It was on this day in 2014 that Javier Baez made his MLB debut, hitting a solo home run in the 12th inning that held up as the winning run in a Cubs victory over the Rockies. Baez celebrated his anniversary as a big leaguer with another solo homer today as part of a 2-for-5 performance against the Padres, though Chicago wasn’t as successful, dropping a 10-6 result to San Diego. Baez is now hitting .300/.333/.585 with 24 homers in 433 PA this season, with this breakout offensive performance combining with his usual excellent defense to make him one of the game’s most overall valuable talents.
Some more from Wrigleyville…
- Kris Bryant has yet to swing a bat since returning to the DL to deal with his bothersome shoulder, and the Cubs slugger tells reporters (including the Chicago Tribune’s Paul Sullivan) that he doesn’t yet know when he might be back on the field. Bryant was eligible to return on August 3, though he was expected to remain beyond the 10-day minimum DL stint to fully allow his shoulder to heal up. He reiterated, however, that he doesn’t have long-term concerns about the injury. The former NL MVP is enjoying another strong season (.276/.380/.474 with 11 homers in 358 PA), though his shoulder troubles could explain why his production has dipped a bit from his 2016-17 levels.
- Dylan Cease was a top-1oo ranked minor leaguer when he was traded as part of the four-prospect package sent by the Cubs to the White Sox for Jose Quintana in July 17. As The Athletic’s Patrick Mooney writes in a subscription-only piece, however, the Cubs were ultimately willing to deal Cease due to a significant injury history (Tommy John surgery in 2014) and because he was still pitching in A-ball. Cease has since made his Double-A debut in the White Sox system and looked outstanding, with a 1.99 ERA, 12.8 K/9, and 4.48 K/BB rate over 40 2/3 IP that has only elevated his status as a future building block for the Sox. Mooney tracks the Cubs’ initial pursuit of Cease through an interview with scout Keith Lockhart, who originally signed the young righty, and is well aware of the risk involved in moving such blue chip prospects. “When it first came down, it was easy to say, ’Listen, we got an established big-league starter for some guys that were in A-ball,’ ” Lockhart said. “As the years go on, if Dylan turns out to be a No. 1 starter for the White Sox and leading a rotation, then the story just stays alive.”
- In other recent Cubs news on MLBTR, Yu Darvish updated the media with his rehab status.
Regarding the Dylan Cease trade. Jose Quintana sucks. Horribly lopsided trade for a 5th starter. 1.5 years into the trade, it looks like the Cubs got fleeced.
Lmao 5th starter? Hahaha
Agreed, although he isn’t a 5th starter, he also isn’t the #2 the Cubs were expecting. He definitely fell off a cliff when he moved to Wrigley. Maybe, the Cubs and the Yankees should talk about a Gray for Quintana swap in the offseason. Quintana can go back to the team that originally signed him and Gray can get out of New York.
Its not like he was all that great before, all hype like he was some kind of ace and yet he’s never pitched like one, even on the south side.
He was every bit as good as other “aces” like Archer, Stroman, and Gray.
Couldn’t agree more. Everyone can’t be an ace. All those guys have track records that scream quality #3 starter. A good #3 starter is still pretty valuable. Everyone always over-estimates what guys are. The only true proven aces in baseball are Kershaw, Sale, Kluber, Bumgarner, Scherzer, deGrom, and Verlander. Guys like Severino, Cole, Strasburg, Greinke, Corbin, Nola, Carlos Martinez, Corbin, Cueto, Bauer, Keuchel, and Carrasco are that next tier of front-line type guys, but they aren’t true aces yet due to slight inconsistencies or lack of sufficient track record. To be in that true aces category, you need to be dominant for more than a few years. Every single guy in that category has a Cy Young except for deGrom and Mad Bum, because Kershaw and Scherzer have been so consistently dominant for the entirety of their careers. Sure, guys in the next tier could challenge for a Cy Young here or there, but the true aces are perennial contenders.
I still don’t Understand why the cubs didn’t add to the “Quintana” package, and get Sale?
He was already traded to the Red Sox.
They had no shot on Sale. Theo said that Hahn had asked for Bryant and reportedly Baez just to start even getting into the negotiations for Sale.
If you think anything about Sonny Gray “screams” quality #3 starter than you’re nuts.
