Baseball

Series Preview – Cubs vs. Rockies: This Is The Funhouse

By Sam Fels 1139 0

vs.

RECORDS: Cubs 37-27   Rockies 33-31

GAMETIMES: Monday and Tuesday 7:40, Wednesday 2:10

TV: NBCSN Monday and Wednesday, WGN Tuesday

PROBABLY HAVE NEVER HEARD OF JOE WALSH: Purple Row

PROBABLE PITCHING MATCHUPS

Yu Darvish vs. German Marquez

Jose Quintana vs. Peter Lambert

Cole Hamels vs. Antonio Senzatela 

PROBABLE CUBS LINEUP

Kyle Schwarber – LF

Kris Bryant – 3B

Anthony Rizzo – 1B

Javier Baez – SS

Victor Caratini – C

Addison Russell – 2B

Carlos Gonzalez – RF

Jason Heyward – CF

PROBABLE ROCKIES LINEUP

Charlie Blackmon – RF

Trevor Story – SS

David Dahl – CF

Nolan Arenado – 3B

Daniel Murphy – 1B

Raimel Tapia – LF

Ryan McMahon – 2B

Tony Wolters – C

 

After a successful homestand that seemed to wash away the struggles of the previous week, the Cubs head out on a not particularly pleasant road trip. The first stop is the baseball funhouse that is Coors Field, where the hope is to get out alive as much as winning the series. Something stupid always happens during the course of these, and it feels like there’s almost always at least one 13-11 loss where the lead changes with every half inning starting in the 6th. The Cubs will do their best to avoid that, as the Brewers aren’t going anywhere.

The Rocky Tops spent the interim between these series with a weekend in Queens (what a fate), losing two of three to the mystery box Mets. But hey, sometimes you just get Thor’d and Matz’d, even if the latter’s elbow is made of wishes and dreams at this point. That’s the annoying thing about the Mets. The Cubs will worry about that next week, though.

The Cubs will get another look at Peter Lambert, whom they didn’t have an answer for at Wrigley and helped the Rockies avoid a sweep. The difference this time around is they’ll also see Antonio Senzatela, who’s had a small home run problem, which is actually a big problem. They got past German Marquez last week, and will have to do so again tonight which is generally not what you’d choose.

The Rockies are in something of a tough spot. The Dodgers are already over the hills and far away, and barring something completely inexplicable they won’t be caught. The deficit is 11 games. Which leaves them wondering just how hard to push for a coin-flip spot, which would be their third in a row. It got them…well, a quick exit last year, and they assuredly had higher hopes this time around. But are you giving up assets for half a playoff spot? You wouldn’t think so, and there’s plenty of competition with whichever of the Cubs or Brewers don’t get there, the Braves, if the Nats can ever get their head out of their ass, and the Diamondbacks are ahead of them as we speak.

As strange as it might sound, the Rockies could probably use another bat or two. The numbers make it look better than it is thanks to altitude, but they have holes in center, left, and the right side of the infield because Daniel Murphy is very crisp at the moment. Getting David Dahl more playing time would help, and they’re going to try and stick him in center and hold their nose and hope nothing explodes. He did play there in the minors, and maybe the improvement in his bat is enough to keep Ian Desmond on the bench, as one of the more boneheaded signings in recent memory.

The Rockies should be putting up boxcar numbers every night. Right now they only put up good ones. If Gray can avoid blister problems they probably have enough in the rotation and pen to make a run at the coin flip spot, but that is just about the height of their expectations right now.

For the Cubs, they’ll just try and not have a shredded pitching staff to roll into Los Angeles with, which is the last place you’d want to do that. Joe Maddon will give Carlos Gonzalez at least one start you’d think in his old stomping ground, which…fine. Just not going to waste the breath. There will also be a game where he deploys the hands team in the outfield for the whole thing because he might have to. Yu Darvish looks for an actual decision this time, maybe even a win.

These are always silly. Try and enjoy the ride.

 

 

Baseball

Rockies Spotlight: Chuck Nasty And Taking The Emotion Out Of It

By Sam Fels 2344 0

If you’re a cold-eyed analyst, and probably to be the best you can at being an analyst, you wouldn’t have handed Charlie Blackmon another five years on his deal last year as his contact was winding down (or four with a club option. Details, details…). He was entering his 30s, wasn’t very productive away from the altitude, and the question of how much longer he could play center was already popping up. That last one has already been answered, as Blackmon has spent this season playing right field.

