***Official*** 2019 Spring Training Thread

[beckdawg]

The thing about it is it's over three different appearances, which makes the lack of walks and consistency with his mechanics a better sign than if he just had one six inning stretch on a single day. I tend to imagine the Cubs use him often this year as a starter and it would not surprise me at all if Chatwood is a starter from day one (maybe not day one as they don't need a fifth starter the first two weeks) and then add Darvish in and kind of run a 5.5 man rotation.

I'm not saying it's a bad sign. I'm just saying its premature to assume he's "fixed." If people want to see it as encouraging that's great. I got no problem with that. But personally I need to see a lot more before I'm buying into him being "fixed".

As for how the cubs would use him if he is "fixed," there's been some talk of using a 6 man rotation but i find that dubious. However, I wouldn't hate the idea of them doing something where he starts say 2 games a month and then on the weeks he doesn't start you let him do 2 say 3 inning relief stints where he pitches 6-9th. That would effectively be like him making 20 starts. If they could make that work it would allow them to give the normal starters a bit of rest which they are gonna need badly in the final 2 months. In the final 2 months they have 5 days off and that's before you factor in possible rainouts. Additionally, if you could make the whole sorta 2nd starter 6-9 work you'd really save some innings on your bullpen.

 

[CSF77]

I agree that it is early. But Chatwood said something that made sense. Last year no one really beat him. He beat himself. What I'm seeing is he is not beating himself right now.

To me that is what matters. That is what we are seeing. If he gets beat by the other team hitting what is offered then that is a positive. That means he is pitching well enough for the hitters to get agressive at the plate.

 

[TL1961]

I agree that it is early. But Chatwood said something that made sense. Last year no one really beat him. He beat himself. What I'm seeing is he is not beating himself right now.

To me that is what matters. That is what we are seeing. If he gets beat by the other team hitting what is offered then that is a positive. That means he is pitching well enough for the hitters to get agressive at the plate.

A pitcher bragging that “nobody hit my stuff” because it never crossed the plate is not exactly an accurate assessment

 

[CSF77]

A pitcher bragging that “nobody hit my stuff” because it never crossed the plate is not exactly an accurate assessment

1. He said beat me. Not hit my stuff. Teams hit .245 off of him. He gave up 92 hits in 102 innings.

2. He said that he beat himself. His WHIP was a 1.80. He gave up more walks than hits.

What he was saying was accurate. He really was not getting beat. He made his own hole and it caved in. That is more about being honest with him self than pulling out his six shooter.

 

[TL1961]

1. He said beat me. Not hit my stuff. Teams hit .245 off of him. He gave up 92 hits in 102 innings.

2. He said that he beat himself. His WHIP was a 1.80. He gave up more walks than hits.

What he was saying was accurate. He really was not getting beat. He made his own hole and it caved in. That is more about being honest with him self than pulling out his six shooter.

Well, tomato, tomahto.

If you are a 5th starter, and lose your job, you're getting beat.

 

[TL1961]

I didn't have any putting issues today, I just lost all my balls in the lake on #1.

 

[beckdawg]

Darvish - 4 innings 1 hit - 1 walk - 3 K

in a simulated game today

 

[beckdawg]

So, spring training and all that but almora is hitting .350 and slugging .600. He hasn't walked yet in 20 PAs which kinda sucks but if he were to come out and establish himself as the 1st half 2018 version of him.... would be a pretty big deal.

 

[CSF77]

So, spring training and all that but almora is hitting .350 and slugging .600. He hasn't walked yet in 20 PAs which kinda sucks but if he were to come out and establish himself as the 1st half 2018 version of him.... would be a pretty big deal.

I doubt that he ever will change himself as a hitter. All he will do is gain more experience against the talent. Taking more walks is expecting too much. Hitters don't change that much at this level. They just make adjustments.

He is what he is. You want a hitter that takes walks then sign one.

 

[zack54attack]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Alzolay, Tseng optioned to Iowa, De La Cruz, Steele optioned to Tennessee; Duncan Robinson, Ian Clarkin, Alberto Baldonado, Craig Brooks, Carlos Ramirez, Colin Rea, Ian Rice, Charcer Burks, Evan Marzilli, Jacob Hannemann assigned to minor league camp. Scahill granted release.</p>— Mark Gonzales (@MDGonzales) <a href="https://twitter.com/MDGonzales/status/1104410524161257472?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 9, 2019</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

 

[CSF77]

Cubs traded with Royals. Got Dewees back.

 

[TL1961]

Darvish - 4 innings 1 hit - 1 walk - 3 K

in a simulated game today

Yes, please!!

 

[chibears55]

He wont be going North to start the season

https://twitter.com/MDGonzales/status/1104832817341460480?s=19

Duensing gives up a couple bombs today as he tries to reclaim his spot..lol

 

[CubsFaninMN]

Hmm... knowing the Cubs are working on getting the offense in gear, and admittedly these are aggregate ST numbers, but I notice the following:

The Cubs have the second most runs scored thus far in ST with 121. Angels are first with 146.

