Spring Training Chit Chats

[Jason Ross]

This feels like an ad patch announcement. It's going to make the natives very restless, based on the comments, when it has nothing to do with Bellinger.

[Irrelevant Dude]

1 minute ago, 1908_Cubs said:

This feels like an ad patch announcement. It's going to make the natives very restless, based on the comments, when it has nothing to do with Bellinger.

Yeah, probably.  On one hand, they probably HAVE to do this to introduce a new jersey sponsor, but also the optics are not great with how the off-season has played out.

[Stratos]

3 hours ago, Post Count Padder said:

I know they hired Boras because they wanted to get PAID, but I wonder if the "Big 4" are starting to regret it or are overly frustrated with negotiations now that Spring Training has started. I can see them being annoyed to not be in camp already and getting acclimated. Even if, say, Bellinger signs somewhere else next week, he'll be a little behind schedule.

They may not be getting the offers in the ballpark of what they want.  I'd assume they care more about getting a good longterm deal than being a bit rusty in April.

[squally1313]

Rough analogy here, but we live in an era where Joe Flacco wasn't on a roster from January through November 20th and it took him like 11 days to get into starting NFL QB shape. These guys all work out year round, the fact that they're missing team sanctioned fly ball practice means nothing to them. They'll all be ready to go in 5 weeks regardless of when in the next 3-4 weeks they decide to sign. 

[thawv]

8 hours ago, squally1313 said:

Rough analogy here, but we live in an era where Joe Flacco wasn't on a roster from January through November 20th and it took him like 11 days to get into starting NFL QB shape. These guys all work out year round, the fact that they're missing team sanctioned fly ball practice means nothing to them. They'll all be ready to go in 5 weeks regardless of when in the next 3-4 weeks they decide to sign. 

I agree with this.  They do the same thing over and over every year in ST.  They don't need a baby sitter to do any of that.  I personally think that the only thing that MAY be behind a bit, is hitter's timing.  

I'm in Fort Myers, and I've been heading over to the Twins ST to take in a little action.  They are jogging a little.  A little stretching.  Playing catch.  Batting cages.  Fly balls and ground balls hit to them.  Bull pen action.  Typical stuff that they can do on their own.  I think the whole, "not being ready" stuff is way over blown.  

[Derwood]

Spring training should be like 2 weeks long. Maybe 3 for pitchers.

These aren't guys who are working as insurance salesmen in the off season. These aren't guys who smoke two packs of cigarettes a day.

[CubinNY]

18 minutes ago, Derwood said:

Spring training should be like 2 weeks long. Maybe 3 for pitchers.

These aren't guys who are working as insurance salesmen in the off season. These aren't guys who smoke two packs of cigarettes a day.

For the Cubs it's a big business. Last year their average crowd size was 13K and the place only holds 15K. And they aren't paying salaries. It's not that way for every team though. When we lived in Florida, I used to watch the Orioles play for $10 in Fort Lauderdale. That was 20 years ago though.  

[Rcal10]

3 minutes ago, CubinNY said:

For the Cubs it's a big business. Last year their average crowd size was 13K and the place only holds 15K. And they aren't paying salaries. It's not that way for every team though. When we lived in Florida, I used to watch the Orioles play for $10 in Fort Lauderdale. That was 20 years ago though.  

Spring tickets cost pretty close to the same price I pay for my Gold Tickets in my season ticket package. So higher than 2 pricing tiers of regular season games. 

[CubinNY]

13 minutes ago, Rcal10 said:

Spring tickets cost pretty close to the same price I pay for my Gold Tickets in my season ticket package. So higher than 2 pricing tiers of regular season games. 

holy horsefeathers. Lawn tickets for the March 14th game against Oakland(!!!!!!) are $20. Great seats are $100. It looks like it's sold out for the most part. 

Edited February 22, 2024 by CubinNY

[Rcal10]

44 minutes ago, CubinNY said:

holy horsefeathers. Lawn tickets for the March 14th game against Oakland(!!!!!!) are $20. Great seats are $100. It looks like it's sold out for the most part. 

