He's obviously not THIS good but only thing I would say is he has had such impressive strikeout numbers with a respectable BB rate (last year at least) that he has the look of a guy who could be more than he is. This usually would require adjustments, and switching teams increases the odds of that. He has been improving in ways for years now. The walk rates been coming down and the WHIP has gotten very good over the last couple of seasons. HRs have been an issue obviously. He's a bit like Kikuchi in that his potential is always intriguing but something seems off. We saw Yusei go on a run after switching teams last year. Idk that I fully buy that and maybe I should be more skeptical here.
The key is having someone ready to replace Muncy, if he continues to self destruct. He usually starts slow. Then, he will contribute 30 some home runs, while continuing to hit at or below the Mendoza Line. This year he appears to be lost at the plate. As mentioned, he is hitting .171/.273/.237. His strikeouts are absurd and he has zero homers and four RBIs in 88 at bats. The season is 16% over. I doubt Senzel is the answer at 3b but Muncy is killing the Dodgers.
@Rishi this is definitely a big part of it. Niebla moved him over to the 1st base side because he likes his angles better over there. I think part of the theory is that it keeps his FB away and not leaking over the middle of the plate against righties. If you look at a heatmap of where he is throwing it this year compared to last, he’s living more outside.
He’s made some little tweaks that should get him better results plus Petco probably helps him as a fly ball pitcher.
No worries. Neither of the greedy owners or players think of their fans. They can not play for a bit and lose fans to other sports, only for us to have another session of juicing to bring popularity back to the game.
so he ends with a 7 ERA in the minors at that and has a 14ERA with FIP that pretty much matches to start the season so i guess technically he cant finish any worse i would hope? I mean he did end the season giving up 7 runs over his last 5 innings so does he start slow and end slow when he should be better and gets a couple of lucky games in between?
Also you are a fool for many more reasons than that just look at your name. But being right once in a while doesnt mean much. Heck Bartolo Colon hit a homerun so anything can happen.
As a type 1 diabetic, I hate that Mitchell can’t stay healthy. It’s a big reason he slipped in the draft. Diabetes sucks. Daz, welcome to the club, looking forward to seeing your dad watch you play where he used to.
Has there ever been a larger discrepancy between the careers of father and son in baseball history? Mike Cameron is a Hall of Very Good charter member. Daz Cameron is, at best, a fifth outfielder.
Maybe George and Dick Sisler.
Dude is a former top prospect and is hitting nearly .600 in Mexico. That'll get you another opportunity in affiliated ball. Will probably hit .350 in OKC and get another chance with LA. They have a history of turning guys around, but Senzel has his own history of getting injured often. Let's see how this plays out. Definitely worth a gamble...
Talk about snake bitten! Why are the baseball gods so angry with the Twins? On the bright side, at least it's a broken bone and shouldn't keep him out too long. Or will the gods strike again and we find out tomorrow he'll be getting a visit from Tommy John?!
Still too early to say but doesn’t look good. Minimal miss is probably a month at best. Hopefully they don’t drag this out if he ends up needing TJ surgery. Gonna need him back asap even if it’s next year…..
Him not looking great should be taken as a compliment. He has totally sucked has been hard to watch. Not sure if him getting his knee fixed will help as much as needed. He was expected to be our #2 reliever. Brash coming back will really help the bats coming alive will help more. The SPers are a bit more scary until Kirby and Gilbert are back and pain free for a few games. The future looks like it might not be as bad as it was predicted to be.
You need to be a bit more honest on the runs Hancock has given up. They were mostly in his first game. He gave up 6 runs in 2/3rds of an inning. He has been very good his last 2 starts.
Seems to me Hancock has secured his spot as the 6th man. He seems to have that 1 game and after it gets assimilated into his stats and doesn’t show up on the stats as a glaring red stop light.
Twins getting hit hard with a lot of injuries and bad luck. Keaschall and Wallner are essentially carrying the team so with Keaschall being injured, I can only assume the team's offense will decline significantly.
The pitcher who threw the pitch that caused the lost time injury should immediately be suspended and remain so for as long as the injured player is unable to perform at the MLB level.
