2024 Cubs Heroes and Goats: Game 106 (2024)

I will admit I’m a sucker for Willie Harris’ leaping high-fives. I’d love to see him as the third base coach on a team that hit about 250 homers. You know, at least in part because of the 250 homers and all of the fun that would be.

Hey, if all it takes for the Cubs offense to get it in gear is for me to get crabby, I can change the settings over here. If only it were that easy. If you’ve followed me for very long, you know I’m going to be rooting for them to succeed in every situation. Tanking has never been a particularly effective process in baseball and with the introduction of a lottery to the process, that is even more true.

So there isn’t a ton of benefit for allowing the team to fall far enough to have the worst record. Also, no one is going to catch the White Sox for that distinction. Not that I’ve ever had any super affection for the Sox, but I’ve also never been someone who wished ill on them. I was born and raised in Chicago and have cheered on all of its teams at various times. I hope for them that they get the first overall pick and that they nail it. I would wish that for any struggling team. Baseball is better when all pf the teams are competitive.

But you don’t come here to talk about the Sox, you come here for Cubs talk. I’ve had the strange distinction of now being here to discuss two pinch hit grand slams. Virtually all of you surely remember David Bote’s walk-off grand slam six years ago. That one produced a nifty .906 WPA event. That one came with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, down three. That’s the literal largest WPA event possible. That is the gold standard by which all other plays are measured.

Patrick Wisdom duplicated the feat to some extent. His came with the Cubs down one with one out in the seventh. I’ll tip the hat to Craig Counsell for a move that worked. Earlier in the week I was critical of a game in which Wisdom pinch hit for Michael Busch, who has consistently been the Cubs most productive player. It didn’t work out in that one, but as Counsell pointed out, Patrick had a good plate appearance that just didn’t work out.

Pinch hitting for Pete Crow-Armstrong, who had already affected this game with his legs, was an interesting choice. But boy did it work. Wisdom’s grand slam was worth a fantastic .382 WPA and propelled the team to ending a three-game skid. For one day at least, there was joy in the Cubs kingdom.

The other big news from Saturday was the Cubs’ first trade of this trade season. It is the kind of move the Cubs have made quite often recently. They grabbed a guy with very live stuff hoping that a change of scenery and some work in their pitch lab can unlock the potential. They get a sneak peek here in 2024 and can get an up close idea as to if they can have success there. There have been many, but Julian Merryweather is, I think, the gold standard there.

Don’t let this trade confuse you. This wasn’t a pick up with an eye on 2024. Any value there is happenstance. This is about a potentially controllable arm going forward that might provide excess value. Any good team should be trying to make these kinds of moves all of the time. As I said yesterday, a team needs to be finding as many possible bodies to fill slots 17-26 on the roster with low cost, controllable options. In reality that is spots 17-45 on the roster. You run through even more players than that during the season.

The sources I trust for minor league information suggested that the players that left were solid but unspectacular. At least one of them is going to need a roster spot or possibly leave in the Rule 5 draft and wasn’t going to get that in Chicago. This is an excellent start to trade season. It might not produce any positive value ever. But it’s worth a shot. We can assume that one or more relievers will be traded and we’re going to need some bodies to cover those innings.

The rehabbing Adbert Alzolay, Caleb Killian and Keegan Thompson are all likely to be a part of that. Jordan Wicks and Ben Brown will probably return to get some innings in too. Were this team competitive, that would be one heck of a cavalry and a developing roster jam. As a non-contender, this makes virtually everyone on the pitching staff tradeable.

If you ask me, Pete Crow-Armstrong is probably the only player I wouldn’t consider trading in the right situation. Also, if a franchise altering trade were offered for PCA, I’d probably do that. And for me that is always the sliding scale. I would trade guys like Shōta Imanaga and Michael Busch. But the barometer just goes up. For guys who are under control and productive, you raise the bar on the return.

I’ve been asked before how I would approach this. For me, the minimum bar is for an expiring contract player. For any given expiring contract, I’d take either a player well away from the majors or a player much closer to the majors with significant issues to be worked out. Then you just slide from there. For the expiring contracts, you might as well be open to trading them. You have a nice conversation with them and thank them for their contributions and then you can always talk with them in the offseason to see if a reunion makes sense.

