IST: Cubs @ Nationals

[TL1961]

A two out single with a man on second, and the runner can't score from second base, but Almora air mails it, and allows the tying run to get into scoring position. Inexcusable.

 

[TL1961]

Hello....hello....hello???

Hmm...all these sons o' bitches are watching Game of Thrones.

 

[Hawkeye OG]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1130264056277995521

 

[TL1961]

This game was in the bag, and is now a toss up. Our pen has to hold it. Our win probability may be <50%.

 

[Parade_Rain]

Schwarber has two Sac Fly balls, and a walk. But he just made an out, so I expect someone to weigh in and complain about his batting average.

I would have expected a certain someone to complain about his weight.

 

[TL1961]

I would have expected a certain someone to complain about his weight.

Ha - your someone, and my someone are two different "someones".

 

[TL1961]

Cishek is not going to save this, Joe.

You should be pinch hitting and making a switch.

Cishek - I will be very happy to be proven wrong!

 

[Hawkeye OG]

Here we go

 

[PickSix]

Phew

 

[TL1961]

Wow! Excellent work. So glad to see that from Cishek. I expected walks and worries. Good work.

 

[zack54attack]

Listened to it on the radio at the end of my 13 hour drive. Big to get that series win.

 

[CSF77]

I'm starting to feel that the success of the pen was more luck vs talent.

May the numbers have shifted.

Cishek 9 IP 0.00 ERA
Brach 6.1 IP 1.42 ERA
Edwards 5 IP 1.80 ERA
Montgomery 7.2 IP 2.35 ERA
Chatwood: 10 IP 3.60 ERA
Kintzler 7.2 IP 4.70 ERA
Ryan 3.1 IP 8.10 ERA

To shoot strait here. They need to trade for a closer. I'm not even sure I trust any in the 8th much less the 9th.

Looking deeper. Kintzler has given up 4 runs on 7 hits and 2 walks while striking out 9. That is a bit of bad luck as his WHIP is 1.17.

Cishek has just been on point this month .67 WHIP and the result has been 0.00
Edwards .20 WHIP no walks and 1 hit in 5 IP and 6 SO

Those 2 are honestly handling their business. Luck or not they are getting outs.

Brach has made a decent turn around. .95 WHIP around 9SO/9.

So these guys I am perfectly fine with in most scenarios. Not sure I'm feeling the 9th Inning but most others I think most can step up into.

Montgomery doesn't miss enough bats. Chatwood has walked 7 in 10 IP. seems like he refused to not walk someone that day. 1.60 WHIP. Those 2 really should be starters on non contenders and are kinda risky on contenders. Ryan has become a liability as his talent suggested. Cedenio not a fan right now. Not much to work with but dude just is walking too much. Comes in for 1 guy and blows it. 3.60 WHIP. Fast yank has saved his ERA.

 

[chibears55]

I'm starting to feel that the success of the pen was more luck vs talent.

May the numbers have shifted.

Cishek 9 IP 0.00 ERA
Brach 6.1 IP 1.42 ERA
Edwards 5 IP 1.80 ERA
Montgomery 7.2 IP 2.35 ERA
Chatwood: 10 IP 3.60 ERA
Kintzler 7.2 IP 4.70 ERA
Ryan 3.1 IP 8.10 ERA

To shoot strait here. They need to trade for a closer. I'm not even sure I trust any in the 8th much less the 9th.

Looking deeper. Kintzler has given up 4 runs on 7 hits and 2 walks while striking out 9. That is a bit of bad luck as his WHIP is 1.17.

Cishek has just been on point this month .67 WHIP and the result has been 0.00
Edwards .20 WHIP no walks and 1 hit in 5 IP and 6 SO

Those 2 are honestly handling their business. Luck or not they are getting outs.

Brach has made a decent turn around. .95 WHIP around 9SO/9.

So these guys I am perfectly fine with in most scenarios. Not sure I'm feeling the 9th Inning but most others I think most can step up into.

Montgomery doesn't miss enough bats. Chatwood has walked 7 in 10 IP. seems like he refused to not walk someone that day. 1.60 WHIP. Those 2 really should be starters on non contenders and are kinda risky on contenders. Ryan has become a liability as his talent suggested. Cedenio not a fan right now. Not much to work with but dude just is walking too much. Comes in for 1 guy and blows it. 3.60 WHIP. Fast yank has saved his ERA.

