The Cubs remain in good position in the NL Central, in no small part due to the recent heroics of recently acquired pitcher Cole Hamels. The veteran just wrapped up a complete-game performance tonight and has allowed less than one earned run per nine innings in his first five starts in a Cubs uniform. Of course, he would likely not have ended up in Chicago were it not for the difficulties experienced by a few of the team’s recently signed, high-priced starters.
- Yu Darvish, Hamels’s former rotation mate in Texas, has already been declared out for the rest of the 2018 season. He addressed that fact with reporters today, with MLB.com’s Carrie Muskat among those on hand. The veteran righty says he felt all along “there was something else other than the tightness” he was experiencing in his pitching arm, so much so that the diagnosis of a stress reaction came as something of a relief. Darvish indicated that he’s not even thinking about the season to come so much as he is trying to care for his ailing arm. Still, he expressed confidence that he’ll bounce back and be “stronger going forward.” That’ll obviously be the hope of the Cubs organization, which still has $101MM invested in Darvish after the present season.
- The club also announced today that righty Tyler Chatwood is headed to the DL with hip soreness, as Mark Gonzales of the Chicago Tribune covers. He’ll be replaced on the roster by Dillon Maples, for the time being, with Alec Mills set to come up to start tomorrow. Chatwood has been plagued by walks all year long, racking up 93 to go with his 85 strikeouts over 101 2/3 innings. That’s simply not a manageable rate of free passes, as his 5.22 ERA reflects. Details of the new malady remain scant, but it certainly seems there are good reasons for the club to find cause to give Chatwood a breather regardless.
- Another major recent open-market signee, Brandon Morrow, has performed as hoped when he has been available. But the closer has been sidelined for over a month with a balky elbow and still lacks a clear timeline. He went in for a checkup today, says Muskat. That examination evidently did not reveal anything of particular note, though it was not arranged due to any fear of a setback. It seems the hope remains that Morrow will return at some point in the final month of the regular season.
- In other Chicago reliever news, Brian Duensing — yet another hurler who signed with the Cubs in free agency last winter — is headed for a rehab assignment. The 35-year-old southpaw, who carries an ugly 7.34 ERA on the year, has been on the shelf for the past several weeks with a shoulder ailment.
Cubs are paying 53 million this year to Hayward and darvish. Ouch.
plus like 37 mil over 3 for chatwood. yiiikes.
Spending money and losing would’ve been tough but it’s good to be in first place.
Add another $12.5 million for Chatwood and you have a GM who’s made a great run of signings!!
Heyward has put together an extremely good year.
Yeah a 274/337/398 slashline with a 91 OPS+ and a 1.6 WAR is exactly what you expect out of your 28 million dollar a year man.
Where did you pull 28m per year from?
I assume you mean 28m this year (he’s not making an average of 28m per year). He has definitely not been worth his contract, not even close.
The $28M includes this years’ portion of his signing bonus, which will not actually be paid until after the conclusion of his contract.
His salary for this year is $20M. Which is not completely out of line for a 2+ WAR player (currently a 1.8 fWAR, with 5 weeks left to play).
Oh Gobby there you go talking out of your ass. So he makes $28 millions a year huh. And I noticed you never mentioned his gold glove defense. Best RF in the league and that was the main reason they got him. His hitting now is just fine
20mm isn’t out of line for a 2 win player? I’m not going to let that slide. That’s uhhh not good at all…
He’s making 28 million this year. His hitting is terrible, and his fielding is alright. 7 DRS is good but nowhere near the best, and certainly not worth 20+ mil a year Aaron judge had 13 and he’s missed the last month.
A 2 WAR player is a league average starter. Daniel Descalso is a 2 WAR player, as is Will Smith. Should they be paid 20 million a year?
Ummm…. based on general consensus, WAR is worth ~ $8-10M I’m free agency. With several people estimating it even higher than that; although I think this past off-season cooled that talk off a bit.
So yeah. He should finish the season right at or above 2 WAR, so his $20M salary is not at all out of line with his production (this year). And hardly an albatross.
Cardinals fan lol losers
Couldn’t agree more. The Heyward of ‘16-17 was horrid. I’d take this years Jason Heyward anytime. If he ends up hitting .280-.285 with 12 HRs and his defense that’s fine.
Heyward has hit at least .280 once in his career and 12+ HR’s 5 times. I highly doubt he has many .280 12 HR seasons in his future.