And again, on a sheet of paper, Blackmon playing right field doesn’t give you all that much. He doesn’t hit for quite enough power, even in Coors, that you would expect from a right fielder, doesn’t have the arm for it, and these days he’s not even covering enough ground for right in Denver. Basically the Rockies need to field three center fielders to make it work out there, and center fielders who can all hit, it’s a real trick. Even with heightened slugging, Blackmon has been worth just 0.6 fWAR so far this season, putting him on pace for little more than a 2.0-fWAR season.

The signing wouldn’t make much sense for any team other than the Rockies. The thing is though, it does for the Rockies. Because while it would matter to the other 29 teams that Blackmon has only been an average hitter on the road in his career, the Rockies do get the 81 games at home that Blackmon would play. The question is would any palooka you put out there give you an above-average season there offensively, and could they do it with a better glove and at a cheaper rate? And possibly younger. David Dahl comes to mind, although he doesn’t really come equipped with the glove. Like, at all.

Still, the Rockies have rarely had homegrown talent their fans can get attached to since Helton and Holliday. Tulowitzki was traded (and then all the king’s horses and all the king’s men…), and Arenado and Blackmon give the Rockies that. There is value in that, if only to the fanbase. After all, if you take the emotion out of being a baseball fan, what’s the point?

And Blackmon might make it work for a season or two. He’s slugging higher than he has in his career aside from his bonkers 2017 when he was a nearly 7-WAR player. It might have to do with hitting more fly balls than he ever has, and there’s a lot of space for them to land comfortably in grass in Coors. He’s also hitting them as hard as he did in that 2017, so maybe the right field thing will work better than we think. Saving the legs a bit?

Blackmon doesn’t appear to be selling out on fastballs to do that either, as some other players his age have done. He’s absolutely murdering curveballs and change-ups this year as well as maintaining his excellent work on fastballs. So it’s probably sustainable as there isn’t an obvious avenue pitchers can go. Blackmon has chose to swing at more pitches and take the slightly more whiffs along with it to get the more contact, and it’s working.

Still, Chuck Nasty is will turn 33 in a few weeks, and he’s signed until he’s 37. What’s that going to look like in two years when he can’t get around right field anymore either? The Rockies don’t have a center field prospect coming through, and Ian Desmond is not a solution out there anyone should be satisfied with. Raimel Tapia seems to have all the instincts for the game as a sloth. It’s going to be a tough picture for the Rockies to solve pretty soon.

Still, Blackmon has been the heartbeat for this team for a while, if Arenado is the star. Sometimes you just can’t let a player walk because it makes the most sense analytically. We can try and sell that, but it’ll never work. The Rockies will just have to suck it up, and their fans won’t mind because Blackmon will retire as a Rockie most likely. Maybe that’s not so bad.

Baseball

Series Wrap – Cubs Sweep Cardinals: Pretty Good For A Bunch Of Sucks, No?

By Sam Fels 2133 0

Game 1 Box Score: Cubs 3, Cardinals 1

Game 2 Box Score: Cubs 9, Cardinals 4

Game 3 Box Score: Cubs 5, Cardinals 1

It was only a week ago before most of Cubdom was tearing their hair out and declaring it was all over people, we don’t have a prayer. Swept in St. Louis tends to bring everyone to the irrational zone. The Cubs just has a bad couple weeks, but they seem intent on backing up a bad 10-12 games with a solid month, and they certainly got off to a great start to that by taking six of seven on a homestand. The Cards came into this series with a chance to really vault themselves into the discussion. They leave 5.5 games back and under .500. The Brewers are enough to deal with, thanks.

Let’s get to it.

The Two Obs

-We’ll have to start with Kyle Schwarber, who appears primed to go on a binge. He didn’t start on Friday, but had four hits the past two days, four RBI, a homer on basically a half-swing after seeing 11 pitches Saturday, and another two doubles. The War Bear’s OPS has now crawled above .800, and his OPS from the leadoff spot is higher than Dexter Fowler’s was in 2016 so maybe everyone can shut the fuck up about Fowler for like five minutes? His ABs have been great for a while now and he wasn’t getting the results. This is what he should have gotten. I don’t think this is just a hot streak. I think this is what he is. Let’s go.

