Rockies (Palmquist) vs Cubs (Taillon): 5/26/25, 1:20pm

[Brian707]

1 hour ago, chibears55 said:

12 games over first time since 2016

Looking good

[Bobson Dugnutt]

2 hours ago, chibears55 said:

12 games over first time since 2016

Looking good

This is true*!

 

 

*If you exclude 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2023

[chibears55]

22 minutes ago, Bobson Dugnutt said:

This is true*!

 

 

*If you exclude 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2023

Lmao, yea I read that too fast and missed the before June part 😅

 

https://x.com/sahadevsharma/status/1927104067999821958?t=_wCuk-pPOBHaUjKCVS6FPQ&s=19

[Derwood]

The fact that we were 12 over all those years and had such poor results is really frustrating. 

[chibears55]

1 minute ago, Derwood said:

The fact that we were 12 over all those years and had such poor results is really frustrating. 

Hitting went south for most part

[BKHoo]

When is the last time the Cubs were 12 games above 500?  I feel like it’s been a very long time. 

[Brian707]

46 minutes ago, BKHoo said:

When is the last time the Cubs were 12 games above 500?  I feel like it’s been a very long time. 

Way back in 2023

 

[CubUgly]

15 hours ago, gflore34 said:

I'll bet he hasn't more than a handful of clean innings, what's the xBAIP against him?  I'm guessing it's high but, I bet it's artificially too high, seems everything put in play is a hit.

The concern with Pressly all year will be he gets very little swing and miss.  And that really constricts the margin for error, especially for someone being paid to be a high leverage reliever. 

[gflore34]

18 minutes ago, CubUgly said:

The concern with Pressly all year will be he gets very little swing and miss.  And that really constricts the margin for error, especially for someone being paid to be a high leverage reliever. 

All the data suggested swing and miss was going down for Pressly. Yet, Hoyer, seemingly ignoring the data went ahead with the acquisition of Pressly.  That's the part I don't get, I'd really like to hear what Hoyer thought he was going to get from Pressly.

[CubUgly]

37 minutes ago, gflore34 said:

All the data suggested swing and miss was going down for Pressly. Yet, Hoyer, seemingly ignoring the data went ahead with the acquisition of Pressly.  That's the part I don't get, I'd really like to hear what Hoyer thought he was going to get from Pressly.

I do think there is a belief in the system and that has I believe increased even more with the addition of Zombro that the "pitch lab" can make a tweak that will unlock something with veteran pitchers that maximizes what they have and I'm sure they thought they could do the same with Pressly. 

[Bertz]

41 minutes ago, gflore34 said:

All the data suggested swing and miss was going down for Pressly. Yet, Hoyer, seemingly ignoring the data went ahead with the acquisition of Pressly.  That's the part I don't get, I'd really like to hear what Hoyer thought he was going to get from Pressly.

Pressly projected fantastically coming into the year.  He had declined yes, but from a top 5 reliever in the league to very good.

[KCCub]

32 minutes ago, gflore34 said:

All the data suggested swing and miss was going down for Pressly. Yet, Hoyer, seemingly ignoring the data went ahead with the acquisition of Pressly.  That's the part I don't get, I'd really like to hear what Hoyer thought he was going to get from Pressly.

Pressly battled mechanical issues all of 2024. Jed was betting on Pressly's close connection with Hottovy and Poppe to help "fix" him and get his velo and K% back up. That was the hope, but the bet hasn't paid off yet. 

[mul21]

18 hours ago, ryanrc said:

nah, people get too obsessed with stats. 
 a good game is a game where you give up zero runs, as a closer, and come away with a win. 
He's done that all games except 3. No matter how sloppy , he's a winner. that's the whole purpose of baseball- win games, not have perfect stats. 

Granted, its better for long term projections if you have clean games. but frankly, some of the greatest pitchers who won big games were sloppy. 

This is Hawk Harrelson TWTW level of dumbassery.  

[CubUgly]

1 hour ago, Bertz said:

Pressly projected fantastically coming into the year.  He had declined yes, but from a top 5 reliever in the league to very good.

What were the projections for him this year?  I don't recall them being fantastic, but I may have been looking at them with my own pre-conceived notions. 

[Bertz]

4 minutes ago, CubUgly said:

What were the projections for him this year?  I don't recall them being fantastic, but I may have been looking at them with my own pre-conceived notions. 

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/2025-zips-projections-houston-astros/

A 3.35 ERA, and that's in Houston which obviously is more of a hitters park than Wrigley

Also, small sample size but he's been missing a ton of bats since his disaster outing a few weeks ago.

https://www.fangraphs.com/players/ryan-pressly/7005/game-log?position=P&gds=2025-05-09&gde=2025-10-31&season=&type=16

I wouldn't be in a huge rush to move him back into the closers role, Id like to see those whiffs translate all the way into strikeouts, but there's a decent chance he's already fixed.

