On this episode of The Ivy Envy Podcast, we talk about the slump the Cubs are in…you know the one where they’ve gone 5-1 in the last week. Well, the record is a little misleading. Tremendous starting and relief pitching have kept the Cubs moving forward while the offense continues to sputter.

We talk about the last week in Cubs baseball, focusing on the series with the Marlins series.

The Donn Roach era MIGHT be over as the Cubs add Clayton Richard. It’s hard to say what Richard’s future with the Cubs is, but he performed well on Saturday night in the Cubs 7-1 win over the Marlins.

We have a number of listener email to read and we discuss various topics that they bring up. Kurt gives us his Scary Stat of the Week and we read a handful of internet muscle flexes.

On this week’s episode, we discuss our joy that the Cubs’ 5-game losing streak is over, but we don’t believe one win (by a 1-0 score) is enough to convince us the Cubs have turned the corner and have worked past the issues that led to a 5-game losing streak.

Although Kurt’s not on the episode, we share some scary stats, several bad scary stats and we actually have a couple of good scary stats from the bullpen to share.

Jorge Soler is rehabbing in Iowa and although (in two games) he hasn’t lit the world on fire offensively, his production at the plate is probably not the most important thing to pay attention to. After recovering from an ankle issue, the important thing is his physical confidence.

Tomorrow starts the International Free Agency signing period. We talk about the Cubs recent history with these signings and we talk about what they might do this season.

Welcome to the 329^th episode of The Ivy Envy Podcast. It wasn’t a great week for Cubs fans. After taking the first two games in their series with the Dodgers (against the #1 and #2 starters), the Cubs dropped the last two games in the Dodgers series and then lost the first two games in their series against the Cardinals.

We talk about some of the things that have stood out to us in the last week, including the luck of the Cardinals and our disgust in their success. We talk about some injuries, including Jacob Turner being shut down.

We have several listener questions to answer, Kurt gives us his Scary Stat of the Week and we read a few internet muscle flexes.

On this week’s episode we talk about the latest Starlin Castro shenanigans and heroics.

We talk about the 17-0 shellacking of the Indians at the hands of the Cubs. The Cubs took their series with the Twins, 2 games to 1. We talk about this series, mainly focusing on Kyle Schwarber.

We answer a handful of listener questions, Kurt gives a Scary Stat of the Week and we read some internet muscle flexes.

On this mid-week episode of the podcast, we have yet another prospect promotion to discuss. Within a few months, Kris Bryant, Addison Russell and now Kyle Schwarber have been promoted to the Cubs.

We talk about Schwarber’s fast-track to the majors, why he will be sent to Iowa at the end of the week, when we may see Schwarber back up with the Cubs and how the Cubs intend to use him in 2015 and beyond.

The Cubs have several players on the disabled list and we talk about the progress of these players and what their time-tables for return are. We briefly discuss the Cardinals hacking topic.

We went to Peoria on Sunday to see the South Bend Cubs and talk about Gleyber Torres’ incredible game.

On this week’s episode of the podcast, Andy and Corey are in the same studio and discussing several Cubs topics.

The Cubs are in four-game series with the Reds and because we are recording earlier in the day on Sunday, we can’t talk about the complete series. We do talk about the things that have stood out to us in the first 3 games of the series.

We have several meet-ups and events scheduled this summer and we run through them. You can find information on our annual weekend at the lake here – 2015 Ivy Envy Weekend at the Lake.

We answer a few listener questions. We talk about what the Cubs might get in return for Jonathan Papelbon. We also talk about why the Cubs would need to improve the bullpen. Michael from Colorado floats an idea for the #5 spot in the rotation. Chris Archer is good and used to be a Cub. Would there be a place for Ryne Sandberg in the organization? We talk about what three players we’d like to see the Cubs call up and send down.

Rafael from Brazil emails in his disappointing social experience when he was surrounded with Cubs fans. We talk about the idea of catchers trying to distract hitters through “sledging”. And we talk eye black.

On this episode of The Ivy Envy Podcast, we get caught up on the last few eventful days for the Chicago Cubs.

The Cubs signed free agent reliever, Rafael Soriano. We discuss the terms of this deal, why Soriano was still an available free agent and how we might see the Cubs use him this season.

The Cubs have made their selections in the 2015 draft. We talk about their first few picks and then comment on the overall strategy the Cubs took with the 2015 MLB draft.

Jacob Turner starts his rehab stint in an attempt to return to the Cubs 25-man roster. This gives us the opportunity to discuss his future with the Cubs and where he might fit in with this 2015 team.

We have a few listener emails, including a discussion on David Ross, concern over Jon Lester, the Cubs playing up/down to their competition and a new team stat that heavily favors the Cubs.

On this, the 323^rd episode of The Ivy Envy Podcast, we share our experience at our meet-up at Saturday night’s Iowa Cubs game. We saw a terrible outing by Carlos Pimentel and a spectacular #BaezBomb. Then a different #BaezBomb dropped today and we talk about the incredibly poor timing of his injury.

Chris Denorfia is back from the DL and his first game back was a great one. We talk about what the addition of Denorfia means for the bench depth for the Cubs, especially heading into a few series at American League ballparks.

We talk about Junior Lake’s shushing of the Marlins dugout and share our thoughts on this type of behavior. Derrick calls in with an anti-Castro rebuttal. He raises a lot of good points and we meet in the middle on a few things.

We answer several listener questions. Kurt gives his scary stat of the week and we read a few internet muscle flexes.

On this mid-week episode of the podcast, Corey and Andy discuss this week’s events surrounding the Cubs/Marlins series. Jorge Soler was placed on the Disabled List and Mike Baxter was called back up to the Cubs. Kris Bryant was named the NL Rookie of the Month for the month of May.

We discuss Addison Russell’s TOOTBLAN in the second game of the Cubs series with the Marlins. It looked like the Cubs would have the bases loaded with 1 out in the 9th inning, but instead they had runners on 1st and 3rd with two outs and the game ended with a Miguel Montero strikeout. That night, #wewerenotgood.

Javier Baez is playing some of his best baseball in the Cubs organization and with American League games coming up, it appears the timing may be right for Javy to make an appearance with the Cubs.

We got a few questions from listeners. We’ll talk about Starlin’s slo-mo home run trot and again talk about all of the Castro-hate.