04.09.10 post game ruminations - heroin into my forehead

[TruffleShuffle]

yeah that's pretty much what i'd expect from the cubs, panic after four games. if dustin pedroia had been a cub nobody would've heard of him; he had a really bad first month in the bigs and they would've exiled him back to iowa for good.

[Outshined_One]

yeah that's pretty much what i'd expect from the cubs, panic after four games. if dustin pedroia had been a cub nobody would've heard of him; he had a really bad first month in the bigs and they would've exiled him back to iowa for good.

 

So, what should the Cubs do with the young guys in the bullpen who've had early struggles?

[Sammy Sofa]

yeah that's pretty much what i'd expect from the cubs, panic after four games. if dustin pedroia had been a cub nobody would've heard of him; he had a really bad first month in the bigs and they would've exiled him back to iowa for good.

 

So, what should the Cubs do with the young guys in the bullpen who've had early struggles?

 

Not leave them in after walking 2 guys and then walking the bases loaded? It's not [expletive] rocket science.

[Guest]

yeah that's pretty much what i'd expect from the cubs, panic after four games. if dustin pedroia had been a cub nobody would've heard of him; he had a really bad first month in the bigs and they would've exiled him back to iowa for good.

 

So, what should the Cubs do with the young guys in the bullpen who've had early struggles?

 

Send the ones without stuff(Berg, Caridad, Russell) down in favor of the ones that do(Parker, Gaub, Stevens).

[illiniguy]

We are the Washington Generals.

[MWV]

http://www.newyorker.com/images/2010/04/05/cartoons/100405_cartoon_3_a14879_p465.gif

[TruffleShuffle]

yeah that's pretty much what i'd expect from the cubs, panic after four games. if dustin pedroia had been a cub nobody would've heard of him; he had a really bad first month in the bigs and they would've exiled him back to iowa for good.

 

So, what should the Cubs do with the young guys in the bullpen who've had early struggles?

 

well for one thing, part of the problem is that a lot of these guys - samardzija, caridad, berg, russell - just weren't that good in the minors. they might be struggling in the major leagues because they're lousy pitchers who just won't cut it in the long run.

 

but back to your question, ideally you have a better mix of veteran arms and young guys, just like you do in a big league offense. you don't want too much of the burden falling to guys who don't have much track record in the bigs and whose confidence can easily be damaged as a result of a few bad outings. the cubs do have three veterans (marshall, grabow, marmol) but one of them they use as a swing guy, one of them they use as a LOOGY and he's not good, and the other is a closer. so a lot of the burden is just falling on guys who really aren't good. samardzija is probably the only one of the four guys who has stuff that could make him a good 8th inning guy, and he's a long way from getting there.

[Sammy Sofa]

yeah that's pretty much what i'd expect from the cubs, panic after four games. if dustin pedroia had been a cub nobody would've heard of him; he had a really bad first month in the bigs and they would've exiled him back to iowa for good.

 

So, what should the Cubs do with the young guys in the bullpen who've had early struggles?

 

well for one thing, part of the problem is that a lot of these guys - samardzija, caridad, berg, russell - just weren't that good in the minors. they might be struggling in the major leagues because they're lousy pitchers who just won't cut it in the long run.

 

but back to your question, ideally you have a better mix of veteran arms and young guys, just like you do in a big league offense. you don't want too much of the burden falling to guys who don't have much track record in the bigs and whose confidence can easily be damaged as a result of a few bad outings. the cubs do have three veterans (marshall, grabow, marmol) but one of them they use as a swing guy, one of them they use as a LOOGY and he's not good, and the other is a closer. so a lot of the burden is just falling on guys who really aren't good. samardzija is probably the only one of the four guys who has stuff that could make him a good 8th inning guy, and he's a long way from getting there.

 

That...and Lou. I know that's my broken record tonight, but Lou is absolutely the worst person to have in charge of a bullpen that has a ton of questions like this one and is gonna require a lot of creative managing and guys being rotated in and out.

[17 Seconds]

Caridad didn't agree with some of home-plate umpire Doug Eddings' calls in the eighth.

 

"I threw a strike and the umpire didn't call a strike -- I don't know why," Caridad said.

 

as if it wasn't bad enough that he blew the game and constantly whined about pitches that WEREN'T strikes.... he has to run his mouth some more after the game.

 

those weren't strikes, you goon.

[Sammy Sofa]

Caridad didn't agree with some of home-plate umpire Doug Eddings' calls in the eighth.

 

"I threw a strike and the umpire didn't call a strike -- I don't know why," Caridad said.

 

as if it wasn't bad enough that he blew the game and constantly whined about pitches that WEREN'T strikes.... he has to run his mouth some more after the game.

 

those weren't strikes, you goon.

 

Yeah, he and Lou were seemingly having a competition to see who could be more stubborn and petulant that inning.

[Outshined_One]

Caridad didn't agree with some of home-plate umpire Doug Eddings' calls in the eighth.

 

"I threw a strike and the umpire didn't call a strike -- I don't know why," Caridad said.

