urban cowboy

Is Kristian Campbell showing any signs of "recovery?"

Very helpful! Any sense of how long a 2.5ish takes to heal?

I'm not familiar with BTV. Why is Chapman negative? He could be the key to a contender, no?

I'm all for bunting now and then... but did we just sacrifice our best base-stealer down 3 runs in the sixth? I'm following on gamecast -- hoping they just recorded it wrong?

As bad as things are, we are not out of it by any stretch. Duran wakes up, Anthony comes back, Mayer figures it out, and durbin can't be this bad. Hell maybe even Casas makes an appearance (okay, I'm reaching now). Pitching is solid. ... Painful as it is, we're not out of it all!

Alvarez has been hurt a lot. Might be someone who won't last or hits an early decline. As bad as this year has been so far, I wouldn't panic and give away young pitching. Maybe take our lumps for now and hope that things start to click in the second half -- which isn't that crazy.

yep! but always difficult to "sell high" -- maybe they have turned the corner and this is real?

The only one I really have a gripe with is Campbell. He doesn't even have a position. That's insane.

Strike me as a .500 team. Pitching is good. But... how do they score? no power, no speed ... no plan.

It does seem like a 4-2 lead at this point is game over. Eek! Edit: slight hesitation with Abreau's single, but Story didn't disappoint.

Is it time to send Durbin down? Not like there's a lot of other great options, tho.

I dunno what to do with Yoshida. Absolutely a professional hitter, but a slow singles hitter at the top of the order offends me, haha! It seems to me that we'll need to manufacture runs ... need for speed.

Seems like a classic #3 hitter. I'd put him there and leave him. We don't seem to have a leadoff hitter ... maybe Duran? Might be worth giving him a chance to work it out there.

Whether intentional, or just thrifty, it seems they are getting the financial house in order. Long term, it's much better to invest in the farm system, be patient, and make selective "over-pays" for big names. I think we have an excellent foundation and should stick with the players we have been developing, e..g., I wouldn't give up on Casas or Campbell, or even Mayer for that matter. Don't spend for the sake of spending. Bregman, dodged a bullet. Saurez, yuck. Even Contreras ... meh. (granted he was not super expensive)

Phew, that is a horrific over-pay that the cubs will soon regret.