Talkin' Baseball (MLB Podcast) - 297 | Chicago Cubs | Profile & Projection

Episode Date: March 10, 2021

You guys ranked the Chicago Cubs the #15 team in baseball! Jomboy, Jake, & Plouffe preview their 2021 season Presented by DraftKings Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Welcome back to Talking Baseball. It's another team profile and projection. And today we are doing the Chicago Cubs. My name is Jimmy. His name is Jake. His name is Trevor. His name is David. This is Talking Baseball presented by Draft Kings.

The Cubbies. The Cubbies are an interesting, interesting team, Jake. They finished last year in first in the division. Good job. With a winning record, they have had. had a winning record six years in a row since the rebuild and all the young guys came up. They won the World Series in 2016. They have not found that magic again.

Did they make any changes, Jake? Yeah, they had a little bit of a story alley off season. They had a lot out, and then they put a little bit in, but a lot more out. U. Darvish goes to the Padres after his fantastic 2020 season. Kyle Schwarber. He's out of town, man. He's on the Nats. Jose Cantana's gone.

Tyler Chatwood, Albert, Armore Jr., Jose Martinez, Caratini, Kipness, Jeremy Jeffress, who was actually pretty nice for them last year. That's a lot of guys leaving town, but there are some MLB dudes coming in town. Jack Peterson, interested to see what he does

at the friendly confines of a wiggly field. Jake Mariznick, cheated. Trevor Williams, friend of the pod, Zach Davies, kind of underrated Arieta Trev's boy comes back. Workman, Johnny Holder, couple AL East relievers, Bobby Stock, Austin, Roma, and so they brought a little bit back, and that might be enough to do it in this NL Central Trev, and that lineup speaks. This is the most complete lineup we've seen so far on the TPPs.

I don't know if there is going to be any in and out of this lineup, maybe with Jock and left, but you know starting with the catcher position Wilson Contreras One of the more fun catchers to watch in all of the game I love watching and play, love watching it swing, love watching her throw the ball He reminds me of a young South Perez

That's just me First base Anthony Rizzo Obviously a studs Second base I'm gonna mess this up guys I have one in my head It's a David Bodie Pronounce that E baby That's what I'm talking about

David Bodie at second base Shortstop, our guy Javi Baez I think he's on my hot guy list He's pretty high up there actually Third base Chris Bryant a snub in my hot guy list. A lot of guys

like to talk about how good his eyes are. I just find him a little too piercing to be honest with you. Left field, Jock Peterson. We'll see if he gets

platoon for it all. Center field or center field our guy Ian Hap and in right field Jason Hayward. Jim, let's talk about that

rotation and my guy Arietta a little bit. Oh, while Arieta comes back. The Cubs pick up a Jake in Arieta. Also in Mariznick.

The professor Kyle Hendricks will still be the ace of the staff. You got Zach Davies there as well. You got my guy, Alec Mills, twirling that 66-mile-per-hour curveball right by you. You got Adbert Alisle. Trevor Williams, friend of the program. I was going to drop a bad stat, but I feel like I shouldn't have said it right after I say friend of the program. Most home runs per innings, I think, last year. or something like that as a starter.

Give up a lot of home runs. Tyson Miller. In the bullpen you got Craig Kimbril. How about that? Feels like a pitcher from yesterday year. Rowan Wick, Andrew Schaffin. Brandon Workman. Ryan DeBara.

I saw Brandon Workman. I thought of Red Sox. Yeah. That's what happened there. If anyone was understanding why I did. Red Sox. A lot of Jake's, a lot of Trevor's there. Trevor Williams gave up the most home run.

last year in the National League, not the most home runs per nine. So it's okay. He didn't, who gave up the most home runs per night? Well, that's probably a reliever, right? I don't know how to find that. I think it was Boyd, I think it was Boyd, Cole, and Williams all gave up 17 home runs. 15. 15.

And Williams had the least amount of innings out of those three. So that's what, that was my. Jimmy Liddick's kicked in a little bit. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. A little bit. Yeah. Jakes and Trevers, that now makes me nervous about these cubbies. Trev, you said it about the lineup.

