Thoughts on Hill, Pie, and Aardsma at today's game

[TXCubsFan]

My wife and I sat behind home at Saturday night's game in Round Rock. I observed the following:

 

Rich Hill - Hill was working with three pitches tonight: FB at 88-91, changeup(?) at 79-81, and a tight curve at 71-74. Hill didn't feature a 12-6 curve tonight. He had very good control for most of the night and used his FB in tight situations to strike out batters, some of which would have been crushed by major league hitters. More consistency and less "wow" than we saw last year. Definitely looked like a #3 or #4 starter rather than either a LOOGY or #1 or #2 starter.

 

Felix Pie - Wow! Casually stroked a double over the 1B bag at one AB, then smoked a liner in RF for another double. His plate discipline was mixed - one AB featured a very confident plate presence when taking pitches with an idea of what he was doing at the plate, but in the 9th with runners on and two out, he was too much of a free swinger and looked bad striking out.

 

David Aardsma - Made hitters look bad with a slider at 80 and a FB at 93-95. Not wild and looked like he could contribute as a middle reliever at Wrigley this year.

[PortlandCubsFan]

Thanks for the report.

 

I would have preferred to see Aardsma than Novoa take Wuertz's spot.

 

With Guzman and Marshall healthy and pitching well, Hill seems like trade bait to me.

 

My head says that Pie needs the full year at AAA. But I will be glued to the tv when he's brought up after the first significant injury to Jones, Pierre, or Murton, as he inevitably will be.

[mg420]

i think the cubs will end up trading williamson & bringing up ardsma to go along with novoa. they can very likely get alot for williamson from a team that needs a closer. i wonder what they will do with rapada. the guy is lights out in AA. do they go with 7 bp guys & 3 lefties? i dont see hill as being trade bait myself. guzman has not shown he can stay healthy for minor leauge season let along a big leauge season so i doubt they rush him to the bigs with so few minor leauge innings.

[burnt out cubbie fan]

His plate discipline was mixed - one AB featured a very confident plate presence when taking pitches with an idea of what he was doing at the plate, but in the 9th with runners on and two out, he was too much of a free swinger and looked bad striking out.

And this is why he should stay in AAA the whole year. Hopefully the Cubs aren't stupid.

[craig]

TX, thanks for the game observations. Always helpful to hear.

[soccer10k]

I'm looking forward to seeing Iowa when the come to Sacramento in May.