2024 Spring Training Game Thread

[UMFan83]

2 weeks from today we start doing this thing for real

[We Got The Whole 9]

24 minutes ago, squally1313 said:

1. 112
2. 124
3. 108
4. 108
5. 104
6. 111
7. 98
8. 103 (Wisdom)
9. 85/87

With Happ in there it's really not that bad.

[Bertz]

28 minutes ago, squally1313 said:

1. 112
2. 124
3. 108
4. 108
5. 104
6. 111
7. 98
8. 103 (Wisdom)
9. 85/87

Yeah if Morel can hold up at 3rd the lineup will really play

[squally1313]

15 minutes ago, We Got The Whole 9 said:

With Happ in there it's really not that bad.

 

10 minutes ago, Bertz said:

Yeah if Morel can hold up at 3rd the lineup will really play

Yeah, would I prefer if we had something better than the 29th best projected hitter somewhere in this? Ideally, yes. But there's really no weakness there, especially if you buy into Amaya. You just have to dream on Shaw, Caissie, etc or you can hope they throw the farm at Jose Ramirez (18th) or Bregman (17th).

[Transmogrified Tiger]

52 minutes ago, squally1313 said:

Yeah, would I prefer if we had something better than the 29th best projected hitter somewhere in this? Ideally, yes. But there's really no weakness there, especially if you buy into Amaya. You just have to dream on Shaw, Caissie, etc or you can hope they throw the farm at Jose Ramirez (18th) or Bregman (17th).

Things also start to look sunnier if you consider even with some meaningful regression Bellinger is also in the 120s, but yeah there's no monster you can bank on to be tippy top of the offensive leaderboards.

[KCCub]

I'm loving the way Suzuki is looking. He had the oblique injury last year and seemed to take forever to get going. He's looking legit right now. 

[squally1313]

5 minutes ago, Transmogrified Tiger said:

Things also start to look sunnier if you consider even with some meaningful regression Bellinger is also in the 120s, but yeah there's no monster you can bank on to be tippy top of the offensive leaderboards.

Yeah fair, I'm somewhat lazily mentally offsetting the bad Bellinger projection with the somewhat optimistic (to me) Busch projection. Understand where it's coming from just....kinda need to see it in action a little bit. 

By way of comparison, here are the wRCs of the 9 hitters with the most PAs last year:

1. 118 (Happ)
2. 102 (Hoerner)
3. 104 (Dansby)
4. 126 (Seiya)
5. 134 (Cody)
6. 119 (Morel)
7. 95 (Gomes)
8. 107 (Tauchman)
9. 109 (Wisdom)

Similar approach, really. Cody gave us a little bit more elite production (13th in baseball), but you hope for Cody and Seiya to get more PAs relative to Dansby and Nico, and then try to avoid the garbage that follows in the 10th-16th most PA spots (83, 74, 106, 94, 71, 53, 67) and there's a path to duplication, if not improvement. 

[Crusader]

Shota looks good. He has more velo than I was expecting. Nice to see.

[Bertz]

6 minutes ago, Crusader said:

Shota looks good. He has more velo than I was expecting. Nice to see.

Yeah it's just the A's and just spring training but he looks real good

[chibears55]

What a fast game,  liking the Cubs 3 lefties in Steele, Imanaga, and Wicks, they can win alot of games with them 3 and the bats scoring at least  3 to 4 runs in their starts.

Wonder which 2 lefty CC will slide Hendricks between, im gonna guess Imanaga and Wicks.

[We Got The Whole 9]

2 hours ago, Crusader said:

Shota looks good. He has more velo than I was expecting. Nice to see.

Does he? 

[Bertz]

 

 

[Rcal10]

16 minutes ago, We Got The Whole 9 said:

Does he? 

I was at the game. He hit 94 a few times. Typically was throwing 93. That is fast enough for him to be successful. 

[Crusader]

22 minutes ago, We Got The Whole 9 said:

Does he? 

Announcers said he topped out at 95

[We Got The Whole 9]

28 minutes ago, Rcal10 said:

I was at the game. He hit 94 a few times. Typically was throwing 93. That is fast enough for him to be successful. 

 

24 minutes ago, Crusader said:

Announcers said he topped out at 95

That's good, thanks for the report. His velo will play up due to his windup and short arm action. He's gonna be a pretty good pitcher for us. I think he was one of the best MLB signings this off-season.

[Jason Ross]

For what it's worth, Lance Brodzowski had him topping at 94 and sitting 92-93 consistently. Which, to be fair, should be exactly what we expect. 

 

But frankly, I'm not sure I care. His arm slot today was *insane* as was the movement. And that means more to me than 1mph here or there.

 

[Rcal10]

55 minutes ago, 1908_Cubs said:

For what it's worth, Lance Brodzowski had him topping at 94 and sitting 92-93 consistently. Which, to be fair, should be exactly what we expect. 

 

But frankly, I'm not sure I care. His arm slot today was *insane* as was the movement. And that means more to me than 1mph here or there.

 

That is exactly what I saw. Mainly 92-93, but I did see 94 a few times. I did not see 95. Like you said, who cares. 

[JunkyardWalrus]

How Imanaga finishes each pitch seems like the most dangerous way possible.

[CubinNY]

In case anyone forgot or didn't know, today is the prospect games vs. the Sox prospects.  

[We Got The Whole 9]

Brennen is in the game and doubled in his first AB 

[We Got The Whole 9]

Wicks with 0 Ks in 3 IP 

[Rcal10]

30 minutes ago, We Got The Whole 9 said:

Brennen is in the game and doubled in his first AB 

I just saw him dive back to first and get up slowly. Hope he is ok. 

[We Got The Whole 9]

39 minutes ago, Rcal10 said:

I just saw him dive back to first and get up slowly. Hope he is ok. 

Lol

[Rcal10]

2 minutes ago, We Got The Whole 9 said:

Lol

He is still in the game. 

[mfcubs22]

Spring breakout gonna be made up or just cancelled? Really wanted to see that lineup and Cade