Cubs Spring training thread

[beckdawg]

I'm thinking they will try to trade Szczur and this delay gives them more time

Could also try to sneak him thru waivers once the season starts. It's harder to claim him then because most teams have a rigid 25 man roster at that point.

 

[beckdawg]

I imagine I'm in the minority but I'm super stoked to see Almora this year. He's blisteringly hot right now(.322/.328/.627 with 3 HRs 7 doubles and a triple) and that doesn't include the 1-2 with a granny he's gone today.

 

[chibears55]

I imagine I'm in the minority but I'm super stoked to see Almora this year. He's blisteringly hot right now(.322/.328/.627 with 3 HRs 7 doubles and a triple) and that doesn't include the 1-2 with a granny he's gone today.

I'm always excited to see young players get a shot on my teams..

Cool to watch a kid from your team system start their career and succeed on such team.

Why I really like this current team, hope to be able to watch these kids for a long time on the Cubs.

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[DanTown]

I imagine I'm in the minority but I'm super stoked to see Almora this year. He's blisteringly hot right now(.322/.328/.627 with 3 HRs 7 doubles and a triple) and that doesn't include the 1-2 with a granny he's gone today.

Unsustainable power and still no real ability to work counts and get himself ahead in the count. I think he'll be a solid 7/8 hitter who plays good defense and frankly, that's all he needs to be.

 

[beckdawg]

Unsustainable power and still no real ability to work counts and get himself ahead in the count. I think he'll be a solid 7/8 hitter who plays good defense and frankly, that's all he needs to be.

HR's maybe but the guy has always raked doubles. To put a number to things, he had 100 doubles and 16 triples in 1733 PAs in the minors. That's a little over 2.5 years of production which comes in at around 38 doubles and 6 or so triples a year. If you assume he has 10-15 HRs a year as well, that's 54-59 extra base hits a year. Zobrist had 52 extra base hits last year.

He's not going to put up power numbers like Rizzo/Bryant but for what it's worth Rizzo had 43 doubles last year and Bryant had 35. Point here being Almora has decent power.

 

[CSF77]

I'm still concerned in inability to take walks. MLB pitchers will eat him up

 

[beckdawg]

I'm still concerned in inability to take walks. MLB pitchers will eat him up

That's an assumption not really stone cold fact. I'd be more encouraged he's hitting well over .300. Consider what happened with Heyward last year. Heyward has always been a good discipline guy but when he proved he couldn't hit a fastball they attacked him in the zone much more often. In spring anyways, Almora has shown he can rake on pitches in the zone. The logical next step for pitchers is to see if he'll chase. So, they likely will be handing him the opportunities to walk. We'll see how that plays out but my guess is you'll see his walk rate rise. Thus far he hasn't had to take walks because no one has been scared of him and thus hasn't pitched around him.

 

[Omeletpants]

Looks like Almora has moved closer to the plate which may make a difference in solid contact

 

[DanTown]

HR's maybe but the guy has always raked doubles. To put a number to things, he had 100 doubles and 16 triples in 1733 PAs in the minors. That's a little over 2.5 years of production which comes in at around 38 doubles and 6 or so triples a year. If you assume he has 10-15 HRs a year as well, that's 54-59 extra base hits a year. Zobrist had 52 extra base hits last year.

He's not going to put up power numbers like Rizzo/Bryant but for what it's worth Rizzo had 43 doubles last year and Bryant had 35. Point here being Almora has decent power.

Tough to judge his doubles as minor league parks play to doubles hitters well more than MLB does. Also, scouting, positioning, and pitcher quality is drastically different so again, it's not as if doubles translates.

Frankly, nothing a guy does in a short period like ST is going to matter to me in evaluating what I think of a guy's future potential. I don't think guys who don't hit HR and don't walk ever possess high value offensively. Doesn't mean I don't think Almora doesn't end up playing a lot of innings here, just means I don't think his bat is ever going to be a positive, neutral at best but nothing good.

 

[Parade_Rain]

I'm thinking they will try to trade Szczur and this delay gives them more time

Yep. That's what I believe they are doing, as well.