I agree with what you're saying about the rotation, but the end goal of this season is PLAYOFFS... other than Imanaga, who do you trust to start a playoff game? NO ONE. In regards to the bullpen, Pressley has been very lucky. Walk rate is higher than K rate and he had the 4th most blown saves in the MLB last year. He is regressing. I think Hodge would be a respectable closer, but again, I am not viewing this team in the sense of the regular season, I want playoffs. I trust Hodge to pitch a 7th in the NLCS, but I do not necessarily feel as comfortable with the 8th or 9th. Pressly I definitely do not feel comfortable, and all of the other guys you mentioned will be nice pieces for regular season depth, but other than Hodge taking an inning, who do you trust in high contention playoff games? We need 2 more bullpen arms I believe. I know it is a lot, but I just can't think in my head that porter hodge and another guy (theoretically someone we trade for) are our 8th and 9th innings guys, and we leave the rest of that bullpen to figure out the 6th and 7th in a NCLS game. Especially considering the lack of high-level pitching we have with Steele out when looking at it from a play-offs perspective. Starters are already pulled earlier in the playoffs as it. As of right now our number 2 and 3 starters would be Boyd and Taillon - to me that sounds disastrous.
@bwmiller79 - He does, dude is legit an inspiration of a baseball player with the overseas domination after washing out of MLB. I truly, truly wish him the best because he seems like a very humble and hard-working dude. IMO, even to make it back on the radar of an MLB team is an immense achievement.
@Longtimecoming - Hart was a buy-low option, no two ways around it. This has worked in the past to varying degrees, but the guys just had higher floors to work with (e.g., Martinez). He is totally serviceable as a depth option in AAA and even arguably a fifth starter, but it's hard to have to run him and Vasquez every 2/5 times thru the rotation. Maybe they can coax out something better from him in AAA, whether that's more velo, spin, better sequencing, a new pitch, etc. Happy to eat my words, believe it or not, I'm rooting for the dude's success.
Nobody said they are going to "sustain". Of course Rea isn't ending with a sub 1.00 ERA, but as recently as, oh, eight months ago he had a 27 start season. It's not unrealistic that the Cubs can get 20 starts from a #4-5 guy with respectable results.
The help we need in the bullpen is health...not much more. Julian Merryweather being healthy sets up the innings before the seventh and Hodge and Pressly and a key add later after the 7th.
Miller and Brasier coming back healthy is important also.
That would have been a formidable rotation and they would have had 4 lefties in their rotation. Luzardo is pitching quite well this season, to the tune of a 2.79 SIERA.
Luzardo didn't cost as much money. What Luzardo would have costed was prospects but the Cubs have plenty of those. And yeah Boyd looks good so far. If it wasn't for the Steele injury the Cubs pitching would be fine right now.
Cubs have a long track record of heating up when it’s cold and going cold when it gets hot. So far Busch and PCA are not suffering sophomore slump. Have a really nice lineup. I do not believe any team has a lineup from 1-9 that does not have a hole or two. That includes the 2024 World Series champs. At least they were smart enough to have four third basemen available to start the season. Have a feeling a patchwork 3b of Berti as the starter with JT playing twice a week can work.
Generally, I agree Bruce might be trolling, but considering these guys long track records, I do not foresee this sustaining. I feel like we need both starter and bullpen help bad.
Lol. No, you just do not see it skins! He is GARUNTEED to stay healthy and now will keep pitching as the best pitcher in the MLB! He is not due for regression at all! At this point the pirates should trade Skenes and O'neil Cruz for him! What a move by the 0.500 Phillies!
So you want to sit here and make arguments that Jesús Luzardo may be the best pitcher in baseball right now, but now are refusing to take that same short, narrow-minded, and terrible approach when looking at Boyd..... using your approach, Boyd would have been a phenomenal way to spend that capital. Make what you're saying make sense, lol.
Alex, I’ll take ‘OOTP Trades’ for 200.
He's obviously not THIS good but only thing I would say is he has had such impressive strikeout numbers with a respectable BB rate (last year at least) that he has the look of a guy who could be more than he is. This usually would require adjustments, and switching teams increases the odds of that. He has been improving in ways for years now. The walk rates been coming down and the WHIP has gotten very good over the last couple of seasons. HRs have been an issue obviously. He's a bit like Kikuchi in that his potential is always intriguing but something seems off. We saw Yusei go on a run after switching teams last year. Idk that I fully buy that and maybe I should be more skeptical here.
