Week of 3/11-3/17 Spring Training Game Thread

[Smack]

Well, at least Wood is helping some people on the Mariners make their opening day roster.

[jersey cubs fan]

are there health concerns with this dude?

[ctcf]

Ouch

[bukie]

Cubs scored 7 in the top of the first.

 

Please have a good game, Travis Wood.

Iowa it is...

 

If we're really basing jobs on spring training performance, which it seems like we are, then I don't know if Wood is going to make Iowa. Does Tennessee have any open spots?

I know you're being obtuse on purpose, but how would you prefer to plan the rotation? Garza, Dempster, and Maholm have no options, so they're in. Wells is probably on the bottom of the list, so he's in the pen. So that makes it down to Samardzija, Volstad and Wood for two spots at the moment, and the management has to base it on something besides "who Kyle likes the best". Samardzija is likely good for 150 innings tops this year, and who knows if Dempster is going to be on the roster come July. Better to have Wood continuing to throw regularly in Iowa than sitting him on the bench and using him for spot starts only (i.e. Wells). Then, if there is an injury, or when Samardzija hits his innings limit, or when Demp is traded, the Cubs have someone valuable to slide into the rotation right away, and don't miss a beat.

[Guest]

Cubs scored 7 in the top of the first.

 

Please have a good game, Travis Wood.

Iowa it is...

 

If we're really basing jobs on spring training performance, which it seems like we are, then I don't know if Wood is going to make Iowa. Does Tennessee have any open spots?

If we're going on major league track record, Wells should get a rotation spot over both the other guys.

[Hairyducked Idiot]

I know you're being obtuse on purpose, but how would you prefer to plan the rotation?

 

Sometime before spring training begins, you evaluate all the players based on many years of performance and scouting from actual, competitive games. You decide who your best five starters are.

 

Then, in spring training, unless someone gets hurt or shows a wildly different skillset (loss/gain of velocity, new pitch, etc.), that's who gets the rotation spots.

 

If the Cubs thought that Travis Wood was a better pitcher than Volstad on March 1, then nothing that's happened since should change their minds. Samardzija is a special case because we weren't sure if he could start, so he counts under wildly different skillset.

[Hairyducked Idiot]

If we're going on major league track record, Wells should get a rotation spot over both the other guys.

 

I would find that a lot more palatable than handing out jobs based on ST games.

 

Just for fun, here's some 2011 spring training results:

 

Awesome:

Marmol, 2.00 ERA

Wells, 2.10 ERA

Dempster, 2.57 ERA

Grabow, 2.57 ERA

 

Awful:

Russell, 8.03

Garza, 10.38

[Guest]

I know you're being obtuse on purpose, but how would you prefer to plan the rotation?

 

Sometime before spring training begins, you evaluate all the players based on many years of performance and scouting from actual, competitive games. You decide who your best five starters are.

 

Then, in spring training, unless someone gets hurt or shows a wildly different skillset (loss/gain of velocity, new pitch, etc.), that's who gets the rotation spots.

 

If the Cubs thought that Travis Wood was a better pitcher than Volstad on March 1, then nothing that's happened since should change their minds. Samardzija is a special case because we weren't sure if he could start, so he counts under wildly different skillset.

 

Did they, necessarily, think that Wood was better than Volstad? There's been almost as much organizational lip service about Volstad and the alterations they want to make to his approach as there has been about Samardzija. Perhaps things are clicking from that standpoint, and they're not necessarily just basing it on spring training "results" in a statistical sense.

[Hairyducked Idiot]

Did they, necessarily, think that Wood was better than Volstad? There's been almost as much organizational lip service about Volstad and the alterations they want to make to his approach as there has been about Samardzija. Perhaps things are clicking from that standpoint, and they're not necessarily just basing it on spring training "results" in a statistical sense.

 

I don't know. If they thought Volstad was a better bet than Wood coming into ST, I respect that completely.

 

It's a little annoying how quiet our management is on this stuff. I have no idea if turning the back of the rotation into some kind of ST horse race is coming from them or the media.

[jersey cubs fan]

Did they, necessarily, think that Wood was better than Volstad? There's been almost as much organizational lip service about Volstad and the alterations they want to make to his approach as there has been about Samardzija. Perhaps things are clicking from that standpoint, and they're not necessarily just basing it on spring training "results" in a statistical sense.

 

I don't know. If they thought Volstad was a better bet than Wood coming into ST, I respect that completely.

 

It's a little annoying how quiet our management is on this stuff. I have no idea if turning the back of the rotation into some kind of ST horse race is coming from them or the media.

 

What is there to be annoyed about? Why do you want to hear them spell things out?

[Hairyducked Idiot]

What is there to be annoyed about? Why do you want to hear them spell things out?

 

Why do I want to know what's going on with the Chicago Cubs?

