9/5 - Giants (Walker) vs Cubs (Hendricks): 6:40pm, Marquee

[WhyCantWeWin]

Might be time to put Merryweather, Leiter and Alzolay on the IL and call up Boxberger, Little and Brown. These guys need an extended break

Edited September 6, 2023 by WhyCantWeWin

[Irrelevant Dude]

6 minutes ago, WhyCantWeWin said:

Might be time to put Merryweather, Leiter and Alzolay on the IL and call up Boxberger, Little and Brown. These guys need an extended break

So you're advocating for replacing the entire back half of the bullpen with 3 complete wild cards?  A break is one thing, but expecting those other 3 guys to just jump into late inning relief is crazy talk.

[itisallpartoftheplan]

9 minutes ago, WhyCantWeWin said:

Might be time to put Merryweather, Leiter and Alzolay on the IL and call up Boxberger, Little and Brown. These guys need an extended break

Brown threw his first inning since July 30th on Sunday. Doubt they’ll rush him up.

[WhyCantWeWin]

1 hour ago, Irrelevant Dude said:

So you're advocating for replacing the entire back half of the bullpen with 3 complete wild cards?  A break is one thing, but expecting those other 3 guys to just jump into late inning relief is crazy talk.

Gonna need to give them a break, showing serious signs of ineffectiveness and fatigue already. 

[Stratos]

3 hours ago, abuck1220 said:

the way the pen has been used lately has me concerned that alzolay is hurt

He's just gassed and shouldn't pitch unless necessary, he needs rest.  I think Leiter needs a couple of days off also, but no other lefty really to get outs.  I mean there's Smyly LOL.  Cubs just need to keep hitting.  Unfortunately the rest of the staff couldn't keep the score down enough to let Leiter rest.

With Leiter I'm wondering if some of it is the heat.  I imagine it's hard to grip that splitter when it's that hot and humid lately.  But it was a night game...

 

[Stratos]

1 hour ago, WhyCantWeWin said:

Might be time to put Merryweather, Leiter and Alzolay on the IL and call up Boxberger, Little and Brown. These guys need an extended break

Would help Leiter a ton if Hughes comes back and can be effective.

If Stroman comes back then Wicks I guess moves to the pen.  If Wicks keeps pitching well I wonder if there's any chance he bumps Taillon to the pen.  Doubtful, they could use the lefty pen arm.  They may also want to start limiting Wicks' IP?

[itisallpartoftheplan]

Alex Wood getting the start tomorrow for the Giants. 

[UMFan83]

37 minutes ago, Stratos said:

He's just gassed and shouldn't pitch unless necessary, he needs rest.  I think Leiter needs a couple of days off also, but no other lefty really to get outs.  I mean there's Smyly LOL.  Cubs just need to keep hitting.  Unfortunately the rest of the staff couldn't keep the score down enough to let Leiter rest.

With Leiter I'm wondering if some of it is the heat.  I imagine it's hard to grip that splitter when it's that hot and humid lately.  But it was a night game...

 

They've done an OK job of getting the 3 main guys rest over the last 2 weeks and change.

Leiter - 6 appearances in the last 15 days, 4.2 total IP

Alzolay - 6 appearances in the last 16 days, 5.2 total IP

Merryweather - 6 appearances in the last 16 days, 6.2 total IP

I think that's pretty solid?

That said, prior to that period, they were used pretty heavily the prior month or so, which is probably still taking a toll on them.

[mfcubs22]

6 hours ago, WhyCantWeWin said:

Gonna need to give them a break, showing serious signs of ineffectiveness and fatigue already. 

Yeah, try to limit their outings. Don’t put them on the IL in the middle of a playoff chase. 
 

With a 4 run lead in the 8th, Ross didn’t have to pitch Leiter and Merryweather. He needs to expand the circle of trust a tiny bit with a 4 run lead with 6 outs to get. 

[CubUgly]

9 hours ago, UMFan83 said:

No one asked Ross about Alzolay’s status which kind of surprises me. It might not be a big deal but he’s clearly altering his bullpen usage to avoid using him, you’d think that’s something reporters might ask about.  4 straight days off now and 5 of last 6

It should not be surprising, the media that covers the Cubs and are paid to ask questions to him leave a LOT of questions unasked.   

[WhyCantWeWin]

1 hour ago, mfcubs22 said:

Yeah, try to limit their outings. Don’t put them on the IL in the middle of a playoff chase. 
 

With a 4 run lead in the 8th, Ross didn’t have to pitch Leiter and Merryweather. He needs to expand the circle of trust a tiny bit with a 4 run lead with 6 outs to get. 

Ross will overuse them regardless, that's why I think a drastic approach is needed. Little confirmed to be called up today so let's see what the corresponding move is. 

[Ding Dong Johnson]

 

[UMFan83]

9 minutes ago, Ding Dong Johnson said:

 

Haha if I recall correctly, Giants fans really wanted Seiya and expected him to sign there.  They must have loved seeing that happen last night.

[PJCubfan]

Little looked like the real deal today in the 9th.  12 games over .500 now and only a game and a half behind the Brewers.  Hell will the wild card, let's get the DIVISION!  The Cubs need to keep up the run production and take David's decision making out of the game.!