IST: Cubs vs. Cardinals

[SilenceS]

Game 1 is Lackey vs. Garcia.

Contreras will get his first major league start tonight.

Little tidbit about my man Baez.

In June, he is hitting .302 with a wOBA of .393 and an OPS of .943 and a wRC+ of 147. His K rate has jumped to 25% in the month, but the power has come on. He is also batting .350 against lefties this year with a .997 OPS. He is basically being the Schwarber against lefties. Schwarber killed righties last year. He has come on against righties though. Real exciting progress he is making while playing excellent D all over the field. He is a big reason the Cubs have over come some injuries. This team didnt have that depth or versatility. It would be a lot tougher go.

 

[TC in Mississippi]

Game 1 is Lackey vs. Garcia.

Contreras will get his first major league start tonight.

Little tidbit about my man Baez.

In June, he is hitting .302 with a wOBA of .393 and an OPS of .943 and a wRC+ of 147. His K rate has jumped to 25% in the month, but the power has come on. He is also batting .350 against lefties this year with a .997 OPS. He is basically being the Schwarber against lefties. Schwarber killed righties last year. He has come on against righties though. Real exciting progress he is making while playing excellent D all over the field. He is a big reason the Cubs have over come some injuries. This team didnt have that depth or versatility. It would be a lot tougher go.

Good piece on Baez from Ken Rosenthal

http://www.foxsports.com/mlb/story/...trade-deadline-ultimate-utility-player-062016

 

[Parade_Rain]

I'll bet there are some teams who feel really dumb about now for not offering more for Baez.

 

[SilenceS]

Cant say Maddon is scared to play the kids. lol They are all starting tonight.

 

[beckdawg]

Cant say Maddon is scared to play the kids. lol They are all starting tonight.

Gotta learn some time. Might as well do it when they are 10+ games up in the division.

 

[cubsmann]

I'll bet there are some teams who feel really dumb about now for not offering more for Baez.

I don't think Epstein ever had any notion of trading Baez. The guy can play 5 positions well, can field, can hit, can hit for power, and can run. The only thing he needs to work on is taking a walk now and again and he will be a complete player. The guy is an all star next year and will be for years to come. The Cubs are so loaded with young talent that Im thinking dynasty. This teams wins at least 3 World Series in the next 5 years. Think about who we have: Rizzo, Bryant, Baez, Soler, Schwarber, Contreras, Almora Jr, Russell all less than or equal to 24 years old. Were the only team in baseball that can lose two starting outfielders (Soler and Fowler) and still have the best lineup in the game. I love how Maddon calls Baez his "swiss army knife". The guy is great at third and shortstop, two positions that are not easy to play.

BTW- Im picking the Cubs to sweep the Cardinals. Contreras will hit at least one more home run in the series and Almora Jr will get his first MLB HR in this series.

 

[cubsmann]

Gotta learn some time. Might as well do it when they are 10+ games up in the division.

I love this lineup. Can't wait for the game to start and lay an ass whipping on the Cardinals again...I like Zobrist as the lead off man. Anyone agree with me here?

 

[Washington]

Good piece on Baez from Ken Rosenthal

http://www.foxsports.com/mlb/story/...trade-deadline-ultimate-utility-player-062016

Great read! I love the way Baez plays. What an asset.

 

[Parade_Rain]

I don't think Epstein ever had any notion of trading Baez.

If the return was right, he would have been traded.

 

[beckdawg]

I've made this comparison before. I think when I first made it people thought I was largely crazy. But from a numbers stand point Kyle Hendricks looks a lot like Sonny Gray and I think some are starting realize how good Hendricks has been. If we look at the numbers they are as follows

Kyle Hendricks
58 starts, 340.0 IPs, 20-15, 7.60 k/9 2.04 bb/9 0.71 hr/9, .281 BABIP, 72.6% strand rate, 51.0% ground ball rate, 9.7% HR/FB, 3.36/3.30/3.44 ERA/FIP/xFIP, 6.8 fWAR

Sonny Gray
86 starts, 557.2 IPs, 36-26, 7.62 k/9 2.90 bb/9 0.76 hr/9 .272 BABIP, 73.9% strand rate, 54.1% ground ball rate, 10.4% HR/FB, 3.20/3.55/3.59 ERA/FIP/xFIP, 8.6 fWAR

Gray has gone deeper into games averaging around 6.1-6.2 innings a start though Hendricks has been decidedly better at that this season than his career rates at a little over 6 innings a start. I'd argue Gray's probably a better pitcher by not by a great deal.

It's also interesting to note that Hendricks is using his cutter a lot more this year. Last season he threw it 8.5% of the time. He threw his sinker 60.7% of the time, 19.9% on the change, 7.2% on the curve and 3.6% on unclassified fastball. Not sure if that last one is a 4 seam or if it's just pitch fx thinking his sinker was a fastball regardless it's not really that important at ~4%. This season he's thrown his sinker 55.0%, his change up 22.8%, his cutter 14.8%, his curve 6.3% and that unclassified fastball 1.1%. What's more, his cutter has been really good this year. Hitters are hitting .088/.238/.176 with a 11.6%/25.6% bb/k rate against it. Given all that, it seems Hendricks is no longer a "2 pitch pitcher" that he was labeled the past couple of years.

I'm not sure where he goes from here as he's already been pretty good. His K/9 and bb/9 the past 2 years has been remarkably consistent. He was at 8.35/2.15 last year and is 8.25/2.15 this year. If you want to talk upside, another name that pops out as similar is Mike Mussina who had 7.11/1.98 k/9 and bb/9 with a 3.68/3.57/3.68 ERA/FIP/xFIP albeit in the AL and largely during the steroid era. As with Gray, Mussina was a bit more of a work horse going around 6.2 IP/start over his career. I think that is one area though that Hendricks can probably improve on going forward. He's largely already pretty efficient with this pitches but usually as pitchers age they get a bit more crafty.

 

[CSF77]

Edwards up. Fowler to DL

 

[SilenceS]

Fowler was officially put on the dl.

 

[SilenceS]

Edwards up. Fowler to DL

Cubs could really use him to harness his potential. Flat out filthy if he keeps his control.

 

[beckdawg]

Fowler was officially put on the dl.

Glad they did this to be honest. I don't know how severe it is obviously but i'd rather they just play it super cautious with him right now and let it fully heal. Hamstrings can get reaggrivated really easy especially for an outfielder.

 

[beckdawg]

I was thinking about Maddon and this whole 3 catcher thing. I don't have any numbers for this but I'm curious if catchers fall off hard in the later months of the year because of wear and tear. And I also wonder if this whole 3 catcher idea essentially helps that.

 

[beckdawg]

Wow that play by Russell... shame they called him safe on review.

 

[SilenceS]

You can see the work Contreras needs receiving the ball.

 

[Grizzly]

You can see the work Contreras needs receiving the ball.

Most 24 year old catchers need work.

 

[SilenceS]

Most 24 year old catchers need work.

Usually, catchers hone the skill and the bat comes later. He is the opposite. It's why the Cubs brought him up. To learn from two of the best at receiving and framing pitches


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Grizzly]

Usually, catchers hone the skill and the bat comes later. He is the opposite. It's why the Cubs brought him up. To learn from two of the best at receiving and framing pitches


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Cubs brought him up because last week I asked what they were waiting for.