 

I can understand why the concept may be foreign to you, but some fans *enjoy* their teams and want to know more about them.

 

It's okay if you want to sit down and process that for a minute.

[jersey cubs fan]

What is there to be annoyed about? Why do you want to hear them spell things out?

 

Why do I want to know what's going on with the Chicago Cubs?

 

I can understand why the concept may be foreign to you, but some fans *enjoy* their teams and want to know more about them.

 

It's okay if you want to sit down and process that for a minute.

 

Well that was dumb.

 

Obviously I care about what's going on with the Cubs. What I don't understand is why you are annoyed by what you describe as management's silence regarding the competition for the rotation. There isn't much to be explained. There's a couple guys with contract situations and history that guarantee them spots, and a handful of other questionable guys who needed to have a good spring to win a spot. What do you expect to be explained to you that isn't already glaringly obvious?

[Hairyducked Idiot]

Obviously I care about what's going on with the Cubs. What I don't understand is why you are annoyed by what you describe as management's silence regarding the competition for the rotation. There isn't much to be explained. There's a couple guys with contract situations and history that guarantee them spots, and a handful of other questionable guys who needed to have a good spring to win a spot. What do you expect to be explained to you that isn't already glaringly obvious?

 

I didn't say I expected anything. I said I found it a little annoying. I find the sun in my eyes a little annoying, but I don't want it to be extinguished. I find the lack of openness from the Cubs (and any sports team) annoying, but I don't want or expect them to lay out their every thought in the media.

 

But would I like to know how they rank Volstad/Wells/Wood/Samardzija and why? Absolutely. Why wouldn't I want to know?

[Hairyducked Idiot]

I will admit that a 25.07 ERA is testing my resolve to disregard the stats completely.

[XZero771679666304]

But would I like to know how they rank Volstad/Wells/Wood/Samardzija and why? Absolutely. Why wouldn't I want to know?

 

Why in god's name would they detail that sort of thing publicly? What good would possibly come of it?

[Hairyducked Idiot]

But would I like to know how they rank Volstad/Wells/Wood/Samardzija and why? Absolutely. Why wouldn't I want to know?

 

Why in god's name would they detail that sort of thing publicly? What good would possibly come of it?

 

From the post you are quoting. You had to have snipped this part directly to leave the rest in the quote box.

 

but I don't want or expect them to lay out their every thought in the media.

[XZero771679666304]

But would I like to know how they rank Volstad/Wells/Wood/Samardzija and why? Absolutely. Why wouldn't I want to know?

 

Why in god's name would they detail that sort of thing publicly? What good would possibly come of it?

 

From the post you are quoting. You had to have snipped this part directly to leave the rest in the quote box.

 

but I don't want or expect them to lay out their every thought in the media.

 

You said you wouldn't expect them to "lay out their every thought", which is a painfully obvious thing to say. Going on about how you're annoyed that we're not being clued into their ranking of the back of the rotation candidates seems to indicate you don't think it should be top secret information.

 

I'd like it if we had a mic in Theo and Jed's offices, but I'm not "annoyed" that we don't. It should be implicit that we all want to know what's going on behind the scenes. Whining about it is inane.

[Hairyducked Idiot]

Well, I'm glad that it doesn't annoy you. It does annoy me "a little," as I put in the original post.

 

We also disagree on which posts in this thread are inane.

[davell]

I'd rather have Wood at Iowa than in a relief role. He'll get his shot this year at some point.

[mul21]

 

Did they, necessarily, think that Wood was better than Volstad? There's been almost as much organizational lip service about Volstad and the alterations they want to make to his approach as there has been about Samardzija. Perhaps things are clicking from that standpoint, and they're not necessarily just basing it on spring training "results" in a statistical sense.

 

I think they probably looked at both of them as projects to work on and Volstad appears to have taken to the coaching better than Wood has to this point. They both had crappy years last season and have been working on different things, probably as expected, and it just hasn't clicked with Wood yet. I don't think this "competition" falls into the same category as most would since they both had flaws to fix.

[davell]

Marmol left with some sort of injury. Either arm or hand.

[BCVM22]

Marmol left with some sort of injury. Either arm or hand.

 

Pursuant to this, the trainer was apparently looking specifically at his hand - not his shoulder or elbow - and Marmol is doing his normal postgame workout routine.

 

Len said it looked like something along the lines of a blister or a cracked fingernail.

 

EDIT: Right hand cramp. Will have an MRI as a precaution.

[Guest]

Not going to bother making a new week's game thread for this. These are the dog days and nobody cares that much anymore.

 

http://chicago.cubs.mlb.com/mlb/subscriptions/index.jsp?product=mlbtv&c_id=chc&affiliateId=chcCLUBEDITORIAL

 

Today's game is apparently available to watch via stream for free.

[Hairyducked Idiot]

Not working for me :( Only audio

[Guest]

Yea, I couldn't get it to work, either.