Spring Training Game Thread

[chibears55]

10 minutes ago, Bertz said:

Game covered by TV and Statcast today

 

Got the backups in today, should see some runs and win easily... lol

[Dfan25]

So if Keller makes the team , who is out , Miller ?

 

Presly 

Brasier 

Morgan 

Hodge 

Pearson

Merryweather 

Thielbar 

Keller 

 

Rea is the 5th starter with Wicks / Brown in AAA . 

[Transmogrified Tiger]

22 minutes ago, Dfan25 said:

So if Keller makes the team , who is out , Miller ?

 

Presly 

Brasier 

Morgan 

Hodge 

Pearson

Merryweather 

Thielbar 

Keller 

 

Rea is the 5th starter with Wicks / Brown in AAA . 

I hope they have a fairly quick trigger with Miller since his profile isn't necessarily one you expect to hold up for years.  But Morgan is optionable so if they like what they see under the hood from Miller(and don't want to ditch Merryweather or option Pearson) they could start Morgan at Iowa.

[Bertz]

14 minutes ago, Transmogrified Tiger said:

I hope they have a fairly quick trigger with Miller since his profile isn't necessarily one you expect to hold up for years.  But Morgan is optionable so if they like what they see under the hood from Miller(and don't want to ditch Merryweather or option Pearson) they could start Morgan at Iowa.

I think too Brasier and Miller fill the same role in the bullpen.  So even beyond his effectiveness do we really want two ROOGYs in the pen?

On the flip side I saw yesterday that if they option Pearson for a few weeks they get an extra year of control.  It's yucky but I'm sure that enters into the calculus.

[squally1313]

Szymborski threw out the idea of trading for German Marquez in an article today. He's thrown 8 innings the last two years but there was clear talent (and production), and he's on the last year of a 2/$20m deal for a team going nowhere. Worth keeping an eye on him.

90% joking aside: get Colorado to pay 80% of KBs salary and bring him back in the deal too. 

[Bertz]

George Kirby and Grayson Rodriguez to the IL today.  Guess we're at the point of the spring where the pitching injuries are going to start piling up.

[Bertz]

15 hours ago, Bertz said:

George Kirby and Grayson Rodriguez to the IL today.  Guess we're at the point of the spring where the pitching injuries are going to start piling up.

And overnight Gerrit Cole.  This one sounds especially bad.

[Illiterate Scholar]

I kind of hate the idea of Brown starting in the minors, which it seems like he will. I mean on some level, with the current roster the way it is and having minor league options, I get it. (Can we go back in time and not sign Rea?). But sometimes it feels like the minors are thought of as some magical place where everyone is always healthy and are guaranteed to get their ABs and innings. I just don't like him wasting bullets in AAA.

[Bertz]

35 minutes ago, Illiterate Scholar said:

I kind of hate the idea of Brown starting in the minors, which it seems like he will. I mean on some level, with the current roster the way it is and having minor league options, I get it. (Can we go back in time and not sign Rea?). But sometimes it feels like the minors are thought of as some magical place where everyone is always healthy and are guaranteed to get their ABs and innings. I just don't like him wasting bullets in AAA.

I'm torn because on the one hand this team used 9 SPs last year, and it would have been 10 or 11 if they had anyone left they thought was more viable than Kyle Hendricks.  Rea provides some floor above literal replacement level options.

On the other hand, how many Ben Brown/Cade Horton/Daniel Palencia/etc. bullets get wasted down at Iowa because Rea's just sort of there and in the way?  It's not hard to see the latter outweighing the former.  

On Brown and Horton specifically though, I think there's some benefit to having them start once a week at Iowa and try to stretch out how long they're in the rotation before they inevitably have to shift to the pen.  Both guys are likely capped in the 120-130 innings neighborhood this year.  I'd guess from a long term development/durability standpoint 20 starts and 20 relief outings is better than 15 starts and 30 relief outings.

[CubinNY]

Has Horton pitched in a game this spring? I thought he’s only doing BP? 

