NEWSLETTER
The Chicago Cubs season – one marked by disappointments and unexpected change – wrapped just before our server wound up dealing with some disappointing issues and unexpected change. Gotta love that synchronicity! NOT! That is to say, if you notice any site problems today (pages won’t load, parts of pages don’t load, things look wrong, it won’t connect via HTTPS, it won’t automatically add the ‘www’, etc.), please let me know. We’ve had to completely update how folks are connecting to our server, and I expect a lot of hiccups in the process. One tip for those of you who have the site bookmarked: update your bookmark to the full, formal, official address thingy: “https://www.bleachernation.com”. Sorry/thanks.
OK, and now Bullets, which I’ll admit: I’m so scattered. Between the end of the season and the server issues, I’m kind of a mess trying to put these together. Again with the sorries.
• End-of-season stuff will roll out over the course of the coming days – there’s way more to get into than I could/would in the next day’s Bullets – so I’ll stick to focusing on the final game here. Frank Schwindel finished strong, with a couple hits, including a double, though not quite strong enough to get that OPS back over 1.000. Thanks to his first three-game slump of the year with the Cubs (literally!) before yesterday, we finally got a “bad” week of numbers to report for Schwindel: .222/.263/.306 (53 wRC+). It seriously took the entire second half for us to finally get a full week where you could show bad results for Schwindel, which I think is quite the compliment. And under the hood, he only struck out 13.2% this past week, with a soft BABIP and ISO. He didn’t make his usual bit of extremely strong contact this past week. But he wasn’t atrocious. That’s as bad as it got for Schwindel all year.
• He wound up hitting .342/.389/.613 (163) over 239 PAs with the Cubs. Schwindel is a holy lock to be on the Cubs’ 26-man roster next year, with his precise role still to be determined. But the Cubs should be angling toward giving him starter-ish at bats right out of the gate, either as the first baseman, the DH, or a combination of the two.
• Also a good day yesterday for Matt Duffy (totally the two corner infielders you pictured for the Cubs in the finale back in March, right?). After a deep, deep slump for the middle part of the season (probably tied to the back issue), Duffy wound up finishing the year with a very Duffy-like .287/.357/.381 (102 wRC+) slash line. Doesn’t hit for power. Doesn’t really walk. Doesn’t strike out. Just kinda slaps some line drives and is entirely reliant on having a strong BABIP – .351 this year. That’s probably above his true-talent level, but that’s how some of these types of guys are. Some years you get the BABIP bump and they are a productive hitter, and some years you don’t, and they aren’t. Having showed himself to be a capable defender at third and second, and having reinforced the type of hitter he is, I would be fine with the Cubs bringing back Duffy on a modest deal to be a part of the bench.
• They are not likely to stick with the team for much longer, but it’s really dang cool that guys like Trent Giambrone, Tyler Payne, and Erick Castillo got to make their big league debuts this past week.
• Speaking of which, I’m not sure we’ll see TOO much roster maneuvering this month as the postseason goes on. There can be waivers and outrights for 40-man purposes, and we have seen the Cubs put in claims before. To open up the space to do that, the Cubs might DFA/release someone(s) in the coming days. Otherwise, though, we might not see much internal roster maneuvering until free agency officially opens up after the end of the World Series.
• This is interesting. I’m absolutely not saying it means anything. It’s just INTERESTING. We don’t have to fight about it – there will be plenty of time for that! For those who can’t see, it’s basically indicating that Ian Happ statistically outproduced every traded Cub after the deadline:
Ian Happ v. all the guys the Cubs traded from August 1 onward: pic.twitter.com/9ta8wF0VVW
— Brad (@ballskwok) October 4, 2021
• Hope we get to see more of this guy next year:
So grateful to play in front of the best fans in baseball! I know the season didn’t go as we planned but thank you for showing up and making the newcomers feel welcomed! 🙏🏾 pic.twitter.com/9UWYvYX3eG
— Michael Hermosillo (@mhermosillo10) October 3, 2021
• Yikes. Apparently Max Muncy suffered some kind of injury yesterday that’ll keep him out of the Wild Card Game against the Cardinals, at a minimum. (And we’re rooting for the Dodgers, right? I mean, I think when I’m actually sitting there watching, even if I kinda hate the Dodgers, I just cannot possibly envision myself getting happy about the Cardinals doing anything well. So … go Dodgers.)
• The video wrap on 2021:
2021 was unlike any other. @jonmorosi pic.twitter.com/LGTbyIJWRj
— Marquee Sports Network (@WatchMarquee) October 3, 2021
• Anthony Rizzo, celebrating with the Yankees, cool cool cool:
https://twitter.com/Yankees/status/1444864284136198148
• Just 135 more days …
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