-We can go over Jon Lester’s numbers and trends all we want. Point out the added walks and the less ground balls and the harder contact. But at the end of the day, he might just be Sargent Hartman’s corollary, “Sometimes guts is enough.” He’ll have bad innings, he’ll have bad starts even. But more often than not, he’s just going to find a way. He had a bad inning last night, and then tossed five innings where the Cards didn’t even get the ball out of the infield. I’m not sure how, Don’t even know why. He just did it.

-Meanwhile, Cole Hamels on Friday decided it was time to go back to the fastball, as he threw it more than he had in his last five starts. It was mostly that and change-ups, and the Cards didn’t have much of an answer.

-The pen didn’t give up a run all series, but was only asked to cover six innings over three games. Given that workload, just about anyone can find the finish line. So keep doing that.

-You know, I spend a good amount of time bitching about Jason Heyward, but he’s still carrying an above average OPS and wRC+ and if he can hit more balls hard like he did this weekend, he’ll probably stay there. With that defense, that’s enough.

-Kyle Hendricks…man, there isn’t much more to say. He didn’t use the curve hardly at all tonight, but his new toy is going up in the zone and I have no idea how he’s getting away with it but I don’t have to. As long as you’re hitting the corners up there too, then you’ll have the success you have hitting the corners down low.

-I think we might just have to say David Bote is good. I’m not sure I believe it, but given what he’s asked to do an .827 OPS is really outstanding.

-I’m not sure this Cardinals thing is going to work out because Carpenter is actually old, Ozuna isn’t actually that good, and Goldschmidt is going to have to carry it all at some point. Totally heartbroken about it, let me tell ya.

Onwards…

Baseball

Series Recap: Sox Take 2 of 3 from Royals – Bare Minimum Edition

By Andy Jonathan 1210 0

Game 1: Sox 4 – Royals 6

Game 2: Lucas Giolito 2 – Royals 0

Game 3: Sox 5 – Royals 2

 

Rarely this season do the White Sox win a series and I’m left slightly disappointed, but that’s right where the front office of this team has left me.  There’s no reason that the Sox shouldn’t have been able to sweep the Royals this weekend, or at least split with the Nats a few days ago.  Had they decided to upgrade their starting rotation instead of going dumpster diving for Manny Banuelos or Ivan Nova, or even just called up Dylan Cease the wild card could be right there for the taking.  As we sit right now the Sox remain 3.5 games out of the last AL playoff spot, and you can’t tell me that adding a starter like Gio Gonzalez or god forbid Dallas Keuchel wouldn’t have given the Sox a better shot at playing meaningful baseball in September and October.  God forbid we deviate from whatever nebulous “plan” that Rick Hahn has for the future of the team, regardless of however many elbows explode off the starters like tree branches in a hurricane.

Anyways, to the bullets.

NUMBERS DON’T LIE

 

-Game one was where Nova’s inability to get through a batting order 3 times jarringly came to light.  He had been serviceable up until the middle of the 6th inning, when the Royals started their conga line around the bases.  He was unable to generate any soft contact, and it seemed like his velocity dipped as well.  He was let off the hook by Tim Anderson and Yoan Moncada who managed to tie the game at 4 the next inning.  It didn’t last, as it seems the clock has struck midnight of the usefulness of Jace Fry in the major leagues.

-Game two…I mean…Lucas Giolito is a damn ass Man.  He currently leads every pitcher in the AL in WAR thus far this season.  Honestly, going from what he was last year to what he is now is just mind boggling.  He went 7.2 innings on Saturday, striking out 11.  All of his 11 K’s in this game happened in the first 5 innings, with him striking out the side in the 2nd, 3rd and 5th innings.  In his last 7 starts, he has an .088 ERA and opposing hitters are batting .146 against him.  Wow.

-Hey look, more dingers from Eloy on the road!  All told this series Jimenez went 5-12 with two dingers, one of which only came down because it hit the fucking International Space Station first.  The rough estimate was 471 feet, and if it wasn’t for the Royals stupid looking scoreboard it would’ve rolled another 120 more.  He’s looking better and better, and that can only mean good things (less of Yonder Alonso, who sucks).  He even laid off a few 0-2 breaking pitches, and that was almost as impressive as his nuclear warhead on Sunday (not really).