And, Gray and Quintana were hyped by Oakland and Chicago as “aces” when the trades were being considered. Chicago fans were screaming that he was worth not just 1 but 2 of our top 3 prospects and wouldn’t take anything less which is why the trade basically fell through.
Slight inconsistencies…..bull dung….Gray can’t put a hitter away with 2 strikes and it does look as if Chicago might just re-consider that Quintana trade if they had it to do all over again.
Yes, Hahn’s asking price was quite ridiculous wasn’t it! His asking price was the same from the Yankees……
“Chicago fans were screaming that he was worth not just 1 but 2 of our top 3 prospects and wouldn’t take anything less which is why the trade basically fell through.“
And that’s exactly what they got from the Cubs…
Which was frustrating, as a Sox fan, that the only MLB player they asked for from the Bo Sox was Jackie Bradley JR. Mookie and Xander should have at least been inquired about.
How would the Cubs benefit by helping Gray get out of New York. What is in it for them
thecoffinnail: Why would the Cubs consider a trade of Jose Quintana for Sonny Gray? Gray has had health concerns throughout his career and apparently lacks the makeup to pitch in a big market like New York. “Q” has never spent a day on the DL, takes the ball every 5th day and was a perennial 200+ inning pitcher with the White Sox. He hasn’t quite matched his production on the North Side of Chicago but nothing he has accomplished suggests he can’t pitch in a big market or even the limelight of Wrigley Field.
As for being an “ace” pitcher, Quintana was never asked to fill that role for any length of time in Chicago with Chris Sale his rotation mate on the South Side and Jon Lester the acknowledged #1 on the North Side. With the Cubs he didn’t even need to be a #2 with Kyle Hendricks on board, Jake Arrieta in the rotation last season and with Yu Darvish getting paid “ace” money as a free agent this past offseason.
Wait a second. Quintana has been a solid pitcher in recent years. Yes this year not so effective, but you can’t blame the cubs for trading for a guy that put up 3.0 WAR or higher in each of his years with the the White Sox and very effective in his first year for the Cubs. They were making a WS push and almost got there again. Give the guy some time. Also if the cubs didn’t have the rotation he did, he would be considered a low 2 or high 3 starter
Oh no, I’ve been possessed by Ronnie Woo Woo:
Baez woo
Bryant ..woo
Ronnie woowoo is a disgusting individual.
I’m curious to know why The Athletic is worth subscribing to. I get all sorts of sports articles that pop up on my Google feed from multiple outlets including some from The Athletic. Of course it fades out a quarter way through. Just wonder what makes them subscription worthy. Anyone?
If you are looking for daily in depth articles on a specific team, i.e. Cubs, White Sox, the Athletic is more like daily newspapers of the past that had a dedicated best writer rather than ESPN, which has regional reporters that don’t report daily on all things concerning your team. Other than that, they have a few analytics guys and some NHL columnists that are worth a read. If that interests you, then it’s worth the price to check it out for a year.
I just tried to read the Dennis Lin article. Didn’t realize they want to charge the reader instead of letting advertising pay the tab. No dice for me. You can google the author and read the article for free in many cases.
I got in in the initial 50% offering. They have good writers and in depth pieces. They cover all sports and teams as well and you can filter sort pretty easy. Comment board has far less trolls and you get notified right away when someone replies to a comment you posted or replied to. Its pretty good. I have no regrets.
Quintana woo!
Schwarber woo!
Darvish woo!
Jose Quintana gave the Cubs a needed quality starting pitcher who was tied to a VERY TEAM FRIENDLY contract. This freed up enough cash so that the Cubs could go after Yu Darvish. And what a good deal THAT was!
Man I get Darvish has been horrible when he’s played this year, and he is making a lot of money, but he’s got 5 years left and while he may not live up to all the money I believe he can return to a quality arm after this year and his injury problems are over with. I don’t believe he’ll be back to an elite arm but he could easily put up a mid 3’s ERA and 200 + Ks.
Excuses, excuses….Quintana was hyped coming over to be much more and now we’re back to justifying it all with the almighty team friendly contract used as a domino to another move.
How about just admitting that Quintana is exactly what his record says he is….a .500 pitcher than has shown a tendency to eat innings at the rate of 200 per year.