 

as if it wasn't bad enough that he blew the game and constantly whined about pitches that WEREN'T strikes.... he has to run his mouth some more after the game.

 

those weren't strikes, you goon.

 

It'd be one thing if the umpire simply didn't call any of those pitches strikes, but the ump actually was pretty inconsistent with his outside corner with right handed hitters. A handful of those were actually called strikes and a few of the closer ones were called balls. Caridad was clearly pissed off about it on the mound.

 

Now, granted, whoever kept calling for the fastball on the outside corner should have taken the hint. Any time he threw a fastball against a RHP, it went to that spot. Stubbs picked up on that and waited for the FB on the outer half, which he inevitably got. It would have been nice to see Caridad move that pitch around the plate, but for whatever reason, that didn't happen. It was like watching Kyle Farnsworth versus Julio Franco all over again.

 

Unfortunately, we don't know if that sequence was on Caridad, Hill, Rothschild, or someone else. It'd be nice to know who to blame for that.

[NotSoSober]

At least signing the greatest hitting coach in baseball seems to be paying off

[TruffleShuffle]

yeah that's pretty much what i'd expect from the cubs, panic after four games. if dustin pedroia had been a cub nobody would've heard of him; he had a really bad first month in the bigs and they would've exiled him back to iowa for good.

 

So, what should the Cubs do with the young guys in the bullpen who've had early struggles?

 

Send the ones without stuff(Berg, Caridad, Russell) down in favor of the ones that do(Parker, Gaub, Stevens).

 

this i agree with. gaub, stevens and parker might not become major league pitchers but they've got better stuff than berg, caridad and russell, and they're more likely to become successful pitchers. there's just a much better correlation with high-k, low H/9 guys doing well in the majors than there is with guys who get by on grounders and guile.

[TruffleShuffle]

It'd be one thing if the umpire simply didn't call any of those pitches strikes, but the ump actually was pretty inconsistent with his outside corner with right handed hitters. A handful of those were actually called strikes and a few of the closer ones were called balls. Caridad was clearly pissed off about it on the mound.

 

at least for caridad, that umpire did a reasonably good job:

 

http://www.brooksbaseball.net/pfx/index.php?month=4&day=9&year=2010&game=gid_2010_04_09_chnmlb_cinmlb_1%2F&pitchSel=534428&prevGame=gid_2010_04_09_chnmlb_cinmlb_1%2F&prevDate=49

[Andy]

At least signing the greatest hitting coach in baseball seems to be paying off

We have a collection of pretty crappy offensive players for the most part in the lineup. With the guys who actually have some semblance of talent (Lee, Ramirez, Byrd, Colvin) he's done a reasonably good job. All four of those guys have looked the part at the plate even if the results aren't coming yet for some. Nady has been good thus far too.

 

Can't blame Rudy for all the ABs we're giving to guys like Theriot, Fontenot and Koyie Hill (and even the first two of those got their hits tonight).

[NotSoSober]

At least signing the greatest hitting coach in baseball seems to be paying off

We have a collection of pretty crappy offensive players for the most part in the lineup. With the guys who actually have some semblance of talent (Lee, Ramirez, Byrd, Colvin) he's done a reasonably good job. All four of those guys have looked the part at the plate even if the results aren't coming yet for some. Nady has been good thus far too.

 

Can't blame Rudy for all the ABs we're giving to guys like Theriot, Fontenot and Koyie Hill (and even the first two of those got their hits tonight).

That was mostly TIC, this is the 3rd hitting coatch in 3 years right? I do like the fact they're forcing pitchers to throw a lot of pitches, and have faith the offense will be pretty good. It's like Michigan's football team hiring a new defensive coordinator every year. Let the guy work his mojo and not put the blame on him after 1 year

[Outshined_One]

It'd be one thing if the umpire simply didn't call any of those pitches strikes, but the ump actually was pretty inconsistent with his outside corner with right handed hitters. A handful of those were actually called strikes and a few of the closer ones were called balls. Caridad was clearly pissed off about it on the mound.

 

at least for caridad, that umpire did a reasonably good job:

 

http://www.brooksbaseball.net/pfx/index.php?month=4&day=9&year=2010&game=gid_2010_04_09_chnmlb_cinmlb_1%2F&pitchSel=534428&prevGame=gid_2010_04_09_chnmlb_cinmlb_1%2F&prevDate=49

 

That's actually pretty nifty. However, I think it helps prove my point.

 

I'm going to focus on this chart, which charts Caridad's pitches to RH hitters. MLB Play by Play in the bottom of the 8th, specifically the Johnny Gomes AB is what I'll be looking at.

 

If you look at the chart, there are two strikes called on the outside corner on 1st and 2nd pitches, including the first pitch that was a decent bit outside the zone. Those were the first two pitches of the Johnny Gomes AB, which had Gomes down 0-2. I think the problem for that particular sequence was that there was an expectation that Caridad could get away with working the outside corner and getting certain outside pitches called strikes. Unfortunately, I think Caridad and whoever was calling that pitch had an expectation that Caridad would continue getting that call, which turned out to be an incorrect assumption. For whatever reason, I don't think anyone on the Cubs' side got the picture until Stubbs went yard.

