Cubs Spring training thread

CSF77 · Mar 17, 2017

I'm figuring that Butler is the 1st in line at AAA now. What they need to do is keep his innings up more than anything. Anderson most likely is the #5 with Montgomery spot starting to give the rotation a extra day off or to sub for Anderson when needed.

Butler would be a injury replacement but most likely the staff ace at Iowa. I like him and he is looking like another steal

beckdawg · Mar 17, 2017

DanTown said:
Yeah be he got hurt in that time, lost velocity, and hasn't had that success in three+ years.

Look, I get it, he may pan out, he may not. My assumption with everything I've read on him is he can't consistently locate the third pitch and to me, might have play as a reliever if he can be a two pitch guy with 96-97 again that could come back if he wasn't asked to start.

I don't think he's throwing any slower now. He hit 97 last year and averaged 93.1 mph on his 4 seam and 92.7 on his sinker. Only 18 starters last year had average velocity higher(Syndergaard, Carlos Martinez, Yordano Ventura, Jose Fernandez, Jon Gray, Duffy, Gausman, Aaron Sanchez, Scherzer, Archer, Samardzija, Ray, Pineda, Verlander, Rodon, Arrieta, Volquez and Bauer) and 2 of those sadly passed away. I just think the bigger thing for him was losing the effectiveness on that change up because it largely made him a 2 pitch pitcher and his sinker wasn't very effective(1.051 OPS against it). Combine that with his 3.95 bb/9 as a MLB pitcher and it's hard to K guys.

Obviously he has work to do to get where you want him to be but I don't think his issue is stuff. If they can get his mechanics right such that his walk rate isn't such an issue I think his k rate will tick up heavily.

CSF77 · Mar 17, 2017

beckdawg said:
I don't think he's throwing any slower now. He hit 97 last year and averaged 93.1 mph on his 4 seam and 92.7 on his sinker. Only 18 starters last year had average velocity higher(Syndergaard, Carlos Martinez, Yordano Ventura, Jose Fernandez, Jon Gray, Duffy, Gausman, Aaron Sanchez, Scherzer, Archer, Samardzija, Ray, Pineda, Verlander, Rodon, Arrieta, Volquez and Bauer) and 2 of those sadly passed away. I just think the bigger thing for him was losing the effectiveness on that change up because it largely made him a 2 pitch pitcher and his sinker wasn't very effective(1.051 OPS against it). Combine that with his 3.95 bb/9 as a MLB pitcher and it's hard to K guys.

Obviously he has work to do to get where you want him to be but I don't think his issue is stuff. If they can get his mechanics right such that his walk rate isn't such an issue I think his k rate will tick up heavily.

Some of his issues came from pitching in Col. He said home and away was a real problem because at home he would be lucky to get 7" on a breaking pitch then away you would lose control of the same breaking pitch as it would go 21". When you have to deal with that you tend to dump movement pitches and stick to velocity.

My opinion is that he needs to refine at Iowa. If the Cubs were not a contender then I could see them trading Jake's last year and tossing Butler out there. But that is not the case. It make more sense to ready Butler for 2018.

SilenceS · Mar 17, 2017

crazy stat I thought I would share

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brett05 · Mar 17, 2017

Jim Palmer, 16,114 batters faced...zero grand slams given up

brett05 · Mar 17, 2017

Of the top fWAR seasons 40 and above, Nolan Ryan appears 4 times in the top 10 seasons ever with the lowest fWAR being 4.9

fatbeard · Mar 17, 2017

brett05 said:
Jim Palmer, 16,114 batters faced...zero grand slams given up

That's...incredible.

SilenceS · Mar 18, 2017

I like the story that one of Maddux catchers told. Basically, it was regular season and he was facing a prolific hitter. Well, Maddux got the guy in a count in Maddux favor. They had a game plan for this hitter, but Maddux shook him off and threw a gopher ball. the catcher asked him why did he not stick to the game plan. Maddux said because he was going to see the guy in the playoffs and he wanted to set him up. Sure enough, playoffs came and Maddux struck the guy out in the same count by fooling him. He set the guy up for that instance. Crazy

I would say it could be a bogus story, but I have read/heard from other players and coaches with similar stories. Its crazy how intelligent he was as a pitcher.

beckdawg · Mar 18, 2017

I'm curious if Russell breaks out this year offensively. He's having a great spring(.259/.355/.741). I'm certain his .482 ISO will drop but it wouldn't shock me if he was in the .200-.250 range this season(.179 last year).

chibears55 · Mar 19, 2017

beckdawg said:
I'm curious if Russell breaks out this year offensively. He's having a great spring(.259/.355/.741). I'm certain his .482 ISO will drop but it wouldn't shock me if he was in the .200-.250 range this season(.179 last year).

I wanna see if Javier Baez can carry over what he been doing in WBC into the season...
Good to see your team young player getting involved in highly competitive games and playing well both offensively and defensively.

I'd like to see what kinda numbers he can put up being an everyday player.

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chibears55 · Mar 19, 2017

Maddon wants to play WBC champion in a best of 3 right after it ends this week.

Be cool if they do it

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brett05 · Mar 20, 2017

SilenceS said:
I like the story that one of Maddux catchers told. Basically, it was regular season and he was facing a prolific hitter. Well, Maddux got the guy in a count in Maddux favor. They had a game plan for this hitter, but Maddux shook him off and threw a gopher ball. the catcher asked him why did he not stick to the game plan. Maddux said because he was going to see the guy in the playoffs and he wanted to set him up. Sure enough, playoffs came and Maddux struck the guy out in the same count by fooling him. He set the guy up for that instance. Crazy

I would say it could be a bogus story, but I have read/heard from other players and coaches with similar stories. Its crazy how intelligent he was as a pitcher.

I believe that story without a doubt. There have been several pitchers on that level. It's really to me what separates a guy from being a good baseball player to a great baseball player.

JP Hochbaum · Mar 20, 2017

My belief is that Greg Maddux, Pedro Martinez and Randy Johnson were possibly the 3 greatest pitchers of all time. I'm not certain guys of previous generations could put up their numbers at the height of the steroid era. We saw something very special for a good 20 year span from them.

brett05 · Mar 20, 2017

JP Hochbaum said:
My belief is that Greg Maddux, Pedro Martinez and Randy Johnson were possibly the 3 greatest pitchers of all time. I'm not certain guys of previous generations could put up their numbers at the height of the steroid era. We saw something very special for a good 20 year span from them.

I'd put Ryan and Clemens in that picture

chibears55 · Mar 20, 2017

So far neither Anderson or Montgomery looking ready for that 5th spot...

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TC in Mississippi · Mar 20, 2017

chibears55 said:
So far neither Anderson or Montgomery looking ready for that 5th spot...

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Butler has outpitched them both but that would present a real roster challenge if he won the job so I'd still think it's probably Anderson and see if Butler keeps it up in AAA.

TC in Mississippi · Mar 20, 2017

AA Tennessee is going to be interesting this year with Clifton and Underwood leading the rotation, Happ likely starting back there and Jimenez either starting there or likely to get there in short order.