IST: Cubs vs Yankees

[chibears55]

Too bad Montero didn't close the game yesterday
?

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[The Bandit]

Awkward moment when your backup catcher pitches better than your starter....

 

[chibears55]

So, when do we stop using the its early and world series hangover excuse ?

Key guys still aren't hitting
Pitchers still struggling

Good thing the NL central sucks

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[Adipost]

So, when do we stop using the its early and world series hangover excuse ?

Key guys still aren't hitting
Pitchers still struggling

Good thing the NL central sucks

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Fear not. I have taken down my Schwarber GIF signature. He's about to go on a tear.

 

[Mr. Cub]

It's sad when our only pitcher to not give up an ER is the backup catcher...

 

[SilenceS]

So, when do we stop using the its early and world series hangover excuse ?

Key guys still aren't hitting
Pitchers still struggling

Good thing the NL central sucks

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When they arent in first place and we are more than 30 games into the season. But, what do they know. Terrible team and management.

 

[beckdawg]

So, when do we stop using the its early and world series hangover excuse ?

Key guys still aren't hitting
Pitchers still struggling

Good thing the NL central sucks

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For a team that's apparently playing terrible in your eyes, they have the 8th best run differential in baseball. They will be fine. Obviously they have some issues such as a #5 starter but contrast this team with last years. I'd rather be where the cubs are now. Heyward is hitting. Schwarber is healthy. Almora and Jay have largely replaced Fowler quite well. Montero has hit great. There's a lot of younger guys not hitting and vets not playing quite to their potential yet on offense but the line up is solid. The bullpen is remarkably better considering it was largely Strop and Rondon only last year.

The starters statistically don't look great but they've been a bit unlucky. Arrieta has a career LOB% of 71.8% with the past 3 years being 74.2%, 80%, and 74.9%. This year he's at 69.2%. His HR/FB historically is 10.6% and this year he's at 17.6%. It's a similar story for all the cubs pitchers. Lester has the lowest HR/FB on the cubs at 12.5% but that's still nearly 3% higher than his career 9.8% rate as well as being up ~3% on LOB%. Hendricks is up almost 9% on his HR/FB rate. Lakey is up 11% on his HR/FB rate and 4% on his LOB% rate.

Obviously they need to do something about Anderson's spot in the rotation but the other 4 guys statistically don't look that far off 2016 and frankly we've known for awhile they were probably going to do something with a starter trade wise anyways given Lackey and Arrieta are FA to be.

 

[beckdawg]

On the plus side both cease and de la cruz both pitched well tonight. Cease 5.0 IP, 3 hits, 1 walk, 1 ER, 6k's. De La Cruz 6 IP, 3 hits, 1 ER, 6k.

Re: this.... Butler also pitched last night... 92 pitches, 6 innings, 4 hits, 0 walks, 0 ER, and 6 K's. If he starts striking people out watch out because he could come on fast. He presently has a 1.17 ERA and largely has been fantastic ERA wise but the K rate numbers are lower than you would like. He's at 5.06 k/9 thus far this season and 2.38 BB/9 which is fantastic considering walk rate had been a problem of his(4.0 per 9 in his career at the majors and 2.8 per 9 in his previous minor league years).

 

[CSF77]

The real problem is the rotation has failed to get past the 6th inning in most of their games. That puts too much pressure onto the pen. Last year the starters were exclent with taking the work load off season off the pen.

By the numbers the pen is one of the best in baseball. The issue is the workload is one of the heaviest in baseball.

Rondon's gaff came off of location on one pitch but he shouldn't be in high pressure situations any more.

Anderson tweaked his back. Same area that took him out last year. So I'm putting yesterday as a injury that a O exploited. It just adds to the core problem of the rotation.

What the team really needs is Lester and Arrieta to step up. Hendricks has turned the page and the other two need to also.

 

[chibears55]

When they arent in first place and we are more than 30 games into the season. But, what do they know. Terrible team and management.

That could very easily be tonight..
Lose tonight , chance we can go to bed with them in 3rd place and a game out of last.

Never said they had terrible management and team

Just we can't just close our eyes to their struggles and keep shaking it off as it early,etc...

They should be much better then a .500 team at this point and still have a bunch of players still figuring it out..

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[fatbeard]

That could very easily be tonight..
Lose tonight , chance we can go to bed with them in 3rd place and a game out of last.

