2015 Spring Training Thread

[TC in Mississippi]

Im not one to believe he needs time in AAA. Not because he doesnt need to work on things. I just think he needs to work on things on a grown man level. But, AAA would be the best because the media and the live for today Cubs fans would eat him up while he struggles to learn so AAA would be better. Baez is struggling with confidence and he can not lose his confidence. He loses his confidence then we lost Baez.

That's part of it and why I think they did everything they could to keep him up, bolstering his confidence and asking him to change his swing only on 2 strikes. It didn't work and it looks they might now retool his swing which would be nearly impossible on a club trying to compete. He needs repetition to change the muscle memory. He hasn't even been successful with the 2 strike tweak, looking ok in BP and reverting to the higher bat in games.

 

[TC in Mississippi]

I dont want to think that either but he still looks lost at the plate. If he does make it, he will at best be another Mark Reynolds. Which I could be ok with I guess.

He won't be that for the Cubs unless you're talking about 2009 Reynolds which I think they could live with. I think he needs to shorten his swing and eventually get his K rate to somewhere nearing 25-27% and his walk rate to 10%. Because he's never likely to be a big walk guy he's not going to be three outcome player which means he has to make better contact. I do not think he's a bust at 22 and by all accounts he takes coaching very well, his issue there is his inability to app,y the coaching to game situations. The next 18 months will tell the tale on this kid, again I don't think he's a bust but at least one of these kids will bust and it would be hard not to put your money on him at this point.

 

[SilenceS]

That's part of it and why I think they did everything they could to keep him up, bolstering his confidence and asking him to change his swing only on 2 strikes. It didn't work and it looks they might now retool his swing which would be nearly impossible on a club trying to compete. He needs repetition to change the muscle memory. He hasn't even been successful with the 2 strike tweak, looking ok in BP and reverting to the higher bat in games.

He wont change his swing. I think they got him to cut down on minor things. Its his timing. Thats what he said the Cubs had him working on. He is late to balls that he used not be late on. I also read an article about Castro telling him to start earlier. He told him he is way to late when he starts his swing. Castro kept telling him to be early. You can adjust when you are early. Also, Castro said he needs to get that confidence back. I believe Castro on this one. He needs to keep his swagger. Its what got him to the show. You can tell the frustration on him. He is young and being pulled in a thousand different directions. I was reading some twitter thoughts on him earlier and some on bleacher report. People are legitimately nuts. Ive read people saying he is a bum, a bust. He should not be playing in spring training. Its like they never watched baseball in their life and react to every at bat. The Cubs have the luxury of being patient with him. I just want to see where it goes.

 

[SilenceS]

He won't be that for the Cubs unless you're talking about 2009 Reynolds which I think they could live with. I think he needs to shorten his swing and eventually get his K rate to somewhere nearing 25-27% and his walk rate to 10%. Because he's never likely to be a big walk guy he's not going to be three outcome player which means he has to make better contact. I do not think he's a bust at 22 and by all accounts he takes coaching very well, his issue there is his inability to app,y the coaching to game situations. The next 18 months will tell the tale on this kid, again I don't think he's a bust but at least one of these kids will bust and it would be hard not to put your money on him at this point.

Mine has always been on Almora. I think he will be a ML but never a true starter. I did not like when we drafted him.

 

[TC in Mississippi]

He wont change his swing. I think they got him to cut down on minor things. Its his timing. Thats what he said the Cubs had him working on. He is late to balls that he used not be late on. I also read an article about Castro telling him to start earlier. He told him he is way to late when he starts his swing. Castro kept telling him to be early. You can adjust when you are early. Also, Castro said he needs to get that confidence back. I believe Castro on this one. He needs to keep his swagger. Its what got him to the show. You can tell the frustration on him. He is young and being pulled in a thousand different directions. I was reading some twitter thoughts on him earlier and some on bleacher report. People are legitimately nuts. Ive read people saying he is a bum, a bust. He should not be playing in spring training. Its like they never watched baseball in their life and react to every at bat. The Cubs have the luxury of being patient with him. I just want to see where it goes.

I understand but there has been talk lately of an overhaul to his swing. Maybe that's all it is though. We'll see. I do think Russell is likely to be up before we see Baez again, if the team thinks it needs a bat.

 

[Parade_Rain]

He wont change his swing. I think they got him to cut down on minor things. Its his timing. Thats what he said the Cubs had him working on. He is late to balls that he used not be late on. I also read an article about Castro telling him to start earlier. He told him he is way to late when he starts his swing. Castro kept telling him to be early. You can adjust when you are early. Also, Castro said he needs to get that confidence back. I believe Castro on this one. He needs to keep his swagger. Its what got him to the show. You can tell the frustration on him. He is young and being pulled in a thousand different directions. I was reading some twitter thoughts on him earlier and some on bleacher report. People are legitimately nuts. Ive read people saying he is a bum, a bust. He should not be playing in spring training. Its like they never watched baseball in their life and react to every at bat. The Cubs have the luxury of being patient with him. I just want to see where it goes.

