Anybody watch today's game on WGN?

[Sweet Swinging Billy]

I don't know what y'all thought but Lieber, Pie, Fontenot, Gallagher, and Soriano among others looked really good today. Cedeno and Rammy had a pretty good game as well. And i really enjoyed the interview with Fukudome as well. Ascaino got hit at times, but ended up with the save. Nice to see the Cubs win for once. They said that Lou was getting a little testy with all the losses. Oh BTW, tomorrow's game against the Royals will also be televised on WGN tomorrow. Oh hey, I just realized I probably should have posted this in game threads...maybe I still will.

[VanceJergins]

Pie looked pretty patient at the plate, that was good. Fukudome seems very patient. And Soto continues to look good just about every AB. Some good signs.

[CubColtPacer]

Pie looked pretty patient at the plate, that was good. Fukudome seems very patient. And Soto continues to look good just about every AB. Some good signs.

 

Not that I'm concerned mind you (every good player has 40-50 games per year where they don't look good) but I'm kind of curious how Soto continued to look good today. It was about as bad as you can get for him at the plate today.

[David]

Pie looked pretty patient at the plate, that was good. Fukudome seems very patient. And Soto continues to look good just about every AB. Some good signs.

 

Not that I'm concerned mind you (every good player has 40-50 games per year where they don't look good) but I'm kind of curious how Soto continued to look good today. It was about as bad as you can get for him at the plate today.

 

The one AB of his that I saw was a good AB even though he just popped it up.

 

It is starting to bother me that you don't see him go the other way much, though. Pulls the ball quite a lot. A lot of hitters have great careers doing that, though.

[CubColtPacer]

Pie looked pretty patient at the plate, that was good. Fukudome seems very patient. And Soto continues to look good just about every AB. Some good signs.

 

Not that I'm concerned mind you (every good player has 40-50 games per year where they don't look good) but I'm kind of curious how Soto continued to look good today. It was about as bad as you can get for him at the plate today.

 

The one AB of his that I saw was a good AB even though he just popped it up.

 

It is starting to bother me that you don't see him go the other way much, though. Pulls the ball quite a lot. A lot of hitters have great careers doing that, though.

 

I would agree that he only seems to pull the ball, but I am hopeful that his good eye makes up for that. He has enough plate coverage to be able to pull all the outer half in well, and he is patient enough to take the pitches off of the plate. It's only the pitchers who can locate it right on the outside corner that will give him fits.

 

Yeah, the popping up was the first at-bat. He then proceeded to strike out 3 straight times.

[David]

Were they deep counts at least?

[CubColtPacer]

Were they deep counts at least?

 

One of them was. I believe it was a full count when he looked at a pitch that I thought was right down the middle.

 

I know at least one of the other ones was a 1-2 count that he struck out on, and I'm not sure about the last one. He missed several pitches by quite a bit though during those at-bats.

[Sweet Swinging Billy]

Soto also looked bad on a passed ball.

[sharkfan50]

Soto looked like he's a couple pounds bigger than last season. I thought I'd read how great of shape he came in.

[VanceJergins]

Pie looked pretty patient at the plate, that was good. Fukudome seems very patient. And Soto continues to look good just about every AB. Some good signs.

 

Not that I'm concerned mind you (every good player has 40-50 games per year where they don't look good) but I'm kind of curious how Soto continued to look good today. It was about as bad as you can get for him at the plate today.

 

The one AB of his that I saw was a good AB even though he just popped it up.

 

It is starting to bother me that you don't see him go the other way much, though. Pulls the ball quite a lot. A lot of hitters have great careers doing that, though.

 

I would agree that he only seems to pull the ball, but I am hopeful that his good eye makes up for that. He has enough plate coverage to be able to pull all the outer half in well, and he is patient enough to take the pitches off of the plate. It's only the pitchers who can locate it right on the outside corner that will give him fits.

 

Yeah, the popping up was the first at-bat. He then proceeded to strike out 3 straight times.

 

Ha...I stopped paying close attention after the 4th or 5th inning so I only really saw Soto's first 2 AB's. I thought he looked really good in his 2nd. He drove the ball fould pretty good a couple times and took the count deep. Sounds like he didn't look so great the AB's I didn't pay attention to.

[mdwilla]

Soto looked like he's a couple pounds bigger than last season. I thought I'd read how great of shape he came in.

He did seem like he put on some weight.

 

How has JD Closser looked this spring?

[biittner77]

Lieber looked good. I didn't realize the injury last year was not arm/ shoulder related.Maybe he'll surprise us with an ERA in the 4s.