Wallner himself has already been on the IL for a week or so.
Clemens was great before the juice.
Hail Mary, full of grace.....
I am terrified.
The key is having someone ready to replace Muncy, if he continues to self destruct. He usually starts slow. Then, he will contribute 30 some home runs, while continuing to hit at or below the Mendoza Line. This year he appears to be lost at the plate. As mentioned, he is hitting .171/.273/.237. His strikeouts are absurd and he has zero homers and four RBIs in 88 at bats. The season is 16% over. I doubt Senzel is the answer at 3b but Muncy is killing the Dodgers.
@Rishi this is definitely a big part of it. Niebla moved him over to the 1st base side because he likes his angles better over there. I think part of the theory is that it keeps his FB away and not leaking over the middle of the plate against righties. If you look at a heatmap of where he is throwing it this year compared to last, he’s living more outside.
He’s made some little tweaks that should get him better results plus Petco probably helps him as a fly ball pitcher.
Two years of arb control after 2025
The pitch was not very far off the plate and it was a check swing.
It was fun watching his start, & then him leaving town. 👍
"Ask a different question"
--Jodie Foster
Instead of a Taylor
This comment proves exactly why Cubs fans are the stupidest fans in the sport.
Even the healthy Twins get hurt:(
Yeah, like suddenly his adjustments have made him into the best pitcher of all time.
Pete Rose's kid didn't amount to much, and currently Roger Clemens kid isn't doing much
@Birdie man
No worries. Neither of the greedy owners or players think of their fans. They can not play for a bit and lose fans to other sports, only for us to have another session of juicing to bring popularity back to the game.
@Ignorant Son-of-a-b
Thoughts and prayers.
so he ends with a 7 ERA in the minors at that and has a 14ERA with FIP that pretty much matches to start the season so i guess technically he cant finish any worse i would hope? I mean he did end the season giving up 7 runs over his last 5 innings so does he start slow and end slow when he should be better and gets a couple of lucky games in between?
Also you are a fool for many more reasons than that just look at your name. But being right once in a while doesnt mean much. Heck Bartolo Colon hit a homerun so anything can happen.
well played
Gloat after 162 games.
Not sure if you knew this but he's actually still coming back from the Tommy John surgery he had last fall. He's barely cleared to play second base.
Its the White Sox and 'The Chairman', its likely a trade for cash.
Sure, my friend Logan’s dad Don August pitched for the brewers and Logan never even played college ball. Crazy…
Make it a blockbuster for one of their BP arms, plus Byron Buxton. Phillies could offer some prospects with Kody Clemens for the pair.
Typical Idiot Injury
As a type 1 diabetic, I hate that Mitchell can’t stay healthy. It’s a big reason he slipped in the draft. Diabetes sucks. Daz, welcome to the club, looking forward to seeing your dad watch you play where he used to.
I think he meant Bull Durham.
Has there ever been a larger discrepancy between the careers of father and son in baseball history? Mike Cameron is a Hall of Very Good charter member. Daz Cameron is, at best, a fifth outfielder.
Maybe George and Dick Sisler.
Stuff happens. Imaginary gods and mystical forces have nothing to do with it.
Jacksson13: Right, because a HBP is an intentional attempt to cause injury.
What an astonishingly dumb comment.
Dude is a former top prospect and is hitting nearly .600 in Mexico. That'll get you another opportunity in affiliated ball. Will probably hit .350 in OKC and get another chance with LA. They have a history of turning guys around, but Senzel has his own history of getting injured often. Let's see how this plays out. Definitely worth a gamble...
It was just a poor attempt at humor given the Twins many health issues.
Hate to hear forearm tightness. Hopefully it’s just some early season soreness.
Whit Merrifield's secret account?
Talk about snake bitten! Why are the baseball gods so angry with the Twins? On the bright side, at least it's a broken bone and shouldn't keep him out too long. Or will the gods strike again and we find out tomorrow he'll be getting a visit from Tommy John?!
