Banks—Williams

Javier Assad is Pitching Great!

At WBC, Assad picks up where he left off last year, pitching exceptionally well:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/baseball/world-classic-total-domination-javier-assad-delivers-a-masterful-start-in-mexico-vs-great-britain/ar-AA1XGoOu
 

Given his command on the mound presently, Assad may very well find a spot in the 5 man rotation.  Counsell certainly can learn from his past mistakes.

Counsell made a terrible decision in the NLDS to pitch Boyd on game 1 on only 3 days rest when he had Assad pitching better than Boyd then and fully rested on 5 days.  

Unfortunately for Cub fans, Counsell then doubled down on that mistake by pitching Imanaga in game 2 despite his leadership in giving up extra base hits, particularly home runs.  Imanaga kept that trend going.

Counsell’s big mistake was removing Assad from the roster all together, particularly when Assad had the best record at keeping men on base from from scoring runs.  Assad XM kuldip have been used in relief too.  Notably, Assad did pitch better than Boyd in the final series against the Cardinals.

Milwaukee took the NLDS from the Cubs last October. Cubs could not recover from the 0-2 deficit.