This team needs impact talent. Imanaga this season has been the closest to that. Justin Steele is the player with the most body of work at that level. I’d be skeptical of trading either one. But call me with an offer of a guy who I think is certain to be a star in the league and maybe one or two other guys who flash star potential? I’m not going to hang the phone up on you. Pitchers like Imanaga and Steele are incredibly difficult to find. But this organization absolutely has to find a way to accumulate star talent. It doesn’t want to throw around $200 million contracts, so trading for prospects is probably their best avenue to success.

As I have believed forever, the best use of money for this organization is spent on acquiring any scout or player development person that they have synergy with. Scouting and player development matter above all else. Those areas have come a long way for this organization, but they are far from the gold standard group in major league baseball.

Let’s find the three most positive performances in this win.

1. It’s hard to upstage a grand slam in the only plate appearance in the game. This was Wisdom’s game. Patrick’s contributions since he first hit the scene in 2021 are more than a little under appreciated.
2. Porter Hodge faced four batters, retiring all of them and striking out one. At three runs, the Cubs lead was hardly insurmountable. The Wisdom slam made things a little easier for the pen, but add another 3⅓ innings with just one run allowed.
3. Seiya Suzki had a pair of hits, one a two-run homer He was also intentionally walked. Nine hits, including two homers and a triple and three walks drawn. With some slug in there, 12 base runners turns into nine runs. A little fortunate on the sequencing, but again slug helps sequencing an awful lot.

Game 106, July 27: Cubs 9, Royals 4 (50-56)

Fangraphs

Reminder: Heroes and Goats are determined by WPA scores and are in no way subjective.

THREE HEROES:

• Superhero: Patrick Wisdom (.382). 1-1, HR, 4 RBI, R
• Hero: Seiya Suzuki (.149). 2-4, HR, BB, 2 RBI, R
• Sidekick: Shōta Imanaga (.115). 5⅔ IP, 22 batters, 6 H, 3 R, 3 K, HBP, WP

THREE GOATS:

• Billy Goat: Julian Merryweather (-.293). IP, 6 batters, 2 H, BB, R
• Goat: Miguel Amaya (-.144). 0-3
• Kid: Nico ho*rner (-.078). 0-5, RBI

WPA Play of the Game: Patrick Wisdom’s grand slam. (.382)

*Royals Play of the Game: Hunter Renfroe batted with runners on second and third with two outs against Julian Merryweather in the sixth, the Cubs up one. Renfroe singled and the Royals took the lead, setting the stage for Wisdom’s homer in the seventh. (.287)

Cubs Player of the Game:

Yesterday’s Winner: No one received 115 of 123 votes. As always, I’ve promised to only do that a few times a year and after a real stinker. Wisdom gets the hat tip there as the only named write in.

Rizzo Award Cumulative Standings: (Top 5/Bottom 5)

The award is named for Anthony Rizzo, who finished first in this category three of the first four years it was in existence and four times overall. He also recorded the highest season total ever at +65.5. The point scale is three points for a Superhero down to negative three points for a Billy Goat.

• Shōta Imanaga +16.5
• Seiya Suzuki +15.5
• Jameson Taillon +12
• Ben Brown +11
• Mark Leiter Jr./Michael Busch +9
• Miles Mastrobuoni -9
• Adbert Alzolay/Miguel Amaya -10
• Kyle Hendricks -14
• Christopher Morel -20.5

*Wisdom up to -2, Suzuki closes on Imanaga but they both gain on everyone else but Wisdom. Merryweather down to -2, Amaya drops into third from the bottom, ho*rner down to -0.5.

Up Next: Hugwatch continues as the Cubs look to win a series and dent the Royals’ postseason hopes. Javier Assad (4-3, 3.15) hasn’t looked right since returning from the injured list and battled control in his last outing. The Royals start lefty Cole Ragens (7-6, 3.23). Who’s ready for the Cubs against another guy who was a first round draft pick (30th overall of the Rangers in 2016)?