Are there not jimmies in baseball? It's kind of funny coming off. There's a couple jimmies. Twirl it. Rollins. Pitchers. This lineup, Trev, I think it's kind of funny coming off the Blevland Indians that we kind of get, we're in this.

What does your team do? Those Indians are going to pitch these Cubs. They got the lineup, man. A couple of these guys did have tough last years. People were talking about not having the video tape access, but if you're going to ask if I believe in Javi Baez, Rizzo Bryant, I mean, I just do. And with Jock coming to town, I mean, that's like there's your Schwabo replacement. So this lineup top to bottom stacked Hayward had a nice year.

Nico Horner, pretty big prospect, fighting Boady and some other guys for some PT on there. So tough not to like this Cubs lineup. The lineup's good. This is the first lineup where, as we've done, these TPPs. Now correct me if I'm wrong here. I feel like this is the first lineup we've seen that is complete. Name-wise.

Like Hayward as the nine hole, a prospect Nico as the eight-hole. If that's how they do it, jock as the seven, that's the deepest lineup. We are at like the 15th team. We have a lot of teams ahead of us still. I feel like this is the first one that has a guy that you can buy in

at his spot in the lineup each way. There's no, it's not top heavy. It's pretty balanced if they all perform to their abilities. Yeah. Agree? I like it. I mean, I'm trying to look and see, yeah, we didn't talk about Nico in the lineup. He can sneak in there, but I think he doesn't bring a ton yet offensively,

but they don't really need that. I mean, the top half of their lineup could, you know, go at it with any team in the league. I'm curious because in our heads, and I think in a lot of fans' heads, maybe not Chicago fans, but just general baseball fans. Kind of see the Cubs is like selling off and not really doing it, but when you look at their lineup and maybe some of the additions that they've made, I know they traded you Darvish. That's kind of what everyone's thinking about,

but they're going to be right in the thick of it. Yeah. This isn't a team to give up on. We see what they do. They see what they do during the year. Are they going to ship some guys out if the season starts poorly? Possibly. But they can also go the complete opposite way.

If they start to win, you know, this is a team that could add. I mean, they traded away you, and then everyone thought Chris Bryant was next, and then that never happened, and then they signed Jack Peterson, and it was kind of like, okay, because like we said about the Indians

with a little bit more of a budget going on, like they sold, but they're still trying to compete. And we're kind of in that range of teams right now, where this, I mean, this Cubs lineup day in, day out, if those guys are right, are going to do it. but you jump to the pitching staff. And after Kyle Hendricks, you know, Trev, I know Arieta's your guy, but he hasn't been Jake Arieta that dude in a few years.

I mean, Zach Davies has been really solid. He probably deserves a lot of love. But then after that, I mean, you're taking flyers. What can Alec Mills give you over 162? Trevor Williams, can he kind of find it again? Adbert Alzillay, all-name team. What's he going to give you for 162? I don't know.

And then, I mean, that's before getting to the bullpen, which is getting reworked a little bit, which is a pretty good baseball term, because that normally means that we don't know what we're going to get from the bullpen. I just, I'm confused what you said what you said about Alec Mills. Your guy, Jim. I gave him some award last year that was called like the Senior Citizen or All Ages Award. throws pitches in the

every game you'll see Alec Mills throw a pitch in the 60 mile per hour range the 70 mile per hour range the 80 mile per hour range and the 90 mile per range and you can't take that for granted he's putting on a damn show never will didn't you have a complete game shutout

no hitter right yeah through no hitter last year yes I forgot about that three walks this is strange because you know it was you leaving then it was hey they're not going to sign Schwabber back so what's direction is this going. People thought it was going to continue to trend down and just never did.

Now, I agree with you the rotation, you know, is I don't even know the word for it. I don't want to say suspect, but. I think suspect's the perfect word. Suspect-ish? No, suspect. Okay. Like if you're just a scout, right? You're just like, hmm, what's going on here?

