2019 Spring Training Thread

[UMFan83]

Would anybody like to contribute to my GoFundMe to get Schwarber more shorts?

Unless there's some obscure company I'm unaware of with those initials, those are from Jon Lester's foundation, though it's an odd crossover considering the foundation is for pediatric cancer.

 

Yeah, maybe Lester should design some new shorts or something. Schwarber has worn those shorts in pretty much every Spring Training/Workout photo taken since 2015.

[Bluescale]

Mna, it seems like pretty much everyone is there. Who have we not seen yet?

 

Harper.

[Cubswin11]

Rizzo might still be back home in Florida for stuff with the Parkland 1 year anniversary. I saw him or his foundation tweet about it.

[Brian]

I just remembered... isn't Javy actually naturally left handed? So it's actually crazier that he does everything right handed for baseball.

[Cubswin11]

I just remembered... isn't Javy actually naturally left handed? So it's actually crazier that he does everything right handed for baseball.

Pretty sure that’s right. I think he also attempted to be a switch hitter early in his minor league career but scrapped the left handed hitting pretty quick.

[Andy]

I just remembered... isn't Javy actually naturally left handed? So it's actually crazier that he does everything right handed for baseball.

Yep, he says that's why he's such a great tagger, he's using his dominant hand to do it. Ridiculous athlete.

[David]

Russell sounds like he's reading the answers to every one of these questions like a robot, but he's directly answering questions from the reporters. He must've been coached on answers to almost anything he could possibly be asked.

 

I understand that he's nervous but this is weird as hell.

[Deeg]

One of the worst parts of all this is that part of me wants to be happy when this inevitably blows up in the Cubs' face and makes them look as bad as they deserve to for the way they've handled this. But you can't - because it's Russell, there's going to be another victim.

[Cubswin11]

Carl incorporated the Kershaw/Kenley leg thing into his delivery it appears

 

[Cubswin11]

Doesn’t seem too serious, he’s still doing some long toss throwing. But he did have an issue with the shoulder last year too.

 

 

[PackLandVA]

If he has surgery now, he should be back by next spring training, no?

[treebird]

If he has surgery now, he should be back by next spring training, no?

 

yes but also if the cubs kill him now he could be reincarnated as a better pitcher and back to the team by 2040

[Tim]

I grow bored.

 

 

Can't we get some games so I can obsessively over analyze small sample results?

[CyHawk_Cub]

Go to BN if you want to see SSS discussion. Those guys are difficult for me to read anymore. Gotcha headlines with article bodies comprised of both-sides equivocation. It's hard for me to articulate how I see their product these days. Suffice it to say, I get nothing beyond news aggregation from that place. Oh, and smirks at the alt-right/Russian bots posting there. /end mini-rant

[Ding Dong Johnson]

Go to BN if you want to see SSS discussion. Those guys are difficult for me to read anymore. Gotcha headlines with article bodies comprised of both-sides equivocation. It's hard for me to articulate how I see their product these days. Suffice it to say, I get nothing beyond news aggregation from that place. Oh, and smirks at the alt-right/Russian bots posting there. /end mini-rant

I wondered where Boris went.

[Cubswin11]

There's some good and promising stuff in here about Q.

 

 

José Quintana’s struggles​ early last​ season were​ one of the​ more perplexing issues​ the​ Cubs​ faced.​​ The lefty had impeccable command for nearly his entire career, but as the calendar turned to August, Quintana’s walk rate stood at 11.1 percent. This from a pitcher who’d never finished a season with a walk rate above 8 percent.

 

But it was right around this time that new pitching coach Tommy Hottovy (then the Cubs’ run prevention coordinator) noticed something with the way Quintana pointed his foot at the peak of his windup. Somewhere along the way, Quintana started pointing his toes slightly up when he lifted his right leg during his delivery......This ever-so-slight issue threw off Quintana’s balance and led to struggles with his command. But the correction got him back on track. In 20 pre-August starts, Quintana posted a 4.26 ERA with a 20.4 percent strikeout rate and 11.2 percent walk rate. In the 12 starts he made after Aug. 1, Quintana’s ERA dipped to 3.65, his strikeout rate jumped to a solid 23.1 percent and his walk rate was a much more Q-esque 5.9 percent

 

Also talks about him wanting to use his changeup more this year and he's focused on that this offseason.

 

Here's a pic of his foot/leg in the spot they didn't want it

 

 

This is where they got it fixed and moved to and where he normally has been

 

[Brian]

2019 the year the Cubs take vengeance against the computers.

 

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[Brian]

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[Hairyducked Idiot]

If he has surgery now, he should be back by next spring training, no?

 

yes but also if the cubs kill him now he could be reincarnated as a better pitcher and back to the team by 2040

 

We won’t be able to afford him after giving an extension to a 56-year-old Cole Hamels

[PackLandVA]

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I'd be careful if I were "the Rizz". PTR always looking for a deal.

[Backtobanks]

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I'd be careful if I were "the Rizz". PTR always looking for a deal.

 

PTR would wait for Lester, Darvish, Hamels,Bryant, and Zobrist to make the same offer before he would budge.

[David]

something not absolutely abysmal from this team

 

[tweet]https://twitter.com/Cubs_Live/status/1097582209173778437[/tweet]

[Cubswin11]

Probably touring assisted living facilities in Arizona for himself for next year.

 

[Cubswin11]

For fucks sake, Joe. He caught about 100,000 more innings than the next closest guy last year. Also, if the mental side of things is something that’s wearing on him maybe get a veteran backup in there to help ease that burden instead of horsefeathering Vic.

 

[Backtobanks]

For horsefeathers sake, Joe. He caught about 100,000 more innings than the next closest guy last year. Also, if the mental side of things is something that’s wearing on him maybe get a veteran backup in there to help ease that burden instead of horsefeathering Vic.

 

 

You mean someone like Rivera that just signed a minor league deal?