Editor’s note: This was written by Al Yellon, Managing Editor of Bleed Cubbie Blue. You can find my lowdown on the Astros on his website.
Hello, Astros fans!
The Cubs have a couple of your old friends on their active roster, so let’s talk about them first.
Kyle Tucker, obviously, is a great hitter and has been a huge boost to the Cubs offensively. One thing we did not know about Tucker before he came to the Cubs is how good a base stealer he is. Sure, he had 30 a couple of years ago but not only is he fifth in the NL with 18, he’s been caught only once.
But one other thing we didn’t know is… how shall I put this delicately? … he’s not really a very good outfielder. There’s a Gold Glove on his résumé but at times he takes weird routes to balls and appears to shy away from the Wrigley Field brick walls. (I get that, sure.) Overall he’s been great to have on the team, but is he really a $400 million player? Guess we’ll find out soon.
Then there’s Ryan Pressly, who was removed from the closer’s role after some early bad outings and was nicknamed “Stressly” by Cubs fans. Then there was the relief appearance you likely heard about against the Giants last month, where he faced eight batters and all of them reached base in an extra inning, perhaps the worst extra inning ever. He’s been relegated to middle relief duty.
As for the rest of the Cubs, you have certainly heard about Pete Crow-Armstrong, who is unexpectedly hitting for power in his first full season. The power was supposed to get better, but no one expected him to have more than 20 homers in late June. He also steals bases and catches pretty much every fly ball hit his way, and some that aren’t. He’s a likely All-Star starter.
Seiya Suzuki is also having an All-Star quality season and likely makes the team as a backup DH to Shohei Ohtani. He and PCA (everyone here calls him that) have a friendly homer competition going on.
Ian Happ is having his usual solid year at the plate and likely wins a fourth Gold Glove this year. First baseman Michael Busch is underrated both offensively and defensively and should put up a 4 bWar season this year and possibly also win a Gold Glove.
You’ll notice I haven’t really mentioned the starting pitching until now. It’s been shaky. Matthew Boyd was a great under-the-radar signing and Shōta Imanaga was spectacular until he suffered a hamstring injury in early May. To Houston’s advantage, you won’t see either of those guys in this series. The rest of the starters have had their moments, particularly Jameson Taillon, but soon, if not right now, the Cubs should be in the trade market for a quality starter.
Daniel Palencia, who throws 100-plus, has taken over closing duties from Pressly. The velocity has always been there for Palencia, it was just a matter of harnessing command and control, which he has done this year.
The Cubs are a good defensive team that doesn’t make many mistakes on the field, and a smart team led by manager Craig Counsell and unofficial team leader Dansby Swanson, who often goes into long hitting slumps but always plays sparkling defense.
The Astros are catching the Cubs in a down phase, as they have lost five of their last six entering Wednesday’s action, though they still lead the NL Central. I kind of miss the days when the Astros were a NL Central rival. Nice to see you, hope to take two of three.