General Cubs Chit-Chat

[UMFan83]

Kind of knew this already but yay our best starter is having a historically lucky season

 

https://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/jon-lesters-high-wire-act/

[davell]

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Has to be the best article Rogers has ever written.

[jersey cubs fan]

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Has to be the best article Rogers has ever written.

 

not this one?

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[Liam Neeson]

DARK PLACES!

[Andy]

The part about 'another dead guy down' when he passed Whitey Ford in strikeouts and his agent informing him that Whitey Ford is alive was pretty freaking funny.

[Clem Fandango]

[Old Style]

Chris Bosio fired for racially insensitive comments towards a team employee.

[CaliforniaRaisin]

[tweet]https://twitter.com/carriemuskat/status/1012360606207205376[/tweet]

[Transmogrified Tiger]

Excellent look at the Cubs rotation, with particular focus on Q, Hendricks, and Darvish: https://theathletic.com/410692/2018/06/28/sarris-what-lies-ahead-for-the-cubs-rotation/

 

The cliffs notes for non-subscribers:

 

- The Cubs are near the top of the list of rotations with the most projected progression to the mean in the second half.

 

- Hendricks' problem has been righties hitting home runs with his fastball, mostly because more of them have been over the heart of the plate

 

- Q hasn't had his typical command, which is probably good news as command is one of those traits that is stickiest year to year

 

- Darvish also has had command struggles, particularly with his breaking stuff, which isn't great with as many breaking pitches he throws. Also some concern about his return from injury.

[Banedon]

Now tell me how Bryant and Rizzo are going to start mashing like usual.

[UMFan83]

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[squally1313]

Now tell me how Bryant and Rizzo are going to start mashing like usual.

 

https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/statcast_search?hfPT=&hfAB=&hfBBT=&hfPR=&hfZ=&stadium=&hfBBL=&hfNewZones=&hfGT=R%7C&hfC=&hfSea=2018%7C&hfSit=&player_type=batter&hfOuts=&opponent=&pitcher_throws=&batter_stands=&hfSA=&game_date_gt=&game_date_lt=&hfInfield=&team=CHC&position=&hfOutfield=&hfRO=&home_road=&hfFlag=&hfPull=&metric_1=&hfInn=&min_pitches=100&min_results=0&group_by=name&sort_col=wobadiff&player_event_sort=h_launch_speed&sort_order=desc&min_pas=0#results

 

Too lazy to tinyurl it, but...Rizzo "should be" at about his career norms (which would be a clear step down from his last few years) at .364 wOBA. Bryant has been pretty neutral, in terms of luck, but we know the talent is there. Also, might want to ignore Almora in that list, unless you're Maddon, in which case, please stop hitting him at the top of the order against righties.

[bukie]

Encouraging offensive stat: Every Cub with over 110 PA has an above-league-position-player-average wOBA (league average for non pitchers is .318).

 

All 10 of Bryant, Baez, Schwarber, Zobrist, Almora, Contreras, Happ, Rizzo, Heyward and Russell are between .327 and .369.

[Cubswin11]

Encouraging offensive stat: Every Cub with over 110 PA has an above-league-position-player-average wOBA (league average for non pitchers is .318).

 

All 10 of Bryant, Baez, Schwarber, Zobrist, Almora, Contreras, Happ, Rizzo, Heyward and Russell are between .327 and .369.

Almost like we are good

[CaliforniaRaisin]

Carl Edwards Jr in Iowa today: 0.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K, 1 WP, 0-0 GO-FO 19-10 pitches-strikes

[d_money]

Internal pitching options for a starter - besides Adbert and Underwood - in the short term (0-2 years), what other candidates do the Cubs have in the system that are legitimate options to become a starter? Not a bullpen guy, but a starter.

 

We hear about he efforts that have been made in previous drafts to develop pitching, but it seems pretty thin. The inconsistency with Yu and his issues only point a bright light on the lack of internal options.

 

For example, is Lange the guy? Doesn’t appear so far.

[Cubswin11]

Internal pitching options for a starter - besides Adbert and Underwood - in the short term (0-2 years), what other candidates do the Cubs have in the system that are legitimate options to become a starter? Not a bullpen guy, but a starter.

 

We hear about he efforts that have been made in previous drafts to develop pitching, but it seems pretty thin. The inconsistency with Yu and his issues only point a bright light on the lack of internal options.

 

For example, is Lange the guy? Doesn’t appear so far.

2 years is a long ways to project any pitching but I’d add Smyly to the Adbert/Underwood list.

[Tim]

Internal pitching options for a starter - besides Adbert and Underwood - in the short term (0-2 years), what other candidates do the Cubs have in the system that are legitimate options to become a starter? Not a bullpen guy, but a starter.

 

We hear about he efforts that have been made in previous drafts to develop pitching, but it seems pretty thin. The inconsistency with Yu and his issues only point a bright light on the lack of internal options.

 

For example, is Lange the guy? Doesn’t appear so far.

There's a bunch of guys that have the capacity to be an average mlb starter - either by looking at the stats or by the scouting. If you're looking at the stats, guys like Duncan Robinson, Michael Rucker, Matt Swarmer and others are in the conversation. If you're looking at scouting, Lange and Oscar de la Cruz are both there.

 

But the Cubs also have six established mlb starters under control through next year and five the year after that. Guys are going to have to be either exceptional in the minors or we'll have to have disaster at the MLB level for guys to get a shot.

[bukie]

Encouraging offensive stat: Every Cub with over 110 PA has an above-league-position-player-average wOBA (league average for non pitchers is .318).

 

All 10 of Bryant, Baez, Schwarber, Zobrist, Almora, Contreras, Happ, Rizzo, Heyward and Russell are between .327 and .369.

Update, yesterday's game shuffled everyone again and raised up the lowest 2 (Heyward and Russell), so now everyone is between .330 (Rizzo) and .369 (Bryant).

 

However, everyone is so close that every solid game will jumble the order.

[bukie]

July 1 first-half offense musings:

 

- Willson Contreras has been a slightly better Buster Posey this season.

- Anthony Rizzo has been the worst Cub regular hitter to this point. However, his batting line is still above average for all but 4 MLB teams (Cubs, Red Sox, Yankees, Astros).

[Aaron_Kennelly]

Cubs' non-pitchers on the year are hitting .277/.358/.447.

[17 Seconds]

6 of the Cubs' next 11 games will be broadcast on MLBN

 

santa maria

[PackLandVA]

6 of the Cubs' next 11 games will be broadcast on MLBN

 

santa maria

 

Let's hope! For the bottom innings I mean.

[Regular Show]

Cubs' non-pitchers on the year are hitting .277/.358/.447.

 

[Banedon]

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