The 2019 Trade Deadline Blogathon is just 11 days away, and we really need your support for Make-A-Wish! Every bit you can contribute helps to create wishes for Cubs fans who are need of a truly special moment. Consider giving here, and ensuring yourself madness at the Trade Deadline.
I am willing to bookend the Blogathon by starting for six hours on a folding chair outside Wrigley Field, and finish with six hours – including game coverage against the Cardinals! – at a dive bar in Wrigleyville. No idea how I would functionally pull that off (especially if I get talked into shots of Malort), but I am willing to do it if we can get this Blogathon up to 40 hours!
The calls for an Ian Happ call-up are going to grow stronger and stronger as the 24-year-old switch-hitting outfielder continues to really break back out at Iowa. Happ saw big league success before being sent back to Iowa to open this season in the hopes that he could significantly cut down on the strikeouts in his game while retaining the power, and that process has been ongoing since April. There were initial deep struggles across the board, and then there was a long stretch when the strikeouts went away almost completely (but so did the power and loft), and then there was a stretch where the power returned but the strikeouts crept back up.
Well, after another homer last night, Happ is in a new stretch and is doing this since July 2: .352/.462/.722 with a 24.6% K rate, a 16.9% BB rate, and a .370 ISO. That’s some superstar shit right there, albeit in a small sample at AAA Iowa. But it’s precisely what the Cubs have asked him to do, and it came as he finalized some tweaks:
A great read there from Tommy Birch, with feedback from Happ’s hitting coach at Iowa, and why things have played out as they have.
So should the Cubs call Happ back up tomorrow? Make him a bench guy rotating into the outfield? Replace Daniel Descalso? Or replace Albert Almora in center field on a more regular basis? I can’t help but wonder if the timing is going to be a challenge because of the Trade Deadline. The Cubs may prefer to wait until after the roster shakes out – as it relates to the deadline and any possible additions/subtractions – and also to let Happ keep raking at Iowa through July 31. It’s not impossible that Happ could be involved in a trade, though I will admit I hope he’s not.
I haven’t really gotten into the whole Mai Tai Guy home run ball thing because it felt like such a non-story to me in either direction. No, I wouldn’t have grabbed that ball in that particular situation, but I also don’t think it was egregious that Mai Tai Guy did. I just kinda shrug at the whole thing. That said, this is a nice gesture:
This is so very good, and a powerful example of the good that everyone can do in so many ways:
Good deals today at Amazon, including the complete Batman animated series, Thermoses, fancy audio, super cheap magazine subscriptions, and more.
Cole Roederer homered twice for the South Bend Cubs yesterday, which serves as a reminder that he is a very fun prospect who exists down on the farm, and I really don’t want to see him traded this month. That’s pretty much how it is right now for every prospect who does something well – I’m like, woo hoo! … oh, but crap, it’s trade season and some of these guys might disappear soon …
This is wild, man, and makes me wish we had some hot mics for Joe Maddon’s arguments:
Andrelton Simmons makes your eyes pop:
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