We wait, and we wait, and we get sad anecdotes about Anthony Rizzo’s dad thanking Cubs employees, and we get wisdom upon wisdom from the wonderful Kris Bryant, and the Cubs keep playing baseball.
Zach Davies’s name hasn’t come up in many actual rumors, but one would assume the Cubs want to trade him, so tonight could get weird in a hurry. On the flipside, given how well he pitched on Friday over five and a third innings, maybe the Cubs would do better to get him through another start tonight and see if they can start a little bidding war come Friday as teams start scrambling to get anyone to put in their rotation.
***
Around the Division:
Amidst the Tyler Anderson yo-yo, the Brewers beat the Pirates last night 9-0 while the Cardinals won 4-2 in Cleveland.
Standings, FanGraphs division championship probabilities:
1. Milwaukee: 59-42, 91.4%
2. Cincinnati: 42-49, 5.2%
3. St. Louis: 51-50, 2.5%
4. Cubs: 50-52, 0.8%
5. Pittsburgh: 38-62, 0.0%
Cards scored in the top of the first in Cleveland just now. Kwang Hyun Kim vs. Zach Plesac in that one. Adrian Houser vs. ol’ TBD in Pittsburgh.
Up Next:
Game 3
***
Whom:
Cubs vs. Cincinnati
When:
7:05 PM Chicago Time
Where:
Wrigley Field
Weather:
Could get some rain. Temperatures in the 80’s, wind generally expected to be blowing out to left at five to ten miles per hour.
Starting Pitchers:
Zach Davies vs. Tyler Mahle
The Opponent:
The Reds have been busy in the last 24 hours, adding Mychal Givens, Luis Cessa, and Justin Wilson to their bullpen. Unclear who all will get DFA’d, put on the IL, sent down, etc., but presumably no one too noteworthy to the Cubs.
Mahle’s still solid. A bit more trouble lately but 4.03 FIP and 3.73 xERA on the year.
The Numbers:
Cubs are -103 as underdogs, Reds are at -107 so about a 49% or 49.5% win probability. Over/under’s at ten and leans towards the under.
Cubs News:
Keegan Thompson will be stretched out in anticipation of making some major league starts down the line now that he’s down with Iowa.
Cubs Thoughts:
I complain about speculation, but to be fair to myself, some of that’s because people so often turn speculation into rumors. Anyway, admitting I complain about speculation…if given even odds on every player on the Cubs, I would bet on the following ones to be traded by Friday night:
- Craig Kimbrel
- Ryan Tepera
- Davies
- Bryant
- Dan Winkler
In other words, I’d bet against Rizzo moving, and I think someone will take a flyer on Winkler, whom the Cubs are presumably eager to move with so many pitchers knocking on the 40-man door and the guy hitting free agency this winter anyway. Given how close Winkler (and Bryant, honestly—I really think the Cubs media is taking the bait and overestimating his value, creating a situation that only further incentivizes the Cubs to package him with Tepera or Kimbrel or maybe Davies and presumably a ton of cash regardless to dress his value up as larger than it is) are to 50%, I’d say we’ll probably see five more but may only see four more Cubs dealt in total, acknowledging there might be a surprise among the four or five from below my cutoff line here (I’d put Rex Brothers in a comparable category to Rizzo, though yes, below him). The lack of even whispers about Davies is disconcerting, but I do think he’s gonna go for reasons similar to those involving Winkler. The Cubs would take a coffee for him if the coffee increased the efficiency of someone in the front office.
