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Fowler is the team's MVP position player as of now. And I never thought I'd be typing that.

The starting pitching staff, though. They the real MVP

lost two arrieta starts in a row

sucks for soler, he's just starting to heat up

baez is hot

almora off to a good start

Nice win after a tough loss. Looks like Alomor will just give more flexibility to the lineup and some great D.

They basically said the other day Almora's here to see if he "sticks", and if not, he'll go back down in a couple weeks. A lot depends on the severity of Soler's hammy. Some beat reporters are saying they're hearing it's more than 15 days. It's a no pressure situation, as this wasn't a guy being called up for good (unless he earns it).

so kind of like schwarber last year

hermes wrote:so kind of like schwarber last year

Exactly.

And with the re-acquiring of Coghlan, it makes you wonder a little bit. I get LaStella went on the DL, but the timing just seems a bit off as Coghlan's not a guy you get to send to Iowa.

so the draft's going on, we get anyone good?

hermes wrote:so the draft's going on, we get anyone good?

No one earth shattering, but they also didn't have a pick until day 2

offense seems to be heating up lately (especially with the home runs)

hermes wrote:offense seems to be heating up lately (especially with the home runs)

Yes, but it was also about 105 on the field in Atlanta, and their pitching staff is dog food. Cautious optimism.

moar offense!

Great game.. Congrats to Albert Almora!

rizzo!

no!

ugh

Willson Contreras got the call up. Dude just keeps on hitting. I don't know how his glove is but it could not be worse than Montero has been this year. Even with Ross having a better year hitting, combined with Montero the hitting production out of the catcher position has been bad.

Hopefully Contreras is the everyday guy next season... if he can produce like his minor league numbers indicate.

Hoping Willson continues to be a pleasant surprise. No pressure on this kid, and he's got two veterans on each ear. I think the situation is golden for him. I'm assuming he's looking at catching around 30-35 games for the rest of the year while pinch hitting. That should give him around 150 ABs. Enough action to keep him from being stale but lots of hands on time with the two veterans.

Next year I'd also expect him to be the everyday guy. I predict Maddon sticks with the 3 catcher roster with Schwarbs being one of the 3, so it'd be Willson, (future veteran defensive stud backup), Schwarber. I'd say the C position breaks up like this next year.

Willson - 90 games
(future veteran defensive stud) - 30-35 games
Schwarber - 30-35 games


I also predict we'll see Willson playing some first base to be the future backup for Anthony Rizzo. Contreras should get plenty of ABs in different ways. 500+ ABs to be had.

Willson
- 90 or so games behind the plate = 400 ABs
- back up Rizzo at 1st, 10-15 games = 40-50 ABs
- misc pinch hitting, OF, 3B = 40-50 ABs

With a surgically repaired knee, the Schwarber catching experiment should be over.

Big Blue Train keeps rolling. Choo Chooooooooo