This article is brought to you by Ankin Law, Chicago's injury law firm. With over 80 attorneys and staff, Ankin Law is here to help.
Call 312.600.0000. Injury law made personal - That's Ankin Law.
Apparently Toyota got hacked, which made the timing of my service appointment today NOT GREAT. Place was in chaos. I am behind.
Philosophically, I was on board with Colten Brewer and/or Drew Smyly getting the save opportunity last night, because … who else? Why not? What is the point of anything? But seriously, it really has reached the point where, given all the injuries and ineffective stretches, I hardly think there’s a “wrong” choice to close a game. Someone has to do it, and I don’t particularly want to see Hector Neris out there right now, so pick match-ups and pray. (Or just call up Iowa closer Hunter Bigge, or even Ethan Roberts, and see what happens.)
This is a bullpen that, barring miraculous physical recoveries (please hurry, Julian Merryweather), could desperately use a trade for a late-inning reliever. And yet, does this team’s performance justify any kind of significant trade? Is that one arm going to make THE difference? I’m thinking about it the wrong way (the Cubs are overloaded with prospects as it is, and will have to make SOME moves), but I’m just so exasperated. Hard to keep a level head.
Craig Counsell on yet another close loss, with missed opportunities and a blown save (there is NO WAY he expected to have to address the same kind of loss THIS many times before we’d even gotten halfway through the season):
Justin Steele was fantastic once again, and it didn’t matter at all. Steele – whose ERA is down to 3.08 – is 0-3 on the season, just in case you wanted to know how extremely useful the pitcher W/L stat is for evaluating player performance.
If you had hope that Yency Almonte would return soon and finally be the stabilizing force in the Cubs’ bullpen, nooooope:
Even if the second opinion is the same as the first – that there isn’t structural damage and surgery isn’t necessary – it might not matter if he can’t ramp up without feeling symptoms. At this point, I don’t think we can expect Almonte back for a long time, if at all this season.
The Cubs, of course, are also without Mark Leiter Jr., who at least is suggesting the forearm strain that put him on the IL isn’t necessarily a terrible one:
It’s a good attitude and appropriate big picture thinking. You can play through some little things for a while, but at some point, you just have to rest an issue before it becomes a really big problem – or before you hurt the team more than help it by playing through something.
Note, this attitude about taking care of physical things in the short-term to help the long-term apparently applies to pitchers and not position players …
Old friend Levi Jordan, who ground his way through the Cubs’ system for years, finally got his shot to reach the big leagues. The 28-year-old utility man has been hitting well at Triple-A for the Reds, his first season outside the Cubs organization, and he just got the call to replace an injured TJ Friedl last night. Notched his first hit, too. Good for him.
The Tennessee Volunteers are the 2024 national champions: