11/1 World Series Game 6 Cubs (Arrieta) @ Cleveland (Tomlin) 7:00 CDT Fox

[David]

 

I keep seeing things talking about the Cubs bullpen needing to step up, but I really don't feel like the bullpen has really been a problem. They've given up some runs in games that were already losses, but when they've needed to shut things down, they have.

 

I'm much, much more concerned about the offense than the pitching.

 

That shouldn't really make you feel better.

 

It shouldn't make me feel better that the bullpen has been nails when it needs to be?

 

 

Do you believe that it's not important to prevent runs when trailing? Do you believe it's OK to be bad in those spots? And that the sample sizes you're referencing in those splits are all that meaningful anyway? They've pitched and overall they've been shaky. It doesn't make me feel better that they've been good when leading.

Edited November 1, 2016 by David

[mikeyt34]

I know how much some of you guys dislike Cameron, but he just threw out another option I didn't see mentioned much....Lackey as reliever.

 

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/joe-maddons-other-relief-option-tonight/

 

Thoughts? Really a sign of how thin our pen has gotten when this doesn't seem like a terrible idea.

 

It's all hands on deck for an elimination game. Lester in a pinch tonight would not be a shocker either, but I'm sure Joe would rather save Lester for a game 7 appearance if at all possible. The only relievers right now I'm confident in are Montgomery, Strop, and Chapman. The others have done a decent job but with the season on the line in say the 7th inning, I would feel more confident with Lester than any of them other than Chapman.

 

I'm still confident in Strop pitching. The only bad playoff outing he had was in garbage time against the Dodgers. That said, the FG guys seem to be speculating Joe hasn't been using him much because he's not physically right. I would still probably trust him pitching over Lackey but not by much.

 

My bullpen confidence order would be something like this:

 

Chapman

Lester

Strop

Monty

Edwards

Lackey

Wood

Grimm

Rondon

[BigSlick]

I'm confident in Edwards but in the playoffs he's looked more human than he basically ever did during the regular season

 

I'm ok with Lackey out of the pen if we've exhausted the righties of Grimm, Strop and Edwards. I hope it doesn't get to that point, obviously.

[Sammy Sofa]

This is annoying just because I was convinced the Cubs were going to be rocking a true Bullpen of Doom, too.

[minnesotacubsfan]

 

It's all hands on deck for an elimination game. Lester in a pinch tonight would not be a shocker either, but I'm sure Joe would rather save Lester for a game 7 appearance if at all possible. The only relievers right now I'm confident in are Montgomery, Strop, and Chapman. The others have done a decent job but with the season on the line in say the 7th inning, I would feel more confident with Lester than any of them other than Chapman.

 

I'm still confident in Strop pitching. The only bad playoff outing he had was in garbage time against the Dodgers. That said, the FG guys seem to be speculating Joe hasn't been using him much because he's not physically right. I would still probably trust him pitching over Lackey but not by much.

 

My bullpen confidence order would be something like this:

 

Chapman

Monty

Edwards

Lester

Strop

Lackey

Wood

Grimm

Rondon

 

FIXED

[mikeyt34]

The cool thing about Lester is you know he has a Bumgarner streak in him in the post season. He might be able to give you an inning tonight since he just pitched on Sunday. However, if the Cubs get lucky and don't have to use him tonight, I could see Jon enter game 7 in the 6th inning with the lead and finish it. They'd probably go with Chapman in the 9th, but if Jon is dealing, Joe may not mess around with it, especially if Chapman pitches multiple innings tonight.

[abuck1220]

i don't feel very confident in the bullpen, but i also don't think it should be that big of a deal. arrieta for 6, mix and match to somehow get through the 7th and then chapman for the 8th and 9th. if arrieta goes less than 6 because he's given up a bunch of runs, they're gonna lose anyway.

[Banedon]

i don't feel very confident in the bullpen, but i also don't think it should be that big of a deal. arrieta for 6, mix and match to somehow get through the 7th and then chapman for the 8th and 9th. if arrieta goes less than 6 because he's given up a bunch of runs, they're gonna lose anyway.

 

I guess this is what I was trying to say, poorly. We have enough in the bullpen to confidently get through 2 games if the starters do what we know they can do.

[mikeyt34]

 

I'm still confident in Strop pitching. The only bad playoff outing he had was in garbage time against the Dodgers. That said, the FG guys seem to be speculating Joe hasn't been using him much because he's not physically right. I would still probably trust him pitching over Lackey but not by much.

 

My bullpen confidence order would be something like this:

 

Chapman

Monty

Edwards

Lester

Strop

Lackey

Wood

Grimm

Rondon

 

FIXED

 

It's not fixed, it's just your opinion. I have mine, you have yours. I didn't say that's the order Joe would use, it's just the order I'm most confident someone can get people out.

 

Edit; And there's no way I would have Edwards over Strop in a high leverage situation.

Edited November 1, 2016 by mikeyt34

[squally1313]

i don't feel very confident in the bullpen, but i also don't think it should be that big of a deal. arrieta for 6, mix and match to somehow get through the 7th and then chapman for the 8th and 9th. if arrieta goes less than 6 because he's given up a bunch of runs, they're gonna lose anyway.

I don't have a ton of faith in Jake tonight...there just isn't enough evidence over the last 3-4 months to make me think he can flip a switch. But he did have them very off balance in Game 2...if the Indians expand their zone trying to close this thing out, Jake should be alright. No guarantees though.

