Case of the Splits, CarGo Booted, Kimbrel Focused, Netting News, Hiura Back, and Other Bullets

I’m coming up empty for this spot today. Happens sometimes. I’ll spend as much time thinking about what I want to put up here as I will two or three Bullets below. Try again tomorrow.

  • With another series split in the books for the Cubs (their third straight), they wrapped up a ten-game homestand with, well, a split. That’s not good when you’ve been playing as poorly on the road as the Cubs have, but, on the other hand, it’s a .500 stretch when you overall looked pretty non-competitive. I guess you just have to take it, and also hope that the positive energy from the best win of the year carries forward into this weekend’s series in Cincinnati.
  • I’m not saying it was definitely the reason the Cubs came back, but Carlos Gonzalez has been struggling and he was tossed for arguing a strike in the 4th inning:
  • Insult to ejection? It was definitely a strike (Brooks):
  • CarGo was definitely worth a flyer, given the roster and the state of things at the time, but he’s now hitting .175/.306/.300 with the Cubs after an even worse start with the Indians, and two down years in 2017 and 2018. Maybe there’s some fix still out there, but 33-year-old lefty can currently not hit velocity of any kind, and it’s completely sunk his performance. I don’t think he’s long for the roster.
  • (Photo by Nuccio DiNuzzo/Getty Images)

  • This is too perfect. When Craig Kimbrel took the mound for the first time yesterday with the Cubs, and then put up his right arm in his signature pose, the crowd erupted. But Kimbrel didn’t even notice (Cubs.com): “I was pretty locked in, sorry.”
  • Kimbrel admits it might take him a little time to feel like he’s back to a normal place: “The first one’s always a tough one. Mentally, I’ve been kind of slowly going through this. It might take a week or so until I’m settled in. But, it’s still good enough right now.”
  • How great is it to now have the ability to line up the bullpen – if you want – where you can cover the 6th inning with Steve Cishek, the 7th inning with Brandon Kintzler, the 8th inning with Pedro Strop, and the 9th inning with Craig Kimbrel? It won’t always work out like that, and you hope for more length from your starting pitcher anyway, but on the days you can/need to do it? It’s glorious.
  • El Mago is just like us:
  • Wild across the board:
  • Kyle Schwarber sure likes hitting leadoff:
  • The Illinois political machine is getting involved in the baseball netting situation:
  • I’m not here for the politics, but I do heartily support the desired outcome of increasing netting at ballparks across the country. We recently learned just how serious the injury was to the fan who was struck by the Albert Almora foul ball in Houston, and it’s heartbreaking.
  • The Brewers finally decided they’d seen enough Travis Shaw to option him and bring back top prospect Keston Hiura, whom you may recall raked at AAA and then was called up earlier this year, he raked at the big league level, and then was optioned back to AAA for just long enough that he will miss being a Super Two down the road. Such an unfortunate coincidence for him that that’s exactly how long the Brewers needed to observe Shaw.
  • Anyway, consider the Brewers’ offense now considerably improved. At least they struggled badly in the interim. Speaking of which, I think Christian Yelich’s insane season has obscured just how badly some key Brewers bats have done this year. In addition to Shaw being abysmal, they’ve got Lorenzo Cain at just .253/.314/.357 (77 wRC+), though that’ll come up as soon as he gets to play the Cubs again. Jesus Aguilar is still struggling (.203/.310/.320, 69), and Ryan Braun has barely been above average. They’ve largely been carried by Yelich, though cheap one-year signings Mike Moustakas and Yasmani Grandal are also hitting very well (way to go, market!).
  • A fancy cookware set is Amazon’s Deal of the Day, but they also have a cheap-as-heck TV for Prime members.
  • A name to keep an eye on, perhaps:
  • Pinango was signed to a relatively healthy bonus out of Venezuela, where not every organization is deeply invested anymore because of the political unrest. That is to say, even though I’ll admit I don’t recall hearing anything about him until this year, he might be “a guy.”
  • ded:
  • So, as we’ve worked with Obvious Shirts this year, I’ve gotten to know its founder (it’s a one-man shop) Joe pretty well, and I am very glad to see that this worked out for him. Basically, someone out west was trying to steal his designs/style/slogans/story(!)/etc., and fans rallied to make things right. Makes me feel happy to know that people can help when you need it:
  • written by

    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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