And you've got to dig deeper. You're like, I don't know about that. Seems fishy. Yeah, I don't. Oh, man. a tough team to grade here. The offense. You look at that lineup, it's great, and then the defense

and that's pretty good, and then the pitching is got to have pitching in this league. And the money in baseball right now doesn't make sense. We should say we're recording this while Jake Oterizzi's not signed. Like, God, the Chicago Cubs should be in on

Jake Oterizzi. How much would that change their dynamic? Bringing in a third Jake? You know, that changes your season, and we haven't heard that rumor at all, so we can't even tease it like it's going to happen, but they're going to be around in the Central. It's going to be funny to see where those standings are around the trade deadline and see if that dictates the Brewers, the Cubs, the Cardinals, the Reds potentially, what kind of moves they're

going to make. I'm going to buy in on some Kimbril bounceback. His K numbers were actually silly stuff last year. I think he's figuring out who 30-year-old Craig Kimbril is going to be as a pitcher, and I'm I'm going to buy some stock in that. 12 jakes and then we'll be last year. Yeah. Only four jimmies.

Do you count the James? I don't. And I didn't count DeGrom. Okay. I didn't count Jacobs. The Jacobs, yeah. Just counting jakes. Well, the jimmies are probably named James, most of them.

But if they go by Jimmy, they're in there and they're like, Yacabonis, which is great. Right. Like, he almost takes the cake for jimmies because Jimmy Yacabonis is such a good name. It's a great name. Yeah. Is the Enoscentral sneaky, like, going to be the funnest division to watch? I mean, there's so much parity. Like between these four teams, I mean, I think I,

when the Cardinals traded for Aeronado, I was like, hey, they're going to run away with the division. Then we started to do a little bit more of a deep dive, deep dive on these teams. They're not too dissimilar, like all of them. This is the last team in the NL Central, right? So our audience voted. No, we saw the Cardinals. We haven't done the Cardinals yet?

Okay. Still the Cardinals. So it's an interest, I think there's going to be four teams that are kind of evenly matched. Maybe the Reds are on the bottom of that, but still I can put them right there. I'm excited to watch. It might not be the best baseball ever, but it's going to be close. It's kind of funny.

They're all, like, clearly just on a slightly different tier. Like, I think the reds are just slightly below the Brewers. I think the Brewers are slightly below the Cubs, and I think the Cardinals are slightly on top, and in a baseball season, that can sort out pretty quickly. If the Cubs, if the Brewers stay healthy, if the Brewers' top-heavy guys stay healthy, I liked them as the same tier as the Cubs

just a different way to get to that tier. The Cubs have no pitcher. I mean, this Cubs, this Cubs rotation can be bad, bad. Like, we can be sitting here and saying, no starting pitcher has seen the fifth inning come June. Hendricks. I was going to say besides Hendricks.

It could be, the floor for this rotation is pretty bad. I want to defend Zach Davies a little bit. Zach Davies is 28 years old. He's got a career 379 ERA, which, hey, not special. But the last two years,

43 starts with a 33 ERA. So Zach Davies is a MLB rotation pitcher. They're expecting a solid performance from him. Good correction. Good correction. But after that. After that. After that. What other storylines? Obviously, there's lack of pitching. I mean, is,

Is our dude Ian Hap, like, becoming the face of this team? He was their best player last year. I mean, you wouldn't ask that because everyone, you wouldn't think that because everyone thinks of the World Series guys. But, I mean, is Bryant going to become a superstar again? Is Havi going to become a superstar again? It's who's going to bounce back. It's, I mean, Rizzo hit 222 last year.

Bias hit 203. You know, Chris Bryan hit 206. Like those, I know it's not batting average, blah, blah, blah, but guess what? Everything attached to that on-base OPS, they were bad last year. So it's was it tape? Was it just the short season? Like, what happened to those guys? Because they're MLB stars.

Like, those are guys that can get MVP votes in the right season. Brian's got one in the back. So who of those guys is going to bounce back? And is it full bounce back? Is it their average stat line? Or, you know, if those guys start going over their career stats, then that Cubs lineup is like entering one of the top in baseball chats. I have a theory.

