Latest news with #ex-Cub
Chicago Tribune
18 hours ago
- Business
- Chicago Tribune
Column: What to watch in July for Cubs and White Sox, including a Mark Buehrle tribute and City Series Round 2
June went by quickly for the Chicago Cubs, who went 13-13 and missed out on a chance to put some space between them and their closest pursuers, the Milwaukee Brewers and St. Louis Cardinals. But they avoided any prolonged skids and enter July in good position to make the postseason for the first time in a non-pandemic year since 2018. Soon we'll find out whether Cubs President Jed Hoyer can add pitching and bench help for the stretch run and whether the offense can continue to operate at a franchise-record pace. The outlook for the White Sox isn't quite as rosy as that of the Cubs, but neither is the short-term goal. The Sox won three of their last four to go 10-16 in June and remain on pace for 108 losses, which would be the franchise's second-most behind last year's record-setting 121-loss team. General manager Chris Getz will be a trade-deadline seller this month, though he doesn't have as many quality pieces to dangle as in 2024, when Garrett Crochet, Erick Fedde and Michael Kopech were all rumored to be dealt and only Crochet remained the rest of the season. Here are seven things to look forward to this month for the Cubs and Sox. This goes for almost every team, of course, but the Cubs and Sox might be part of more rumors than most because one is a motivated buyer and the other a motivated seller. The question for Hoyer is whether he can acquire a big-ticket item no matter the cost. After missing out on free agent Alex Bregman in February, Hoyer said the Cubs were 'really close' to their payroll limit. 'We have a little bit of money for some small in-season things,' he said. 'But this was obviously a significant exception.' Now that the Cubs are where they are, would Chairman Tom Ricketts let Hoyer stretch the budget for Mitch Keller or Sandy Alcantara? Getz, making his second appearance as a trade-deadline seller, had an uninspiring debut last year while dumping Eloy Jiménez, Paul DeJong and Tanner Banks for minor prospects and keying on Miguel Vargas, acquired in the three-way deal involving Fedde, Kopech and Tommy Pham. Vargas has rebounded from a poor start in 2025 to turn a bad trade around, though he returns to Los Angeles on Tuesday in a slump with a .108 average and .403 OPS over the last 10 games. Moving Luis Robert Jr. always was going to be difficult, and now Robert's 0.0 WAR and another hamstring injury could make it next to impossible for Getz — unless he just wants to cut bait, as he did with Jiménez last July. Willson Contreras' return to Wrigley Field with the Cardinals this weekend is sure to stir emotions after he reacted poorly to being hit by a Daniel Palencia pitch in the ninth inning of a Cubs win Thursday at Busch Stadium. Contreras later apologized for his actions, but whether Cubs fans will resort to booing the popular ex-Cub remains to be seen. The Sox will unveil Mark Buehrle's statue July 11 in what should be a full house at Rate Field. Few players in team history have been as universally respected by fans as Buehrle, who not only threw a perfect game among his two no-hitters, but also pitched out of the bullpen in Game 3 of the 2005 World Series after having multiple adult beverages in the clubhouse, believing he wouldn't be needed. Sox fans also will see slugger Dick Allen posthumously inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame on July 27 in Cooperstown, N.Y. Even though Allen will have a Philadelphia Phillies cap on his plaque, there's no disputing where his heart lay. Allen was always partial to the South Side. 'It's better than anywhere I've been my whole baseball career, I might say my whole baseball life,' Allen told me in 2020, referring to his Sox tenure (1972-74). 'I've never been treated any better. You guys are the best for my money.' The Sox visit the Colorado Rockies this weekend at Coors Field in a battle of not-so-super flyweights. The Rockies are 19-65 and on pace to smash the Sox's all-time losses record, but like the Sox, they also went 10-16 in June, which is bad but not abysmal. It should be a close series and could come down to whoever wants it the least. The Rockies are 8-13 in one-run games, while the Sox are 5-20. The Rockies are averaging 29,454 per game at Coors Field, so fans don't seem particularly bothered by the losing. With the All-Star Game being played July 15 in Atlanta, MLB is expected to announce this month which city will host the 2027 game. It's the worst-kept secret in baseball that the Cubs are likely to be awarded their first Midsummer Classic at Wrigley since 1990. Act surprised anyway. A rainout at Wrigley on June 18 spoiled the Cubs' chance to face sensational 6-foot-7 Brewers rookie Jacob Misiorowski, who throws 103 mph. They might not be so lucky when they face the Brewers again at so-called Wrigley North on July 28-30 in Milwaukee. Misiorowski is 3-0 in three starts, allowing no runs on three hits with 19 strikeouts in 16 innings. Cubs starting pitchers were 9-10 in June with a 4.87 ERA, which ranked 24th in the majors and was well behind the Milwaukee starters. The Brewers added the rookie phenom and ranked fourth in June with a 3.22 ERA and 12-6 record. The Cubs swept the first round of the City Series in May at Wrigley and have won a record eight straight against the Sox dating to Aug. 16, 2023. The finale of the first series featured a minor eruption when Brad Keller hit Vargas with a pitch in the eighth inning with a four-run lead, upsetting the Sox infielder. Vargas hit three home runs in the series and said, 'I guess you face the price for doing good at the plate.' Keller, who briefly pitched for the Sox in 2024, said he didn't understand why Vargas was upset. It wasn't exactly A.J. versus Barrett, but there's always a chance for a brouhaha whenever the Cubs and Sox meet.