-Moncada is hitting again, currently on a 10 game tear where he’s had 15 hits, 5 of which have gone for extra bases.  He’s still a much better left handed hitter, as Garbage Monarch Ned Yost has yet to figure out, but as long as he’s hitting to all fields with power I’m here for it.

-Reynaldo Lopez had his first good outing in what seems like ages.  He went 6 today, while striking out 8.  Soler touched him up early for a solo shot then he really settled down and worked the zone with his fastball, which had more life on it today.  His ERA is still an unsightly 6.21 but the raw stuff is there.  It seems like he has better focus of the zone when Castillo is behind the dish, which is a shame because the Sox should move him at the first opportunity.  Hopefully Lopez can string together a few quality starts here, as confidence is a thing with him.  Baby steps.

-Kelvin Herrera looked better today, even though he gave up a run.  He was getting squeezed by home plate ump Paul Emmel, who had a pretty good zone up until that point.  I’m putting this one in the plus column.

-Next up is the Nats again, which will see the return of an old enemy in Anibal Sanchez.  The Sox miss Strasburg and mouth breathing psycho Max Scherzer, but catch Patrick Corbin instead.  He’s had a rough go of it lately, getting knocked around by the Padres and Reds in his last few starts.   Who will start for the Sox?  Who the fuck knows!  Rumor that Hahn is bringing in Odrisamer Despaigne off the trash heap for at least one of the starts.  Anthony Rendon has a career .669 average against him with 400 home runs, so this should go well.  At least the nice folks in Charlotte still get to watch Dylan Cease.

Baseball

Royals Spotlight: Faded Colossus

By Sam Fels 1330 0

I have a confession. When the Cubs were rolling out the jewels of their system in 2014 and 2015 (and some before), it was Jorge Soler I was most excited about. In his first week he hit a homer in St. Louis off professional goofus Pat Neshek that landed somewhere around the Quad Cities. He had stupid power, he had plate discipline, he had a howitzer of a throwing arm. He could even run a little. He had swag. I didn’t necessarily think he would be the best of the bunch. I just knew he would be my favorite.

He only got one season. And like most rookie years, 2015 was a wonky one. The “Soler zone” became a popular term among Cubs fans, as his high discipline led to a lot of strikeouts looking, a good portion of them on pitches out of the zone. And of course he got hurt in the middle of it, as is his wont. He struck out a bit too often, and he didn’t quite hit for enough power to make it ok.

It all turned on in the last two months though. He started walking again after his return from injury. And while August didn’t see the power return, his .372 OBP was enough. Then September hit, and Soler was a fireworks show. Yeah, he struck out nearly 40% of the time. But he also slugged .609.

And then came those playoffs. Soler was just about the only one not getting domed by the Mets pitching staff. He hit .473 that October, including clocking the Cardinals for a couple big homers. It looked like it was the beginning. The Cubs were going to have their own Yasiel Puig but with plate discipline.

But the Cubs didn’t trust his health, or more to the point they didn’t trust his work ethic to stay healthy. They signed Jason Heyward (Soler’s defense just never really came around), and then Dexter Fowler returned to shove Heyward over into his right field spot. Schwarber’s injury that year opened up left for him, but he didn’t really grab it and when Baez pushed Zobrist to the outfield, that was about it.

Soler hasn’t taken off in KC either. It looked like last year he would. Through the season’s first third last year he posted a .354 wOBA and a 123 wRC+. But as always, his hamstrings gave out and he sat the rest of the season.

Soler is getting another chances this year, but it hasn’t gone well. The walks have disappeared by the strikeouts haven’t. He’s still hitting for power, with a .504 slugging and a .265 ISO. Soler seems determined to not get caught looking ever again, swinging at 10% more pitches in the zone than he ever has, as well as swinging at more pitches out of the zone. He’s not going to get undone by the “Soler zone,” it would seem.

Soler is still highly susceptible to anything offspeed or that bends, as hitters like him tend to be. If Soler isn’t walking he becomes just a little too one dimensional. Soler has been able to get more balls in the air, which is what you want from him. If he can find the walk-bug again, he still has potential to be a weapon.

It’s not over yet. Soler is 27, and he’s got one more year on the contract the Cubs signed him to out of Cuba. You’d have to figure there’s going to be one more push to cash in on a free agent contract. That is if he can be bothered to stay on the field, which has been whispered about him for a while now. Though that only seems to happen with Latin players. Strange, isn’t it?

