6/10 Rockies (Hoffman) at Cubs (Butler) 1:20 p.m. ABC

[Bryants Disco Ball]

In defense of the Duke, this has less to do with his powers and more to do with the fact that the Cubs just aren't very good.

the cubs are good. they just aren't playing well.

 

I fear this will be said a few months from now, too.

[UMFan83]

In defense of the Duke, this has less to do with his powers and more to do with the fact that the Cubs just aren't very good.

the cubs are good. they just aren't playing well.

 

I fear this will be said a few months from now, too.

 

They wouldn't be the first very talented team that underachieved greatly would they?

[davell]

We've got to be close to the part in the movie where Ricky and Willie just beat the horsefeathers out of each other in the dugout and the team starts playing good because of it, right?

[KrisBryantisaBeast]

I'm about to faint we got a hit with a runner in scoring position!

[We Got The Whole 9]

Chance for a real galvanizing moment for Addy here

[weis21]

the cubs are good. they just aren't playing well.

 

I fear this will be said a few months from now, too.

 

They wouldn't be the first very talented team that underachieved greatly would they?

the cubs have a supremely talented roster. maybe they won't be "2016 good" but they will eventually run away with this division and then - like always - the playoffs are a crap shoot. that's the beauty of baseball is that things normalize after 162 games.

[Sammy Sofa]

 

I fear this will be said a few months from now, too.

 

They wouldn't be the first very talented team that underachieved greatly would they?

the cubs have a supremely talented roster. maybe they won't be "2016 good" but they will eventually run away with this division and then - like always - the playoffs are a crap shoot. that's the beauty of baseball is that things normalize after 162 games.

 

Eh; 2015 Nationals say hi.

[Aaron_Kennelly]

One of the weird things I've noticed about Butler is that he's changed how he pitches, but not how he was supposed to change. When he was a prospect, he used to pitch from a lower angle and he got a lot more drop on his pitches, as Eno Sarris showed when we traded for him:

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/eddie-butler-then-now-and-in-the-future/

 

The Rockies tried to change him and it really messed him up. When we got him, Bosio was supposed to get him back to his natural pitching motion.

https://www.si.com/mlb/2017/02/21/chicago-cubs-chris-bosio-pitching-lab

 

The first thing Bosio did with Butler was to tell him he wanted him be himself—to be comfortable pitching in the style that had made him a first-round pick. That meant returning him to a lower release point and to having him use his sinker, not his four-seamer, as his primary fastball.

 

Essentially, this is what happened with Arrieta. That's why he was supposed to be Arrieta 2.0. His previous club was messing with him to fit their organizational preferences. Bosio would let him be himself and he'd go back to what made him good.

 

Then, there was this note in a Fangraphs piece, when he was in Iowa:

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/sunday-notes-whitleys-cattle-cubs-butler-gausmans-analogy-yard-goats-more/

 

Going downhill has played a big role in his resurgence.

 

“Since I got here, (pitching coach) Chris Bosio has been getting me back to what was my norm,” Butler told me this spring. “We’re working on me staying better over the rubber and getting a stronger front side. That should correlate to getting out front and driving the ball downhill, which I struggled with the last two years.”

 

Going downhill is the exact opposite of what he was supposed to be doing. That's what the Rockies were having him do. He was supposed to be going back to his natural, lower release point.

 

And if you look at his release points, he is going more downhill. His vertical release point is way up from where it was even in Colorado. He's pretty much straight-over-the-top now.

 

http://www.brooksbaseball.net/velo.php?player=572750&b_hand=-1&time=year&minmax=ci&var=z0&s_type=2&startDate=03/30/2007&endDate=06/06/2017&gFilt=&pFilt=FA|SI|FC|SL|CU|CS|KN|CH|FS|SB

 

If you look at it game-by-game, he was all over the place the last couple of years. He may have been going up from where he was when he was a prospect, but it was constantly fluctuating; nothing was repeatable. At least this year, it's been more stable. It seems like his delivery is more repeatable. And the gap between his release points on different pitches has shrunk. This delivery may help him to better disguise his off-speed stuff from his fastballs.

 

http://www.brooksbaseball.net/velo.php?player=572750&b_hand=-1&gFilt=&pFilt=FA|SI|FC|SL|CU|CS|KN|CH|FS|SB&time=game&minmax=ci&var=z0&s_type=2&startDate=03/30/2007&endDate=06/06/2017

 

But, this isn't the Arrieta process. In fact, it's pretty much the exact opposite of it.

[weis21]

 

They wouldn't be the first very talented team that underachieved greatly would they?

the cubs have a supremely talented roster. maybe they won't be "2016 good" but they will eventually run away with this division and then - like always - the playoffs are a crap shoot. that's the beauty of baseball is that things normalize after 162 games.

 

Eh; 2015 Nationals say hi.

Eh. I'm an eternal optimist.

[Bryants Disco Ball]

the cubs are good. they just aren't playing well.

 

I fear this will be said a few months from now, too.

 

They wouldn't be the first very talented team that underachieved greatly would they?

 

They would not be. It's also why people are understandably continuing to think they will snap out of it, even though none of the numbers suggest it and certainly the product on the field doesn't either.

[weis21]

butler, duensing, and now pena for two innings. is this joe just saying horsefeathers it because the offense doesn't look like it'll score?

[Sammy Sofa]

butler, duensing, and now pena for two innings. is this joe just saying horsefeathers it because the offense doesn't look like it'll score?

 

Well, the starting rotation is a cobbled-together collection that tends to not go more than 5-6 innings. Gotta get that pen rest when you can, I guess.

[Schwarber Fan]

lol @ these clowns

[weis21]

yeah, that's fair. just seems extra shitty today.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

thanks Tapia

[weis21]

baseball rules are hard

[Transmogrified Tiger]

baseball rules are hard

 

I dunno, in the last couple weeks at softball I've had an infield fly come up twice while on the bases and my instinct was immediately to find an umpire to determine if it was being called. Tapia's an international signing with less than 700 pro games to his credit, maybe he just hasn't found himself in that situation very often or the instinct to use his speed was stronger.

[Aaron_Kennelly]

lol

[Agony and Ivy]

Awesome way to spend a Saturday boys.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

sigh, Zobrist hit the ball harder than that like 4 times today and he's on an 0-fer

 

frustrating

[Sammy Sofa]

[weis21]

baseball rules are hard

 

I dunno, in the last couple weeks at softball I've had an infield fly come up twice while on the bases and my instinct was immediately to find an umpire to determine if it was being called. Tapia's an international signing with less than 700 pro games to his credit, maybe he just hasn't found himself in that situation very often or the instinct to use his speed was stronger.

yeah, that's fair. plus this if far more entertaining than actually watching the cubs. infield fly hitting the ground is pretty much never executed (or happens if it's by accident) so I can understand players kind of relying on extincts on that particular rule. I'm just mad bc the cubs will be under .500 again and was being somewhat cruel.

[weis21]

question: will joe ever allow pedro to pitch again?

[Sammy Sofa]

RD GAME!!!!

 

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[UMFan83]

Cubs play screw the closer Edited June 10, 2017 by UMFan83