Cubs (Boyd) vs Padres (Pivetta): 4/16/25, 3:10pm

[Brandon Glick]

I can't watch the game this afternoon. Just gonna have to hope Matthew Boyd continues to be a dude™.

 

[gflore34]

Just for shits and giggles I wonder if, when facing Arraez, some thought has been given to a fifth infielder?  Against the Cubs he seems to wear out the hole between 3B and SS, I'd bring whomever of Happ or Tucker has some infield experience.  To play between Swanson and 3B, have Swanson shaded up the middle, have PCA play a left-center and move Tucker or Happ to right-center or are such alignments no longer legal?  Actually, check that, have Happ or Tucker go to 1B and move the remaining infielders, don't know why I didn't think of this the first time.

Edited April 16, 2025 by gflore34

[Bertz]

Bullpen's gonna be dicey today.  Everyone but Little and Palencia would be working their 3rd game in 4 days.  Merryweather and Thielbar are likely fully down as it'd be 4 of 5.

[Tryptamine]

What is this ridiculously hard schedule? After today they have the Diamondbacks, Dodgers and Phillies. 26 of their first 29 damn games are going to be played against teams that are odds on favorites to make the playoffs. 

[CubinNY]

5 minutes ago, Tryptamine said:

What is this ridiculously hard schedule? After today they have the Diamondbacks, Dodgers and Phillies. 26 of their first 29 damn games are going to be played against teams that are odds on favorites to make the playoffs. 

I just know that somehow the Cubs are going to come out of this stretch is a great position, and then find away to lose a bunch of games to ****** teams and we are going to be like, WTF?

[Jason Ross]

 

[Andy]

Seiya back!

 

[chibears55]

Great to see Suzuki and Kelly back today, hopefully the bats can put up a big crooked number today with a good outing from Boyd and the bullpen can get their rest with Little pitching the last 2 innings. 

[Transmogrified Tiger]

really nice to get a big bat back in the lineup, also Seiya

[gflore34]

I'd like to see Workman at 3B, Berti gives you nothing with the bat, with Workman there's a chance, however small, he might run into one.  I'll take offense over defense for the early innings.

[Rcal10]

1 hour ago, Bertz said:

Bullpen's gonna be dicey today.  Everyone but Little and Palencia would be working their 3rd game in 4 days.  Merryweather and Thielbar are likely fully down as it'd be 4 of 5.

Besides Little and Palencia they have Roberts & Keller who didn’t pitch yesterday. With an off day tomorrow, I think guys that pitched yesterday, but not the day before that, can be used. So maybe it won’t be as down as we think. 

[Brian707]

1 hour ago, Tryptamine said:

What is this ridiculously hard schedule? After today they have the Diamondbacks, Dodgers and Phillies. 26 of their first 29 damn games are going to be played against teams that are odds on favorites to make the playoffs. 

Watch after these first 29 games the Cubs are like 17-12. Then in the next 29 against mostly horsefeathers teams they go 12-17.

[CUBDOM4life]

[muntjack]

1 hour ago, gflore34 said:

I'd like to see Workman at 3B, Berti gives you nothing with the bat, with Workman there's a chance, however small, he might run into one.  I'll take offense over defense for the early innings.

Workman is the better defender, as well. He's 25 and has the potential to develop into something.  These decisions baffle me. 

[gflore34]

1 minute ago, muntjack said:

Workman is the better defender, as well. He's 25 and has the potential to develop into something.  These decisions baffle me. 

Counsell' not quite as bad as Dusty was with his devotion to crappy veterans but, it appears he has a little of it in him.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

Berti is a league average or slightly below bat with elite speed that plays a cromulent 3B.  You don't want to take the decimal places too seriously, but his bat + baserunning run value is just a hair shy of what the team has gotten from Amaya in over twice the PA.  That total package value is like a best case scenario for Workman this year, it's fine that Berti is the first choice for these games.

[Rcal10]

14 minutes ago, muntjack said:

Workman is the better defender, as well. He's 25 and has the potential to develop into something.  These decisions baffle me. 

Workman hasn’t played above AA until this year. And stuck out often when he did play last year. While I am fine with him over Berti, nothing about him shows he has potential to develope into something, unless by something you mean a utility guy. Again, I would rather see him start as well. But I don’t expect much out of him either. And Counsell’s decision to go with Berti over Workman is much closer to a 50/50 flip of the coin than you are suggesting by saying you are baffled by this decision. Honestly, whether it is Workman, Brujan, Berti or Turner it is not a surprise to me. Counsell is just going with who he feels gives him the best chance that day. None of those guys is a guy the Cubs have to start over any of the others, IMO. 

[muntjack]

Does development or ceiling ever factor into these decisions? I know we're aiming at contention this year,  but these guys are close enough in skill that it should be considered.

[muntjack]

Just now, Rcal10 said:

Workman hasn’t played above AA until this year. And stuck out often when he did play last year. While I am fine with him over Berti, nothing about him shows he has potential to develope into something, unless by something you mean a utility guy. Again, I would rather see him start as well. But I don’t expect much out of him either. And Counsell’s decision to go with Berti over Workman is much closer to a 50/50 flip of the coin than you are suggesting by saying you are baffled by this decision. Honestly, whether it is Workman, Brujan, Berti or Turner it is not a surprise to me. Counsell is just going with who he feels gives him the best chance that day. None of those guys is a guy the Cubs have to start over any of the others, IMO. 

It baffles me because I believe that he could develop into something.  He was drafted the same year as Owen Caissie.  I would give the opportunities to the guy who could potentially play a role in years to come if everything else was essentially equal.  We can disagree on whether that's the case. 

[Transmogrified Tiger]

1 minute ago, muntjack said:

Does development or ceiling ever factor into these decisions? I know we're aiming at contention this year,  but these guys are close enough in skill that it should be considered.

Workman is a 25 y/o Rule 5 pick that Fangraphs has a 40 FV on, Berti is his ceiling.  Like maybe there's a 1 in 10 chance of him becoming a regular that a team out of contention might weight more, and there may be matchups where Workman is a better play(though Berti is very split neutral). But especially with Workman staring at 0 for 10 with 5 Ks when not facing position players, there's not a compelling case for it at the moment.

[JHBulls]

Never quite seen that before. 

[mul21]

These teams both seem to be in a hurry to get this one over today.  Lotta early swings.

[squally1313]

If Boyd wants to replace Steele as a #1/#2, that'd be great, because it's a lot easier to replace your #3/#4.

[soccer10k]

Tucker dong, please.

Edited April 16, 2025 by soccer10k

[JHBulls]

Sac fly. 1-0.