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

[Nolansomebody]

Are we seriously doing THIS?

[Irrelevant Dude]

Thanks again Jed.

[UMFan83]

How hard is it to find decent relievers that throw strikes? 

[Illiterate Scholar]

It's innings like this that make Jed love those soft tossing veterans 

[Dfan25]

Cubs suck so bad in developing  relievers . For every Porter Hodge there 50 failures .

[abuck1220]

Just now, UMFan83 said:

How hard is it to find decent relievers that throw strikes? 

or maybe use one of our few good relievers when it’s a one run game and there’s an off day tomorrow. 

[Transmogrified Tiger]

Jordan Wicks you are a Chicago Cub

[Irrelevant Dude]

Just now, Dfan25 said:

Cubs suck so bad in developing  relievers . For every Porter Hodge there 50 failures .

That's the biggest problem.  Jed has been awful at his approach to building a bullpen, but that wouldn't be such a big deal if they were getting production out of their minor league system.  But they have developed VERY few guys who aren't just fringe MLB/Iowa shuttle type relievers.

[abuck1220]

weird how the padres good relievers can pitch on consecutive days 

[CubinNY]

Still a good road trip

[abuck1220]

in a game decided by the bullpens, the padres used their two best relievers on back to back days, and the cubs opted to use two AAAA scrubs making their season debut. 

can’t believe cubs lost. 

[17 Seconds]

Oh well, pca is a star and they went 3-3 on a trip facing yamamoto/sasaski/glasnow/cease

Edited April 16, 2025 by 17 Seconds

[We Got The Whole 9]

5 minutes ago, abuck1220 said:

lol why is counsell forfeiting a one run game? 

I felt like this was a good time to put their feet to the fire and see if they can join the circle of trust.

 

It feels like they just suck at developing the modern power relief ace. They just don't throw enough quality strikes. Hottovy and co have to get this sorted out because it is a major detriment to a very good team.

[Rcal10]

1 hour ago, abuck1220 said:

weird how the padres good relievers can pitch on consecutive days 

It is pretty standard managing that the team in the lead uses there best pitchers while the team trailing does not. At least not if they went the day before. And, for that matter, the Padres didn’t use Jason Adam, who is one of their best. I think that has the Cubs been winnjng you would have seen Hisge and Pressly. Maybe not Merryweather for a 4th time in 5 games. Today it was a decent day to see what the kids can do. It just didn’t work. 

[UMFan83]

Rea, Brown and Taillon going against Burnes, Gallen and Kelly this weekend.  DBacks red hot too, on their way to winning 6 of their last 7. Hopefully we can cool them down

[squally1313]

Weather looks pretty miserable all weekend, rain wise. Not an easy series to reschedule, but given the pitching matchups I’d be fine pushing back one or two of these games 

[UMFan83]

5 minutes ago, squally1313 said:

Weather looks pretty miserable all weekend, rain wise. Not an easy series to reschedule, but given the pitching matchups I’d be fine pushing back one or two of these games 

I was looking at Friday at least, it doesn’t look like the rain is starting until the evening. Should be mid to upper 70s at game time. 

Saturday actually currently has a dry window from 1-4 (obv things can change)

[We Got The Whole 9]

The NL West is absolutely crazy. The Dbacks lineup is lighting it up right now. Their pen is nasty too. 

[soccer10k]

Well if you told me the Cubs would score 4 runs total in the two games I was going to, I wouldn't have felt great about the Cubs winning either.

Of course if you told me the Cubs would allow 5 runs total in the two games, I would have felt good about winning at least one of them.

[Dfan25]

Matt Mervis sure has put some interesting numbers so far . 185 wrc with a 293 babip and a 40 k rate !

[gflore34]

Little was wild, I'd still like him over, say, a Morgan spinning his soft junk to hitters.  At least, with Little, if he's on, which is a big if, the hitters really don't have much of a chance.  Can't say that about someone like Morgan who could be hitting his spots and still get crushed.

[Rcal10]

1 hour ago, gflore34 said:

Little was wild, I'd still like him over, say, a Morgan spinning his soft junk to hitters.  At least, with Little, if he's on, which is a big if, the hitters really don't have much of a chance.  Can't say that about someone like Morgan who could be hitting his spots and still get crushed.

Prior to this year Morgan has had  FIP era under 4 each of his last 3 seasons. He has done that while appearing in over 130 games. I would be thrilled if Little can do that. Sure, Morgan can be hitting his spots and still get crushed every once in a while, but his career stats really don’t back that statement. This year he has been bad. But he might be injured. 🤷

I would take a healthy Morgan over a guy who can’t throw strikes, no matter how good that guys stuff is. maybe if Little can start finding the zone he can be special. But right now he sucks and has yet to prove he is someone any team can count on. 

[gflore34]

1 hour ago, Rcal10 said:

Prior to this year Morgan has had  FIP era under 4 each of his last 3 seasons. He has done that while appearing in over 130 games. I would be thrilled if Little can do that. Sure, Morgan can be hitting his spots and still get crushed every once in a while, but his career stats really don’t back that statement. This year he has been bad. But he might be injured. 🤷

I would take a healthy Morgan over a guy who can’t throw strikes, no matter how good that guys stuff is. maybe if Little can start finding the zone he can be special. But right now he sucks and has yet to prove he is someone any team can count on. 

Why is it that most any other team in baseball can a find multiple guys with plus stuff who can throw strikes except the Cubs?

Edited April 17, 2025 by gflore34

[Stratos]

13 hours ago, gflore34 said:

Why is it that most any other team in baseball can a find multiple guys with plus stuff who can throw strikes except the Cubs?

Because they actually value those kinds of relievers.

[Bertz]

Dbacks bullpen is pretty shredded heading into this weekend:

- Aj Puk, Justin Martinez, and Jalen Beeks each threw the past two days.  So they're likely down today, and probably can only go once this weekend 

- Shelby Miller threw both Tuesday and Wednesday, so if you're AZ he's available but you'd like to stay away from him today, and probably only use him once this weekend

- Ryan Thompson threw 33 pitches yesterday, so his availability is similar to Miller where he's usable but you'd like to stay away from him.  Ditto on ideally limiting him to once this weekend