We’ll always have that homer in St. Louis, and the ones in Game 2 and 3 against the Cardinals in 2015. Feels like it could have been more. Probably should have been.

Baseball

Series Preview – Cardinals vs. Cubs: Gotta Get Back The Get Back

By Sam Fels 1228 0

vs.

RECORDS: Cardinals 31-29   Cubs 34-27

GAMETIMES: Friday 1:20, Saturday and Sunday at 6:05

TV: NBCSN Friday, Fox Saturday, ESPN Sunday

HE DOESN’T LIKE YOU: Viva El Birdos

PITCHING MATCHUPS

Miles Mikolas vs. Cole Hamels

Jack Flaherty vs. Jon Lester

Adam Wainwright vs. Kyle Hendricks

PROBABLE CARDINALS LINEUP

Dexter Fowler – RF

Paul DeJong – SS

Paul Goldschmidt – 1B

Marcell Ozuna – LF

Jedd Gyorko – 3B

Harrison Bader – CF

Matt Wieters – C

Kolten Wong – 2B

PROBABLE CUBS LINEUP

Anthony Rizzo – 1B

Kris Bryant – 3B

Carlos Gonzalez – LF

Javier Baez – SS

Jason Heyward – RF

Victor Caratini – C

David Bote – 2B

Albert Almora Jr. – CF

 

The Cardinals had a sweep to avenge last weekend down in Mos Eisley, and now so do the Cubs. If they were to trade sweeps all season, this would probably turn into some holy war. There is obviously no better or worse feeling, depending on how that particular set goes for you. The last thing we need is to be this bipolar, but we’ll take a Cubs sweep this weekend. Let’s get greedy.

Since the Cubs last saw the Cards five days ago, they split two games with the Reds and had one rained out. Thanks to the scheduled off-day and then bonus one, the Cubs will see the same three pitchers they couldn’t do much with last weekend. So that’s a treat. Perhaps the frequency of appearances will help. Lester and Hendricks didn’t throw against the Cards last time, so that…helps? Basically we’re all gonna shit if the Cubs are held at arm’s length by Adam Goddamn Wainwright again, is what I’m saying. But if his defense keeps pulling rabbits out of their ass like they did last time…hopefully the line drives the Cubs did hit aren’t right at people this time.

The Cards are carrying a couple injuries into this one. Matt Carpenter left the game yesterday early and isn’t playing today, and it’s questionable whether he’ll play this weekend. Yadier Molina continues to be out and there’s no word on when he might be back. Which is actually fine for them, though you’ll never get anyone to say it, because Matt Wieters has been bette at the plate than Yadi. But he doesn’t provide the kind of leadership where you ignore what’s actually going on during a play to argue with an ump or ground out harmlessly to short a lot. I guess we just don’t understand baseball.

For the Cubs, they’ll trot out the goofy lineup today when you know it’s the time where Maddon thinks it’s time to give the team a chuckle. Greatest Leadoff Hitter In History Anthony Rizzo returns as Schwarber is given the day off. Somehow, Maddon is still convinced that Carlos Gonzalez isn’t dead, and he’s hitting third, giving the hands team in the outfield the full game. Maddon also hasn’t noticed that Heyward hasn’t hit in six weeks, so he’ll be in the five-spot. Good times all around here. At least Almora and Bote are playing I guess. Maybe this is just not the thing to worry about right now.

The Cards can get right into the thick of this with a series win, as they’re only 2.5 games behind the Cubs and Brewers. And their schedule is awfully light after this, with 11 games against the Marlins and Mets after this, whereas as the Cubs have to go to the funhouse of Coors Field and then into the tiger pit of Dodger Stadium. Then again, playing the Marlins didn’t do much for the Brewers this week. That’s baseball.

It’s been a good homestand so far. Be a good idea to finish it out strong.

