Jake Fox to catch tomorrow?

[Roast]

Perhaps switching Zambrano with Wells means Fox will catch Zambrano in game 1. The reason is because I believe Randy Wells is the emergency catcher right now and they don't want to play both of their emergency catchers at the same time with no backup.

This could be true - but I really see no way in hell that they would let wells catch in game one. Even if both Hill and Fox go down. Because then, either wells has to pitch after crouching for a couple innings or someone else gets called from the pen (Samardzija?) to start.

[biittner77]

I don't know if Fox has ever caught Wells but it seems like there's a decent chance that he has. Having him catch Zambrano seems like a really bad idea.

[Little Slide Rooter]

I don't know if Fox has ever caught Wells but it seems like there's a decent chance that he has. Having him catch Zambrano seems like a really bad idea.

 

And lord help us if Marmol ends up on the mound.

[Schwarber Fan]

I don't know if Fox has ever caught Wells but it seems like there's a decent chance that he has. Having him catch Zambrano seems like a really bad idea.

 

And lord help us if Marmol ends up on the mound.

 

If Marmol comes in, there's no way Fox will still be behind the plate

[Shilzzz]

I guess I just don't see the issue with a catcher catching both games of a double header if he's going to have the next four consecutive days off. It's a lot, but Koyie's a big boy.

[Terp]

Only thing I can't think of is they don't want to embarrass Fox on national TV by having him catch game 2. From the way it sounds though, this is going by awful with Z on the mound.

[Wsmith]

Perhaps switching Zambrano with Wells means Fox will catch Zambrano in game 1. The reason is because I believe Randy Wells is the emergency catcher right now and they don't want to play both of their emergency catchers at the same time with no backup.

 

If Randy Wells is the emergency catcher--anybody on the team can be the emergency catcher.

[laurens]

Perhaps switching Zambrano with Wells means Fox will catch Zambrano in game 1. The reason is because I believe Randy Wells is the emergency catcher right now and they don't want to play both of their emergency catchers at the same time with no backup.

 

If Randy Wells is the emergency catcher--anybody on the team can be the emergency catcher.

 

He used to be a catcher before converting to pitcher.

[Hawk4Hall]

Marmol was a former catcher as well. :)

[abuck1220]

there is no way in hell a manager puts a starting pitcher that is in the rotation behind the damn plate to catch. come on.

[NCCubFan]

Perhaps switching Zambrano with Wells means Fox will catch Zambrano in game 1. The reason is because I believe Randy Wells is the emergency catcher right now and they don't want to play both of their emergency catchers at the same time with no backup.

They WOULD have a backup in this situation, though. Hill.

[DiamondMind]

I love it when you guys suggest crap like putting Soriano at 2B to spark the offense or whatever, then cry and worry about Fox catching. I know this year is depressing and bla bla, but come on.

[Roast]

I love it when you guys suggest crap like putting Soriano at 2B to spark the offense or whatever, then cry and worry about Fox catching. I know this year is depressing and bla bla, but come on.

Catchers have a hell of a lot more contact with the baseball (and thus, chances to screw up - considering how godawful of a defender Fox is) than does a 2nd baseman.

[apete6]

Fox wasn't terrible back there yesterday. Definitely not a long term solution, but if Soto is only out 2 weeks, why not keep him as the backup and keep Fuld up in the majors? That would be like 2 starts at C for Fox.

[Springfield_CUBBY]

Fox wasn't terrible back there yesterday. Definitely not a long term solution, but if Soto is only out 2 weeks, why not keep him as the backup and keep Fuld up in the majors? That would be like 2 starts at C for Fox.

Agreed . . . he didn't look great, but Fuld seems to have a hot hand. I'd rather not see Hendry dig up a useless backup-to-the-backup catcher . . . Stick with Fox/Fuld . . .

[Dirt Dog Sparly]

Fox was not good.

 

He set up to early, was sloppy giving signs, did not move when the ball was put in play, let his butt droop with runners on putting weight on his heels and ankles reducing his ability to block balls in the dirt, and gave half moon targets. In short he is college raw as an offensive college catcher. I can live with him as an emergency catcher, but emergency should be in big rainbow neon letters.

 

Hopefully Hill is up to catching every game if they dont bring in a capable backup, otherwise Lou will have to come out in the middle of an inning and pull Fox from behind the plate because he dosent want to give up the go ahead run.

[Tracer Bullet]

Lou seems to like to PH for Hill near the end of games. If we're tied or up 1, that means there's a good chance Fox has to catch Marmol. I don't want to see that.

[dew1679666265]

Fox wasn't terrible back there yesterday. Definitely not a long term solution, but if Soto is only out 2 weeks, why not keep him as the backup and keep Fuld up in the majors? That would be like 2 starts at C for Fox.

 

If we keep Fox as the backup catcher, then we can't use him as a pinch hitter. If we use him as a pinch hitter in, say, the seventh inning and then Hill is injured in the eighth - who catches?

