IST: Cubs AT Pirates

[SilenceS]

So, what the Cubs did before worked but the league adjusted. High fastball and being aggressive cause our hitter were power and walks. The league copied and now they are adjusting again. Cubs are going contact plus patience.

 

[CSF77]

Most pitchers were going lower because umps were not calling high strikes. So the uppercut came into being.

I believe MLB stated enforcing the high strike zone after years of wide low zones.

Rob Arthur wrote for Baseball Prospectus earlier this month that umpire accuracy on called strikes hit a new high in 2021, as more than 89 percent of pitches with a predicted strike probability of at least 0.5 were called strikes — up more than 2 percent over the past six seasons.

The strike zone was subjective and now it is more uniform. Watching some games the Umps for the most part have been calling great on balls and strikes.

 

[beckdawg]

Hope his defense is good. Cause his bat is ice cold to Start

He's fine. His k rate and walk rate are well within normal ranges given the sample size and his batted ball profile shows more medium and hard contact than previous years. What's killing him is his .077 BABIP. For a guy with a career .326 BABIP you're talking 249 points difference. Assuming he returns to that level of BABIP he'd be hitting something like .316/.425 right now for avg/obp.

 

[beckdawg]

For the first time in my life, I feel like the cubs have a culture/program that just works and produces solid teams like the cardinals have been doing for decades. It never seemed to matter who played for St. Louis, they always played winning baseball. Here’s to hoping the cubs have found that sort of sustained operation ?

I was watching a youtube recommended video earlier and it was a cubs released thing on madrigal's rehab. I found it interesting because part of it was the friendship he sparked with PCA during rehab. It's a bit cliche but stuff like that is a good sign IMO because it's one thing for a coach to tell you something but it's kind of different hearing it from someone more your age and who's where you wanna get to. Plus let's be real if you can pick anyones brain about hitting for a defensive stud like PCA, Madrigal is a really good choice.

 

[beckdawg]

So, what the Cubs did before worked but the league adjusted. High fastball and being aggressive cause our hitter were power and walks. The league copied and now they are adjusting again. Cubs are going contact plus patience.

IDK... like if you asked me the approach was always some what flawed. Don't get me wrong I'm not one to shit on the team as you well know. From my POV, they built a very AL centric team that could mash. And I think the years after 2016 showed both the good and bad of that approach. The cubs were a team that could consistently win a lot of games but struggled vs top end pitching.

What made 2016 different is they were historically good on defense which made them historically good pitching wise. So much attention was focused on hitting issues post 2016 but for me that's where the issue lies. The cubs were OK defensively in those years but a lot of that was masked by how good certain players like Baez were. If we're talking about reasons why the cardinals always look good as a team to me you start with their organizational philosophy of defense. They had 5 people win gold gloves in 2021 and you look throughout the years with guys like Edmonds and Rolen...etc they've always built this way.

So, for me the way you build a team has always been contact and defense because that's how you win close games. Obviously that's a difficult group of skills to build in players because not everyone who can hit can play defense and vice versa. But landing the right players makes a world of difference.

 

[SilenceS]

Willy with a 453 footer. 1-0 Cubbies

 

[CSF77]

Well this is why Hendriks is not a staff ace. Eghad

 

[jooo83]

Well this is why Hendriks is not a staff ace. Eghad

That debate should have been over years ago. He's at best a middle of the rotation pitcher.

 

[CSF77]

That debate should have been over years ago. He's at best a middle of the rotation pitcher.

Yep. He can toss a gem. He just lacks a b game. A guy like him that depends on movement and location command is everything. 4 walks shows that he did not have that command. In that situation a B game helps. A B game would be pounding curve balls to get weak contact and work on command later.

 

[Szlachcic]

Bases loaded, one out, Wilson Contreras hits into a double play. Bad luck or bad approach?

 

[CSF77]

Bases loaded, one out, Wilson Contreras hits into a double play. Bad luck or bad approach?

It is really hard to blame anyone here. Down 6-2 guys will try to do too much.

Trying to not let a anemic line up spank your starter goes far in letting the O figure it out.

I'll be frank here.

This team has been overachieving. Cold weather helped them earlier. Talent will adjust and find it's place in life.

Mad needs to start hitting.

Schwindel out performed expectations. He needs to prove that it was not a one hit wonder. The LaHair tag is a real concern.

Wisdom is a strike out machine.

It really is the Contreras/Happ/Suzuki show this year and crossing your fingers on the rest.

As far as the farm goes. Davis has been struggling. So really no help on that front.

Also it looks like Ross is pushing Steel up on short rest. Shoot he must be chomping at the bit right now. 4 day rest is fucking risky business with a young arm.

 

[CSF77]

All said and done I am not really a fan of the mix and match game that David plays. Find a stable line up and roll with it.

Few things here.

Hermosillo is there to hit lefties. If he is not doing that he should not be there. I have never been enamored with AAA answers for MLB problems.

The lead off is issue #2. I really have no clue what is happening there. For duck sakes how about letting Villar lead off and start at 3B. Give it a week as he is a SH.

This pushes the DH lower. At this point having a set DH is not paying off at all. If it was me. I would platoon Gomez and Contreras there. Toss out Herm. Bring up a 3rd catcher for oh snap. Have Happ move back and forth CF and RF. Then platoon Frazier and Heyward.

Let's lessen the AAAA impact ASAP.

