Luke Little?

[Banedon]

 

[Banedon]

Confirmed:

 

 

[itisallpartoftheplan]

Someone must be going to IL unexpectedly?? Flying out at 6-7 in the morning doesn’t seem planned

[We Got The Whole 9]

Much needed reinforcement. Things are coming along nicely. They are clearly trying to rest the relievers that have carried the load whenever possible. Can't wait to see a power lefty in the pen at last. 

Edited September 6, 2023 by We Got The Whole 9

[Outshined_One]

Finally!

 

Hopefully Ben Brown follows in the next few days if he's back to 100%. 

[Jason Ross]

Big fan of Luke Little.

[CubinNY]

outstanding

[CaliforniaRaisin]

38 minutes ago, itisallpartoftheplan said:

Someone must be going to IL unexpectedly?? Flying out at 6-7 in the morning doesn’t seem planned

Yep, Leiter has struggled quite a bit recently, Alzolay hasn’t pitched in 3 days.

[Tryptamine]

I do like this move a lot, but man the Cubs are going to have a lot of walk machines in Cuas, Palencia and Little. 

[Transmogrified Tiger]

4 minutes ago, Tryptamine said:

I do like this move a lot, but man the Cubs are going to have a lot of walk machines in Cuas, Palencia and Little. 

Yeah, I'm pretty lukewarm (no pun intended) on Little since he's been worse at throwing strikes at AAA than Palencia was, hopefully his recent form is figuring things out.  And it's especially a bummer if the likely reason is a late inning reliever potentially being down.

[Jason Ross]

The walks are certainly going to be a bit of a concern, but I think for now, having these guys in the bullpen is probably their best bet moving forward. I'd far rather watch the Cubs sink or swim with Luke Little or Daniel Palencia than, say, Brad Boxberger. They'll have to make choices, and I guess I'm on the side of "give me the better stuff and hope he can throw strikes for a month".

[Rcal10]

1 hour ago, itisallpartoftheplan said:

Someone must be going to IL unexpectedly?? Flying out at 6-7 in the morning doesn’t seem planned

Might just be for Wesnicki or something like that. I don’t think it necessarily means someone is hurt.

[CubinNY]

3 minutes ago, 1908_Cubs said:

The walks are certainly going to be a bit of a concern, but I think for now, having these guys in the bullpen is probably their best bet moving forward. I'd far rather watch the Cubs sink or swim with Luke Little or Daniel Palencia than, say, Brad Boxberger. They'll have to make choices, and I guess I'm on the side of "give me the better stuff and hope he can throw strikes for a month".

I don't care. Whoever can get the job done. Little can strike guys out. If he can find a way to harness control. If not get him out of Chicago, like right now.

[WhyCantWeWin]

2 hours ago, 1908_Cubs said:

Big fan of Luke Little.

I do remember you hyping him up when the Cubs drafted him back in 20. Good to see something came out of the draft class

[Transmogrified Tiger]

26 minutes ago, 1908_Cubs said:

The walks are certainly going to be a bit of a concern, but I think for now, having these guys in the bullpen is probably their best bet moving forward. I'd far rather watch the Cubs sink or swim with Luke Little or Daniel Palencia than, say, Brad Boxberger. They'll have to make choices, and I guess I'm on the side of "give me the better stuff and hope he can throw strikes for a month".

I'm pretty sure Boxberger is cooked so I'm not interested in him in particular, nor am I pining for a particularly different call up, though in a few days I'd probably prefer Brown I think.  It's just a bit different than the normal reaction to a call up since unlike swapping out Little for an end of bullpen mop up guy, it's a fairly clear downgrade if it's Alzolay going to the DL(and while I hope not that seems the most likely outcome).

That said, the Palencia comparison, while true on the merits of control, does gloss over that Little has been much more effective as a reliever and better at the other parts of the FIP triangle.  Even if he's walking a few more guys he'll be able to get away with more because of the obscene K rate and how no one seems to square him up (1 HR in ~130 full season IP).  I just am gonna hold my breath if he's being used in a leverage situation, and in September in a playoff chase there's lots of those. 