OMG Tj would be terrible for this team
Moving from Charlotte to Durham. Should take about two hours...
Well, we know what this means
Still too early to say but doesn’t look good. Minimal miss is probably a month at best. Hopefully they don’t drag this out if he ends up needing TJ surgery. Gonna need him back asap even if it’s next year…..
Probably wishes he was 4 inches taller and could hit the juice too.
Great reference
Believe he is working on opposite side of rubber on mound this year. Should at least be mentioned in article.
Mr. Gilbert, meet Mr. John. The good news is, you probably won’t pitch in ‘26, and the lockout might cost you the ‘27 season.
Maybe Kody should have tried pitching like his dad.
Omg
He has made about $8 million in his career. I would hang around, too.
Him not looking great should be taken as a compliment. He has totally sucked has been hard to watch. Not sure if him getting his knee fixed will help as much as needed. He was expected to be our #2 reliever. Brash coming back will really help the bats coming alive will help more. The SPers are a bit more scary until Kirby and Gilbert are back and pain free for a few games. The future looks like it might not be as bad as it was predicted to be.
I'm dying. I'm dead.
That sucks for a guy with such a good start to his career.
Right. Because getting hit by a pitch is a moral failing
You need to be a bit more honest on the runs Hancock has given up. They were mostly in his first game. He gave up 6 runs in 2/3rds of an inning. He has been very good his last 2 starts.
Seems to me Hancock has secured his spot as the 6th man. He seems to have that 1 game and after it gets assimilated into his stats and doesn’t show up on the stats as a glaring red stop light.
Bad take. Skenes was on "short" rest last time out vs Cleveland
How about rookies from Cuba or the Dominican Republic?
He has the flu... He's fine.
Tommy John Surgery incoming...
Make sure to get 2nd and 3rd opinions...
Twins getting hit hard with a lot of injuries and bad luck. Keaschall and Wallner are essentially carrying the team so with Keaschall being injured, I can only assume the team's offense will decline significantly.
Shut up
This season will not be fun if we lose him
With how our roster is built we need all of our starting pitchers to be healthy to even think about the playoffs
Let's hope that fixes his command issues. He was not looked great.
"Ruh-roh" - Abraham Lincoln
His 28% k-rate, includes a 90-92 mph fastball with riding life and sharp mid-80s slider could feast on Boston’s 31.9% chase rate.
Heavens to Betsy!
Paging Dr Attrache. The rich get richer. Shoulda been an ortho.
Hope he’s ok. Such a good pitcher.
The pitcher who threw the pitch that caused the lost time injury should immediately be suspended and remain so for as long as the injured player is unable to perform at the MLB level.
I agree with what you're saying about the rotation, but the end goal of this season is PLAYOFFS... other than Imanaga, who do you trust to start a playoff game? NO ONE. In regards to the bullpen, Pressley has been very lucky. Walk rate is higher than K rate and he had the 4th most blown saves in the MLB last year. He is regressing. I think Hodge would be a respectable closer, but again, I am not viewing this team in the sense of the regular season, I want playoffs. I trust Hodge to pitch a 7th in the NLCS, but I do not necessarily feel as comfortable with the 8th or 9th. Pressly I definitely do not feel comfortable, and all of the other guys you mentioned will be nice pieces for regular season depth, but other than Hodge taking an inning, who do you trust in high contention playoff games? We need 2 more bullpen arms I believe. I know it is a lot, but I just can't think in my head that porter hodge and another guy (theoretically someone we trade for) are our 8th and 9th innings guys, and we leave the rest of that bullpen to figure out the 6th and 7th in a NCLS game. Especially considering the lack of high-level pitching we have with Steele out when looking at it from a play-offs perspective. Starters are already pulled earlier in the playoffs as it. As of right now our number 2 and 3 starters would be Boyd and Taillon - to me that sounds disastrous.
Caba. Next Ozzie Smith.
Man, I'd be over the moon with a sub-3 ERA from Pivetta.
@bwmiller79 - He does, dude is legit an inspiration of a baseball player with the overseas domination after washing out of MLB. I truly, truly wish him the best because he seems like a very humble and hard-working dude. IMO, even to make it back on the radar of an MLB team is an immense achievement.