Wow, talk about lowering your expectations. You guys are paying him that much money and you’re perfectly fine with that kind of stat line?? Wow
Heyward helped win the World Series! So his contract looks amazing to me
But how many future world series does his contract cost cubs? Theo needs that money to buy pitching since he can’t seem to develop any and the pitchers are now an aging group. Their youthful position core are about to get paid huge money. Then what?
Not our money. Ricketts has money yo burn. Heyward already helped them win a WS. He helped put them in a position to win another one this year.
And that’s was when he was a Cardinal
Cubs have plenty of money
Thanks for worrying about us. Cubs are in your head.
Fortunately the bleak picture you’ve painted is complete fiction.
What will Bryant be worth in comparison?
Tru dat
Heyward is solid. Still overpaid but definitely worse contracts out there. If he can do this every year left, cubs will take that. Hes a +war player from his defense alone, add in being a .280-.290 hitter with .330-.350 obp then that’s icing on the cake.
That’s acceptable for a league average Right fielder, but not for the $28mil that is being invested. If he doesn’t return to the numbers he put up in St Louis, anyone who tries to argue the contract isn’t a total bust is being disingenuous at best.
He’s not being paid $28M a year. He’s averaging about $21M a year over the rest of his contract after this year.
Oops, someone was disingenuous.
There appears to be some confusion on Heyward and his contract. Yes, he was absolutely terrible the last 2 years. This year he has improved to mediocre. So far he was been worth 3.8 fWAR since joining the Cubs. Excluding his abbreviated 2011 season where he was worth 1.9 fWAR, his lowest WAR total in any single season before joining the Cubs was 3.1 fWAR in 2013 and he is being paid like a 3 WAR a year player.
Per Cot’s, he signed for 8/$184. This includes a $20m signing bonus that will be paid in $5m installments between 2024 and 2027. His yearly salaries are as follows, 16:$15M, 17:$21.5M, 18:$21.5M, 19:$20M, 20:$21M, 21:$21M, 22:$22M, 23:$22M.
If he played a premium defensive position (shortstop, centerfield, catcher) he might be worth it. Not in right. No way.
The Heyward bashing is easy but misplaced….sort of like that 108 year thing. You guys need new material. At least be creative.
There is no world where making fun of a team signing a player for $21 million a year for those stats misplaced. It wasn’t like he was coming off a career year or anything. Now they are stuck with that guy in right field for another, what, five years? Five years of mediocrity but paying the price of an elite player deserves daily ridicule. Take your medicine like all us other guys do who root for teams that do the same.
At least Heyward is playing and contributing. There are plenty of players who have negative value or aren’t even on the team anymore who are making similar money. Every big spending team will have a few contracts like this. Who cares?
Ellsbury, Chris Davis, Sandoval, Hanley, Melancon, Choo (until this year), Cano. Just off the top of my head. And yes I know some of those players are more or less valuable than Heyward. I think if you are going to sign a player to huge money, having them be relatively young, be an exceptional baserunner, and a very good fielder is a good bet. Really gives them a high floor. If a bat only player loses their hitting stroke, you have Chris Davis, someone who should be in the minors at this point
Agree 100%. All the people bashing Theo for signing Darvish, Chatwood, Heyward ….were the same ones clamouring for Cubs to sign these guys and others. You win some you lose some. I think making playoffs every year with a legitimate chance each year to win WS, is good enough for me. People complain like it’s their money. Big Market teams have the ability to absorb mistakes and bad luck in free agency. But as far as I know the Cubs have always been Big Market… and I don’t recall a lot of parades before Theo and Hoyer came
It’s easy because it’s true. Theo is a really good GM, but he has a history of some bad contracts, and the heyward one is no different.
Elite defender, elite base runner, good offensive #’s, not great, a great leader in the clubhouse. Is it still an overpay? At this point, yes…. although the Cards actually offered him substantially more. Regardless, the Cubs print money. It doesn’t phase them. As has been shown, it hasn’t stopped them from spending. At least he’s contributing. It could be worse, like Ellsbury’s contract, Pujols, Davis, etc…
The giants, dodgers, Yankees and other teams can all print money as well. Doesn’t mean they can’t have bad contracts. Heyward is a bad contract.
Heyward is playing very well!!
Chatwood playing darts would be a world threat with how horrendous he is at simply throwing stuff straight.