Baseball

Cardinals Spotlight: Goldy Hasn’t Done Anything Yet, And You Know When He Does…

By Sam Fels 1272 0

When you’re the Cardinals, and you’ve spent the past three seasons staring at the lights when it’s all over, that creates a sense of urgency. After all, three playoff-less season, after a first-round dry heave to your biggest rival, is purely unacceptable in Mos Eisley. So the Cardinals went out and got the biggest bat there was, perennial MVP-candidate Paul Goldschmidt. Finally, Matt Carpenter would have some support, and if Fowler bounced back and Harrison Bader took a step and Marcell Ozuna got back to normal, the Cardinals should have a scary offense. All of those things have basically happened…except for Goldschmidt being the weapon of mass destruction he’s been. Best laid plans of mice and men and all that…

The Cards offense has been middle of the pack so far this season, except when it comes to on-base percentage as they do have a lot of guys who take walks. Carpenter got off to his usual slow start, though is rounding into form as he usually does when it gets warm (and then falls apart in September from carrying the team). But Goldschmidt hasn’t come along, and even though he’s having a fine season–115 wRC+, 345 wOBA–they’re way off his career norms (149, .390)

So what’s up? On the surface, Goldy’s walks are a touch down and his Ks are a touch up, but nothing that would suggest any long-term problems or anything more than a two-month spike. He’s whiffing at a touch more pitches, but not so much that you worry about bat-speed. If there’s one noticeable difference, it’s that he’s making way more contact on pitches outside of the zone (71.4% this year to 66.7% last) and far less in the zone (77.9 from 82.2). But that’s not really the problem, judging by his slugging zones this year vs. his career:

There’s a couple deadzones at the top there, but that might just be a quirk of the season still being relatively young. You wouldn’t want to go there too often, you wouldn’t think. And pitchers aren’t.

Where Goldschmidt has seen some changes to this year is he’s seeing an uptick in changes and curves. And he’s been atrocious on them. On curveballs he’s hitting .100 with a slugging of .100. On change-ups he’s hitting .125 with a slugging of….. .125. Guess there’s a pattern there. The averages are some 150 points below his career marks and the slugging isn’t even worth talking about. He’s had a bit of rough luck on those pitches, but he can’t make an argument of being undone when he’s barely hitting the ball much less hard on them.

So why so? Usually when a player has this much trouble with offspeed pitches, the suggestion would be that he’s cheating on fastballs and is getting caught ahead. Goldy’s numbers on fastballs are a touch worse than his career norms. He’s whiffing at a few more swings on fastballs (26% to 22%), a few less line-drives (27% to 29%) and perhaps just a touch more worrying is that he’s popping up more of them (10% to 7%).

Goldschmidt is 31, and will turn 32 in September. Lately there’s been a train of thought that it is at 32 or so when players start to struggle with the flood of velocity in the game today. It’s hard to get there with Goldschmidt yet, especially as he’s carrying a 50% hard-hit rate, by far the highest of his career. Still, Statcast doesn’t think he’s performing below where he should be, as his expected wOBA is .356 which isn’t far off from the actual .350 he’s putting up.

Again, two months. Again, this is Paul Goldschmidt. Still, if he remains as vulnerable to offspeed pitches throughout the season, and the slightly less squared up fastballs continue, there’s only one way this slope goes.

Baseball

Series Wrap – Cubs Take Two Of Three From Rockies: The Answers Aren’t Here And Not Here

By Sam Fels 1246 0

Game 1 Box Score: Cubs 6, Rockies 3

Game 2 Box Score: Cubs 9, Rockies 8

Game 3 Box Score: Rockies 3, Cubs 1

It was a series somewhat overshadowed by the Cubs making a signing during Game 2, which is usually only reserved for trades. Such is the way of the game these days. Anyway, the Cubs got two of three, three of four on the homestand so far, which is a nice recovery from what had gone on the past two weeks. Win the series against Mos Eisley, and you’ll have a 5-2 homestand which is just what the doctor ordered. At least the offense is back…until it wasn’t. The rotation definitely is though.

-Tuesday night featured another Kyle Hendricks gem, and he was really accentuating the upper part of the zone. Have a look:

Hendricks’s new wrinkles this year is to go up the ladder and to throw more curves, 16 of which he chucked on Tuesday night, a season-high. When you have as free-swinging an outfit as the Rockies are, you get a pretty easy night at the office.

-You can tell Maddon is jumpy about his pen, as Hendricks was allowed to throw 111 pitches and then Quintana today went one batter into the eighth.

