7/27 Cubs (Big Dick Jon) at Reds (Miley) 5:40 CT Marquee

[PackLandVA]

Didn’t look like Kimbrel was getting a really good grip on the ball. Wonder if it was it was more that than just general loss of control.

[UMFan83]

Shocked no one posted this (i think)

 

[TMan92]

It is getting to the point that the only signing that Theo can do now to one up his pure garbage is to take on the Bobby Bonilla contract from the Mets.

[champaignchris]

It is getting to the point that the only signing that Theo can do now to one up his pure garbage is to take on the Bobby Bonilla contract from the Mets.

 

What if they send a couple bullpen arms with the Bonilla contract?

[Tim]

:flythew: :flythew:

 

Glad I went to bed early. :D

[BigbadB]

Honestly thought Jeffress was going to walk in the tying run. He stuck it out and got the final out. But that was scary.

[Bertz]

I'll be honest, I'm not too worried about the non-Kimbrel parts of the pen. This period was always going to involve feeling out which of the ~15 guys fighting for a pen spot were indeed worth a damn. We've gotten some indication on the bad end (Norwood is trash, Underwood probably is as well) and on the good (Brothers, Maples, and Tepera all looked good). I think you can get by the next week or two by leaning on Wick/Ryan/Jeffress and whichever guys have looked good thus far while you continue sorting things out.

 

Kimbrel though... horsefeathersing yikes. You can't put him in a high leverage game right now. Hopefully it's rust. Last year he seemed to be finding it right before he had the leg injury. Focus on getting him into a game every 2-3 days just to get work in right now, and hope he justifies giving him high leverage work again soon.

[squally1313]

Not smart enough to pull down and digest the pitch fx data, but I read somewhere last night that Kimbrel threw 15 curveballs and got zero swings on them. Tipping pitches isn't good, but it's infinitely easier to fix than 'being washed up'.

[Rex Buckingham]

Pat was speculating last night that Kimbrel might have been having trouble with his grip on the knuckle curve because of the humid and hot conditions

[squally1313]

Pat was speculating last night that Kimbrel might have been having trouble with his grip on the knuckle curve because of the humid and hot conditions

It seemed like he was going to the rosin/dirt after every pitch, and it looked real sticky there last night, but not sure how much he normally goes to it.

[gflore34]

Not smart enough to pull down and digest the pitch fx data, but I read somewhere last night that Kimbrel threw 15 curveballs and got zero swings on them. Tipping pitches isn't good, but it's infinitely easier to fix than 'being washed up'.

 

Was it tipping pitches or fact he no control? Looks like he threw 34 pitches, 13 of them K's, only 3 of which came on swings, 1 swing and miss, smartly, the Reds were not swinging.

[Gmoney23]

Pat was speculating last night that Kimbrel might have been having trouble with his grip on the knuckle curve because of the humid and hot conditions

It seemed like he was going to the rosin/dirt after every pitch, and it looked real sticky there last night, but not sure how much he normally goes to it.

 

His mechanics looked terrible yesterday too. Definitely a factor with the quick summer camp.

[Tim]

I'll be honest, I'm not too worried about the non-Kimbrel parts of the pen. This period was always going to involve feeling out which of the ~15 guys fighting for a pen spot were indeed worth a damn. We've gotten some indication on the bad end (Norwood is trash, Underwood probably is as well) and on the good (Brothers, Maples, and Tepera all looked good). I think you can get by the next week or two by leaning on Wick/Ryan/Jeffress and whichever guys have looked good thus far while you continue sorting things out.

 

Kimbrel though... horsefeathersing yikes. You can't put him in a high leverage game right now. Hopefully it's rust. Last year he seemed to be finding it right before he had the leg injury. Focus on getting him into a game every 2-3 days just to get work in right now, and hope he justifies giving him high leverage work again soon.

Yeah, the pen isn't *this* bad. We're fortunate to have some blowouts early here to be able to give some guys some innings to sort things out. Once the roster starts to narrow down, guys like Maples, Norwood and Underwood (all the wood's, basically) will be gone. You've got Wick, Ryan, Jeffress & Tepera all looking pretty good right now. Should be able to find a decent low leverage option or two between Sadler, Winkler & Brothers. There's also options in South Bend that might be able to come up and be effective. I think they'll be able to build a decent enough pen out of all that to get by. But they need to get Kimbrel right to make it a really good pen.