Chicago Tribune
25-04-2025
- Sport
- Chicago Tribune
Column: Are the Chicago Cubs an elite NL team? Early returns are promising despite some glaring issues.
I was watching MLB Network on mute Wednesday to avoid hearing the latest news on the New York Yankees when a chyron popped up that piqued my interest. 'Do Cubs Belong Among National League's Elite?' It was an intriguing topic, but since I already knew the answer would be 'yes,' I didn't bother turning up the sound to listen to my friend Jon Heyman. The Cubs are back, and it's now official. And this time it's real? Maybe. Last year's 17-9 start proved to be a false spring, one that lulled fans into thinking Craig Counsell replacing David Ross was the real difference between an 83-win Cubs team and the postseason. Then 2024 turned into another 83-win team without a postseason, and fans told themselves they'd need much more evidence in 2025 to get excited. But here we are again, with a 16-10 Cubs team that has made it through the gauntlet of the Los Angeles Dodgers, San Diego Padres and Arizona Diamondbacks, not to mention the Japan trip and two West Coast trips. The Cubs enter their weekend series against the Philadelphia Phillies as a team whose arrow is pointing up, and for the believers, it's only a matter of how high it will go. Jed Hoyer, the lame-goose president of baseball operations, is suddenly an early-season candidate for Executive of the Year. Kyle Tucker might be the NL's Most Valuable Player in his walk year, and Pete-Crow Armstrong could start in center field in the All-Star Game. It's almost a perfect start for a team that could have used the Japan trip and a difficult schedule as excuses for any early setbacks. But late and dramatic comeback wins against the Diamondbacks and Dodgers helped obscure shoddy bullpen performances and inefficiencies at third base. Fortunately, neither Counsell nor Hoyer is celebrating — or standing still. 'The idea that we can exhale after this is wrong,' Hoyer said Tuesday. 'We had a good April last year, too, and we erased that pretty quickly. I do think last year was a pretty good lesson.' The 2024 Cubs memorably went from nine games over .500 on April 27 to nine games under on July 3, effectively ending their chances of contending. They simply stopped hitting in late April and didn't recover for more than two months. In 60 games from April 27-July 2, they batted .217 with a .348 slugging percentage and .648 OPS while averaging 3.5 runs per game. Their high-leverage relievers also imploded, including Héctor Neris, who was eventually released on Aug. 20. Neris is long gone, now pitching in the minors after the Los Angeles Angels signed him following his release from the Atlanta Braves. Yet the Cubs bullpen remains a glaring concern, leading to the lightning-quick decisions to demote Luke Little and Jordan Wicks after poor outings and a shorter leash for Nate Pearson, also sent to Triple-A Iowa. Drew Pomeranz, 36, is the latest reclamation project, and ex-Cub Michael Fulmer, 32, was signed to a minor-league deal and will report to Iowa. Remember all that talk about the Cubs finally stocking the system with young arms? Closer Ryan Pressly had his right knee drained, Counsell announced after Wednesday's game, potentially making the late-inning decision-making more difficult. Daniel Palencia, Julian Merryweather and Porter Hodge combined for three one-hit innings Wednesday, but if Pressly is unavailable for any stretch, the Cubs will need another high-leverage reliever and hope those three, and perhaps Pomeranz, can fill the void. The Cubs' 5.17 ERA from relievers ranked 27th in baseball Thursday, considerably worse than last year's 3.81 ERA and not the mark of an 'elite' team. So why is it so hard to build a bullpen? 'It's hard for everybody,' Hoyer replied. Confirmed, though it seems to be an annual conundrum on the North Side. The Cubs had an extended stretch in summer 2023 when Adbert Alzolay, Merryweather, Mark Leiter Jr. and Fulmer solidified the final three or four innings, but injuries and ineffectiveness set in by September, and the Cubs blew a wild-card spot, leading to Ross' ouster. 'You know going into the season that's the area of the team you're going to be constantly working on,' Hoyer said. 'Waivers, trades. … It's not very often if you have a position on the field that's struggling (where) you're going to go on waivers and find someone that's going to help you. In the bullpen, it happens all the time.' We'll have to take his word for it. Either way, it looks as if the Cubs bullpen will be a revolving door for the immediate future as Hoyer scours the waiver wires and Counsell searches for a combination that consistently works. They also hope to find a third baseman who can catch the ball and hit on occasion after Rule 5 pick Gage Workman was designated for assignment following his two-error game Tuesday. Workman earned a roster spot in spring training, then quickly lost it in April. Nicky Lopez, who was let go in spring training and made a mound appearance for the Angels on opening day against the White Sox, is back for another shot, joining Vidal Bruján, Jon Berti and Justin Turner. Matt Shaw was 1-for-13 in his first four games at Iowa, so the rookie who started in Japan is unlikely to return from Des Moines any time soon. Cubs third basemen are homerless this season and hitting a combined .169, with a league-worst seven errors. They were second-worst last year with 26 combined errors when Christopher Morel, Nick Madrigal and Isaac Paredes were still around. New faces, same problem. So it's probably too soon to declare the Cubs an elite NL team. But the good news is Hoyer and Counsell are not waiting weeks or months to let struggling players figure things out, as they did last summer with undeniable success with Crow-Armstrong, who is now one of their most valuable players. The difference might be that Crow-Armstrong's Gold Glove-caliber defense never suffered, letting Counsell remain patient that PCA's hitting would eventually come around. This unstated 'do-it-or-depart' methodology might put more pressure on young relievers and the third-base collective to perform. But so be it.