Theo also signed Lester, Rizzo, Zobrist and just found Hamels.
And he only put together a World Championship in 16.
He didn’t sign Rizzo, he traded for him.
He extended Rizzo to a very team friendly contract. Rizzo is due a pay raise soon. 7/165 extension on top of his current deal. Which doesn’t end til 2020 I think.
Actually he did sign Rizzo… to a very team friendly contract that continues for the next few years…. and moves like that give him the wiggle room to potentially miss on free agents while still having the flexibility to keep a contender on the field each year
But he traded for him. He wasn’t a free agent
Actually he did not sign Rizzo. He traded Cashner to the Padres for him. Then they extended him. To say the “signed” him is to say he was a free agent coming from another team.
Have you heard of signing someone to an extension? That is a thing. Hence, signed.
And a damn good extension signing it was
I know the cubs are in first still…but do they really “remain in a good position in the NL Central”? They had a what 7-9 game lead that has dwindled down to a 3 game lead…and they have to play the cardinals three games and the end of the year
Yep. Still in good position. Are the Cardinals really as good as they’ve played the last few weeks, or do they look good because they have played bad teams? Regression comes for everyone in baseball.
exactly regression does come…like it is coming for the cubs…lol bad teams…I didn’t know the dodgers were a bad team? or the cubs in which they have already split eight games with…and the cubs were lucky that was at the beginning of this surge…Rockies a bad team? Washington before they made all the trades a bad team…lol i don’t think so but good try
Lol all these hot takes on both sides… to say anything other than it is going to be a great race is bias. Cards are on fire, but the Cubs haven’t fallen off a cliff. They are 20 games over 500. It will be fun to watch.
agreed
No. A great year for Carpenter and Molina. They’ve rode the emotional wave of Matheny being fired. Still like Cubs chances, especially when Bryant returns.
lol Molina and carp always have great years…it just took carp longer than usual to get going and molina was hurt for a month
On this run some of the teams they’ve won series or swept are cubs, dodgers, Rockies, brewers, nationals. But yes, all bad teams and they’ll regress
You dont understand what regression is clearly
The Cubs were never up on the division by 7-9 games. Their season high was was about 5 games up.
sorry they were that many games up on the cardinals though
You know you’re right….a better position would be in the middle of an unsustainable hot streak expecting it to continue through October. Cards fans are funny.
lol but it can..remember 2011
Lol. Your birds have been beat by the Cubs three years in a row and it looks like they are on there way to doing it again. Why don’t you go hack some computers.
lol good comeback..Yawn….if you want to talk about the past then ok…lets talk about 11 WS wins compared to the cubs what? didn’t the cardinals win the last series against the cubs?
Hey Cards81 the Cubs are undefeated against the Cardinals in the history of baseball in the playoffs. Name one time your Cards beat the Cubs in the playoffs
Enjoy your past few series (season series is not over), even with that you are in Cubs rear view mirror. I guess thats the best you got though. Haha. Cubs are the top dog in the NL Central. Have been for years and will be for years to come.
Remember when that used to be the Cardinals! Lol. Boy that stings you!
lol JKB the only reason the cubs are undefeated in the playoffs against the cardinals is because the cubs never went to the playoffs while the cardinals were dominating the NL…just because the cubs sucked for 108 years lol what a stupid comeback…you do realize that the they have only faced off in 2015 because the cubs sucked while the cardinals were winning 11 WS lol the cardinals are making there way back after only two years and did it without tanking lol get a clue bud…and i like what i heard the other day..the cardinals aren’t in the cubs rear view mirror..more like their blindspot so they better be looking in their side mirror
You LOVE talking about the past, all you got. Tell us some more “Mo” stories, that’s always fun
lol the past was brought up so i retaliated with the past…I guess you aren’t reading the post because i was talking about the present and how the cardinals are doing really well…did you change your screen name? because i think you did lol
don’t be scared cubs fans…it must be frustrating that the cardinals are already turning it around…it didn’t take 108 years
not to mention without tanking
Cardinals fans know what they’re talking about. Jealousy is a female trait, Linda!
by the way twentyfour…the cubs are in the middle of this pack also…only three games up on the top wild card team…which is the cardinals
Well they are in good position in first place with the best record in the NL. So I would say that is a nice position to be in
in which i said that they are still in first place but they aren’t really playing that well…i mean unless beating the reds is good enough for them…the only good thing is they only have to play the cardinals three more games
And here I thought my fellow Cub fans were obnoxious. Good to see someone flying high when their team is on a hot streak. With how much the Cards are relying on young pitching that are likely about to wear out or hit innings limits down the stretch and without CarMart, I am not nearly as afraid of them as I am basically any other playoff hopeful in the NL.