-You can’t blame Maddon after last night’s tour-de-stupid. Brad Brach is a nothing, and it’s time the Cubs realized that. So is Kyle Ryan. I keep stressing that Montgomery and Chatwood, who are stretched out, should be thrown multiple innings whenever possible to limit everyone else’s exposure. Perhaps the biggest disappointment with Maddon’s management, on the field that is, is his lack of imagination with his pen usage. He wants his closer, his 8th inning guy, and his 7th inning guy. He seems tempted to use Chatwood that way at times, but not consistently, and Montgomery as a one-inning guy just doesn’t make any sense.

-That’s enough of Daniel Descalso, thank you.

-The Cubs might have gotten a couple lightning strikes out of Carlos Gonzalez, but don’t fool yourself. He’s finished. He’s only had one season where he was anything but an average hitter away from Coors, and that was four seasons ago. Albert Almora seemed to have secured regular playing time, and then it vanished for this. Which just isn’t fair, unless you’re going to sit Heyward, and sitting Heyward for Gonzalez is the definition of running in place. The only benefit is the hands team the Cubs can put in the outfield late in games now.

-However, he was at the turning point of last night’s game, when German Marquez decided to pitch around CarGo and then hit Contreras, before Bote cleared the bases. I don’t know if it was from memory or a favor to an old friend, but it defied explanation. Even despite the Cubs’ pen’s best efforts, they couldn’t seal a game that had already been blown open.

-Next time, maybe just let Yu try and work himself out of his own trouble instead of protecting his psyche, because letting the pen come in and start various bonfires isn’t going to help it either.

-It does feel like the Cubs always huff paint when facing a pitcher making his major league debut, but I’m sure if I looked, or knew where to look, the numbers wouldn’t bare that out. It’s still annoying as fuck, though.

Onwards…

Baseball

A $6 Million Indictment

By Sam Fels 1854 0

$6 million. It’s a lot of money to you and me, so before someone pulls that arrow out of the quiver let me head that off. But it’s not a lot of money to a Major League baseball team. And that’s what the cost, or savings, was for the Cubs to get over the line and decide their bullpen needed Craig Kimbrel. And the corresponding taxes, which would have been at most another $2 million. For strictly on the field matters, Cubs fans should be excited about the Kimbrel pushing Strop to the 8th. He might not be what he was, but he’s miles better than what was here.

But at the cost of how many wins already? They might not matter in the end. The Cubs are in first now, they very well may be by the time Kimbrel makes it to Clark St., and if you win the division you win the division and it doesn’t really matter if you do it with 96 wins or 100 (though can’t help but notice the last three WS champs had 100+ wins and the last six WS participants were 97+). Perhaps that’s the bet the Cubs are making.

It’s not just the Cubs, of course. Every team could have used Kimbrel. Every team should have been trying to get him in the winter, when this is supposed to be done. They can throw whatever reason they want at you with their bullshit, but it was all about squeezing another dollar of profit and not about making their teams better in some stealthy way. It was so blatant and callous, it’s impossible to ignore.

Am I supposed to believe that $6M+ a draft pick that very well may be a nothing one day was so important that it had to wait this long? And how are Cubs fans supposed to feel good that it took a personal disaster for Ben Zobrist for the Ricketts to decide that money was open now? That’s no one’s fault really, it’s not like they planned it, but yet you can’t help but notice the sheer coldness of it.

I can’t sit here and honestly believe that the Cubs front office thought this bullpen was acceptable to go into a season with. They’re not stupid. That would have been criminal incompetence, the kind you only see on Madison St. (take your pick of which resident there). They knew this pen would need augmenting. They knew it in January. So why are we waiting until July?

The strangest thing is the quiet, outright silence, about it from Theo. I don’t expect him to go firing on his boss in the press, but something is amiss. Maybe he was told it was a one-year thing, and maybe that’s why they’re leaking Marquee opening up the cash flow next winter already. But I can’t believe Theo would be delighted to work under a complete factitious budget that is only in the Ricketts’s head. They’re worth $2.2 billion, I feel like that has to be mentioned every time.

Maybe my eyes are lasered on the Ricketts’s these days because they’ve been so distasteful, and the Kimbrel signing comes on the same day it was out there that a RNC donor event will be held at Wrigley (the proximity to Boystown should make for interesting viewing). What’s pretty clear, and should have been for a while, is that the Ricketts kids are just a bunch of vapid assholes convinced of their superiority by their born on third nature. Hardly their story alone.

