4/30/24 - CHC (Assad) @ NYM (Manaea) 6:10 MSN

[Stratos]

5 hours ago, abuck1220 said:

the sheer number of games that swanson has caused them to lose during his brief time here is wild 

Self-described gamer too.

And Swanson said during ST he doesn't even touch a baseball until he arrives at ST, said he learned that from Freeman to prevent wear-and-tear.  So he does nothing to improve his game during the offseason?  While also loafing around the basepaths to "conserve energy" during the year, and loafing his throws "to conserve energy".

Sure i buy some of it, but when/where exactly is the hard work and effort happening?  You miss on a bunch of hard hit balls you should have caught early in the year and then can't throw the ball the 1B...me thinks you better start ramping up gradually after New Years instead of using April as extending Spring Training.

[Stratos]

5 hours ago, 1908_Cubs said:

There's just something wrong with Adbert mechanically right now. It doesn't look like it's a release point thing, but there's something that's not allowing him to get to the far side of the plate (for Adbert). 

What's the movement on the slider like from 23 to 24?

[spaincubsfan]

Another winnable game pissed away with some awful RISP and defense. I can't put all the blame on Adbert for that HR though, he should have been out of the inning. But what was supposed to be our calling card this year of not losing but winning games with up the middle D has just been terrible.

With regards to Adbert, maybe something is mechanically or physically wrong with him. But having said that, he is going to get more opportunities to turn this recent bad stretch around, hopefully he can have a nice run of 10-15 appearances with good results. Every game counts but to be 18-12 at the end of April is much better than 12-18. 

[squally1313]

6 hours ago, Stratos said:

Self-described gamer too.

And Swanson said during ST he doesn't even touch a baseball until he arrives at ST, said he learned that from Freeman to prevent wear-and-tear.  So he does nothing to improve his game during the offseason?  While also loafing around the basepaths to "conserve energy" during the year, and loafing his throws "to conserve energy".

Sure i buy some of it, but when/where exactly is the hard work and effort happening?  You miss on a bunch of hard hit balls you should have caught early in the year and then can't throw the ball the 1B...me thinks you better start ramping up gradually after New Years instead of using April as extending Spring Training.

Alternatively, he was the 6th most valuable offensive player in baseball from 2022-2023, and is 10th if you include this year. I'd consider maybe deferring to his approach because it seems to have been incredibly successful. 

[Transmogrified Tiger]

7 hours ago, Stratos said:

Self-described gamer too.

And Swanson said during ST he doesn't even touch a baseball until he arrives at ST, said he learned that from Freeman to prevent wear-and-tear.  So he does nothing to improve his game during the offseason?  While also loafing around the basepaths to "conserve energy" during the year, and loafing his throws "to conserve energy".

Sure i buy some of it, but when/where exactly is the hard work and effort happening?  You miss on a bunch of hard hit balls you should have caught early in the year and then can't throw the ball the 1B...me thinks you better start ramping up gradually after New Years instead of using April as extending Spring Training.

we don't have to do this

[BigbadB]

I took a break from watching the Cubs last night, except the occasional look in while the wife was busy doing other things. So on my brief views, I saw Wisdom throw a pick off attempt into centerfield. I then saw Dansby throw a grounder to 1st base and I watched someone crush an Alzolay pitch into another state. 

I'm sure other parts of that game were better than what I witnessed, but damn. Horrible timing to witness that nonsense.

[abuck1220]

1 hour ago, Transmogrified Tiger said:

we don't have to do this

for the record, i'm extremely sick of swanson, but i don't think his shortcomings are due to a lack of december batting practice.

[s2obed]

Any idea why Craig pulled Assad after just 78 pitches in a tie game? Didn’t watch the game so idk if he was starting to get hit?

[Transmogrified Tiger]

38 minutes ago, s2obed said:

Any idea why Craig pulled Assad after just 78 pitches in a tie game? Didn’t watch the game so idk if he was starting to get hit?

He hadn't gotten hit particularly hard but wasn't completely cruising.  I'm guessing that decision was a combination of things.  3-4-5 due up for the 3rd time, tie game, and a  long stretch without off days so Assad has to bounce back on 4 days rest.

[UMFan83]

Remember that one week when Busch was good?

 

edit: wrong game thread

Edited May 1, 2024 by UMFan83

[Stratos]

On 5/1/2024 at 9:30 AM, squally1313 said:

Alternatively, he was the 6th most valuable offensive player in baseball from 2022-2023, and is 10th if you include this year. I'd consider maybe deferring to his approach because it seems to have been incredibly successful. 

Not over the last month and not last Sept.  Valuable player overall, but let's go.  Even ordinarily very good players deserve criticism when appropriate.  Let's hope he has picks things up soon.

[squally1313]

6 hours ago, Stratos said:

Not over the last month and not last Sept.  Valuable player overall, but let's go.  Even ordinarily very good players deserve criticism when appropriate.  Let's hope he has picks things up soon.

This is dumb, we can all pick and choose sample sizes. For example: as of April 19th this year he had a 110 wRC (184 in the first 8 games). 9/1-9/12 last year it was 144. You're picking the most recent 2 weeks and the 2 weeks of last year that everyone paid attention to the most and ignoring an overall body of excellent production. If you want assign disproportionate blame based on the importance of those games in late September last year, go ahead, but it's a weaker argument because clutch isn't really a thing. I mean, he's on pace for 3 wins this year looking at the whole season. If that's our main concern, we should be just fine.