1. Yes. Yes. Yes.
That was fun. I enjoyed that.
2. I love Kris Bryant.
If Bryant moves in these next three weeks, there will be a lot said about the golden child, but we might as well start saying it now. What a wonderful, wonderful professional. It’s always good to exercise caution when praising a professional athlete on a personal level, but from what we can know, Kris Bryant has been everything the Cubs could ask him to be. I don’t know how many more times we’ll see him in a Cubs uniform, but if that number is few, yesterday’s pinch-hit double to break the game open against the Cardinals on a Friday afternoon at Wrigley Field was a wonderful, wonderful one of those last moments. God bless that guy.
3. Patrick Wisdom!
Is Patrick Wisdom going to be the Cubs’ starting third baseman next year? I talked about this with my brother recently, and he was saying the Cubs should trade him while his price is presumably the highest it will ever be, but I wonder about that. He’s got a career wRC+ of 128 over 208 plate appearances, and while that’s stretched over four seasons and he’s turning thirty by the end of August, there’s a good chance he gets to twenty home runs, and there’s a decent chance he finishes in the top three of the NL Rookie of the Year race (he currently trails only Trevor Rogers, Ian Anderson, and Jonathan India in fWAR despite having way less playing time than any of those three). He’s cheap for a long time, he’s a good stopgap if you want to weigh your options for the next contention window, and if he does get to twenty home runs and does get to the top three of the ROTY race, you could always trade him this winter and potentially package it as less of a flash in the pan thing than you could now.
Basically, then, there are three options: Keep him, trade him now, and trade him this winter. The second works if someone’s desperate for a bat right now and wants someone actively hot. The third works if you want to retool for the future (say you figure out a way to extend Kris Bryant, or that a package at the deadline nabs you Marco Luciano or Ronny Mauricio and you extend Javy Báez and want to keep David Bote). The first works if you want to roll the dice and hope he can at least be a league-average player, which appears to be a reasonable expectation. All three are good options. Patrick Wisdom has created incredible value for the Cubs.
4. Speaking of value: Andrew Chafin is valuable.
It was another scoreless appearance for Chafin, who, if he was a closer, would be one of the top targets at the trade deadline, which is to say that he should be one of the top targets at the trade deadline. He’s not Craig Kimbrel, but he’s not terribly far off: Kimbrel’s ERA/xERA/FIP/fWAR is 0.57/1.71/1.12/1.8, Chafin’s is 1.42/2.50/2.62/0.9. He also is making just $2.75M this year, which helps the Cubs because salary offset questions don’t really need to be discussed.
***
Around the Division:
The Reds beat the Brewers yesterday. Losers! Vladimir Gutierrez vs. Freddy Peralta there today.
Standings, FanGraphs division championship probabilities:
1. Milwaukee: 53-37, 86.5%
2. Cincinnati: 46-42, 9.3%
3. Cubs: 44-45, 3.2%
4. St. Louis: 43-46, 1.0%
5. Pittsburgh: 32-55, 0.0%
Join us, St. Louis. Sell!
Up Next:
Game 2. Chance to clinch the series.
***
Whom:
Cubs vs. St. Louis
When:
6:15 PM Chicago Time
Where:
Wrigley Field
Weather:
Showers, some potentially heavy, but chance they’ll hold off. With two non-contending teams, this one might get called early, so don’t hold anything back, Mr. Ross. Temperatures around seventy degrees, wind blowing in from right center at ten to fifteen miles per hour.
Starting Pitchers:
Zach Davies vs. Kwang Hyun Kim
The Opponent:
Kim’s been a big asset for the Cardinals, dodging a back issue a few weeks ago to enter today with a 4.00 FIP, a 4.33 xERA, and 1.0 fWAR. He’s far from unhittable, and he walks guys here and there, but given the Cardinals’ starting pitching situation, he’s been big for them.
The Numbers:
The Cubs are -115 favorites, the Cardinals are +105 underdogs, that comes out to about a 51% or 52% win probability. The over/under’s at eight and leans towards the under.
Cubs News:
Nothing big that I’ve seen, but we’re at the time of year when that’s hour-to-hour, so…we’ll see.
Cubs Thoughts:
Hopefully this game gets played, the Cubs can get another win, the Cubs can assure themselves of being in third place entering the break, and the Cubs can check off having won the series before likely being underdogs tomorrow (Wainwright vs. Williams).