 

[Discus fish salesman]

It is really hard to blame anyone here. Down 6-2 guys will try to do too much.

Trying to not let a anemic line up spank your starter goes far in letting the O figure it out.

I'll be frank here.

This team has been overachieving. Cold weather helped them earlier. Talent will adjust and find it's place in life.

Mad needs to start hitting.

Schwindel out performed expectations. He needs to prove that it was not a one hit wonder. The LaHair tag is a real concern.

Wisdom is a strike out machine.

It really is the Contreras/Happ/Suzuki show this year and crossing your fingers on the rest.

As far as the farm goes. Davis has been struggling. So really no help on that front.

Also it looks like Ross is pushing Steel up on short rest. Shoot he must be chomping at the bit right now. 4 day rest is fucking risky business with a young arm.

I'd hardly say Madrigal is someone you are crossing your fingers on because of the first 4 games he's played. He has a pretty good track record.

 

[CSF77]

Villar 3B

I'd hardly say Madrigal is someone you are crossing your fingers on because of the first 4 games he's played. He has a pretty good track record.

I really hope so.

I was thinking this

Villar 3B almost every day.
Mad 2B
Contreras C/DH
Happ CF/LF
Suzuki RF
Heyward/Frazier CF/LF
Gomez C/DH
Schwindel 1B
Hoerner SS


I really believe that David needs to lean more on guys that are proven. Suzuki was a all star for years. He is crushing it right now. Schwindel has to be what have you done for me...

Basically go from there.

Now I really do not like seeing Steel slated on 4 day. If Mills is not ready then toss Chavez under the bus. Just saying sink or swim *****.

 

[Discus fish salesman]

Villar 3B


I really hope so.

I was thinking this

Villar 3B almost every day.
Mad 2B
Contreras C/DH
Happ CF/LF
Suzuki RF
Heyward/Frazier CF/LF
Gomez C/DH
Schwindel 1B
Hoerner SS


I really believe that David needs to lean more on guys that are proven. Suzuki was a all star for years. He is crushing it right now. Schwindel has to be what have you done for me...

Basically go from there.

Now I really do not like seeing Steel slated on 4 day. If Mills is not ready then toss Chavez under the bus. Just saying sink or swim *****.

How long until Villar gets 3rd everyday? Wisdom is pretty bad

 

[RacerX]

It is really hard to blame anyone here. Down 6-2 guys will try to do too much.

Trying to not let a anemic line up spank your starter goes far in letting the O figure it out.

I'll be frank here.

This team has been overachieving. Cold weather helped them earlier. Talent will adjust and find it's place in life.

Mad needs to start hitting.

Schwindel out performed expectations. He needs to prove that it was not a one hit wonder. The LaHair tag is a real concern.

Wisdom is a strike out machine.

It really is the Contreras/Happ/Suzuki show this year and crossing your fingers on the rest.

As far as the farm goes. Davis has been struggling. So really no help on that front.

Also it looks like Ross is pushing Steel up on short rest. Shoot he must be chomping at the bit right now. 4 day rest is fucking risky business with a young arm.

Fact: any team relying on Ian Happ for its success is ? destined for the cellar.

 

[CSF77]

Fact: any team relying on Ian Happ for its success is ? destined for the cellar.

I wouldn't go there right now.

Swarber had the same rap sheet. Both were miss used as lead off hitters. Both struggled because of a lack of identity.

Schwarber found himself away from Chi. Most here would agree that it was a mistake cutting him.

The same applies to Happ. He has performed far better as a core hitter vs a lead off or a cast off at the bottom.

It is what it is. Happ was a first round talent and he is finally starting to perform at that level.

 

[knoxville7]

I wouldn't go there right now.

Swarber had the same rap sheet. Both were miss used as lead off hitters. Both struggled because of a lack of identity.

Schwarber found himself away from Chi. Most here would agree that it was a mistake cutting him.

The same applies to Happ. He has performed far better as a core hitter vs a lead off or a cast off at the bottom.

It is what it is. Happ was a first round talent and he is finally starting to perform at that level.

Most would agree NOW that cutting Schwarber was a mistake. At the time, most were all for it…yourself included. I believe you made the claim that schwarber would be in Japan or Korea playing baseball by now. Whereas, I was about the only one on here at the time that said it was a mistake to let schwarber go over a few mil

 

[CSF77]

Most would agree NOW that cutting Schwarber was a mistake. At the time, most were all for it…yourself included. I believe you made the claim that schwarber would be in Japan or Korea playing baseball by now. Whereas, I was about the only one on here at the time that said it was a mistake to let schwarber go over a few mil

You are correct with that. At the time I thought that he was a bust also. But I thought it was because Joe kept miss using him as a lead off.

Joe did this with Kyle, Ian and Jason. All three went into slumps because of it. Square peg into a round hole.

My opinion now is sign a guy that is a lead off or develop one. Stop making guys try to change their approach.

Ian is a far better hitter when he is up there to drive the ball vs try to work a walk

 

[CSF77]

Regardless that is how I would approach the line up. Rivas and Chavez are the 27-28 men right now and both most likely sent down when the rosters go back to 26.

Miley did 100 foot long throws a few days ago and the next step is 120. If he responds well he gets back up on the mound and starts to build up. He is traveling with the team right now.

No real word on Mills.

David was a bit dumb using Thompson to get revenge. Lost a starter. Should have brought Chavez in to get suspended