9/25 - Cubs win 8-3

[UMFan83]

Need to go 3-6 to win 70 games, and 6-3 to avoid 90 losses.

 

Simpson with 6 innings of 1 run ball. Keegan back to dominating in that multi-inning bullpen role.

[Derwood]

I’m a million times more optimistic about the Cubs moving forward than I am about the Bears

[Bertz]

I've been pretty adamant about Keegan in the rotation, but I think I'm actually moving towards Wesneski starting the year in MLB and Keegan indeed being in the pen.

 

No idea what to do with Sampson this winter. I'd love some confirmation he does in fact have minor league options. Fangraphs says he does but sometimes this sort of stuff gets wonky with the guys who went to Asia for a few years and came back.

[CubinNY]

Thompson and Adbert are relief pitchers. Thompson may have the makings of a top-notch closer. There is no reason to force them into roles they cannot handle/don't have the skill set for.

[Tim]

Thompson and Adbert are relief pitchers. Thompson may have the makings of a top-notch closer. There is no reason to force them into roles they cannot handle/don't have the skill set for.

If I looked into your posts from last year, would I find you saying the same things about Steele?

[CubinNY]

Thompson and Adbert are relief pitchers. Thompson may have the makings of a top-notch closer. There is no reason to force them into roles they cannot handle/don't have the skill set for.

If I looked into your posts from last year, would I find you saying the same things about Steele?

I have no idea, but you would see the same thing about Thompson and Adbert.

[Tim]

Thompson and Adbert are relief pitchers. Thompson may have the makings of a top-notch closer. There is no reason to force them into roles they cannot handle/don't have the skill set for.

If I looked into your posts from last year, would I find you saying the same things about Steele?

I have no idea, but you would see the same thing about Thompson and Adbert.

Let me try a different angle...

 

What is it in Thompson's skillset makes you think he *can't* succeed as a starter? He's got an adequate pitch mix. He's shown the ability to hold velocity deep into games. It's true that he hasn't shown sustained success in that role yet, but he's shown enough success to have reason to believe.

 

If your argument is that he's so valuable as a multi-inning reliever that it isn't worth trying to convert him to starter, then you'd have to believe that he's massively better in that role because middle-relievers are typically not near the top of the food chain from a value perspective.

 

If your argument is that he's got the makings of a top-notch closer...then I'm really confused. He hasn't succeeded in that role yet, either. What is it specifically in his skillset (as opposed to results to date) that makes you think he's better suited to a single-inning relief pitcher role?

[Bertz]

Thompson and Adbert are relief pitchers. Thompson may have the makings of a top-notch closer. There is no reason to force them into roles they cannot handle/don't have the skill set for.

If I looked into your posts from last year, would I find you saying the same things about Steele?

 

He thinks everyone is a reliever. He said at one point like a month or two back it might be time to shift Stroman to relief.

 

Thompson from his first start against the Padres through July had a 3.86 ERA, matching 3.84 FIP. The xFIP was 4.29, so he was probably a bit dong lucky, but that's still a solid mark for a #4 starter. And the numbers were substantially better in the second half of that run after he added the slider (2.52 ERA, 3.74 xFIP).

 

He was a mess in August, but he was clearly gassed. He lost more than a mile off his fastball (93.9 in the stretch above, 92.7 in August), it's pretty clear the team was trying to have him just push through it to get his innings. A competitive team would have IL'd him to get him a breather at least two starts earlier.

 

To me the only doubt about Thompson is whether he's just going to hit the wall again at 90-100IP next year. So like shifting him to the pen to give Wesneski more run is an acceptable plan, but shifting Thompson to the pen for some uninspiring (and moderately expensive) veteran like Smyly absolutely is not.

[squally1313]

An average starter is significantly more valuable than a high end reliever. You have to give Thompson a shot to start.

[mul21]

If I looked into your posts from last year, would I find you saying the same things about Steele?

I have no idea, but you would see the same thing about Thompson and Adbert.

Let me try a different angle...

 

What is it in Thompson's skillset makes you think he *can't* succeed as a starter? He's got an adequate pitch mix. He's shown the ability to hold velocity deep into games. It's true that he hasn't shown sustained success in that role yet, but he's shown enough success to have reason to believe.

 

If your argument is that he's so valuable as a multi-inning reliever that it isn't worth trying to convert him to starter, then you'd have to believe that he's massively better in that role because middle-relievers are typically not near the top of the food chain from a value perspective.

 

If your argument is that he's got the makings of a top-notch closer...then I'm really confused. He hasn't succeeded in that role yet, either. What is it specifically in his skillset (as opposed to results to date) that makes you think he's better suited to a single-inning relief pitcher role?

 

I don't know that he can't succeed as a starter, but there may be higher quality options to fill what would be his rotation spot next year. The other thing that keeps popping into my head is to try to use him like Hader was used early in his career. He's proven to be so tough out of the pen that I kind of want to see how he may develop in that role and that's certainly not an unvaluable position to have locked down. I know that this regime has been very good at building quality pens, but having that bird in hand at a very low cost is definitely desirable.

[squally1313]

He's thrown 31 innings as a reliever this year? Not sure if we can just mark him down for Josh Hader.

[mul21]

He's thrown 31 innings as a reliever this year? Not sure if we can just mark him down for Josh Hader.

 

I didn't say he was Hader, just that usage might be the most optimal way to deploy his skillset.

[squally1313]

And I'm saying that using 31 innings of effective bullpen work as the reason to trash the idea of him being a cost controlled starter on a team that has like....1.5 of them at the moment is not a good idea.