Cubs (Taillon) vs Cardinals (Mikolas): 7/14/24, 1:15pm

[Rcal10]

9 minutes ago, Stratos said:

Does PCA use cutoff men?  Does he even throw to home on a bounce as they teach?  I've seen him throw over the catcher multiple times.  He always errs on making the spectacular play, sometimes at the expense of making the smart play.

He did throw to home on a bounce today. No one went to the middle of the diamond to cut the throw off. It was not his mistake. It was whoever should have set up who was at fault. That allowed Arenado to take second on the throw home. 

[KCCub]

22 minutes ago, Rcal10 said:

He did throw to home on a bounce today. No one went to the middle of the diamond to cut the throw off. It was not his mistake. It was whoever should have set up who was at fault. That allowed Arenado to take second on the throw home. 

It was Busch’s fault. Swanson was trying to catch it, Nico covering 2b, Busch needs to be hovering around the pitchers mound in that scenario. Another learning experience for him. 

[Backtobanks]

5 hours ago, gflore34 said:

At the moment Morel has little to no trade value, he can't catch or hit the ball, don't know what else there is when it comes to baseball.

I think there are some teams that would take a chance on Morel (or PCA) with the thought of fixing him.  As for "little to no trade value", that describes most of the Cub's roster.

[BKHoo]

Cubs take a college 3B in the first round. 

[Stratos]

10 hours ago, gflore34 said:

At the moment Morel has little to no trade value, he can't catch or hit the ball, don't know what else there is when it comes to baseball.

I think its possible some of the injuries Morel has played through this year including the hand may have had some effect on his offense, as well as an unusually low BABIP that should come back up.  That said, he still may not be more than an average MLB player, and his inability to adjust to non-fastballs on the outer half  limits him.

I really doubt his aptitude to make the adjustments to improve the way he needs to, and the lack of skills in the field.  A couple of weeks ago I saw a replay of a line-drive down the 3b line he missed in the field.  He jumps on the balls of his feet right before every pitch, and on this play he was literally in mid-air of his hop when the batter made contact with the ball and so was totally unprepared to make a play on it.  These kinds of things add up.

[We Got The Whole 9]

That's freaking crazy that the same fan caught both of Morel's homers. Made it look easy too.

 

The Cubs were one-upped by the As today as they walloped 8 bombs, and among only 4 players. 

[Chicago Al]

4 hours ago, BKHoo said:

Cubs take a college 3B in the first round. 

Yup, Cam Smith

[Marco4]

I'm intrigued by the low contact point of PCA's homers yesterday; it doesn't look something to be encouraged, was it the park dimensions? The wind? Just good fortune?

[Bertz]

He is still deep deep deep in the red, but since his little reset Miguel Amaya is 5/12 with a double, a homer, and two walks.

I don't think there's anything he can do the second half to earn the starting job for next year, but I'm not writing off I'm being a high-end backup/2nd division starter type.

[Rex Buckingham]

6 hours ago, Marco4 said:

I'm intrigued by the low contact point of PCA's homers yesterday; it doesn't look something to be encouraged, was it the park dimensions? The wind? Just good fortune?

I think he's got legit power, and I saw more than a few highlights from the minors of him putting similar swings on balls down in the zone.