[CubinNY]

It's pretty cool seeing him on the mound. He makes the other players look tiny.

[Jason Ross]

38 minutes ago, Transmogrified Tiger said:

I'm pretty sure Boxberger is cooked so I'm not interested in him in particular, nor am I pining for a particularly different call up, though in a few days I'd probably prefer Brown I think.  It's just a bit different than the normal reaction to a call up since unlike swapping out Little for an end of bullpen mop up guy, it's a fairly clear downgrade if it's Alzolay going to the DL(and while I hope not that seems the most likely outcome).

That said, the Palencia comparison, while true on the merits of control, does gloss over that Little has been much more effective as a reliever and better at the other parts of the FIP triangle.  Even if he's walking a few more guys he'll be able to get away with more because of the obscene K rate and how no one seems to square him up (1 HR in ~130 full season IP).  I just am gonna hold my breath if he's being used in a leverage situation, and in September in a playoff chase there's lots of those. 

I was more or less comparing Little to the other options the Cubs have currently who can be called up, less so than the Cubs loss (or whomever is going down). I agree, Boxberger is cooked. I'd rather the Cubs gamble a bit on someone like Luke Little who may/may not have some walk issues versus someone who offers whatever "veteran"-ness that Boxberger or the ilk would bring to a playoff race. 

Little presents an imperfect solution to a question (as does Palencia, frankly), but one I'd rather take than some of the other imperfect answers presented. If there's positives for Little, it's that his walk issues have gotten better as he's moved to the BP, and even better as he's moved up a level. There's also something in that you just can't teach 99mph on the surface, and even less from a LHP. 

Part of that also may be a personal bias, too, which I have to admit is possible. I've spent entirely more time with Luke Little and Daniel Palencia than someone like Brad Boxberger or a bunch of other guys over the last few years, and probably more time than most would have considering the limitations of watching a MiLB stream. Part of why I'd rather roll with those guys is for me, they're probably the devil I know,

 

Edited September 6, 2023 by 1908_Cubs

[Jason Ross]

25 minutes ago, WhyCantWeWin said:

I do remember you hyping him up when the Cubs drafted him back in 20. Good to see something came out of the draft class

Yeah nice to see Little progress. Koen Moreno is suddenly pitching well in Myrtle Beach. Granted, he's 22, and had a length of injury issues, so who knows there, but there's some hope that 2020 won't be a full loss. Weird draft all around; the have 2 top-100 prospects from the 2020 draft...both selected by other teams yet almost entirely developed by the Cubs.

[Banedon]

Shane Greene DFA'd to call up Little.

[UMFan83]

2 minutes ago, Banedon said:

Shane Greene DFA'd to call up Little.

We'll always have that inning in Cincinnati Shane

[Jason Ross]

3 minutes ago, Banedon said:

Shane Greene DFA'd to call up Little.

That's really the best possible outcome for this. No IL stint, no loss of Alzolay or Leiter...just the loss of a shell of a Shane Greene.

[WhyCantWeWin]

32 minutes ago, 1908_Cubs said:

Yeah nice to see Little progress. Koen Moreno is suddenly pitching well in Myrtle Beach. Granted, he's 22, and had a length of injury issues, so who knows there, but there's some hope that 2020 won't be a full loss. Weird draft all around; the have 2 top-100 prospects from the 2020 draft...both selected by other teams yet almost entirely developed by the Cubs.

Do you think the ship has sailed on Little starting again? Feels like Steele had similar command issues before he went and got advice from Lester. 

[Transmogrified Tiger]

lol we(read: me) talked ourselves into them being ready to give Greene turns in the rotation and he got 1 mop up inning and sent to the moon, outstanding

[bukie]

Petition to change thread title to "The Grass is a Little Greener"

[mul21]

1 hour ago, Transmogrified Tiger said:

lol we(read: me) talked ourselves into them being ready to give Greene turns in the rotation and he got 1 mop up inning and sent to the moon, outstanding

I'm a little baffled at the time and resources spent on getting him built up to 5 innings and then sending him packing after calling him up for 1 IP.  Just weird.