4/18 Cubs(Hendricks) vs Rays(McClanahan) 6:40CST MSN

[Andy]

Seiya is just a hitting machine.

[Gilby]

Wait what if Wisdom and Schwindel are both actually good

[champaignchris]

Schwindel looks like the walk on who just hit a 3 in a blowout college basketball game every time he homers, it's hilarious

 

Yeah. No one looks more surprised when Schwindel hits a home run than Schwindel.

[Tim]

Wait what if Wisdom and Schwindel are both actually good

Then we'd better hope the pitching holds up.

[Irrelevant Dude]

Wait what if Wisdom and Schwindel are both actually good

Wisdom looks great so far. I still think the most realistic scenario for Schwindel is that he is a serviceable placeholder until the Cubs can find a lefty power bat to fill that spot.

[Tim]

:flythew: :flythew:

[We Got The Whole 9]

I love that we grabbed our closer after the lockout for a mere 3.5

 

I've always liked and wanted to acquire Robertson when he was in his prime. Really solid and you pretty much know what you can expect year to year.

[CubinNY]

Great win.

[Gilby]

Madrigal has Almora speed

 

I'm glad he can actually hit

 

In all seriousness, this comparison has been out there too much. Their track records are not close

[Cubswin11]

Madrigal has Almora speed

 

I'm glad he can actually hit

 

In all seriousness, this comparison has been out there too much. Their track records are not close

Other than the speed being slower than you’d expect, I agree. Madrigal has elite contact skills while Almora never did but was perceived to have it for some reason.

[Bertz]

Having a longman who can pitch leverage innings is really fun. I imagine the hope is that Rucker can do similar things, and while I'm skeptical of that I could see Jensen or Espinoza being similar weapons in the second half.

[Cubswin11]

Having a longman who can pitch leverage innings is really fun. I imagine the hope is that Rucker can do similar things, and while I'm skeptical of that I could see Jensen or Espinoza being similar weapons in the second half.

It’s probably the best use of Adbert too once, if, he comes back.

[CubinNY]

Having a longman who can pitch leverage innings is really fun. I imagine the hope is that Rucker can do similar things, and while I'm skeptical of that I could see Jensen or Espinoza being similar weapons in the second half.

It’s probably the best use of Adbert too once, if, he comes back.

Only against right-handers.

[Tim]

Having a longman who can pitch leverage innings is really fun. I imagine the hope is that Rucker can do similar things, and while I'm skeptical of that I could see Jensen or Espinoza being similar weapons in the second half.

It’s probably the best use of Adbert too once, if, he comes back.

Only against right-handers.

Funny!

 

He actually crushed lefties when he was in a long-relief role in September.

[UMFan83]

Do we have enough data to start to untangle how much of this solid start is luck based and how much is legit being a decent team? I saw someone post the other day that they are 2nd in BABIP this year so obviously that points towards good luck but several other metrics look more sustainable. On the pitching side, they are 11th in xFIP and have the 7th highest BABIP which I would guess means we're a bit unfortunate there.

 

Pitching ranks:

 

BB/9 - 22nd

K/9 - 15th

HR/9 - 19th

BABIP - 23rd

LOB% - 8th

GB% - 10th highest

HR/FB% - 22nd lowest

fWAR - 17th

xFIP - 11th

Edited April 19, 2022 by UMFan83

[CubinNY]

It’s probably the best use of Adbert too once, if, he comes back.

Only against right-handers.

Funny!

 

He actually crushed lefties when he was in a long-relief role in September.

lol

[sneakypower]

Do we have enough data to start to untangle how much of this solid start is luck based and how much is legit being a decent team? I saw someone post the other day that they are 2nd in BABIP this year so obviously that points towards good luck but several other metrics look more sustainable. On the pitching side, they are 11th in xFIP and have the 7th highest BABIP which I would guess means we're a bit unfortunate there.

 

Pitching ranks:

 

BB/9 - 22nd

K/9 - 15th

HR/9 - 19th

BABIP - 23rd

LOB% - 8th

GB% - 10th highest

HR/FB% - 22nd lowest

fWAR - 17th

xFIP - 11th

a simple heuristic for me is, "does this current iteration of the Oakland A's lineup still lead MLB in runs scored?" ok still too early to draw any conclusions whatsoever

[UMFan83]

Do we have enough data to start to untangle how much of this solid start is luck based and how much is legit being a decent team? I saw someone post the other day that they are 2nd in BABIP this year so obviously that points towards good luck but several other metrics look more sustainable. On the pitching side, they are 11th in xFIP and have the 7th highest BABIP which I would guess means we're a bit unfortunate there.

 

Pitching ranks:

 

BB/9 - 22nd

K/9 - 15th

HR/9 - 19th

BABIP - 23rd

LOB% - 8th

GB% - 10th highest

HR/FB% - 22nd lowest

fWAR - 17th

xFIP - 11th

a simple heuristic for me is, "does this current iteration of the Oakland A's lineup still lead MLB in runs scored?" ok still too early to draw any conclusions whatsoever

 

Ha - valid point. Somehow they are doing that despite a teamwide .647 OPS. In comparison, the Cubs are 2nd in baseball at .803. So yeah its probably too early to draw definitive conclusions 6% of the way through the season, but there are some trends that look very promising that are less luck based.

[CubinNY]

Thompson has 1 WAR already which is more than 50% of his total.

[Bertz]

Thompson has 1 WAR already which is more than 50% of his total.

 

Thompson and Steele being so good thus far has me more bullish on short term contention than I was two weeks ago. I was confident that we had enough good arms in the org to fill out a full staff, but I thought we were going to have a MUCH more painful time finding out which ones ought to actually be taking the bump.

 

But if we can run an ~average pitching staff out here in the first half, and then supplement that in the second half with Alzolay, some Iowa reinforcements, and a trade acquisition of substance it changes the outlook for the team substantially.

[sneakypower]

Do we have enough data to start to untangle how much of this solid start is luck based and how much is legit being a decent team? I saw someone post the other day that they are 2nd in BABIP this year so obviously that points towards good luck but several other metrics look more sustainable. On the pitching side, they are 11th in xFIP and have the 7th highest BABIP which I would guess means we're a bit unfortunate there.

 

Pitching ranks:

 

BB/9 - 22nd

K/9 - 15th

HR/9 - 19th

BABIP - 23rd

LOB% - 8th

GB% - 10th highest

HR/FB% - 22nd lowest

fWAR - 17th

xFIP - 11th

giving this a more serious response, we do seem to have concertedly built an overriding fascination with cultivating pitch movement with our bullpen arms

 

guys that all mostly seemed pretty middling in track record were maybe identified with the thought they could heavily focus on honing at least one plus pitch as the basis for their success, which is working pretty well so far (#2 RP ra9-war)

 

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