[Stratos]

3 hours ago, Illiterate Scholar said:

I kind of hate the idea of Brown starting in the minors, which it seems like he will. I mean on some level, with the current roster the way it is and having minor league options, I get it. (Can we go back in time and not sign Rea?). But sometimes it feels like the minors are thought of as some magical place where everyone is always healthy and are guaranteed to get their ABs and innings. I just don't like him wasting bullets in AAA.

Someone in the rotation will get hurt inevitably.  And the pen.  Brown wouldn't be down long.

[Jason Ross]

2 hours ago, CubinNY said:

Has Horton pitched in a game this spring? I thought he’s only doing BP? 

He hasn't with the Cubs. But he was named to the Spring Breakout Roster. Expect him to get some run in one of those two games.

[Bertz]

Shaw has not had a lot of hard contact this spring but he's worked a lot of deep counts

[chibears55]

5 hours ago, Illiterate Scholar said:

I kind of hate the idea of Brown starting in the minors, which it seems like he will. I mean on some level, with the current roster the way it is and having minor league options, I get it. (Can we go back in time and not sign Rea?). But sometimes it feels like the minors are thought of as some magical place where everyone is always healthy and are guaranteed to get their ABs and innings. I just don't like him wasting bullets in AAA.

It ok, he'll get a few Iowa starts to get himself more ready. 

I dont see Rea and maybe even Boyd starting many games, especially in the 2nd half.

[CubinNY]

PCA!!!!!

[Irrelevant Dude]

Can we do the PCA extension now?

[We Got The Whole 9]

If PCA and Amaya have really leveled up this season is going to be a ton of fun. 

 

I got PCA pulling 20-60 and a top 10 position player war.

[Rcal10]

6 hours ago, chibears55 said:

It ok, he'll get a few Iowa starts to get himself more ready. 

I dont see Rea and maybe even Boyd starting many games, especially in the 2nd half.

Well I sure hope you are wrong. If Rea and Boyd come out of the rotation that means they were either injured or pitched poorly. Not a good way to start the season. I do think Brown and maybe Wicks will get 10 starts and maybe even Horton 5-7 as well. But I am hoping that’s because they do some sort of 6 man rotation and, as will happen,, they fill in for short  IL stints for a few of the guys. 

[Stratos]

On 3/7/2025 at 3:11 PM, Dfan25 said:

So if Keller makes the team , who is out , Miller ?

Probably someone optionable like Pearson/Morgan.

[Stratos]

7 hours ago, chibears55 said:

It ok, he'll get a few Iowa starts to get himself more ready. 

I dont see Rea and maybe even Boyd starting many games, especially in the 2nd half.

Assad and Wicks look like BORP types with MORP upside, hard to expect them to be much better than Rea/Boyd.  Brown is very promising.  Horton's arm is a ticking time bomb, I could easily see him turned into a reliever in future seasons.

[Stratos]

15 hours ago, We Got The Whole 9 said:

If PCA and Amaya have really leveled up this season is going to be a ton of fun.

If Amaya can be a 100 wRC+ hitter and close to a 1.5 WAR catcher i'd be very satisfied with that.  Add Kelly and we could have 2.5 to 3 WAR out of catcher this year if things go well.  That would be a big upgrade from negative total catcher WAR last year LOL.

Would be great if PCA could improve the BB% at least a bit.  He has zero walks this spring.

[JunkyardWalrus]

Quote

Anyone else grossly underwhelmed by Horton and his stuff? (first spring outing and all, but he's been throwing for a while, wasn't he the first one in camp 1908 said? So I imagine he's been doing something. Maybe chalk it up to adrenaline and 16k people and overthrowing?) 

 

[Derwood]

Kyle Tucker choosing to not waste any of his hits in spring training is very clever

[InSeungHo]

 

[Bertz]

 

 

Megan had an update on the pitching too.

Basically Taillon/Boyd are going to start the two exhibition games, so they won't be on the 26 man roster against the Dodgers. 

So the bullpen against the Dodgers seems likely to be the 8 guys we expected coming into camp, Rea for long relief, and then one of those 4 she called out (most likely Keller IMO).  Although that's only 12, so Keegan Thompson too?