The Cubs are tied with the Nats with the eleventh fewest runs allowed, at 89. Giving them a run differential of plus 32. I'd have to do a lot of micro-checking, but I think that's the best run differential of all of the ST teams. The Angels, on the other hand, lead all of ST (cactus and grapefruit) in runs allowed too, with 144, giving them a run differential of plus 2. Which is why they're not leading in win percentage.

And, because of that, they have the second best winning percentage so far in all of ST, at .611.

That's not a particularly accurate indicator of how the team that goes north will perform. It's a lot of our minor league guys doing a lot of that scoring and pitching, but it's a lot of the rest of the league's minor league players to compare against. And for a team that supposedly has this weak farm system right now, that either means the Cubs' farm players are outplaying the higher-rated farm players on the other teams, or their major league players are performing that much better than the other teams' MLB lineups. Or both.

Like I say, though, super-small sample size, and you can't use these kinds of stats to predict how the season will go. I don't think the 2016 Cubs had as good as a .400 ST win percentage, IIRC. But when they got the guys into the season, they took off. So, you can never tell.

-Doug

 

[beckdawg]

Hmm... knowing the Cubs are working on getting the offense in gear, and admittedly these are aggregate ST numbers, but I notice the following:

The Cubs have the second most runs scored thus far in ST with 121. Angels are first with 146.

The Cubs are tied with the Nats with the eleventh fewest runs allowed, at 89. Giving them a run differential of plus 32. I'd have to do a lot of micro-checking, but I think that's the best run differential of all of the ST teams. The Angels, on the other hand, lead all of ST (cactus and grapefruit) in runs allowed too, with 144, giving them a run differential of plus 2. Which is why they're not leading in win percentage.

And, because of that, they have the second best winning percentage so far in all of ST, at .611.

That's not a particularly accurate indicator of how the team that goes north will perform. It's a lot of our minor league guys doing a lot of that scoring and pitching, but it's a lot of the rest of the league's minor league players to compare against. And for a team that supposedly has this weak farm system right now, that either means the Cubs' farm players are outplaying the higher-rated farm players on the other teams, or their major league players are performing that much better than the other teams' MLB lineups. Or both.

Like I say, though, super-small sample size, and you can't use these kinds of stats to predict how the season will go. I don't think the 2016 Cubs had as good as a .400 ST win percentage, IIRC. But when they got the guys into the season, they took off. So, you can never tell.

-Doug

Honestly I think if you just took the first 3 innings the run diff would probably be even better. Save for 1 or 2 outings the starters have looked fantastic and by in large most of the hitters look pretty good. Happ hasn't hit well but he's only k'd 4 times in 30 PAs which is a 13.3% k rate which is clearly a big improvement over the 30%+ k rate he had last year. Almora's hitting .333/.333/.542. I'd like to see some walks but the average and slugging is great. Baez is .286/.318/.381. He's a few walks and some power off midseason form. Rizzo is hitting .333/.391/.476. Caratini is hitting .350/.409/.550. Contreras is hitting .389/.476/.889. Bryant is hitting .294/.455/.706. Russell is hitting .353/.316/.471. His missing walks obviously but I'm less worried about that than I was his 2018 power numbers which seem to have come back some. Bote is hitting .438/.600/.563. Desalcso is hitting .125/.222/.188. He's one of the few who doesn't look good but I mean how much are we really worried about a long term MLB vet? Schwarber is hitting .438/.640/.688. Zobrist is pretty similar to Descalso hitting .200/.294/.333 though to be fair he did have a late start. Heyward is hitting .214/.267/.214. You'd prefer to see more from him but honestly he's always a slow starter. So you look at that in it's entirety and you have most guys hitting really well save for Heyward, Descalso, Zobrist and Happ. Russell and Baez are kinda average looking. other 7 guys look fantastic.

In terms of the pitching given the low innings totals it's pretty pointless to draw conclusions especially considering they are in AZ where it's easier to give up HRs. But the fact that darvish isn't pitching ST games and instead has been throwing simulated games is a good sign to me. It means they think he's pretty dialed in and they just want to keep him in controlled situations to build up his arm. Lester and Hendricks have terrible ERAs but very good K:BB ratios. Hamels and Q haven't given up an ER though their k:bb rates aren't as impressive as Lester/Hendricks.

 

[chibears55]

Why they need to add better relievers..

https://twitter.com/MDGonzales/status/1105611990775390208?s=19

 

[CubsFaninMN]

Why they need to add better relievers..

https://twitter.com/MDGonzales/status/1105611990775390208?s=19

If a surgeon ever came up with a procedure to reduce or end hamstring strain occurrences, it would be called Pedro Strop surgery...

-Doug

 

[zack54attack]

So Tyler Chatwood back to struggling, I see...

 

[chibears55]

He back....lol

https://twitter.com/ESPNChiCubs/status/1105660386685022208?s=19

 

[fatbeard]

Ironically one of the least appreciated relievers in Cubs history.