Never said they had terrible management and team

Just we can't just close our eyes to their struggles and keep shaking it off as it early,etc...

They should be much better then a .500 team at this point and still have a bunch of players still figuring it out..

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Last year the Giants were the best team in baseball at the ASB. Then they were the worst team in baseball in the second half. Would you like a "Jump to Conclusions" mat?

 

[chibears55]

For a team that's apparently playing terrible in your eyes, they have the 8th best run differential in baseball. They will be fine. Obviously they have some issues such as a #5 starter but contrast this team with last years. I'd rather be where the cubs are now. Heyward is hitting. Schwarber is healthy. Almora and Jay have largely replaced Fowler quite well. Montero has hit great. There's a lot of younger guys not hitting and vets not playing quite to their potential yet on offense but the line up is solid. The bullpen is remarkably better considering it was largely Strop and Rondon only last year.

The starters statistically don't look great but they've been a bit unlucky. Arrieta has a career LOB% of 71.8% with the past 3 years being 74.2%, 80%, and 74.9%. This year he's at 69.2%. His HR/FB historically is 10.6% and this year he's at 17.6%. It's a similar story for all the cubs pitchers. Lester has the lowest HR/FB on the cubs at 12.5% but that's still nearly 3% higher than his career 9.8% rate as well as being up ~3% on LOB%. Hendricks is up almost 9% on his HR/FB rate. Lakey is up 11% on his HR/FB rate and 4% on his LOB% rate.

Obviously they need to do something about Anderson's spot in the rotation but the other 4 guys statistically don't look that far off 2016 and frankly we've known for awhile they were probably going to do something with a starter trade wise anyways given Lackey and Arrieta are FA to be.

So, you think these guys are playing good..

Contreras .217
Rizzo .225
Russell .239
Schwarber .193
Zobrist .232

Heyward looks better started out great but lately his Avg. taken a dive down to .253

They may be 8th in run differential but that Not saying much at a plus 11, after 31 games.
Especially considering they had a few high scoring games in there..

They struggle driving in runs in scoring position and leave a ton on base, which results in losses in close games.

The pitching... They all have 6 starts now

Arrieta 35 ip 4.63 ERA

Lackey 35 ip 5.14 ERA

Anderson 22 ip 8.18 ERA

Lester 34 ip

Hendricks 33 ip

Besides the early game struggle the last couple weeks , they have 3 guys getting rocked for most part and none of them can go more then 6 innings..

Puts a lot of strain on a bullpen , Montgomery already has 21 ip in 11 games..

Bullpen has 3 guys they can count on consistently
Montgomery Edwards and Davis

The rest are mediocre...


So, I see a struggling team 30 games in
On paper they should be much better then .500




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[chibears55]

Last year the Giants were the best team in baseball at the ASB. Then they were the worst team in baseball in the second half. Would you like a "Jump to Conclusions" mat?

Jumping to what conclusion ?

You're happy with the way their playing right now?

You're ok with most the lineup hitting way below their average and pitchers getting hit early and can't go pass the 6th inning..
Besides 3 guys, a bullpen that struggling..

I never said they can't turn it around and start playing the way they should and win a bunch of games..

I'm just not going to sit here and Give The it's early excuse and all for the way their playing now.

These guys are too good to still be struggling this far into the season...
30 games, 100 + ABs, 6 starts in
Time to get it going and play the way their capable of

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[beckdawg]

So, you think these guys are playing good..

Contreras .217
Rizzo .225
Russell .239
Schwarber .193
Zobrist .232

There's a lot of younger guys not hitting and vets not playing quite to their potential yet on offense but the line up is solid.

Heyward looks better started out great but lately his Avg. taken a dive down to .253

Is that not still a vast improvement from last season? I mean say what you will about his potential but he's taken a vast step forward this year and given you want his defense in the field every day the fact that he's hitting at all is a plus over last year.

They may be 8th in run differential but that Not saying much at a plus 11, after 31 games.
Especially considering they had a few high scoring games in there..

They struggle driving in runs in scoring position and leave a ton on base, which results in losses in close games.

Feel like you don't get the concept of run differential. Close losses are generally a positive because good teams lose games close where as bad teams get blown out. I'm not saying you want to lose those games but again you're looking at results rather than process. Baseball is a marathon not a sprint. The pitching isn't going to be that unlucky with fly balls throughout the season. The young hitters have more talent than they are presently showing. And lastly they aren't really losing bad games spare a few here and there like last night.