 

The ump corrected himself and ended up calling that corner correctly following strike one to Gomes, don't get me wrong. Caridad shouldn't be complaining about it. However, I can see how Caridad thought some of those pitches should have been called strikes.

[Sammy Sofa]

http://hirejimessian.com/2010/04/09/well-at-least-we-almost-got-to-see-lous-penis/

[A New Era]

http://www.sportsocracy.org/imgs/panic_button.png

 

 

PRESSES.

[dew1679666265]

At least signing the greatest hitting coach in baseball seems to be paying off

We have a collection of pretty crappy offensive players for the most part in the lineup. With the guys who actually have some semblance of talent (Lee, Ramirez, Byrd, Colvin) he's done a reasonably good job. All four of those guys have looked the part at the plate even if the results aren't coming yet for some. Nady has been good thus far too.

 

Can't blame Rudy for all the ABs we're giving to guys like Theriot, Fontenot and Koyie Hill (and even the first two of those got their hits tonight).

That was mostly TIC, this is the 3rd hitting coatch in 3 years right? I do like the fact they're forcing pitchers to throw a lot of pitches, and have faith the offense will be pretty good. It's like Michigan's football team hiring a new defensive coordinator every year. Let the guy work his mojo and not put the blame on him after 1 year

 

Gerald Perry was the hitting coach for (I believe) a year and a half and then Von Joshua took over around the middle of last year. Jaramillo then took over in the offseason.

 

So it's been 3 hitting coaches in 3 years, but not exactly one year per hitting coach.

[NCCubFan]

Gerald Perry was the hitting coach for (I believe) a year and a half and then Von Joshua took over around the middle of last year. Jaramillo then took over in the offseason.

 

So it's been 3 hitting coaches in 3 years, but not exactly one year per hitting coach.

I think it was actually 2 1/2 years for Perry. I think he started with the Cubs along with Lou in 2007.

[NCCubFan]

PWSullivan

 

Bullpen fallout after Caridad implosion: Cubs considering bringing Lilly up after one start at Iowa to move Gorzelanny to pen. 15 minutes ago via web

I think chances of this actually happening are approximately zero percent. Not even the Cobs are stupid enough to bring back Lilly after only one rehab start following both shoulder and knee surgery, especially with that start being pushed back due to back stiffness. And it makes no sense anyway, because that would mean four lefties in the bullpen (Grabow, Marshall, Russell, and Gorzellany). This may have been talk out of frustration, but in the end it's not gonna happen. And if Hendry is serious about it Ricketts absolutely must step in and nix it.

[CubColtPacer]

PWSullivan

 

Bullpen fallout after Caridad implosion: Cubs considering bringing Lilly up after one start at Iowa to move Gorzelanny to pen. 15 minutes ago via web

I think chances of this actually happening are approximately zero percent. Not even the Cobs are stupid enough to bring back Lilly after only one rehab start following both shoulder and knee surgery, especially with that start being pushed back due to back stiffness. And it makes no sense anyway, because that would mean four lefties in the bullpen (Grabow, Marshall, Russell, and Gorzellany). This may have been talk out of frustration, but in the end it's not gonna happen. And if Hendry is serious about it Ricketts absolutely must step in and nix it.

 

This wouldn't be Lilly's first rehab start. He has already had 3 rehab starts in the minors during spring training. The original plan was for him to get 5 rehab starts and this would just cut it to 4. It would almost certainly mean that he would be on a little stricter pitch count in his first start in the majors (probably 75-90 pitches).

 

And I don't think Russell's 2 good innings on Monday are going to save him. I think he's the one they're going to send back down when Lilly comes back which will leave only three left-handers in the bullpen again.

[Backtobanks]

At least signing the greatest hitting coach in baseball seems to be paying off

We have a collection of pretty crappy offensive players for the most part in the lineup. With the guys who actually have some semblance of talent (Lee, Ramirez, Byrd, Colvin) he's done a reasonably good job. All four of those guys have looked the part at the plate even if the results aren't coming yet for some. Nady has been good thus far too.

 

Can't blame Rudy for all the ABs we're giving to guys like Theriot, Fontenot and Koyie Hill (and even the first two of those got their hits tonight).

 

I'm a big fan of Jaramillo, but to give him credit for what Lee and ARam have done in the first 4 games is ridiculous. As for Byrd and Colvin, let's wait a month or two before we talk about any kind of difference he's made this year. I do get a kick out of lumping Colvin with the guys who have some semblance of talent while Theriot is lumped with the players lacking talent.

[JonJayCutler]

I'm pretty sure we started 1-3 in 2008 as well. No need to panic yet. If anything, its good that it has been exposed early that our bullpen is bad, instead of having guys play over their heads and then implode later in the season. It wouldn't surprise me if we made a trade for an extra arm within the next couple weeks or so if things don't improve.