Dansby Swanson, on Hoerner: "Nico means the world to me and to this team, just who he is as a person. He brings the same type of energy and competitive spirit that Alex does. He’s somebody that’s just a darn good player, a really good winner, and irreplaceable, really."

Tyler Austin NPB 2024:. 316/.382/.601 25 HR 10.1 BB% 19.8 K% 197 wRC+ NPB 2025: .269/.350/.484 11 HR 10.6 BB% 18.3 BB% 147 wRC+

Matt Shaw displays the exuberance of youth. #Cubs #GoCubsGo

I'll never understand how some folks pretend to know the interworkings of the Cubs FO. A lot of narratives getting created to try to find scapegoats. All just guesses.

Turns out pitching in a better park with a better defense really helps…

Cubs 2024 Opening Day Bullpen Who is still in the organization? Almonte ❌ Alzolay ❌ Cuas ❌ Leiter Jr. ❌ Little Merryweather Neris ❌ Smyly ❌

I would like for the Cubs to trade for the full rights to Gage Workman

Mike Sweeney adding to the Ichiro mythology

Nick Pivetta 2023-2024 22.8% K-BB (5th among all SP min 250 IP) Red Sox Defense 2023-2024 -69 OAA (last in MLB) Fenway Park 2023-2024 Park Factor 106 (second best hitters park in MLB)

Saw a super misleading year-over-year payrolls graphic circulating on Twitter, so I made my own that I find to be far better. Still money left to be spent just to equal last year but not, like, $500M. This is "real" payroll, not CBT payroll:

I get Alexander Canario is out of options, but quick case for him – he can play all three OF spots, slugged .597 against LHP last year, and is OPSing .955 in the DOWL right now. Elite level bat speed on limited data. 37 HR season in '22 before he got hurt. Yes, high K but average o-swing and high BB

Nice to see more positive reports on Matt Shaw's defense

PCA 7th 👀

Really coming around to the idea of trading for Jesús Luzardo. The acquisition cost is reasonable and the Cubs have a ton of SP depth to ease his innings (Boyd's too). The fastball was one of the most valuable pitches in '23. If he struggles as SP in '25, there's big RP upside for '26.

I'm told Cubs were one of the 30 finalists for Juan Soto

The Golden At-Bat but it's like The Golden Bachelor. Every old ass team owner has to take an at-bat every game.

Cubs fans don’t seem to like Crochet and you have to wonder how much of it is hatred for the Sox. Health and only two years of control are valid concerns but the pitcher is awesome and some are pretending he isn’t.

I like how Matthew Boyd switched up his pitch mix once he landed in CLE. -Heavy FF, CH against RHB (11.6% less SL than '23) -SL, SI, FF much more even against LHB (used to be predominantly SL). Only gave up 4 hits in 31 PA. SL spin rate at career high

Jed, the city needs a boost today. Make moves

Cubs FO did a nice job building a high floor at almost every position. The problem is that the ceiling is way too low. To get from good to great would likely require trading established pieces to create more flexibility and increase the potential of the roster. Easier said than done.

I know Finnegan seems like a low risk addition, but I don't think I can stomach a 1.3 WHIP with a below average K%. Not to mention nearly 50% hard hit rates last two seasons. Scary

If you told me Sebastian Walcott is the No.1 prospect right now I wouldn't argue

Cubs should roll the dice on Spencer Turnbull on a one-year deal Good: As a starter last year 35.1 IP 1.78 ERA 38 SO Added an awesome sweeper that gets whiffs at 30% RP experience Cheap Bad: 🚑 Throws ~50 innings a year until he's inevitably injured

Weird little thing I just found. There were 4 Triple-A SP with above-average stuff & location numbers that didn't hit the big leagues last year. The Cubs had three of them. Cade Horton & Brandon Birdsell are still there. Looks like Riley Thompson is an MiLB FA, might get picked up on that alone.

Jed had an extra cup of coffee today

Agreed here. Big jump in LOB 2023 to 24, big drop in HR/FB. Living in the 5th-7th inning last two seasons. But also two straight seasons being elite in limiting hard contact and getting chases out of the zone.

Usually I am shocked to learn a player is older than Juan Soto, but finding out Isaac Paredes is younger than him caught me by surprise

You know Bluesky will have Ichiro in the HOF unanimously and Twitter/X will be saying he's not a HOF at all

The Cubs hired a retired MLB RP turned trainer in their 30s as a special assistant. Last time they did this he turned into a GM a few years later

Games in which Shota Imanaga threw his splitter more than 40% of the time 5 GS 25.1IP 40H 26R 22 ER 7.82 ERA 😬 4 of the 5 were in the first three months of the season. He did it again 8/1 and gave up 10H, 2 HR. A little oversimplified, but he's most effective when the usage sits between 25-35%.

For those who used tweetdeck on the other site, deck.blue works great so far

I created a very-preliminary-please-don't-yell-at-me-or-be-offended-if-I-inadvertently-left-you-off starter pack for Cubs fans making the jump to Bluesky. I will make additions! go.bsky.app/NiXKpHN

SP with both K rate ≥27% and walk rate ≤7% Garrett Crochet Paul Skenes Tyler Glasnow Chris Sale Tarik Skubal Sonny Gray Jack Flaherty 👀 Yoshinobu Yamamoto Zack Wheeler Nick Pivetta 👀 Yusei Kikuchi 👀 Logan Gilbert Joe Ryan

Underrated part of Shota Imanaga's rookie season was how well he controlled the running game (especially with poor catchers). He led the league in Pitcher Base Advances Prevented which is a sum of advances prevented and outs added. Only 3 runners were successful stealing and 2 were caught.

Seiya Suzuki 2023 583 PA .285/.357/.485 20 HR 2024 585 PA .283/.366/.482 21 HR However, big changes in launch angle and GB% +5.4 LA -9.9 GB% 94 percentile chase rate 91 percentile hard hit rate 87 percentile avg exit velo Hoping for more over the fence pop. He's pretty good.