Similar struggle...

[video=youtube;z0AlTsey6MI]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0AlTsey6MI[/video]

 

[TC in Mississippi]

Bautista is a good example although I still have my doubts about the two crazy power years, but that being neither here nor there he literally became a different type of hitter when he made those adjustments. I'm hoping Baez can learn from a lot of what's being taught to him. Again he appears to be very coachable but for twhatever reason has a difficult time translating that to games. No matter what calling a 22 year old a bust is ridiculous.

 

[chibears55]

Maddon said baez needs to simply quit chasing pitches and his bat speed will basically work better for him..

 

[CSF77]

By Carrie Muskat / MLB.com | @CarrieMuskat | March 22, 2015 + 29 COMMENTS
MESA, Ariz. -- Kris Bryant passed all the tests at third base, and the next step will likely be having the Cubs' top prospect play some outfield.

Bryant, who posted his third two-homer game this spring on Saturday to raise his spring total to eight home runs, did not start Sunday, but he will play on Tuesday. Where is to be determined. He did not play third base for more than one week because of fatigue in his right shoulder, and will likely start drills in the outfield on Tuesday. The Cubs have an off-day Monday.
"Speaking to him, he was all for it," manager Joe Maddon said of having Bryant play some outfield. "I think he understands the ability to play more than one position, how that benefits you in the future as a Major League Baseball player. His tools play in both spots. He's very confident with the glove, runs well, has a fine arm."

Bryant did test his shoulder on Saturday with five throws to first base, and he passed.
"He was not pushing the ball, the arm strength was where it was supposed to be," Maddon said.
Bryant has had no problems at the plate. He leads the Major Leagues in home runs and RBIs (14) this spring.
"It's been impressive, it's been very impressive," Maddon said. "I give him a lot of credit because he's coming in here with a lot of expectations, wanting to win a job, and he hasn't blinked, man. He hasn't blinked at all."




If he ends up at LF this year it opens up 3B. I'm still in favor of pushing Olt out there and later year having Russell take 3B over.

Baez: Most AB's at 37. So he has been tested this spring. 5 hits, 2 BB. 13 SO. 35% SO rate. 5.4% BB rate. He needs to bring his SO rate to 30% and his BB rate up to 10% in AAA before he should be starting every day.

I would start Olt at 3B and Alcantara at 2B.

Line up:
Fowler
Castro
Rizzo
Soler
Montero
Olt
Coghlan
Pitcher
Alcantara

I think that line up should play out fine for the first 12 days. Aft that they can see where Baez and Bryant are at in AAA. I do not see Russell getting promoted until after the trade deadline.

 

[TC in Mississippi]

I think when Russell comes up, and I think it will be mid summer, he's going to play at 2B. I think next year he could be at 3B. I don't think you'll see much of Baez in the majors this year but I would like to be wrong.

 

[TC in Mississippi]

Frankly I'm extremely tired of the Kris Bryant service time argument but with Ken Rosenthal coming out and saying the MLBPA should file a grievance I guess it's relevant again. I think this is a pretty good point counterpoint with Rosenthal stating his case, which he admits is a loser, and Craig Calcaterra who rebuts Rosenthal, agrees it's a loser and just suggest everyone let this go and get down to business.

Rosenthal:

http://www.foxsports.com/mlb/story/...layers-union-grievance-mark-grace-1988-032215

Calcaterra:

http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2...-file-a-grievance-over-the-kris-bryant-stuff/

 

[SilenceS]

Any players who want to sway Maddon should play good defense. He loves it when the team plays "ZD," which means "zero defects." Javier Baez is a perfect example. The young infielder has struck out 13 times in 37 at-bats, but he is impressing with his play in the field.

"He's always going to strike out," Maddon said. "It's not even about strikeouts, it's about organizing his strike zone a little better. ... If he could somehow get to be a better decision-maker and then test that forceful swing he's got in the strike zone, let's see what happens there."

http://m.cubs.mlb.com/news/article/...-in-cubs-manager-joe-maddons-head-over-roster

 

[brett05]

Frankly I'm extremely tired of the Kris Bryant service time argument but with Ken Rosenthal coming out and saying the MLBPA should file a grievance I guess it's relevant again. I think this is a pretty good point counterpoint with Rosenthal stating his case, which he admits is a loser, and Craig Calcaterra who rebuts Rosenthal, agrees it's a loser and just suggest everyone let this go and get down to business.