 

I'd rather bring in a guy who could produce at a moderate rate to compete with Koyie and then have Fox available to spell Aramis at third and be a good pinch hitter off the bench. He's more valuable in that role than as a backup catcher.

[treebird]

Fox wasn't terrible back there yesterday. Definitely not a long term solution, but if Soto is only out 2 weeks, why not keep him as the backup and keep Fuld up in the majors? That would be like 2 starts at C for Fox.

 

If we keep Fox as the backup catcher, then we can't use him as a pinch hitter. If we use him as a pinch hitter in, say, the seventh inning and then Hill is injured in the eighth - who catches?

 

how likely is it that this happens? think about how specific the scenario you're describing is.

 

fox pinch hits AND hill is injured afterwards to the point that he has to leave the game AND the game is close enough that an inning or two of fontenot or whatever catching makes the difference

 

it's very unlikely we'd lose a game as a result of this.

[abuck1220]

 

If we keep Fox as the backup catcher, then we can't use him as a pinch hitter. If we use him as a pinch hitter in, say, the seventh inning and then Hill is injured in the eighth - who catches?

 

 

who cares. if you use fox in the 7th as a pinch-hitter there's a decent chance the cubs are losing anyway. so they have to use fontenot as the catcher and they lose by four runs instead of three. big deal.

 

i've never understood why everyone is so terrified of using a backup catcher as a pinch-hitter. the worst case scenario is extremely, extremely unlikely to happen and the end result is one stupid loss. big deal.

[dew1679666265]

Fox wasn't terrible back there yesterday. Definitely not a long term solution, but if Soto is only out 2 weeks, why not keep him as the backup and keep Fuld up in the majors? That would be like 2 starts at C for Fox.

 

If we keep Fox as the backup catcher, then we can't use him as a pinch hitter. If we use him as a pinch hitter in, say, the seventh inning and then Hill is injured in the eighth - who catches?

 

how likely is it that this happens? think about how specific the scenario you're describing is.

 

fox pinch hits AND hill is injured afterwards to the point that he has to leave the game AND the game is close enough that an inning or two of fontenot or whatever catching makes the difference

 

it's very unlikely we'd lose a game as a result of this.

 

No matter how likely or unlikely it is, a manager generally won't do it. Lou has used pitchers to pinch hit before he's used backup catchers - even when we had one of the better hitting backups out there (Blanco). Whether those of us on here like it or not, if Fox is the only other catcher on the roster, his pinch hit chances would very likely decrease.

 

Plus, having a guy like Fox bounce around between multiple different positions might make his already sketchy defense that much worse. He's already the backup third baseman and has gotten some time in the outfield (though that will be decreased significantly with Reed back). Generally if you have a guy who struggles defensively, you want to put him somewhere and let him focus totally on that position. You don't plug him into the most important defensive position on the field and then bounce him between it and third.

[dew1679666265]

 

If we keep Fox as the backup catcher, then we can't use him as a pinch hitter. If we use him as a pinch hitter in, say, the seventh inning and then Hill is injured in the eighth - who catches?

 

 

who cares. if you use fox in the 7th as a pinch-hitter there's a decent chance the cubs are losing anyway. so they have to use fontenot as the catcher and they lose by four runs instead of three. big deal.

 

i've never understood why everyone is so terrified of using a backup catcher as a pinch-hitter. the worst case scenario is extremely, extremely unlikely to happen and the end result is one stupid loss. big deal.

 

I don't understand why the bolded is the case. The Cubs could well be up and bring Fox in to further increase the lead.

[SouthSideRyan]

No matter how likely or unlikely it is, a manager generally won't do it. Lou has used pitchers to pinch hit before he's used backup catchers - even when we had one of the better hitting backups out there (Blanco). Whether those of us on here like it or not, if Fox is the only other catcher on the roster, his pinch hit chances would very likely decrease.

 

Lou uses Soto to pinch hit all the time.

[dew1679666265]

No matter how likely or unlikely it is, a manager generally won't do it. Lou has used pitchers to pinch hit before he's used backup catchers - even when we had one of the better hitting backups out there (Blanco). Whether those of us on here like it or not, if Fox is the only other catcher on the roster, his pinch hit chances would very likely decrease.

 

Lou uses Soto to pinch hit all the time.

 

All the time is a bit of an exaggeration. Geo has not started 25 games this season and he's pinch hit in 8 of those.

[CubColtPacer]

No matter how likely or unlikely it is, a manager generally won't do it. Lou has used pitchers to pinch hit before he's used backup catchers - even when we had one of the better hitting backups out there (Blanco). Whether those of us on here like it or not, if Fox is the only other catcher on the roster, his pinch hit chances would very likely decrease.

 

Lou uses Soto to pinch hit all the time.

 

All the time is a bit of an exaggeration. Geo has not started 25 games this season and he's pinch hit in 8 of those.

 

He's been hurt for several of those games and not available to pinch-hit, but there have been a few examples this season where Lou has kept Soto on the bench far longer than a normal pinch-hit bat. At other times, he's been perfectly fine with pinch-hitting him.