Okay. Trevor's theories. I have a theory. Theory pod. 2020. Obviously a strange year. Cubs play a lot of day games at Wrigley. Day games are tough to get up for.

Your body is just not used to it. So these guys rely on fans in the stands to get them going. I mean, that place is constantly packed. You rely on that energy. And then all of a sudden, in 2020, you got nobody. You got white noise coming out of the speakers. And you're trying to get up for all these day games. All these guys, Rizzo, Bryant.

They were the biggest cheerleading team last year, if you remember. They need that. They were trying to artificially do that. They need the crowd there. These guys have experienced such highs that their body isn't conditioned to playing in front of nobody. So get some fans back in the stands. Let's get some adrenaline pumping through these guys. They're getting a little up there in age.

They need that from the fans. They need Rigleyville to be rocking. So hopefully that'll happen this season. I'm buying bounce back years for all those three guys. They have some pitchers that are expected to make their debut. I don't know. Cubs fans tell me if you're expecting specialness out of these guys. Corey Abbott

and Braylin Marquez. Is that who it is? Yeah, he's on the list. Yeah. 108 prospect by my rankings. He made his debut last year. I thought 107 and then I was just like, no. He's 108.

Yeah, he's 108. Keith Law, I told you that. He made his debut last year. He followed an Albert Alzalae start and it did not go well at all. So he's looking for a little redemption. You know what? That's the storyline I'm excited for.

When Braylon Marquez, his debut went awful, he opened up walk, walk, wild pitch, strikeout walk, single wild pitch, double. That's an awful inning. So let's hope for a nice bounce back. As soon as he gets back on the mound, like a nice clean, wipe the slate clean, and then start your career for Braylon Marquez. This has still got to be part of like Theo's cross. of kids, right?

Like he was part of drafting this next group of prospects. Is that, am I totally off base there? I think you're right. I mean, he left, what was it last year? So, I mean, look, they've had a track record

of developing talent. I know they brought in Rizzo, but Baez is homegrown. Contreras is homegrown. Bryant is homegrown. Are all those guys, Cub's draft picks, developed?

So look, we could, there's no reason to think that there's not going to be another stable of guys. under Theo's watch that are going to come up and make an impact now. I'm excited to see that. I did want to say, I just looked at Zach Davies's bio. Six foot 155?

There's no way. That can't be right. 155? That can't be right. I've got him as 6 foot 180. Okay, this is on fan graphs. Six foot 155. Okay.

Zach, what's up, dude? I've got something. I mean, he is, I'm looking at a picture, he's a skinny dude. I've got something. Jersey doesn't look like it fits him at all We'll cover the range a little bit Let's see showing me Yeah I don't know

He looks like a guy He doesn't look 155 For a six-foot guy You gotta be pretty Who's gonna puttoon with Jock Boing Mariznick That sucks

You get defense Boaty potentially Um Jim I think you're gonna like this Oh I like things that I like So if you could listen Listening For one GD second

Gosh darn. The Cubs can win the NL Central. We all agree. Yeah, there's ceilings there. Things click. I don't agree. You don't think there's a chance. You don't think there's 1% chance?

Well, you can't say 1% because, I mean, the Pirates probably have 1% according to the... There's only one team that's 0% chance. According to our brains. We've been doing this for every single PPP. You don't think the Cubs can win the Central. You don't think their ceiling is winning the division.

They literally won it last year. I don't think they can win it this year. I mean, is there, okay, let me give you my percentage. No shot in, no shot in hell. Like, I think it's like less than 5% but, yeah. I would say it's 10% that they win the central. So you think. Which is very low.

So how can I say like, I mean, I guess, yeah. Yeah, yes. Okay. The ceiling, I guess. Keep going. I mean, do you have the brewers or the Reds chances higher than them? Yes. Yeah, I said that.

Yeah, the Brewers second. Yeah. We said that on the Brewers app. Okay. I don't. What if things go wrong? say the Cubs get out to a bad start. Say if Hendricks were to go down or whatever it is.

