Cubs (Peterson) vs Nationals (Kent): 08/12/26, 5:45 PM

[Brock Beauchamp]

The Cubs visit the Nationals as Peterson takes on Kent at Nationals Park.

[Brock Beauchamp]

	FRI	SAT	SUN	MON	TUE	TOT
Trent Thornton	14	0	0	0	10	24
Ryan Zeferjahn	0	0	24	0	23	47
Ryan Rolison	0	0	0	0	16	16
Javier Assad	0	0	5	0	0	5
Jacob Webb	13	0	0	0	20	33
Colin Rea	0	63	0	0	0	63
Caleb Thielbar	13	0	0	0	0	13
Aaron Civale	0	0	0	0	0	0

[BKHoo]

I know everyone thinks Peterson is great (or at least a great find and in many ways he has been) but I’m not so sure. He was very fortunate in his last outing to not give up a lot of runs.  We need to keep the offense pressing the gas.  

[mul21]

18 minutes ago, BKHoo said:

I know everyone thinks Peterson is great (or at least a great find and in many ways he has been) but I’m not so sure. He was very fortunate in his last outing to not give up a lot of runs.  We need to keep the offense pressing the gas.  

His ground ball rate has ticked back up the last few starts and as long as he keeps doing that with this defense behind him, he'll be fine.  He's not going to be Cy Young caliber, but giving them innings, keeping them close, and not taxing the pen is enough at this point.

[squally1313]

Peterson is perfectly fine for who he is. He's pretty much the blueprint for Holmes, albeit with Holmes you expect a better starting point and better results. With Peterson, compared to his time with the Mets, his Ks are down a lot (8.34 to 5.92 per 9), his walks are down a little (3.97 to 3.08 per 9), his xERA, FIP, and xFIP are all worse...and yet his ERA is over 2 full runs lower. Mostly because his BABIP has dropped 96 points. Throw the ball in the strike zone, and let our defense take care of the rest. 

With Cabrera pretty close to being stretched out, I'm guessing he pushes Assad back to AAA and we see if he can find a next level in short bursts. Things have probably gone pretty wrong if he's starting a playoff game, but that's a good problem to have when a month ago, SP depth chart wise, it would have been like, Will Sanders. 

Edited 1 hour ago by squally1313

[PeanutPunch33]

24 minutes ago, BKHoo said:

I know everyone thinks Peterson is great (or at least a great find and in many ways he has been) but I’m not so sure. He was very fortunate in his last outing to not give up a lot of runs.  We need to keep the offense pressing the gas.  

He's definitely getting a bit lucky... but I would be disappointed if they took him out of the rotation. 

In his last 5 starts:

28.2 IP, 1.57 ERA, 1.05 WHIP, 20 K's and 10 walks

No reason to break it while it's hot... 

[Geographyhater8888]

The wind isn’t blowing in today and the Nats can hit. This could be a bad night for Peterson. 

[JBears79]

25 minutes ago, Geographyhater8888 said:

The wind isn’t blowing in today and the Nats can hit. This could be a bad night for Peterson. 

And a good night for us! They cancel each other out...hopefully

[Bertz]

I don't see anything especially lucky about Peterson?  Unless you're doing some arbitrary endpoints nonsense to cut off that disaster start against the Cardinals.

His ERA is running ahead of his peripherals but by the same amount you'd expect playing in front of this defense.

[squally1313]

16 minutes ago, Bertz said:

I don't see anything especially lucky about Peterson?  Unless you're doing some arbitrary endpoints nonsense to cut off that disaster start against the Cardinals.

His ERA is running ahead of his peripherals but by the same amount you'd expect playing in front of this defense.

Yeah he hasn't gotten lucky, it's more so that the metrics and the results are...middling? Slightly below average metrics, slightly above average results since coming over. Certainly not a problem, but I think it's definitely fair to say he's 6th in line once Cabrera comes back.

[Jason Ross]

1 hour ago, BKHoo said:

I know everyone thinks Peterson is great (or at least a great find and in many ways he has been) but I’m not so sure. He was very fortunate in his last outing to not give up a lot of runs.  We need to keep the offense pressing the gas.  

I wouldn't say he's great either. He's very "average-ish" but average-ish in a way that the Cubs defense can help become above average. For example, he's rocking a 4.03 ERA compared to a 4.39 xFIP since coming to the Cubs. The xFIP is a little below average for a SP and the ERA above. 

Everyone is going to be rocking with some less-than-talented players at the tail of their rotation for much of the year. The key is finding ways to make them up. 

Anecdotally, there will always be games where players get fortunate or unfortunate. But I'd feel comfortable with David Peterson as my 5th best SP in front of this defense. In front of a porous one? Far less comfortable.

[Bertz]

21 minutes ago, squally1313 said:

Yeah he hasn't gotten lucky, it's more so that the metrics and the results are...middling? Slightly below average metrics, slightly above average results since coming over. Certainly not a problem, but I think it's definitely fair to say he's 6th in line once Cabrera comes back.

10,000%

Peterson is a very good swingman, but he's much closer to Assad and Rea than Cabrera IMO.

If team control was flipped and Peterson was here for 2 more years while Cabrera was in his walk year I'd maybe consider giving David preference?  But absolutely not as is.