Spring Training - Final Week 3/21 - 3/29

[Illini Iceman]

I have a feeling the 5th starter will be Looper and they will stick Cashner in middle relief instead of letting him start at AAA and improve his secondary pitches.

[davell]

So what was the story on Cashner today? Was it a serious blow to his chances at making the rotation? I have my doubts that he can consistently make it through 5+ innings, but I'm not sure there are any better options.

 

 

That's the thing: No one has stepped up and taken the fifth spot. Cashner could get it by default, by not being as bad as Silva.

 

Here's the stats for the guys being considered, although this doesn't include Cashner's bad outing today......

 

Cashner 11.1 IP 11H 5R 5ER 7W 6K

Looper 10.2 IP 17H 13R 13ER 2W 8K

Silva 11.1 IP 29H :lol: 26R 20ER 2W 3K

 

Is Wellemeyer hurt? I honestly don't remember, but he seemed to be in the hunt earlier this spring, but he only has 6 innings pitched, so I'm guessing he's out or something. At any rate, he gave up 8 hits, 4 runs(3 earned, 2 walks and 6K's.

 

I'm actually kind of wondering if for right now Casey Coleman isn't our best option to open the season with personally. And he's not even under consideration, nor has he had a good spring either. But, he's a guy that can give you innings and early on, in the cold weather, his pitching to contact may be a good thing as well. Don't get me wrong, I want it to be Cashner, but part of me thinks Coleman would be the smart choice early on.

[Hall7810]

That's the thing: No one has stepped up and taken the fifth spot. Cashner could get it by default, by not being as bad as Silva.

 

Here's the stats for the guys being considered, although this doesn't include Cashner's bad outing today......

 

Cashner 11.1 IP 11H 5R 5ER 7W 6K

Looper 10.2 IP 17H 13R 13ER 2W 8K

Silva 11.1 IP 29H :lol: 26R 20ER 2W 3K

 

Is Wellemeyer hurt? I honestly don't remember, but he seemed to be in the hunt earlier this spring, but he only has 6 innings pitched, so I'm guessing he's out or something. At any rate, he gave up 8 hits, 4 runs(3 earned, 2 walks and 6K's.

 

I'm actually kind of wondering if for right now Casey Coleman isn't our best option to open the season with personally. And he's not even under consideration, nor has he had a good spring either. But, he's a guy that can give you innings and early on, in the cold weather, his pitching to contact may be a good thing as well. Don't get me wrong, I want it to be Cashner, but part of me thinks Coleman would be the smart choice early on.

 

He has a sore hip.

[Little Slide Rooter]

That's the thing: No one has stepped up and taken the fifth spot. Cashner could get it by default, by not being as bad as Silva.

 

Here's the stats for the guys being considered, although this doesn't include Cashner's bad outing today......

 

Cashner 11.1 IP 11H 5R 5ER 7W 6K

Looper 10.2 IP 17H 13R 13ER 2W 8K

Silva 11.1 IP 29H :lol: 26R 20ER 2W 3K

 

Is Wellemeyer hurt? I honestly don't remember, but he seemed to be in the hunt earlier this spring, but he only has 6 innings pitched, so I'm guessing he's out or something. At any rate, he gave up 8 hits, 4 runs(3 earned, 2 walks and 6K's.

 

I'm actually kind of wondering if for right now Casey Coleman isn't our best option to open the season with personally. And he's not even under consideration, nor has he had a good spring either. But, he's a guy that can give you innings and early on, in the cold weather, his pitching to contact may be a good thing as well. Don't get me wrong, I want it to be Cashner, but part of me thinks Coleman would be the smart choice early on.

 

He has a sore hip.

 

I wouldnt mind if Wellemeyer got a middle relief/mop up spot, but if he wins a rotation spot, that would be a travesty.

[Irrelevant Dude]

I have a feeling the 5th starter will be Looper and they will stick Cashner in middle relief instead of letting him start at AAA and improve his secondary pitches.

That is pretty much the worst possible scenario, so that is probably what will happen.

[davell]

Silva is starting Wednesday and Z has been moved to a minor league outing. Plus, Quade said he's not counting anyone out. This can be construed in a bunch of ways, if you ask me. My gut tells me though that IF Silva pitches well, he makes the roster as a long man. Cashner still gets the 5th spot. If he bombs, he's getting released. I have a feeling we're looking at this as an "upside" thing with Cashner and will give him a little while more to prove he can't start, before we pull the plug on trying. And lucky for him, everyone else has sucked, so he'll get his shot in the majors and not AAA.

[Irrelevant Dude]

According to Dan Bernstein, his Cubs source tells him that team management really wants Silva to make the rotation. Another part of the equation is that they are worried they will burn out the back end of their bullpen (Marmol, Marshall, and Wood), so they would like to have Cashner in the bullpen to lessen their workload. I have no idea how reliable this "source" is, but I judge it as credible simply because it would be the typical Cub thing to do... valuing a 6th/7th inning bullpen guy over the development of a potential top of the rotation starting pitcher.

[davell]

According to Dan Bernstein, his Cubs source tells him that team management really wants Silva to make the rotation. Another part of the equation is that they are worried they will burn out the back end of their bullpen (Marmol, Marshall, and Wood), so they would like to have Cashner in the bullpen to lessen their workload. I have no idea how reliable this "source" is, but I judge it as credible simply because it would be the typical Cub thing to do... valuing a 6th/7th inning bullpen guy over the development of a potential top of the rotation starting pitcher.