@Longtimecoming - Hart was a buy-low option, no two ways around it. This has worked in the past to varying degrees, but the guys just had higher floors to work with (e.g., Martinez). He is totally serviceable as a depth option in AAA and even arguably a fifth starter, but it's hard to have to run him and Vasquez every 2/5 times thru the rotation. Maybe they can coax out something better from him in AAA, whether that's more velo, spin, better sequencing, a new pitch, etc. Happy to eat my words, believe it or not, I'm rooting for the dude's success.
This man will be receiving a handsome MLB paycheck while he rehabs.
Jason Kipnis
Does this mean that the Rays will turn him into an All-Star and flip him in July? /s
This is just to fill in gaps for the outfield.
Probably wanted to make sure he could pitch reasonably well again.
Nobody said they are going to "sustain". Of course Rea isn't ending with a sub 1.00 ERA, but as recently as, oh, eight months ago he had a 27 start season. It's not unrealistic that the Cubs can get 20 starts from a #4-5 guy with respectable results.
The help we need in the bullpen is health...not much more. Julian Merryweather being healthy sets up the innings before the seventh and Hodge and Pressly and a key add later after the 7th.
Miller and Brasier coming back healthy is important also.
Auto parts
That would have been a formidable rotation and they would have had 4 lefties in their rotation. Luzardo is pitching quite well this season, to the tune of a 2.79 SIERA.
There wasn’t much to the pitch. It was an 87 MPH pitch on a check swing.
On the Angels broadcast, no one really noticed.
This should help him fit in with the rest of his teammates.
Seriously what the heck.
ps....in this day and age of baseball there is no such thing as "long term" pitching any more.
FYCK
5th
@mp2891 Are you sure? I was thinking Chicago as well.
You can always just spend more money fella. You sound like an ungrateful fan.
Gotta admire Jank for hangin around... in this game, that game you've always waited for could be just around the corner..
15 days beats 87 months.
He's been effective in 54% of his outings.
Yeah, WTF.
They don't need him right now. They already have two catchers. He wasn't expected to stick.
Yeah, I do not think JT is going to stay this bad. Definitely has regressed, but I do not think it'll stay like this.
Okay! Thanks for proving my point! AT THE TIME OF FREE AGENCY WE SHOULD HAVE BEEN LOOKING AT BREGRMAN AND SCOTT. Thanks!
The Orioles need pitching help yes or no?
Heck the Orioles traded for a lefty starter with the freaking Marlins within the last year they just picked the wrong guy they got Rogers not Luzardo.
Luzardo didn't cost as much money. What Luzardo would have costed was prospects but the Cubs have plenty of those. And yeah Boyd looks good so far. If it wasn't for the Steele injury the Cubs pitching would be fine right now.
Cubs have a long track record of heating up when it’s cold and going cold when it gets hot. So far Busch and PCA are not suffering sophomore slump. Have a really nice lineup. I do not believe any team has a lineup from 1-9 that does not have a hole or two. That includes the 2024 World Series champs. At least they were smart enough to have four third basemen available to start the season. Have a feeling a patchwork 3b of Berti as the starter with JT playing twice a week can work.
Generally, I agree Bruce might be trolling, but considering these guys long track records, I do not foresee this sustaining. I feel like we need both starter and bullpen help bad.
Lol. No, you just do not see it skins! He is GARUNTEED to stay healthy and now will keep pitching as the best pitcher in the MLB! He is not due for regression at all! At this point the pirates should trade Skenes and O'neil Cruz for him! What a move by the 0.500 Phillies!
So you want to sit here and make arguments that Jesús Luzardo may be the best pitcher in baseball right now, but now are refusing to take that same short, narrow-minded, and terrible approach when looking at Boyd..... using your approach, Boyd would have been a phenomenal way to spend that capital. Make what you're saying make sense, lol.
Cubber - that’s all he does is argue for the sake of arguing. It’s his thing.
Luzardo has started more than 18 games in a season a grand total of once.
That was in ‘23 when he earned more than half of his career WAR in that single season.
In his 7 MLB season, his 2nd most innings pitched in a season is 100 1/3.
You can just say I’m right about his injury history and track record and move along.