 

[beckdawg]

Tough to judge his doubles as minor league parks play to doubles hitters well more than MLB does. Also, scouting, positioning, and pitcher quality is drastically different so again, it's not as if doubles translates.

Frankly, nothing a guy does in a short period like ST is going to matter to me in evaluating what I think of a guy's future potential. I don't think guys who don't hit HR and don't walk ever possess high value offensively. Doesn't mean I don't think Almora doesn't end up playing a lot of innings here, just means I don't think his bat is ever going to be a positive, neutral at best but nothing good.

I mean that's fine but you're basically saying nothing matters until the majors then. All I'm saying is the guy has shown decent power to gaps albeit not HR power yet in the minors. I'd argue he's more Dexter Fowler than Juan Pierre and clearly he's no Trout/McCutchen in terms of power.

 

[CSF77]

I mean that's fine but you're basically saying nothing matters until the majors then. All I'm saying is the guy has shown decent power to gaps albeit not HR power yet in the minors. I'd argue he's more Dexter Fowler than Juan Pierre and clearly he's no Trout/McCutchen in terms of power.

More like the minors are a place of transition of players and less involvement of statistical information. In the majors you have better video coverage and more statistics to work with.

The way I look at is most players will get beat up by major league pitchers after the league figures them out. We have seen it all over baseball. Except for Bryant who is not human.

That said he may become a solid hitter after he readjusts back. But he needs to learn how to accept his walks and tighten his hit box vs being a attacker at the plate. It worked for a while with Castro because Castro excelled at hitting balls into play into the gaps. And sure that approach works with pitchers with strong control but facing pitchers who excell at command it will work against him and produce weak contact.

 

[fatbeard]

Re: Almora, the BB% thing seems to skew every discussion that comes up. But if you polled the board on, "Would you be happy to see Ender Inciarte playing CF for the Cubs?" I'd wager opinions would be overwhelmingly positive (they certainly were after 2015). Almora is the same player but with significantly more power and a higher ceiling because of it. If he matures as a hitter he's an 5-6 WAR player. If not, he's still a safe bet for 3 WAR.

 

[CSF77]

Re: Almora, the BB% thing seems to skew every discussion that comes up. But if you polled the board on, "Would you be happy to see Ender Inciarte playing CF for the Cubs?" I'd wager opinions would be overwhelmingly positive (they certainly were after 2015). Almora is the same player but with significantly more power and a higher ceiling because of it. If he matures as a hitter he's an 5-6 WAR player. If not, he's still a safe bet for 3 WAR.

If Almora puts up a .351 OBA also I will be ecstatic. I'm expecting a .318 myself.

Just look at Ender 2015 to 2016. He added 20 BB. His BA even dropped 10 points but his OBA went from .336 to .351. That is what you want to see in a player with that skill set.

 

[anotheridiot]

http://www.cubshq.com/update/WATCH-Schwarber-guns-runner-Astros-21937?ref=fb

 

[jooo83]

What do you guys make of Hector Rondon right now? He has really struggled this spring including in the WBC.

 

[beckdawg]

What do you guys make of Hector Rondon right now? He has really struggled this spring including in the WBC.

He struggled in ST last year. Not saying he'll be great but this isn't unprecedented.

 

[chibears55]

Looking like this will be the opening day lineup

Schwarber
Bryant
Rizzo
Zobrist
Russell
Heyward
Contreras
Lester
Almora

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[chibears55]

What do you guys make of Hector Rondon right now? He has really struggled this spring including in the WBC.

I'd be more concerned if it were June and he still struggling..

Just need Strop and Montgomery to do their part late in games til Rondon gets it together..

All about Control/Location for him now

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[CSF77]

I'd be more concerned if it were June and he still struggling..

Just need Strop and Montgomery to do their part late in games til Rondon gets it together..

All about Control/Location for him now

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I would keep him in a mop up role until he proves he is able to get outs on a constant basis. Of all of the guys he is best suited for the 8th as he is more of a starting a inning guy from his closer days. You want high leverage guys like Strop/Montgomery and Edwards coming in mid inning as they have stronger strike out stuff.