They are far from a perfect team right now but the point is they are in a good position given what has occurred. For example, would you rather be Pitt(14-16 with -14 run diff) or St. Louis(15-14 and +3)? At a .533 win% they are still on pace to win 86 games and that's with them not firing on all cylinders.

 

[chibears55]

Is that not still a vast improvement from last season? I mean say what you will about his potential but he's taken a vast step forward this year and given you want his defense in the field every day the fact that he's hitting at all is a plus over last year.



Feel like you don't get the concept of run differential. Close losses are generally a positive because good teams lose games close where as bad teams get blown out. I'm not saying you want to lose those games but again you're looking at results rather than process. Baseball is a marathon not a sprint. The pitching isn't going to be that unlucky with fly balls throughout the season. The young hitters have more talent than they are presently showing. And lastly they aren't really losing bad games spare a few here and there like last night.

They are far from a perfect team right now but the point is they are in a good position given what has occurred. For example, would you rather be Pitt(14-16 with -14 run diff) or St. Louis(15-14 and +3)? At a .533 win% they are still on pace to win 86 games and that's with them not firing on all cylinders.

Didn't say players in lineup are bad, just that most are struggling..


Heyward started out great but he has struggled the last couple weeks 10 -50 .200..

The offense on Avg. (5 runs per) is great but I think that a result of having some high scoring games in the 30 games played..

My disappointment with offense is leaving the game on bases for the most part that ends up costing them games in the end.


Happy their in first and still above .500
Just feel that their lucky that the Central sucks as a whole right now and that their too good of a team to be playing .500 ball at this point



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[fatbeard]

It's like talking to a wall.

 

[anotheridiot]

They need to stop playing games with the rotation. Its Lester, Arrieta and Hendrick as 1,2,3. Lackey needs to get over it, Anderson should be on his way out of town. Eddie Butler should be up for the next start as the fifth man in the rotation. Anderson has shown he is not worthy of trust saying he is ok or ready. We will be losing Sczcur over this experiment and choosing him over Travis.

KB and Rizzo will never be truly great hitters until they stop having to hit into shifts. All I see is the exact opposite of what should be happening, pitching KB outside and him not going to right field enough to stop the defense from shifting. Can we get past this Schwarber leadoff already. Give Jay or Almora that shot to at least get a base runner going, even if it means dropping KB to the third spot and maybe even hitting Rizzo second instead of schwarber.

When will Maddon ever manage a fucking closer? Throw davis three days in a row against the phillies first week in may.....

 

[chibears55]

They need to stop playing games with the rotation. Its Lester, Arrieta and Hendrick as 1,2,3. Lackey needs to get over it, Anderson should be on his way out of town. Eddie Butler should be up for the next start as the fifth man in the rotation. Anderson has shown he is not worthy of trust saying he is ok or ready. We will be losing Sczcur over this experiment and choosing him over Travis.

KB and Rizzo will never be truly great hitters until they stop having to hit into shifts. All I see is the exact opposite of what should be happening, pitching KB outside and him not going to right field enough to stop the defense from shifting. Can we get past this Schwarber leadoff already. Give Jay or Almora that shot to at least get a base runner going, even if it means dropping KB to the third spot and maybe even hitting Rizzo second instead of schwarber.

When will Maddon ever manage a fucking closer? Throw davis three days in a row against the phillies first week in may.....

What happened to the days of guys being able to hit to all field and behind runners?
Why we don't see many hit n runs anymore, cause guys can't control where they hit the ball anymore.

Sure there dead pull hitters but it seems like the whole cubs lineup are hitting into this shift..
Balls that would be singles are outs

The lefties should just start bunting and pushing ball towards 3rd more and force the defense to adjust..

Rather see more of that then hard groundouts to short right or up the middle..

Why I think guys like Almora and Happ could be a good addition to this line up everyday..

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[CSF77]

I think you were spoiled last year. They are #7 in runs scored.

 

[CSF77]

What made the Cubs the best team was they were the best at every aspect of the game last year.

Runs: 7
ERA: 15
Fielding: 21

If anything the fielding has not been as good as a whole. Pitching middle of the road. Hitting has been the best of what they have done.

IMO they need Almora playing every day. Baez has been suspect to this point as has Contreras. Montero honestly has been quite solid catching. If anything he could help stabilize the staff.