Road Woes, No More Murphy, Contreras OK With Whiffs, Trade Chips, and Other Bullets

Jun 12, 2019

I am not TRYING to listen to this first date sitting next to me at the coffee shop. Truly, I am trying to focus on my work. But they are loudly falling in love with each other instantly. Good for them.

Hey, so the Cubs haven’t won on the road in a while, eh? May 29 in Houston, to be precise, as part of a series loss. Some of that is a natural product of playing some really good teams in places where it’s hard to win, but it also feels like some of it is a little bigger than that. Right now, the Cubs are 13 games over at home, and 5 games under on the road. With five more games on this road trip – the latter four of which going through Los Angeles – that number may not improve.

Speaking of that trip to Los Angeles, the Dodgers look like they’ll be without Corey Seager, who strained his hamstring last night.

We were SO CLOSE to an all-time moment, if this tag had reached Daniel Murphy’s face:

https://twitter.com/Cut4/status/1138652876505591808

By the way, thank the Good Lord above that today should be the last time we see Daniel Murphy this season (no trades!). He continues to just kill the Cubs. Every game. Every at bat. Every pitch. It’s brutal.

This is a picture of a player losing his helmet. Would’ve guessed minor league game, but Kris Bryant is in the background, so I’m not sure who or where this was:

(Photo by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images)

Interesting aside in Ken Rosenthal’s latest: part of the reason for Willson Contreras’s success this year is becoming less afraid of striking out. In other words … maybe not sacrificing power for contact? Hmm. Sounds familiar …

On the year, Contreras’s strikeout rate is up 5.7 percentage points … but his ISO is up 110(!) points, and his slugging is up 139(!) points! So, yeah. It’s working.

This is a fantastic read, but it’s so hard not to see Tyson Miller, Brailyn Marquez, and Riley Thompson discussed as possible midseason trade chips and instantly clench:

Which Cubs pitching prospects could be on #HugWatch this July? "It’s always in the back of your mind when you know you’re pitching well." @PJ_Mooney: https://t.co/AIfN4hQGjJ
— The Athletic (@TheAthleticCHI) June 11, 2019

Roomba, men’s shaving gear, and much more are your Deals of the Day at Amazon today.

I failed, and it was probably because of the kissy face:

Doing my part tonight. So when Javy goes deep, you'll know who to thank. 😘@obvious_shirts https://t.co/c2qUkDCuXY pic.twitter.com/DQW5eDxn1D
— Bleacher Nation (@BleacherNation) June 11, 2019

Remember Eloy Jimenez? Yeah, he still hits it really, really, really far:

Eloy Jiménez absolutely CRUSHED this baseball.

(#WhiteSox x @budweiserusa) pic.twitter.com/BwOd82yXhD

— Chicago White Sox (@whitesox) June 12, 2019

A bit of a controversial take in the Bears world:

Ha Ha Clinton-Dix was a HS All-American, Consensus All-American at Alabama, first-round pick, and Pro Bowler. With that prospect pedigree, is it any surprise the Bears front office have graded him higher than Adrian Amos?https://t.co/rP4IdZBpio
— Bleacher Nation Bears (@BN_Bears) June 11, 2019

Rumors and draft talk among the Bulls items of note:

The Lonzo-Bulls Rumors Are Not Dying Down https://t.co/0f8DiAueRB pic.twitter.com/KqPZjQXqCK

— Bleacher Nation Bulls (@BN_Bulls) June 11, 2019

Getting to Know Potential Bulls First-Round Draft Target Jarrett Culver (Who Was in Chicago Today!) https://t.co/Slzh2HpQEQ pic.twitter.com/cB1zvIakkm
— Bleacher Nation Bulls (@BN_Bulls) June 11, 2019

written by

Brett Taylor

Brett Taylor is the Lead Cubs Writer at Bleacher Nation, and you can find him on Twitter at @BleacherNation and on LinkedIn here. Brett is also the founder of Bleacher Nation, which opened up shop in 2008 as an independent blog about the Chicago Cubs. Later growing to incorporate coverage of other Chicago sports, Bleacher Nation is now one of the largest regional sports blogs on the web.

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