 

I liked seeing Casey Mcgahee behind the plate even if it was in a ss game. He could be a useful RH bat and would allow the Cubs to PH for Blanco.

 

I wish Kroeger was playing CF in the WGN game. Anyone know how he is in CF?

[Old Style]

I was very impressed with Lieber's performance. Loved seeing Aramis go opposite field to pick up an RBI, too.

[CubColtPacer]

Lieber looked good. I didn't realize the injury last year was not arm/ shoulder related.Maybe he'll surprise us with an ERA in the 4s.

 

I liked seeing Casey Mcgahee behind the plate even if it was in a ss game. He could be a useful RH bat and would allow the Cubs to PH for Blanco.

 

I wish Kroeger was playing CF in the WGN game. Anyone know how he is in CF?

 

Why would that be a surprise? He hasn't had an ERA worse than that since 1995, and he has just moved out of one of the worst ballparks for pitchers to pitch in.

 

I can certainly see how it would be reasonable for some to think there's a decent possibility he won't be very good, but there also is a pretty good possibility that he will have a mid 4's ERA once again. Moving out of Philadelphia alone is going to offset most of the degradation that an extra year has on him.

 

Now, if he'll pitch more than 100 innings or not, that's a much more difficult question and prone to heavy skepticism.

[UK1679666180]

I don't know how someone with that weight, age, and history of arm problems is going to make it past 5IP very often.

[CubColtPacer]

I don't know how someone with that weight, age, and history of arm problems is going to make it past 5IP very often.

 

I would agree with that, and that is the biggest problem with Lieber. He'll be decently effective, but he'll also tax your bullpen and probably go out due to an injury in the middle of the year.

 

Of course, I'd start him and then replace him with a rested Marshall (who would have somewhat limited innings until then because of his problems with having a dead arm) when Lieber got hurt during the season. My ideal would be to fill that spot with around 100 innings from each of them.

[UK1679666180]

My ideal would be to fill that spot with around 100 innings from each of them.

 

Why?

 

You wouldn't be able to get the most out of that pitcher for the second half of those 100IP and run a greater risk of injuring if they end up throwing out of the pen in the 1st half of the year. Or if you have Marshall at Iowa to start the year, you're defeating the purpose of saving his arm.

 

If it's Marquis as the #5, his greatest asset is that he has a rubber arm and will eat innings (assuming he's not shelled thru 4).

 

As far as Marshall/Lieber, they would be wise to keep a closer eye as far as not leaving them out there well beyond early signs of fatigue.

 

With Gallagher, they could be more liberal since he is sound mechanically, good size, and has a clean bill of health.

 

I hope whoever wins the 5th spot will stick throughout the year.

[CubColtPacer]

My ideal would be to fill that spot with around 100 innings from each of them.

 

Why?

 

You wouldn't be able to get the most out of that pitcher for the second half of those 100IP and run a greater risk of injuring if they end up throwing out of the pen in the 1st half of the year. Or if you have Marshall at Iowa to start the year, you're defeating the purpose of saving his arm.

 

If it's Marquis as the #5, his greatest asset is that he has a rubber arm and will eat innings (assuming he's not shelled thru 4).

 

As far as Marshall/Lieber, they would be wise to keep a closer eye as far as not leaving them out there well beyond early signs of fatigue.

 

With Gallagher, they could be more liberal since he is sound mechanically, good size, and has a clean bill of health.

 

I hope whoever wins the 5th spot will stick throughout the year.

 

Even if Marshall was completely healthy, I don't think you can risk him going beyond 170 innings this year. That's 25 more innings then he has ever thrown in his career, plus the only 2 times he's gotten to 110-120 his arm has gone dead at that point. I'd actually be surprised if you could get 140 fresh innings out of him. They took him out many times early even when he was effective last year, and they still couldn't get a full season out of him. I love his production, but I seriously question his durability. Plus, Marshall has had his share of arm injuries as well.

 

With Lieber, if his injury problems don't act up I'd be fine with getting 180-200 innings out of him. I'm just not sure if he can pitch that long without some sort of injury. It's possible, but with his history I'd call it unlikely.

 

My plan would be to start Lieber and to throw Marshall into long relief, either in the majors or AAA. I know it's probably not fair to him to do it that way, which is why I'd leave it as just the ideal. Marshall's innings are then somewhat limited by the nature of his position, but he also doesn't pitch multiple days in a row and pitches for longer, minimizing the chance of injury. He then steps in at whatever point in the season Lieber goes down or another starter becomes ineffective.