8/26 - Cubs (Wicks) vs Pirates (Selby): 6:15pm, Marquee

[thawv]

8 hours ago, Derwood said:

The balk rule may be the dumbest rule in all of sports

I was thinking that in order for a balk to be called, it should be blatantly obvious.  If only an umpire can tell what a balk is, it's a stupid rule.  A fan should be able to tell instantly what a balk looks like. 

[thawv]

8 hours ago, UMFan83 said:

The DBacks inexplicably sacrifice bunt down 1 with Jace Peterson due up. Peterson strikes out leading to Arizona losing the game. 

Wait!!!  They WANTED to give up one of their 2 last outs??  Insane!

[Derwood]

3 minutes ago, thawv said:

I was thinking that in order for a balk to be called, it should be blatantly obvious.  If only an umpire can tell what a balk is, it's a stupid rule.  A fan should be able to tell instantly what a balk looks like. 

 

The spirit of the balk rule makes sense: the pitcher should not be trying to trick the batter (or baserunners) in order to pick them off or throw off their timing. But NO ONE IS EVER TRYING TO DO THAT. Instead, we're giving teams winning runs because the pitcher shrugged their shoulders or started their deliver 0.3 seconds to quickly

[thawv]

7 minutes ago, Derwood said:

 

The spirit of the balk rule makes sense: the pitcher should not be trying to trick the batter (or baserunners) in order to pick them off or throw off their timing. But NO ONE IS EVER TRYING TO DO THAT. Instead, we're giving teams winning runs because the pitcher shrugged their shoulders or started their deliver 0.3 seconds to quickly

I agree with needing it.  But I think that everybody watching the game should be able to tell a guy balked.  There's way too much uncertainty and judgement in the rule.  

[Derwood]

The Brewers winning 7 straight against the Rangers, Twins and Padres is beyond d annoying. 

[mul21]

2 hours ago, thawv said:

Wicks should not be part of any type of piggy back.  He'll be able to go 6-7 innings with regularity if they let him.

Wicks is not going to be giving them 6-7 IP per start.  He's on a pitch count and an innings count, plus he strikes out a decent amount of guys and therefore isn't super efficient.  They need to have a plan to cover the 6th and 7th in games he starts unless they get lucky and he's managing a low pitch count on a particular night.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

5 hours ago, thawv said:

I think that PCA is a no brainer to get the call.  He's the best defensive OF'er in the system, and he's the fastest guy in the system.  And he's actually been hitting.  He would help offensively, defensively, and on the base paths.  He's the perfect call up for a play off run.  I think that Little should get called up too.

PCA has a .566 OPS in his last 40 PA, there's definitely some adjusting still happening and he's not ripping everything in sight at the moment.

 

5 hours ago, thawv said:

Wicks should not be part of any type of piggy back.  He'll be able to go 6-7 innings with regularity if they let him.

Wicks has gone more than 5 innings/15 outs exactly once as a professional, and thrown more than 85 pitches exactly once as a professional(these were 2 different starts, funnily enough).  He's only started on 4 days rest once this year, and his start last night was on 8 days rest.  We should consider 4-5 IP a maximum from him if he's staying in the rotation.

[UMFan83]

2 minutes ago, Transmogrified Tiger said:

PCA has a .566 OPS in his last 40 PA, there's definitely some adjusting still happening and he's not ripping everything in sight at the moment.

 

Wicks has gone more than 5 innings/15 outs exactly once as a professional, and thrown more than 85 pitches exactly once as a professional(these were 2 different starts, funnily enough).  He's only started on 4 days rest once this year, and his start last night was on 8 days rest.  We should consider 4-5 IP a maximum from him if he's staying in the rotation.

Why is that? Does he have durability issues or is extremely minimized workloads more common early in minor league career?

[Transmogrified Tiger]

2 minutes ago, UMFan83 said:

Why is that? Does he have durability issues or is extremely minimized workloads more common early in minor league career?

Intentional choice from the Cubs in how they develop and care for arms is the biggest reason, with a sprinkle of inefficiency on his part.  This is part of why I wasn't gung ho on calling him up to begin with, you can see a clear difference in the workload capacity demonstrated by Wesneski(who despite his struggles went 6+ IP and/or 85+ pitches 3 different times in April/May) or Kilian(6 starts of 16+ outs in AAA).

[SOFNR]

Wrong page.

Edited August 27, 2023 by SOFNR

[SOFNR]

Wrong page.

Edited August 27, 2023 by SOFNR

[thawv]

Well, that's not a piggy back start then.  So what's his pitch count limit per game for the rest of the year?

[thawv]

18 hours ago, UMFan83 said:

Why is that? Does he have durability issues or is extremely minimized workloads more common early in minor league career?

He doesn't have durability issues.  It's just his developmental plan by the Cubs.