Whatever it is. Guys aren't hitting again. Jim. We've got Jock on the one-year contract. Baez last year. Wilson Contreras has been a part of trade rumors forever. I mean... And people need catchers always.

Chris Bryant was supposed to be gone. Like... Zach Davies? If there's a team that contenders are hoping falls out, it is these Chicago Cubs because holy crap could they unload. So I know Cubby's fans, hey, it's Jake here.

Sorry you had to hear that. But every other team is eyeing you guys. That being said, trade deadline this team could easily be in first place. That's the narrative all offseason. It's been like these guys, they don't have a lot of time left. Are we going to ship everybody out? Right. They just didn't do it.

Treve, you're my vibes guy on the pod. Like the vibes there can't be 100. and if it starts going south, they could go south quick. All right. There's going to be a lot of people looking at it. What's more exciting? What's more exciting? Sorry Ian Hap, if you're listening.

What's more exciting? The Cubs being in contention to make a wild card spot and losing the playoffs or the Cubs being out of contention and Rizzo, Bryant, Contreras, Baez, Jock can all possibly get sprinkled around to other teams to go on playoff runs. Because there's a very clear answer to what's more exciting. I think I'm going to disagree with it.

I think it be more exciting if all of them made one last run at a ring. I mean, I don't think they can win a World Series, but that would be way more exciting for me to see these guys all band together. I mean, you have them that 10% chance of making the playoffs. I would guess right now we all have them at zero percent chance of winning the World Series. Give me a Kyle. Give me a Kyle Hendricks playoff star. That would juice me up.

Seeing all those cups sprinkled around other playoffs. Watch the professor go to work. I'm into that. The front, like they'd have to absolutely force the front office's hand to go out and make them an actual contender. Like they're not just going to go do it to win a wild card spot. Like if they'd have to be there and perform. at such a high level for them to force that,

for them to go pick up a pitcher or somebody? Well, do we think an NL Central team can get a wild card spot right now? Because Padres and Dodgers are going to be there. The NL East teams are really good. Are they going to beat each other enough for an NL Central team to get the wild card? I don't know. I don't know.

But are they all going to be competing for the division? Yes. It's going to be wild, man. Trade everyone and have some fun. That's more likely scenario, Jim, is trading everybody. We might see a few games where the guys get pulled off mid-game. Team won the Central last year.

Think about that. I was throwing that out as like 15% chance. A lot of 15% to 10% chances here. Chris, Chris. Imagine the returns you can't play for us anymore. We traded you. Chris Bryant pulled in the fourth inning. Did he roll his ankle?

Is there trade? He seen in the dugout giving house. Hades. Heyman just tweeted Chris. It was like to see, but... It just pissed himself. Boodaloop. Do we have a fun stat for Max?

Max's fun stat. Ryan to Perra who resigned with the Cubs on February 16th. 26th. We're recording 10 days after that we're doing everything intends today, Jim. 62.2% whiff rate on his

cutter last year, the highest of any pitch in the MLB in 2020. Tepara also received a 10th place MVP vote as St. Louis post-dispatch writer Rick Hummel mistakenly voted for Tepara instead of Trey Turner. Jop baseball! That's hilarious. I did not know that. That's awesome. Highest whiffright to the grave, baby. It's great. It's great. Draft Kings over under is 79 and a half. I'm taking the under. I don't believe in their pitching staff at all. Trev. I believe. I believe. even the Angels pitching staff more than this pitching staff.

Or at least very similar. At least they have Hendricks. At least they have Hendricks. The more likely scenario of things to happen is they just trade everybody away. So I'm going to take the under. Yeah. If the wild card's not going through the Central and they're not in first, I don't think they care about September baseball at all.

They're going to be close to first, if not in first. Yes, yes. Cubs over. Jake's got the over. Trevin and I got the under. Those guys are going to bounce back. I love it. Studs.

Give Hobby his replay. Adbert. Advert. Adelaide.