I feel like the Dodgers are going to come out of this bullpen funk and be a tough one in the playoffs
i know it feels great when your team is winning…and come on…nobody beats the cubs fans at being obnoxious but thanks for noticing…sucks when you get a taste of your own medicine…and you can doubt the cardinals all you want…these young guys are here to stay and the central division is up for grabs and just by the responses of cubs fans you can tell you guys are scared…sucks the cardinals are already back in it and all cubs fans thought they were going to dominate the Central for years to come… the cardinals already are here and did it without tanking huh go figure
Typical internet tough guy running your mouth
lol how am i being an internet tough guy…I haven’t called anyone a name or anything…just talking about how well the cardinals are doing …if you can’t handle it don’t post …but good try
I think next year or the year after may be more of the Cards year. If O’neil can progress and Reyes comes back strong, they’ll start looking pretty good. But right now I think the team overall are playing over their heads. Carpenter is good but he isn’t 50 HR good like he has been playing.
Hopefully that Yadi contract doesn’t become a burden. he’s turning 37 next year and is making 20 mil the next 2 years.
When Hicks is the closer and Reyes-Flaherty-and a potentially revitalized Weaver are at the top of the rotation, then I may be concerned about the Cardinals. I was on the side saying it was ridiculous to write off the Cardinals a few weeks ago when they picked up Ross but I really don’t think that they have it in them to make a sustainable postseason run. But it is baseball and anything can happen, as the ’07(?) Rockies can attest
i agree that they might be playing over their heads…but a lot of people don’t know that this is the triple A team that dominated a year ago in AAA..I know triple A isn’t the pro’s but they are used to winning and you can tell they have a lot of fight in them…Yes it will be hard for Carp to repeat this but he has proven to be a 30 HR hitter…Molina will be just fine…I know he is older but he seems to have found the fountain of youth…plus the Cardinals have 2 catching prospects waiting….maybe not as good as Yadi of course but still good…Reyes coming back healthy will be a big plus…and you forgot about Mikolas..so really Martinez, Reyes, Flaherty, Mikolas…and then you have plenty of other choices- ponce, Gomber, weaver, hudson- personally I think it will be Hudson…but Gomber is a lefty so we shall see…and of course you have Wacha also…so what that tells me is that a trade will happen…so you listed why the current cardinals will be good but really a trade can happen or a FA signing that will make them better…The Cardinals will be legit for years to come
Wow am I late to this party! Cards81 are you a teenager? 11? I honestly can’t figure it out. If you were born in 1981 and are 37 I feel sorry for you.
4.5 games is their best lead. Had they swept the brewers in a two game series. It would have gone from 4game lead to six.
still hard to believe Phils were afraid to bump Eflin or Pivetta from rotation for a couple months to accomodate Hamels to have a veteran lefty in rotation, give you a Nola/Arrietta/Hamels, 1-2-3, plus put a bunch of people in the seats.
I was thinking about the Cubs payroll and how much Darvish and Chatwood are getting paid and then I realized it’s not my money and the Cubs are literally rolling in money so I went about my day like some of you others should probably do.
It looks like Morrow and Jansen are victims of over use. Jansen seems to have lost 6 mph off of his fastball. He only touched 93 mph in the series against the Cardinals. This philosophy of letting your starters go 4 innings and go to the bullpen is starting to bite teams in the butt now and will continue to as long as teams use that philosophy.
Jansen’s head is probably all messed up now. Hopefully I wrong but he may not be the same this year. The way the dodgers are playing it may not matter
Last year is the only year Morrow has been healthy in a long time. I think that was just an outlier.
All this hate for the Cubs signings, isn’t someone still paying Carl Crawford or did that contract finally end? As far as luxury tax yes it puts them in a bind but they can afford it so quit the crying. Same as the Res Sox yankees and Dodgers
Oh boy. Carl Crawford? You sure you want to go there? You do know theo Epstein gave him that contract right? LMFAO, someone doesn’t know their GM’s history.
Unfortunately Cubs fans are blinded by facts