Cubs (Boyd) vs Pirates (Mlodzinski): 4/30/25, 5:40pm

[Brandon Glick]

No matter what happens today, the Cubs will end April in first place in the NL Central.

 

[squally1313]

This pitcher is bad and the Pirates are bad against lefties and in general and we should win comfortably.

[BKHoo]

We could be tied or up to 3 games up after today. Go Cardinals! 

[Hot Sauce]

1 hour ago, BKHoo said:

We could be tied or up to 3 games up after today. Go Cardinals! 

No. There is no situation in April that I am ever rooting for the Cardinals. That whole organization and their clown ahh fair weather fans can get bent.

[squally1313]

I promise that if we continue playing at a 97 win pace, it won't matter whatsoever what the rest of the Central teams do. 

[Rcal10]

29 minutes ago, Hot Sauce said:

No. There is no situation in April that I am ever rooting for the Cardinals. That whole organization and their clown ahh fair weather fans can get bent.

Of course the Cubs fans should be hoping the Cardinals win. The Reds are the better team. If the Cardinals win it is good for the Cubs. So go Cardinals.

[Hot Sauce]

2 minutes ago, Rcal10 said:

Of course the Cubs fans should be hoping the Cardinals win. The Reds are the better team. If the Cardinals win it is good for the Cubs. So go Cardinals.

[UMFan83]

I was just randomly thinking about how Amaya has gotten off to a solid start overall (123 OPS+, 0.8 bWAR) and has had some huge hits but because of Kelly's performance he's only started about half the games.  Let's say Kelly doesn't fall back to his career norms, do you just split their playing time, do you try to get them ABs at DH or just play the hot hand throughout the year?

What Kelly is doing is awesome and should absolutely be playing when he's hitting like this but he's also 4 years older than Amaya so less likely to be the starting catcher of the future, so I think you have to try to continue giving Amaya PAs a good chunk of the time.

[PeanutPunch33]

12 minutes ago, UMFan83 said:

I was just randomly thinking about how Amaya has gotten off to a solid start overall (123 OPS+, 0.8 bWAR) and has had some huge hits but because of Kelly's performance he's only started about half the games.  Let's say Kelly doesn't fall back to his career norms, do you just split their playing time, do you try to get them ABs at DH or just play the hot hand throughout the year?

What Kelly is doing is awesome and should absolutely be playing when he's hitting like this but he's also 4 years older than Amaya so less likely to be the starting catcher of the future, so I think you have to try to continue giving Amaya PAs a good chunk of the time.

I saw stats in the PCA appreciation thread about how much better PCA has been since July of last year, almost like he flipped a switch overnight.  I have to imagine there are similar stats for Amaya because he just looks like a different player since then.  Since the all star break last year, he's been an above average catcher on both offense and defense.  And leading up to the all star break last year, he was one of the worst catchers in baseball.  The player development has been awesome with Amaya, Busch, PCA and even Seiya 

[Transmogrified Tiger]

16 minutes ago, UMFan83 said:

I was just randomly thinking about how Amaya has gotten off to a solid start overall (123 OPS+, 0.8 bWAR) and has had some huge hits but because of Kelly's performance he's only started about half the games.  Let's say Kelly doesn't fall back to his career norms, do you just split their playing time, do you try to get them ABs at DH or just play the hot hand throughout the year?

What Kelly is doing is awesome and should absolutely be playing when he's hitting like this but he's also 4 years older than Amaya so less likely to be the starting catcher of the future, so I think you have to try to continue giving Amaya PAs a good chunk of the time.

I think you just split their time as long as neither is an offensive black hole.  Only 6 catchers last year caught more than 105 games and were above average hitters, and only half of those had done it in consecutive seasons.  Nature of the position anymore is it grinds you down, so even if Amaya is only playing 60-80 games it's not like he's missing out on hundreds of PA of lost development.

[Jason Ross]

41 minutes ago, PeanutPunch33 said:

I saw stats in the PCA appreciation thread about how much better PCA has been since July of last year, almost like he flipped a switch overnight.  I have to imagine there are similar stats for Amaya because he just looks like a different player since then.  Since the all star break last year, he's been an above average catcher on both offense and defense.  And leading up to the all star break last year, he was one of the worst catchers in baseball.  The player development has been awesome with Amaya, Busch, PCA and even Seiya 

Both have done significant work on their swings. Both have taken off since then. 

Credit to both players and the Cubs. The Cubs coaching deserves credit for identifying changes and those players deserve credit for being willing to listen and work through those changes.

[BKHoo]

1 hour ago, UMFan83 said:

I was just randomly thinking about how Amaya has gotten off to a solid start overall (123 OPS+, 0.8 bWAR) and has had some huge hits but because of Kelly's performance he's only started about half the games.  Let's say Kelly doesn't fall back to his career norms, do you just split their playing time, do you try to get them ABs at DH or just play the hot hand throughout the year?

What Kelly is doing is awesome and should absolutely be playing when he's hitting like this but he's also 4 years older than Amaya so less likely to be the starting catcher of the future, so I think you have to try to continue giving Amaya PAs a good chunk of the time.

I’ll tell you it’s a nice position to be in, especially after the lack of production from the position for most of last year. 
 

If there is one position where platooning can help both players stay fresh, it’s catcher.  

[gflore34]

Cardinals took game one of the DBH, 6-0, don't mind.  The Cardinals are not a threat, if they want to do the Cubs a favor and knock off a potential threat in the Reds.   Have at it.

[BKHoo]

Go Cubs

 

Go White Sox + Cardinals! 😆 

[Hot Sauce]

12 minutes ago, BKHoo said:

Go Cubs

 

Go White Sox + Cardinals! 😆 

[Rcal10]

5 minutes ago, Hot Sauce said:

But he is right. I hate the white Sox, but I want them to win today. Same with the Cardinals. 

[Hot Sauce]

2 minutes ago, Rcal10 said:

But he is right. I hate the white Sox, but I want them to win today. Same with the Cardinals. 

If the difference between the Cubs making the post-season or not is a Cardinals win then I will reluctantly root for them. In all other situations they can gloriously implode against every other team in baseball. The White Sox don’t bother me at all.

[CubinNY]

Baseball is stupid. 

[JHBulls]

16 minutes ago, CubinNY said:

Baseball is stupid. 

I don’t know why anyone watches it.

”Hey look, that 26 win cellar dweller just swept a series against the 111 win juggernaut.” horsefeathers off! 

Edited April 30, 2025 by JHBulls

[JHBulls]

Kyle Tucker will snap out of it but he’s slumping bad atm. 2-21 lately. 

[squally1313]

Time to drop Tucker to the bottom of the lineup this is ridiculous is Craig asleep or something 

[Rcal10]

Why isn’t Counsil starting the runners. I wanted Swanson to run with Berti up and then when Berti and Happ were on why not have the runners going in 3-2. Rucker does t strike out much. Why get conservative now. Bart sucks throwing. 

[WhyCantWeWin]

9 minutes ago, squally1313 said:

Time to drop Tucker to the bottom of the lineup this is ridiculous is Craig asleep or something 

Yeah it might help him like it helped that turd Swanson

[We Got The Whole 9]

That's another barrel for PCA, no?

[DYMNO]

15 minutes ago, JHBulls said:

Kyle Tucker will snap out of it but he’s slumping bad atm. 2-21 lately. 

Well, biblical losses coupled with that time you went 2-21, we can only offer you like ten bucks.

-Tom Ricketts (probably)