[Tim]

1 hour ago, KCCub said:

Pressly battled mechanical issues all of 2024. Jed was betting on Pressly's close connection with Hottovy and Poppe to help "fix" him and get his velo and K% back up. That was the hope, but the bet hasn't paid off yet. 

He struggled with mechanical issues and yet had a 3.49 ERA, 3.10 FIP; 9.21 K/9, 2.86 BB/9.  I get why he was targeted. 

I would have preferred to just sign Robertson. In fact, let's just sign Robertson now and add him to the pen.

[BKHoo]

He comes into the 8th and gives up a hit and walk and has to be saved. I don’t understand how people think he is underrated because he had one terrible outing. He has been horrible this year so far. His numbers back that up. 

[Tryptamine]

14 minutes ago, Tim said:

He struggled with mechanical issues and yet had a 3.49 ERA, 3.10 FIP; 9.21 K/9, 2.86 BB/9.  I get why he was targeted. 

I would have preferred to just sign Robertson. In fact, let's just sign Robertson now and add him to the pen.

It seems like a complete and total no brainer of a decision and I can't figure out why it hasn't been made yet.

[Rcal10]

6 minutes ago, BKHoo said:

He comes into the 8th and gives up a hit and walk and has to be saved. I don’t understand how people think he is underrated because he had one terrible outing. He has been horrible this year so far. His numbers back that up. 

He did walk a guy. And that does suck. The hit he gave up was a 10 hop slow hit ball through the hole beteeen 3rd and SS. He was not exactly hit hard. He was replaced because Counsell wanted lefty against lefty. 

[Tryptamine]

Yeah that single was hit at 70.3MPH. I'm not going to fault him because it was hit in the perfect spot.

[Rcal10]

9 minutes ago, Tryptamine said:

It seems like a complete and total no brainer of a decision and I can't figure out why it hasn't been made yet.

I don’t think it is that simple. If he is such a no brainer why didn’t the Phillies sign him when Alvarado was suspended? Short of a knock down closer I don’t see the need for the Cubs to add a pen arm. 

[Tryptamine]

10 minutes ago, Rcal10 said:

I don’t think it is that simple. If he is such a no brainer why didn’t the Phillies sign him when Alvarado was suspended? Short of a knock down closer I don’t see the need for the Cubs to add a pen arm. 

He's coming off a season with a 2.65 FIP and 2.88 xFIP. He has a sub 3 ERA over the last 3 seasons. How much higher do you expect them to aim?

[Jason Ross]

13 minutes ago, Tryptamine said:

He's coming off a season with a 2.65 FIP and 2.88 xFIP. He has a sub 3 ERA over the last 3 seasons. How much higher do you expect them to aim?

At some point we have to accept that it may not be a Cub decision in whether or not they sign David Robertson and that he too has agency. He hasn't announced a retirement, but considering there are 30 teams and even good ones have BP issues...its' weird he hasn't signed anywhere and it feels more than just the Cubs refusing to pick up a phone. 

As well, we're getting to a point of the year where you wonder what the best case scenario is. He's missed ST and two months of the year. How long do we expect a 40-year-old to come online? In July? How long does that give him to really help the BP? Is he going to struggle for 1/3rd of his time? I'm not saying it's not worthwhile to check if it's possible, but I think the end result is getting to a stage where "what's the best case scenario?" here probably has to be asked a bit. 

[Rcal10]

14 minutes ago, Tryptamine said:

He's coming off a season with a 2.65 FIP and 2.88 xFIP. He has a sub 3 ERA over the last 3 seasons. How much higher do you expect them to aim?

For starters, I am not suggesting they need to get a middle relief pitcher. If they can trade for a closer that is another story. Sure, Robertson was very good last year. But in ‘23 with Miami his era was 5 in 22 appearances. He is also 40 years old. There is just no guarantee he will be what he was last year. If there was, I completely agree with you that it is a no brainer for someone to sign him. Since no one is, maybe he either wants too much money or him being successful isn’t a no brainer. 🤷

[KCCub]

51 minutes ago, Bertz said:

Also, small sample size but he's been missing a ton of bats since his disaster outing a few weeks ago.

https://www.fangraphs.com/players/ryan-pressly/7005/game-log?position=P&gds=2025-05-09&gde=2025-10-31&season=&type=16

I wouldn't be in a huge rush to move him back into the closers role, Id like to see those whiffs translate all the way into strikeouts, but there's a decent chance he's already fixed.

The good - 15.6% SwStr% is nice to see and in line with his 2023 season (15.5%).

The bad or worth noting at least - in that stretch he faced COL, CIN, MIA, CHW, CHW, MIA, and NYM in mainly low leverage situations while still having a poor EV against (92.5EV), which is bottom 5% in the league.