And yet they end up with the closer they needed long ago, and very well in time to get the Cubs to the playoffs. And I’ll still cheer when Kimbrel starts firing fastballs by people, because I’ll be damned if I’m going to let a vapid asshole like Tom Ricketts rob me of something I’ve loved since I could walk. Maybe that’s what I tell myself as a rationalization, along with, “There is no such thing as ethical capitalism.”

The whole thing just feels gross. Craig Kimbrel had to wait until now to be paid what he was worth, and he had to wait for a fellow pro’s life to fall apart, and he had to wait for someone with more money than all of us combined will ever know to decide that a pittance was ok to part with now, and he had to wait that some kid who he’ll never meet and may never make it won’t be tossed as a make-weight for merely signing a contract.

I can’t believe the Cubs were incompetent this winter, because that’s just not what they were. So they were lying. It’s clear now, though it was then. It’s hard to feel good about that.

 

 

Baseball

Series Recap – Sox Swept In DC: Swiss Army Fail

By Andy Jonathan 1198 0

Game 1: Sox 5 – Nats 9

Game 2: Sox 4 – Nats 6

 

That’s what I get for being overly positive in my previous recap.

The Sox came into this shortened series against the Nats on quite the roll, having won 6 of their last 7.  In those 6 games, they found quite a few different ways to win games.  In this 2 game series, they found a bunch of ways to lose them, unfortunately aided and abetted by their coach.  God, the only thing dumber than sac bunts in baseball are the “unwritten rules.”   To the bullets.

 

NUMBERS DON’T LIE

 

– As I mentioned above, the Sox created ways to lose these two games.  In the first, it was a complete and utter meltdown by Reynaldo Lopez.  He was staked to a 5-0 lead by some nifty hitting in the first two innings, not the least of which was Yoan’s 11th dinger of the year which was an absolute BOMB.  In addition to that it was some timely hitting by (who else) James McCann and surprisingly Eloy, who worked the count in his favor by laying off some curveballs just off the outside of the plate forcing Strasburg to come inside with a fastball.  He laced it into the outfield for a run scoring single.  I’d like to see a lot more of this from him, it gives me hope.

-Sadly, the first 2 innings were the only ones that featured any offense from the Sox as 6 of their 8 hits were contained within.  After that it was a parade of soft contact against a tired Strasburg and the Nats dumpster fire of a bullpen.  They didn’t even really threaten again until the 9th, but that fizzled out quickly with Abreu popping out in the infield.

– Reynaldo Lopez just didn’t have it tonight.  Even though he got through the first 2 innings unscathed he threw a ton of pitches, and the cracks burst open the next 3.  Nothing he threw around the edges of the plate was close enough for a strike call, and the fastballs he did throw well caught way too much of the plate, as evidenced by the fact that Rendon positively ate his lunch with 5 RBIs off a double and a dinger.  This is 2 shitty starts in a row for Rey, both featuring him not being able to command his fastball with any degree.

– The 2nd game was a literal comedy of errors, as the Sox committed blunder after blunder in the field, most of which resulted in runs.  Dylan Covey didn’t pitch too poorly and deserved better than what his D gave him.  Yolmer made an error cutting in front of Tim Anderson, then Tim responded by dropping a pop fly in the infield.  The Sox looked like they wanted nothing more than to leave DC as fast as they could, and Renteria helped them along as best he could.

-Jose Abreu and Wellington Castillo tied the game for the Sox in the top of the 8th with a pair of home runs, which held up until the top of the 9th.  Timmy led off with a single, which brought Ryan Cordell to the plate.  Renteria promptly had him lay down a bunt to try and move Tim into scoring position.  Naturally it was a terrible bunt that ALMOST turned into a double play, but Cordell barely beat the throw to first.  Rondon laced a single that Robles had trouble with and would’ve resulted in Timmy most likely being on 3rd with 1 out, but instead it was 1st and 2nd.  Ended up being a moot point since All Around Good Guy Sean Doolittle struck out both Leury Garcia and Yoan to end the inning.

– Not to be outdone by his previous Galaxy Brained decisions, Renteria brought Colome in even though it was a non-save situation.  He proceeded to throw 7 straight balls, then gave up a walk off home run to Turner, bringing this short but brutal series to an end.

– The Sox now sit 3 games below .500, and need a sweep against the Royals to get back to where they should be.  So I’m guessing they’ll lose 2 of 3.  Fuck.