Yikes, I guess the analytics police are going to come after me for citing wins and losses as a key evaluator of a pitcher! Oh well!
Rocky7 yeah you kinda need to look at analytics to evaluate players. Specifically a pitcher who’s coming from a losing team like Quintana did. You specifically want to look at home and road splits as well, Cubs did the with Tyler chatwood which seemed to fail. Cubs seem to be the cream of the crop when evaluating hitters but cannot figure out pitchers to save there life. This is theos Achilles heal. Theo has handed out some bad contracts like Darvish and heyward most recently.
The true test of analytics is coming this fall. Jacob deGrom is having a Cy Young season from a sabremetrics standpoint, but he’s only 5-7. This promises to be a hotly debated issue. Will this be the year we have a Cy Young winner with a losing record AND fewer than 10 wins?
Advanced analytics has played into the choice of Cy Young Award winners for some time now. Felix Hernandez won the 2010 AL CYA with a 13-12 record. Granted it was with a crap Mariners ball club but he excelled in all of the other advanced as well as traditional numbers when compared to his competition that season.
If Jacob deGrom continues to pitch in a dominant fashion the remainder of the season he will win the the NL CYA regardless of his total wins or W-L record.
Btw-The Phillies Aaron Nola actually has the highest WAR among NL pitchers with a 6.8 stat compared to Jacob deGrom’s 6.5 and Max Scherzer’s 6.0 metrics. Jacob deGrom still fares well in many of the individual advanced categories and does lead the NL by a wide margin in the most important traditional stat for starting pitchers which would be ERA.
It’s not analytics police. It’s common sense police. If you think citing a pitchers win percentage or record proves a point, you’re terribly mistaken
Yeah, well dont make a dumb argument and you wont have people come after you. Q was the epitome of consistency until the year he was traded. The Cubs banked on that consistency despite a down year. His record is a result of having the worst run support of ALL eligible pitchers in the majors for 5 consecutive years, and having more blown holds and saves than any other pitcher in the last 3 years. But sure, site Win/Loss as a viable reason you think he wasnt worth a top pick…
Last I checked, Theo & Co. don’t buy into hype when consummating deals. They are as big on advanced analytics as any front office in MLB. Jose Quintana’s metrics where upper tier when it came to starting pitchers. That and his extreme team friendly contract made the trade from the Cubs standpoint much more palatable in surrendering their top two remaining prospects, especially to their city rivals.
It could not have been an easy call for the Cubs but they were hovering around the .500 mark and trailing in the NL Central last summer, much of it due to problems with their starting rotation. They already had a surplus of OF’s on their active roster which made Eloy Jimenez expendable. Despite his enormous ceiling, Dylan Cease had a history of arm trouble and was still pitching in low A-ball when the trade was made.
.276 with 11 Homers is considered having another strong season?
We’re in 2018, meanwhile this man is in 2008
No, you’re just stuck in the 2018 world called ANALYTICS where we can analytically explain anything we want to with endless stats…..Bryant while a good ballplayer, and invaluable to the Cubs is certainly further from great than closer. And this year, .276, albeit some of which is due to injury, isn’t getting him into any Hall other than the Cubs fans Hall of Fame
That’s not true at all. You can have a .260 average and be the best hitter in the league. If you can’t understand that, you need to do some reading or something. It’s not hard to understand at all.
What was not noted was the “having a great year in cubbie fan boys eyes”
What is noted is your “Cubbie Hater’s eyes”.
Having a .380 obp is pretty great.. sure his Homer’s are a tad low. But everything else is solid with him being on the dl twice
A tad low? If he weren’t hurt, he’d barely be on pace to reach 20 for a full season. That should be a huge disappointment for a hitter like him.
Let me get this straight: first it was Yu tipping his pitchers, but wait, he fixed it, then continued to get lit; now he has an injury?
I always tip my pitchers at least twenty percent
Yu Darvish is mentality unstable. He’s not hurt despite what the Chicago Cubs will tell you. This guys is so softer than Derek roses knees.
Dylan Cease was moved also because he is destined for the bullpen. Although he can be an elite closer, he only has two major league pitchers and struggles with fatigue and command.