Rosenthal:

http://www.foxsports.com/mlb/story/...layers-union-grievance-mark-grace-1988-032215

Calcaterra:

http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2...-file-a-grievance-over-the-kris-bryant-stuff/

What if in the few minor league days Bryant's defense is noticeably worse. Then what?

 

[Pepe Silvia]

Line up:
Fowler
Castro
Rizzo
Soler
Montero
Olt
Coghlan
Pitcher
Alcantara

I think that line up should play out fine for the first 12 days. Aft that they can see where Baez and Bryant are at in AAA. I do not see Russell getting promoted until after the trade deadline.

I think I'd rather see Coghlan batting 2nd and Castro 5th to start the year. Coghlan can take walks and I don't trust Montero and Olt to bring baserunners home, especially with Olt's troubles with making contact. One Bryant is called up, the problem fixes itself and you can slide Castro to 2nd with another thumper added to the heart of the order.

 

[theberserkfury]

Maybe I wasn't clear. I meant a ref in basketball's decision making was as subjective as an umpire's ability to call ball/strikes. I didn't mean that computers can do one as well as the other. Basically the point I was trying to make is that there's always going to be some subjective nature to the game unless you literally replay every play to make sure it is called right.

The technology is almost certainly good enough to call ball's and strikes but to be honest I can't imagine why anyone would really want that. Regardless you're still going to have to have a guy keeping track of the count and lord knows how they would implement that. At best case it's as fast and at worst case you're adding several seconds to every pitch in a sport where they are trying to speed up the game. I'd agree more with the idea if missing calls was something that happened quite often or for that matter even really mattered. For example, if an ump blows a 0-0 count call it doesn't really have that much impact on the game. It's a minor disadvantage. What people care about is that missed strike 3 call that leads to a big inning. That's why I think it makes more sense to use it as a review type thing where you use it on important plays that may have been a mistake.

There's also the arguably misguided feeling many people have that part of the charm of the game is it's flaws. Something that connects todays game with the game from the early 1900's.

I think we're on the same page. I agree that the call is probably just as subjective. My point was just that having computers call balls and strikes is gonna be way easier/reliable than having a computer call fouls.

I believe that in any sport, the less you notice the officials/referees/umpires, the absolute better. So I'm pretty much on board with any change that allows the game to be as exclusively decided by the players as possible. The only flaws I'm interested in seeing in the game are the ones held by the people we pay to watch.

I imagine making the switch to computerized balls and strikes calls would take a few years after implementation before all the kinks are ironed out... but I think it'd be totally worth it.

 

[TC in Mississippi]

What if in the few minor league days Bryant's defense is noticeably worse. Then what?

Maybe he stays down a little longer, maybe they put him in LF earlier than they expect. Again the defense argument is mostly posturing in order to play the game that's been set out fro them in the CBA. I'd count on him being up sometime after 4/17 with enough time inbetween to make it not look quite as blatant. I'm really tired of this argument being played out everywhere.

 

[beckdawg]

Tennis uses technology to call there balls. You have now gone to replay in the majors. NBA and NFL all have review policies. IF you are going to make the umpire responsible for outs on the field by review. They are going to have to make balls and strikes either reviewable in some way or give away to technology. Now, if you are arguing it will take away from the purity of the game then thats a different argument. But, if Montero made 800 balls, strikes then there evidentally are a lot of callls missed in the majors. Also, I have seen umpires completely control the game by their "zone". Dont get me wrong these guys are the best of the best but far from perfect.

I agree that they are far from perfect but I would argue how many of those 800 missed calls had any real impact. Additionally, if you add replay it's not as simple as the calls always being right. Take the NFL for example. We've seen a number of calls that are "right" by the rules but are arguably the wrong call with plays like the Dez Braynt non-catch in the playoffs or Calvin Johnson before him. Also, another thing to remember is just like negotiating with the players over the terms of the CBA the MLB will also have similar negotiations with the umps. Most people don't care because who gives a crap about the umps? But to make this sort of change you're going to have to get them to agree to it and I'm seriously doubting the UMPs will agree.

It's not that I don't think there will be no change. I just think limiting the reviews is both more probable and better for all involved.

 

[Bear Pride]

Im pretty sure its only 9 games, but 12 days. He would be eligible to play a friday home game 12 days in.

However, some people are saying the Cubs will hold him down a little longer cuz the MLBPU is watching closely. :dunno:

 

[SilenceS]

However, some people are saying the Cubs will hold him down a little longer cuz the MLBPU is watching closely. :dunno:

That was clarified. I posted when eligible for extra year of control

 

[Bear Pride]

That was clarified. I posted when eligible for extra year of control