It’s Monday which means we have a fresh Monday Morning Cubs Show featuring the World Famous Tim Mahoney.
It’s a loaded show with a lot of talking point so let me do my best to summarize:
- Overall I don’t want the show to just repeat common talking points. Obviously PCA is good but are there any concerns? And obviously Shota’s injury blows but do we have any silver linings? And obviously Cade Horton has been good in AAA but why is he so good and what could we expect in the big leagues? It’s a common theme for me to explain the stuff that doesn’t get talked about as much, which is why you don’t ever hear us lead with statistics or exit velocities or random numbers. We’re much more storyline driven and there’s great stories to talk about with the 2025 Cubs
- For example – I think Ian Happ does not like Pete Crow Armstrong. I think he’s annoyed by him and thinks he’s rather punkish in the outfield. You can tell in the body language and communication in the outfield and I don’t think it’s nuanced. There’s plenty of times Happ looks like he wants to strangle PCA, which is a recurring storyline we’ve followed from the beginning. Does PCA have friends on the roster? Does anyone? It’s a weird clubhouse compared to what we knew under Theo and it’s shaping up to be extremely professional. And given a choice, that’s my preference.
- Does any of this matter if PCA is going to slug .550? Probably not but worth talking through because there could be a blow up collision in left center one of these days and it won’t be Ian Happ’s fault.
- Conversely the relationship with Kyle Tucker and PCA looks outstanding to the point that I don’t think Kyle Tucker really cares at all in the least bit. He outwardly and explicitly told PCA to take every ball he can get to and nobody blames Kyle for that. You’d do the same if the only thing between you and $500,000,000 was a catastrophic head injury.
- We’re growing on Craig Counsell but I don’t want to give him too much credit right now.
- The biggest storyline people are talking about right now is Shota’s injury, and I think that’s taking away from the positivity behind a 4-2 week in the division. Long-term I want Shota healthy but right now I want to be positive about the Cubs vs. negative about the injury. Does that make sense? Because my priority in today’s show is celebrating the 4-2 week compared to lamenting the loss of Shota.
- Another reason I’m not as sad about losing Shota is that we’re 4-0 in starts missed by Justin Steele. Unrelated, of course. But telling that we’ve managed to be perfect without our #1. So it’s not foreign territory necessarily.
- Cade Horton should be sensational when he debuts. I talk a lot about his arm swing and why it’s so repeatable. And then I also explain his pitch selection and what you can expect from that type of arm swing. The short end of the analysis = it’s a very athletic motion with a ton of sharp break and action that mostly flows to his glove side. He’ll have excellent cut on his fastball and sharp slider/curve action. But weaker on the change and the two-seamer until he better develops that feel in-game. Reminds me a lot of a young Jacob deGrom or Gerrit Cole if we’re being dead honest and that’s no exaggeration.
- Moises Ballesteros is my favorite Cubs left handed hitting prospect of all time. One of my favorite Cubs minor leaguers ever. And easily my #1 Cubs prospect since Kris Bryant. I have never been more excited to see a hitter debut and I explain that in great detail today.
Next up is the Giants. We didn’t scout them too hard because it’s not that kinda show. I’d just point out they’ve had a good year against weaker competition and the Cubs at Wrigley should be one of their biggest tests. Even without Shota or Steele in the rotation, I like the Cubs a lot this week to start 2-1 at home before a tough weekend test in New York against the Mets.
One game at a time though and that starts tonight against Landen Roupp then tomorrow against the winless Justin Verlander before a Ben Brown rubber match Wednesday against the sensational Robbie Ray.
Taken together I like these match ups a lot and that’s why I have the Cubs going 2-1.
Obviously there’s a lot more behind this so go listen to the show. It’s as good as it’s ever been and we couldn’t pick better timing.
Go Cubs.