Seems like the White Sox are having a pretty good time fixing those “struggles”…
Dylan Cease’s 1.99 ERA in AA as an exclusive starting pitcher would argue with your logic. He’s just come off of his second player of the week honor and was the White Sox pitcher of the month in July. As far as Cease’s repertoire as a starting pitcher, he possesses two plus plus pitches in his fastball and slider and an average changeup which is fast becoming a plus pitch. His primary question mark in becoming a successful starting pitcher wasn’t the quality of his pitches, it was his control which has been excellent this season. Barring any serious health issues, Cease is well on his way to becoming a top of the rotation MLB pitcher. Few pitching prospects who are rated in the upper half of the top-100 list are there because they possess ceilings as closers. Cease is no exception.
Btw-The White Sox might have some questionable marks in developing position players and hitters in their recent past but they still tend do a pretty good job with pitchers.
Everything will come full circle when “Q” signs back with the Sox as a FA after 2020. Same goes for Sale, although I’m sure the Yanks Dodgers or Cards will offer ridiculous money for ridiculous years
Why would the cardinals want anything to do with Sale or Quintana? Have you seen the starting pitching in that system? Hudson looks like a solid 2, Carlos is their number 1, Flaherty, Reyes, Weaver, Gant, Poncedelon, Gomber could be in easily be almost any other rotation. Not to mention the rest of the system is still stocked with starters and relievers. The cards will spend money on pitching, but they will be weary about it because big free agent committments to pitchers hasn’t always worked out. See the David Price, Jordan Zimmerman, and Yu Darvish deals to better understand this.
white sox fans need delusion in order to maintain their sanity. If they address reality, they could melt at the sheer impact of it all.
Lol
I still see Quintana pitching in the Majors, and the White Sox having nothing in the majors to show for it. Having Cease pitch well in the minors was hardly the motivation. Trading for a top prospect is not the same as adding a quality player to the major league team. Until the prospects contribute at the major league level, this trade still favors the Cubs.
It also helped them spend $100+ mil on Darvish and $30+ mil on Chatwood this offseason. How’s the deal looking to you now?
Everyone’s a hindsight genius.
Not really the point
kind of is the point , though
No, it’s not.
Although I’m sure some of you Cubs fans would find a way to argue you won the trade if the Sox sent you Shields for Amaya tomorrow. Shields is a MLB player, after all.
Or does flawed logic only work when it favors your team?
except its not my team. I just called you out for missing the argument. instead you doubled down. oh well. but I’m sure hindsight doesn’t factor in to the Tatis/Shields trade, right?
There was no point to your original post other than to state, what? The Cubs aren’t happy right now about the way those deals are going? Ya think?
“There was no point to your original post other than to state, what?”
How stupid the original argument was.
“instead you doubled down.”
Yes, I did. Sorry for assuming you were a Cubs fan. I assumed only a homer Cubs fan would buy into that logic so they can feel like they’re “winning” the trade. I apologize for reading you incorrectly.
“but I’m sure hindsight doesn’t factor in to the Tatis/Shields trade, right?”
Well, based on the logic being used here, hindsight doesn’t factor into that trade at all. The Sox are clearly winning that trade since Shields is a MLB pitcher and Tatis is still in the minors.
Let’s play a game – Out of Quintana/Eloy/Cease, which players have the same or greater value than they did last year?
The only “stupid” part of the original comment was saying it was a Cub’s win. But there is merit in the thought that until the prospects actually reach the majors, they’re just prospects. Quintana? He’s had some great starts and bad ones. If he strings a few solid ones together does everyone suddenly say it was a great trade for the Cubs?
And I don’t get the reference to the Darvish/Chatwood signings? Theo has been aggressive down the line and would’ve opened up payroll one way or the other to get who he wanted.
By this logic the White Sox won the Shields/Tatis Jr. trade.
It’s going to be really interesting later this season with the Cubs battling for a playoff spot and having the play the White Sox who potentially will have both Cease and Eloy Jiminez on the roster.
Cease isn’t being called up this year. His progression in minors has been as good as they could have dreamed. Some point 2019 if he keeps this up. Eloy maybe but guessing not simply b/c of flawed rule that incentivize holding studs back.
A lot of “GM”’s in this room. Hey maybe the Cubs should trade Vic Caratini for Mike Trout.
The Sox would trade you Cease and Jimenez for Trout if that happens.