 

However, whether by a dong attack or just smoking line drives all over the field, there is no reason we shouldn't tear into Tomlin early and often. If we have him on the ropes in the second or third, Francona will have to decide if he wants to go to Miller that early and leave Kluber on his own tomorrow, or serve up the soft part of the bullpen and let us continue to rake.

[abuck1220]

i don't feel very confident in the bullpen, but i also don't think it should be that big of a deal. arrieta for 6, mix and match to somehow get through the 7th and then chapman for the 8th and 9th. if arrieta goes less than 6 because he's given up a bunch of runs, they're gonna lose anyway.

 

I guess this is what I was trying to say, poorly. We have enough in the bullpen to confidently get through 2 games if the starters do what we know they can do.

 

and if they don't we're gonna lose anyway because they aren't winning these games 11-9 against cleveland's bullpen.

[Cubswin11]

Lackey makes more and more sense tonight or tomorrow when you consider Edwards isn't likely to pitch back to back days, Rondon is dead, probably want to keep Monty fresh enough tonight to use tomorrow if they have that luxury, Chapman won't have as big a leash tonight and who knows how careful they are going to be with Strop. Moral of the story, score runs jerks and make this a RD game Edited November 1, 2016 by Cubswin11

[David]

Lackey makes more and more sense tonight or tomorrow when you consider Edwards isn't likely to pitch back to back days, Rondon is dead, probably want to keep Monty fresh enough tonight to get to tomorrow, Chapman won't have as big a leash tonight and who knows how careful they are going to be with Strop. Moral of the story, score runs jerks and make this a RD game

 

Lester will be available tomorrow, if not tonight.

[badger]

Pretty sure that Jake didn't give up a hit through 5 and1/3 in game 2. I don't give a horsefeathers if he was a little wild/erratic. If he no hits them through 5 and a 1/3 we likely win.

[David]

I'm not sure if I should be or not (I think I should), but I'm kinda really happy that it's going to be in the 70's for these two games.

[mikeyt34]

Lackey makes more and more sense tonight or tomorrow when you consider Edwards isn't likely to pitch back to back days, Rondon is dead, probably want to keep Monty fresh enough tonight to get to tomorrow, Chapman won't have as big a leash tonight and who knows how careful they are going to be with Strop. Moral of the story, score runs jerks and make this a RD game

 

Lester will be available tomorrow, if not tonight.

 

Lester already said he could go tonight, but I'm sure Joe wants to avoid using him until tomorrow where he could get multiple innings out of him.

[mikeyt34]

I'm not sure if I should be or not (I think I should), but I'm kinda really happy that it's going to be in the 70's for these two games.

 

Nah, that's a good thing. We need offense and cold weather would only make it that much harder. I'll take our offense over Cleveland's any day of the week and twice on Sundays so the advantage of warm weather I would hope would favor the Cubs.

[Billy_Buck]

i don't feel very confident in the bullpen, but i also don't think it should be that big of a deal. arrieta for 6, mix and match to somehow get through the 7th and then chapman for the 8th and 9th. if arrieta goes less than 6 because he's given up a bunch of runs, they're gonna lose anyway.

 

I guess this is what I was trying to say, poorly. We have enough in the bullpen to confidently get through 2 games if the starters do what we know they can do.

I think that's right. I could see flexibility for some additional late-game machinations, like "Lester now getting up and stretching out in the bullpen, is he coming in to face the LHB?" But can't see him throwing bullpen pitches without using, and Francona isn't going to out-think himself over that like some newbie.

 

IMO most likely scenario would be Lester or Lackey as a bridge in G7. After all, Smoltz told us to be happy if Hendricks can go 4 or 5 good innings. :wink:

[David]

I'm not sure if I should be or not (I think I should), but I'm kinda really happy that it's going to be in the 70's for these two games.

 

Nah, that's a good thing. We need offense and cold weather would only make it that much harder. I'll take our offense over Cleveland's any day of the week and twice on Sundays so the advantage of warm weather I would hope would favor the Cubs.

 

Well, that's selling Cleveland's offense a bit short, but yeah, I'd take ours, especially with Schwarbs.

[David]

[tweet]

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[Cubswin11]

Let's go MF'ers

 

Edited November 1, 2016 by Cubswin11

[Brian707]

I'm not sure if I should be or not (I think I should), but I'm kinda really happy that it's going to be in the 70's for these two games.

 

 

With the wind out of the SW, does that mean it will be blowing straight out in Cleveland like it does at Wrigley? Not sure how that park is setup.

[Banedon]

Lackey makes more and more sense tonight or tomorrow when you consider Edwards isn't likely to pitch back to back days, Rondon is dead, probably want to keep Monty fresh enough tonight to use tomorrow if they have that luxury, Chapman won't have as big a leash tonight and who knows how careful they are going to be with Strop. Moral of the story, score runs jerks and make this a RD game

 

Edwards only got one out the other night and there's been a day off in between. He'll be fine to pitch tonight.

[David]

I'm not sure if I should be or not (I think I should), but I'm kinda really happy that it's going to be in the 70's for these two games.

 

 

With the wind out of the SW, does that mean it will be blowing straight out in Cleveland like it does at Wrigley? Not sure how that park is setup.

 

eh. i feel like i never hear that type of thing referenced with other parks. design has probably something to do with it. closest thing i can think of is people talking about dodger stadium with the marine layer blah blah blah.

[LeonDurham]

Lineup:

 

1) Fowler

2) Schwarber

3) KB

4) Rizzo

5) Zobrist

6) Russell

7) Contreras

8) Heyward

9) Baez