing

@anthonycdemaria @jon_greenberg @desipiodotcom How long do you think it’s going to take for people to start saying Happ was on the 2016 team? Or have people already started to say he was on that team?

As @jon_greenberg and @desipiodotcom pointed out, Ian Crapp has never played in a Cubs postseason win. 4-1 with him on the roster and not playing and 0-8 when he does play. Can we all agree now, it's completely 100% Ian's fault the Cubs haven't won a WS since 2016?

@anthonycdemaria It’ll be great to hear the blockbuster on Thursday that they got Charlie Morton.

Tired: Jed makes no trades and says getting Taillon, Hodge, Amaya, Assad back are like trades Wired: Jed makes no trades and explains that Ian Happ getting injured and missing time is like a trade

The Oakland A’s were killed by greed. Do not allow the people responsible for this to spin it any other way. John Fisher did not have to move this team. Major League Baseball and its owners did not need to be complicit in it. This was a choice. A wrong one. History will sneer.

What remains a total mystery is why the other owners in baseball stand by as the A's debacle plays out, and they don't do anything. And the situation will continue to be an embarrassment for them all, as the team moves to a minor-league park. It's mind-boggling.

A's fans started "sell the team" chants during the last game at Oakland Coliseum (via @ByJasonB)

@anthonycdemaria @Cubs How can Hoyer even have a job next year? What has that guy done that you would even consider keeping him for another season? They’ll be lucky to win 80 games this year. He needs to go. I’m tired of listening to the most boring guy ever drone on about “intelligent spending”

@Cubs 7 consecutive seasons without making even an NLDS. This is the sustainable winning your front office has been talking about? And you’re jacking up ticket prices next year? Trash organization, though sadly only like the 3rd or 4th worst in Chicago

YOU WANT A TIED BASEBALL GAME?!

@FullCountTommy @NDGianfortune I hope I’m wrong and Arias turns into a dominant reliever and Wiggins can stay a starter and become something, but I am pessimistic because I’ve seen this story with too many guys before. I’ll be the first to admit I was wrong if either of those guys pan out though

@FullCountTommy @NDGianfortune To be clear I like Hodge a lot. I hope he’s the guy. But I also know that for every 1 guy they move from starter to reliever that works, 10 fail. Michael Arias is heading down that path now. Soon Jaxon Wiggins will too. But hey maybe they can get a 5th starter out of Birdsell

There will be some pressure to move on from Jed, but here's where I'm at... Keep him, but don't extend him. Here's my thoughts as to why... There's no doubt he's building something, though it has taken too long.

@FullCountTommy @NDGianfortune And there’s absolutely no reason they couldn’t develop Palencia into a legitimate reliever. Stuff wise he was one of the best guys I’ve ever seen in SB. It’s a failure that they couldn’t do anything with him. The player development is pathetic in the organization

@FullCountTommy @NDGianfortune I won’t deny that. That’s true. But what’s the Cubs way? Don’t develop guys as starters and then throw them into the pen as a last resort. Steele is the one exception. But Hodge is another great Cubs failed starter turned reliever

@FullCountTommy @NDGianfortune The scouting isn’t on Hoyer but when you have terrible amateur scouting and player development, and a piss poor GM, the results won’t be very good

@FullCountTommy @NDGianfortune I wouldn’t say that was minor. They gave up a two time Cy Young Award winner for him. Kluber was a beast with Cleveland

@FullCountTommy @NDGianfortune Granted that trade went terribly for Texas but you can’t say it was a minor trade because it wasn’t at the time

@FullCountTommy @NDGianfortune They also have Clase who locks down every game he comes in. And he won’t be cheap in a few years but I bet they pay him. Who was perhaps the biggest piece in helping the Cubs win in 16? Chapman. Without him they never win WS that year and that’s a fact

@Addisonkuntz @NDGianfortune Go look at how the Guardians assembled the best bullpen in baseball...

@FullCountTommy @NDGianfortune It’s foolish to think that you can put together a pen with waiver claims. Merryweather is “hurt” this year but it’s no shock he went back to being terrible. They’re lucky Lopez was DFA’d but this wasn’t a fluke year for him. He’s had a great career and won’t be cheap next year

@Addisonkuntz @NDGianfortune Dodgers brewers Phillies Guardians

@FullCountTommy @NDGianfortune Is that true though? Look at the elite teams. Braves are the perfect example of that. They’ve been the gold standard for years now. Even the O’s went out and invested the pen. That’s what good teams do. They spend on quality relievers. You can’t rely on flyers every year.

@NDGianfortune Well that strategy isn’t going to change (and is the same strategy many of the league’s best orgs employ)

"I got my tattoo of the trophy and I got my ring, and I try to take it everywhere I go." Javy Báez on the 2016 @Cubs.