It has gotten crazy out here. But I am fortunate enough to be able to go to some games and I enjoy the sunshine and seeing baseball live so I go to anywhere from 4 to 10 spring games a year. Basically depends on if I get out of town visitors who want to go to the game. Without any info to 4. Then add from there. Years ago I would just go to random games since it was inexpensive. Now strictly Cubs games. And mainly at Sloan. I just love the game so that is what I do. 

[Transmogrified Tiger]

9 hours ago, squally1313 said:

Rough analogy here, but we live in an era where Joe Flacco wasn't on a roster from January through November 20th and it took him like 11 days to get into starting NFL QB shape. These guys all work out year round, the fact that they're missing team sanctioned fly ball practice means nothing to them. They'll all be ready to go in 5 weeks regardless of when in the next 3-4 weeks they decide to sign. 

I'm of two minds on this front.  One is that every year we see guys who crush the ball in spring training and then go cold when the season starts, or vice versa.  But the other is that hitting in particular is one of the most refined and unforgiving activities in sports, and being able to do it at the pro level well without game reps is gonna be more likely that they start slow.  Maybe the duration of that slump is no different than the randomness of normal season ebbs and flows, but while I'm not gonna freak out about missed February at bats, I won't go as far to say that it's a pointless money grab and guys can walk into the MLB regular season without seeing MLB pitching in months.

[Bertz]

I conceptually agree that ST is largely eyewash, but my understanding is that the guys who sign really late tend to underperform expectations at a statistically significant clip.  Maybe it's less baseball and more soft factors (getting your kids into school, finding a condo, etc.) but my understanding is that the data bares it out as being an issue.

That said the last time I saw research on it was like 6-7 years ago (I remember it being relatively fresh when we signed Darvish).  With all the advances in tech and the ubiquity of like Trackmans and high velo pitching machines, I'd believe the issue is now moot.  Unfortunately we've had very few instances of notable late signings post COVID (there were a bunch post lockout but the whole league was in the same boat).  Jurickson Profar last year and Jackie Bradley Junior the year before were disasters, but that's just a sample size of two and they were a substantially lower class of players than what we're talking about.

[squally1313]

18 minutes ago, Transmogrified Tiger said:

I'm of two minds on this front.  One is that every year we see guys who crush the ball in spring training and then go cold when the season starts, or vice versa.  But the other is that hitting in particular is one of the most refined and unforgiving activities in sports, and being able to do it at the pro level well without game reps is gonna be more likely that they start slow.  Maybe the duration of that slump is no different than the randomness of normal season ebbs and flows, but while I'm not gonna freak out about missed February at bats, I won't go as far to say that it's a pointless money grab and guys can walk into the MLB regular season without seeing MLB pitching in months.

I don't know if you could argue that hitting is harder than being an NFL quarterback, given how hard it seems to be for like, 20 of the 32 NFL teams to find one they like. But this was already a rough analogy so I'll stop that one here. Instead I'll mention that we have a very amazing example of a guy not seeing MLB pitching in months and walking into the biggest stage in baseball and performing wonderfully. I miss him so. 

11 minutes ago, Bertz said:

I conceptually agree that ST is largely eyewash, but my understanding is that the guys who sign really late tend to underperform expectations at a statistically significant clip. 

Would be interested in that research. Don't know if there's a large enough sample size but happy to be proven wrong here. 

[Transmogrified Tiger]

4 minutes ago, squally1313 said:

I don't know if you could argue that hitting is harder than being an NFL quarterback, given how hard it seems to be for like, 20 of the 32 NFL teams to find one they like. But this was already a rough analogy so I'll stop that one here. Instead I'll mention that we have a very amazing example of a guy not seeing MLB pitching in months and walking into the biggest stage in baseball and performing wonderfully. I miss him so. 

I guess what I'm getting at is that in terms of the physical act, hitting live MLB caliber pitching has less margin for error than the physical acts of being a QB.  Easier to get up to speed on reading coverages/learning playbooks from your couch/local workout facility than hitting Corbin Burnes' fastball, in other words.

[Tim]

I think you can look at players who were injured to start the year to see how long teams believe they need to ramp up. I think that guys who missed all spring typically spend about 2-3 weeks in the minor seeing live pitching before coming off the DL. Sometimes less, sometimes more. But that would be a good sample of players to look at to increase the sample size for analysis of the impact of a shorter ramp up time.