 

 

I agree that it's definitely possible. That said, I'm not going to be totally pissed, simply because Cashner had a great opportunity this spring and didn't seize it whatsoever. If they go back in a direction they're at least familiar with, I don't think we can really blame them here. Cashner hasn't proven he can get it done as a starter and on top of things hasn't really been stretched out yet as it is. The idea of ruining his arm has certainly crossed their minds and so has the idea of overworking the pen early in the season, to account for his not being stretched out. In a perfect world, we'd see him in AAA if this IS the case, but honestly the word "Cubs" and the words "perfect world" should probably never be used together.

 

 

On a side note, I've also read in a few places that bullpen Cashner throws serious heat with much more movement than starter Cashner does, who's stuff has looked very ordinary this spring, in trying to conserve his arm for longer in-game use. His pitches just don't have the same movement when he's throwing with less velo. We could easily just be finding out that Cashner is a back of the pen arm and not a frontline starter.

 

Again, I don't want this to be the case and I'll stand behind some of Quade's comments from earlier this spring, where he's hoping and thinking that Cashner WILL BE a frontline starter. Unless Silva pitches phenomenally tomorrow, I think Cashner is our 5th guy and even then, I'm not sure he isn't. Still think Silva could be headed for long man territory.

[Guest]

Just in case, I guess I'll have to root for another Silva implosion tomorrow.

[NCCubFan]

Just in case, I guess I'll have to root for another Silva implosion tomorrow.

I'm on board with that.

 

Strange thinking about a game where your biggest interest is seeing the starting pitcher suck.

[MWV]

A's:

Crisp 8

Sweeney 9

Willingham 7

Matsui DH (Gio Gonzalez)

Suzuki 2

Ellis 4

Jackson 3

Pennington 6

Sogard 5

 

Cubs:

Johnson 9

Castro 6

Baker 4

Ramirez 5

Soto 2

Soriano 7

Colvin 3

Perez 8

Silva 1

 

Go Hitters.

Edited March 23, 2011 by MWV

[XZero771679666304]

Almost time for Silva to get shelled (hopefully).

[ctcf]

What the heck was that? Edited March 23, 2011 by ctcf

[MWV]

3 hitters, 2 hits, 1 run. Keep sucking Carlos!

[XZero771679666304]

Only one run. We'll need more than that.

[MWV]

Sadly, that was one of Silva's best innings. Throughout the spring, though, it seems like he's usually imploded in the 2nd or 3rd inning. The worst (best?) is yet to come.

[ctcf]

I swear Oakland, I will never forgive you if you mess this up...

[ctcf]

4 straight first pitch outs for Silva. Seriously?

[MWV]

[expletive] you, Oakland.

[ctcf]

I think Gameday is broken... Silva has 21 pitches through 4 innings and like 90000 1st pitch outs. All 21 of those pitches are strikes as well. Edited March 23, 2011 by ctcf

[Little Slide Rooter]

Havnt seen this posted here yet, but according to a Bruce Miles tweet, Todd Wellemeyer was cut, and Guzman, Berg, and John Maine were sent down today.

 

And I really hope that Quades smart enough not to let a solid outing vs. a weak lineup give Silva the last rotation spot.

[XZero771679666304]

This is discouraging.

[CubColtPacer]

4 straight first pitch outs for Silva. Seriously?

 

If you're watching on Gameday they won't report a pitch in ST unless something happened on that pitch. So a strikeout will be just 3 strikes, a ball put into play will be one pitch, and so on. Pitches that resulted in steals or wild pitches are also counted.

 

This is not looking good for Cashner. With him not having gotten above 60 pitches in a game yet, having more walks then strikeouts, and he would have had an ERA above 6 if that game hadn't been cancelled the other day (which washed out his statistics but I bet the Cubs kept them anyway). All that has given the Cubs too easy of a reason to pick Silva based off of one good outing at the end of the spring.

[ctcf]

4 straight first pitch outs for Silva. Seriously?

 

If you're watching on Gameday they won't report a pitch in ST unless something happened on that pitch. So a strikeout will be just 3 strikes, a ball put into play will be one pitch, and so on. Pitches that resulted in steals or wild pitches are also counted.

 

This is not looking good for Cashner. With him not having gotten above 60 pitches in a game yet, having more walks then strikeouts, and he would have had an ERA above 6 if that game hadn't been cancelled the other day (which washed out his statistics but I bet the Cubs kept them anyway). All that has given the Cubs too easy of a reason to pick Silva based off of one good outing at the end of the spring.

 

Ahhhhhhh

[apete6]

Havnt seen this posted here yet, but according to a Bruce Miles tweet, Todd Wellemeyer was cut, and Guzman, Berg, and John Maine were sent down today.

 

And I really hope that Quades smart enough not to let a solid outing vs. a weak lineup give Silva the last rotation spot.

 

He is, but Hendry probably wants to save his own ass and have Silva start the year as the #5 starter and Hendry will probably win out.

 

Hopefully they are smart enough together to have Cashner start at AAA instead of wasting him as the 6th inning guy in Chicago.