What was the first clue that the bullpen wasn't talented lol

 

[CSF77]

What was the first clue that the bullpen wasn't talented lol

Cishek it is more about arm angle vs velocity.

Kintzler has decent velocity. Misses bats. Most part is solid.

Edwards has the most talent and is showing it right now. He just needs to mature mentality. Thus while toe tap really show cased his lacking there. But I believe that he is grown from it with his bounceback. And response about it recently. It was a mature take on it.

Now I really would love to see a trade involving either Chatwood or Montgomery to get a closer in return. Let's be real. Chatwood has more talent out of the two. So he holds more return value. Just being realistic here.

 

[CSF77]

If it was me I would talk to the Pads. They are needing a starter and are not looking to invest into Dallas. They need a left handed bat as they are RH heavy.

Meyers and Yates would be a quality trade for Chatwood and Heyward. Meyers is at 5.5 mil then jumps to 22.5 in 20. His health record has been sketchy so I doubt they want to pay the increase. Yates IMO is short term success. He really just came into his own this year.

So talent wise it is a wash trade. Cubs send over cash to balance to books this year. Next year their problem. But this solves the arm and bat issue for them and gives the Cubs a stable closer and another HR threat at the same cost at less years. Which pays off on retaining talent.

 

[beckdawg]

It's kind of a joke when we talk about new hitting coaches. But I gotta say that whether it's him or Maddon being more involved this year a lot of the cubs hitters are doing stuff differently. Parade had mentioned their having Heyward go more up the middle. The team as a whole appears to be going oppo a lot more. But overall there's just a lot of interesting nuggets. Like is anyone aware Almora is hitting .306/.344/.482(116 wRC+) vs RHP? It's 92 PAs so not the most giant sample but with a .343 BABIP it's not like he's been crazy lucky. This is a guy who's career wRC+ is 89 vs RHP. He's a career 108 wRC+ vs LHP. Oddly that has been his weakness this year hitting .195/.233/.293(39 wRC+) vs LHP though that is with a .219 BABIP.

Schwarber has a similar thing going on that's odd. He's hitting .273/.429/.455(146 wRC+) vs LHP over 28 PAs and .215/.326/.383(84) vs RHP. Given the lack of PAs and given his BABIP is .417 vs LHP that may just be a bit of luck. But still for a guy with a 76 wRC+ vs LHP for his career and a 120 wRC+ vs RHP it's slightly encouraging to see him potentially ironing out some of his rough edges.

I guess my point is people often scoff at the idea of guys making changes because it's typically viewed as lip service when a guy is struggling. But just statistically looking at the cubs hitters this year... there's a lot of odd shit going on. The interpretation of that can go different ways but it does lend itself to the idea that the guys are actively doing something different.

 

[CSF77]

It's kind of a joke when we talk about new hitting coaches. But I gotta say that whether it's him or Maddon being more involved this year a lot of the cubs hitters are doing stuff differently. Parade had mentioned their having Heyward go more up the middle. The team as a whole appears to be going oppo a lot more. But overall there's just a lot of interesting nuggets. Like is anyone aware Almora is hitting .306/.344/.482(116 wRC+) vs RHP? It's 92 PAs so not the most giant sample but with a .343 BABIP it's not like he's been crazy lucky. This is a guy who's career wRC+ is 89 vs RHP. He's a career 108 wRC+ vs LHP. Oddly that has been his weakness this year hitting .195/.233/.293(39 wRC+) vs LHP though that is with a .219 BABIP.

Schwarber has a similar thing going on that's odd. He's hitting .273/.429/.455(146 wRC+) vs LHP over 28 PAs and .215/.326/.383(84) vs RHP. Given the lack of PAs and given his BABIP is .417 vs LHP that may just be a bit of luck. But still for a guy with a 76 wRC+ vs LHP for his career and a 120 wRC+ vs RHP it's slightly encouraging to see him potentially ironing out some of his rough edges.

I guess my point is people often scoff at the idea of guys making changes because it's typically viewed as lip service when a guy is struggling. But just statistically looking at the cubs hitters this year... there's a lot of odd shit going on. The interpretation of that can go different ways but it does lend itself to the idea that the guys are actively doing something different.

The D justifies full time play from both Almora and Schwarber. I feel that Joe is just trying to find PA'S for Bote and not snub Russell at this point.

But realistically they should push Bote and Descanasio into bench roles right now and keep a static line up.