[17 Seconds]

anyone know what it says?

 

 

[squally1313]

6 minutes ago, Transmogrified Tiger said:

I guess what I'm getting at is that in terms of the physical act, hitting live MLB caliber pitching has less margin for error than the physical acts of being a QB.  Easier to get up to speed on reading coverages/learning playbooks from your couch/local workout facility than hitting Corbin Burnes' fastball, in other words.

Fair, but I think, to Bertz' point, technology and off season training regimens have come a long way very quickly. Hell, Boras could just rent a baseball field and a catcher for those four guys and they'd be able to get everything they would otherwise be getting in Arizona or Florida. 

[LBiittner]

We get a game tomorrow!!!

Seems like only yesterday, the anticipation of a sure to be exciting offseason.

Boom goes the dynamite, Jed jumps all over Craig Counsell. He appears out of no where to be the Parker Brothers Monopoly Man. 

This signing promotes visions of grandeur. Dreams of remarkable spending unseen since Days of Theo.

Cubfans salivate about what might be - what may come?

Speculation runs rampant, cubs will assuredly blow by the first LT barrier and some here have the bravado to even suggest (in whisper tones) the second LT barrier will succumb to Mr Ricketts & Jeds new founded all-in philosophy.

We begin with hints of an Alonso, followed by  a Glasnow. Dare we mention Bieber and Clase joined by Naylor? If not Naylor, we'll just sign Rhys Hoskins to a very reasonable pillow deal. 

Next we hold our breath on, oh my Gawd, OHTANI. All the while we take for granted Belli bombs will return to The National Landmark in 2024.

Still, at this much later time, there's this unique conglomeration named the Boras 4. Which is a hybrid molded from Montgomery, Chapman, Snell and the aforementioned assumption of a returning long term cub to-be, beloved Belli.

We get a game tomorrow!

I cant wait to view all the new pieces in Jeds revamped  toybox.

[mul21]

8 minutes ago, 17 Seconds said:

anyone know what it says?

 

 

Nothing substantive.  Just that they have other guys who they think can pick up the slack and they highlighted Suzuki and Nico as guys at the top of that list.

[Cubfanintheknow]

1 hour ago, Rcal10 said:

It has gotten crazy out here. But I am fortunate enough to be able to go to some games and I enjoy the sunshine and seeing baseball live so I go to anywhere from 4 to 10 spring games a year. Basically depends on if I get out of town visitors who want to go to the game. Without any info to 4. Then add from there. Years ago I would just go to random games since it was inexpensive. Now strictly Cubs games. And mainly at Sloan. I just love the game so that is what I do. 

In 2015, I bought six tickets to three games. Spent $99. Almost half of that were for two tickets near the Cubs dugout.

Going to Mesa in two weeks. $99 basically gets you one seat.

[Bertz]

Fun article on Cuas.  I still like him a lot.  As Baumann gets into in the article he couldn't locate his sweeper for horsefeathers last year, but I'm hopeful a winter and spring with it offers him a modicum of command.  The velo's below average but the angle and the movement makes him really pop off in the various Stuff models.

[Stratos]

1 hour ago, Bertz said:

Fun article on Cuas.  I still like him a lot.  As Baumann gets into in the article he couldn't locate his sweeper for horsefeathers last year, but I'm hopeful a winter and spring with it offers him a modicum of command.  The velo's below average but the angle and the movement makes him really pop off in the various Stuff models.

His slider had elite numbers last year.  His release seems a bit sloppy and all over the place but he has potential for sure

[Rex Buckingham]

https://twitter.com/SonRanto/status/1760707941441916953?t=ioSUBxTNf_kkTiDUK_mYVg&s=19

[Rob]

Dodgers have batted around on Musgrove in the first inning. And that's with most of their heavy hitters on the pine today.

I'm starting to think they might be a problem.

Edited February 22, 2024 by Rob

[javy knows my name]

5 hours ago, Bertz said:

Fun article on Cuas.  I still like him a lot.  As Baumann gets into in the article he couldn't locate his sweeper for horsefeathers last year, but I'm hopeful a winter and spring with it offers him a modicum of command.  The velo's below average but the angle and the movement makes him really pop off in the various Stuff models.

I wonder who the one guy with the slightly left-of-center release is