Cubswin11

Yeah I saw that post and responded that he made a noted swing change and is an exit velo god and some scouts really started taking note. And yeah I mostly agreed with you in my response. Nobody is fired up. Just pointed out that there's some things he's doing that's hard to fake/prove he might be more than a guy who disappears in a few weeks and he's also plenty valuable now and likely some sort of piece going forward. The bolded part is what i was wondering. I know guys come up, hit the horsefeathers off the ball and disappear, but exit velocity seems like something that should be evident soon in his minor league career. Why now is it becoming such a big part of his success? He's not just slightly above average, hes setting the bar in that catagory. What adjustment makes that happen? It also gives me some hope that it continues because it will likely continue to push his success. But no, he's not replacing Bryant. Hell of a trade chip tho. Read the athletic article I posted. But basically he always hit the ball hard and was a big exit velo guy but he had a bad swing angle and hit too many grounders. They adjusted the swing a few degrees to get him to hit more line drives and fly balls is the jist of it thought.

Got it. Was gonna say Bryce should just wear the Cubs jersey to troll

When is it? This weekend?

Here’s the article on the swing change, fwiw. It really wasn’t a change as much as adjusting his launch angle. https://theathletic.com/328430/2018/04/25/launch-party-how-cubs-infielder-david-bote-finally-got-to-the-majors/

He's hitting the ball harder than anyone since he's been in MLB though and he's also been a exit velo/statcast dude in the minors. It's hard not to be at least something at the major league level with how hard he hits the ball, especially when you add in what appears to be above average defense at a few spots and competent BB/K approach at the plate. Yeah I'm pretty sure I've seen guys who put up .836 OPS in the PCL or .809 in AA turn into nothing. Maybe he's a guy, maybe not. But this belief that exit velocity counters the possibility of positive variance is weird. A big part of positive variance is that sometimes you run into a few extra balls and get a few extra line drives. Well yes there's plenty chance he flames out and it wouldn't be overly weird or unprecedented. And yeah exit velo stuff has it's flaws, but he's been doing it at elite levels for a while now (going back to the minors) after a noted swing change and some of the scouting guys really liking him. I'm willing to relatively buy in he's a thing that's at least a useful bench bat/second division starter. He's not just lucking in to a few extra line drives, he's hitting piss rockets harder than anyone in baseball. It's at least something fun and encouraging to have some optimism about and it's nice to hopefully luck in to one of these random mid 20 year olds from the clouds like the Dodgers and Brewers have the last 2 years.

He's hitting the ball harder than anyone since he's been in MLB though and he's also been a exit velo/statcast dude in the minors. It's hard not to be at least something at the major league level with how hard he hits the ball, especially when you add in what appears to be above average defense at a few spots and competent BB/K approach at the plate.

It's hard to fake hitting the ball hard and he's doing that better than anyone since he's been up and he's playing solid defense and clearly looks like he has a solid idea and approach at the plate. Yes of course it's ridiculous to think he will ever move Bryant off third but he's shown enough that he's probably one of the better 8 starting options on a given day with where the roster is at now. He's better than Tommy and better than Almora vs RHP and probably Happ vs LHP and at times a better option than Russell depending on the defense you want to run out. did you see this post? baseball is littered with guys who do this and then end up turning back into nothing. i'm just wondering why a lot of people have already made the leap from "this guy is providing lots of value to use right now, and it's really helpful" to "this guy is a significant piece going forward" but really the post was half joking in the first place, which is why i literally used the term doom boner at the start of it. it was an extremely noninflammatory post, so of course it got someone fired up. Yeah I saw that post and responded that he made a noted swing change and is an exit velo god and some scouts really started taking note. And yeah I mostly agreed with you in my response. Nobody is fired up. Just pointed out that there's some things he's doing that's hard to fake/prove he might be more than a guy who disappears in a few weeks and he's also plenty valuable now and likely some sort of piece going forward.

http://gif-finder.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Will-Ferrell-Thats-dumb.gif WTF are you going on about??? Bote is already something and big league scouts and teams have already noticed him. Teams wanted to acquire him at the trade deadline and were asking the Cubs about him. he's a 25 year old non-prospect with 78 major league plate appearances, and there are posts about him moving bryant off third, wondering why everyone missed on him, calling him the next star, etc. i'm not saying he sucks or that he doesn't have value to the cubs. hopefully he can be a late bloomer and it's possible that he ends up as a derosa/zobrist type, it's just funny to see everyone losing their horsefeathers over him, when this is the type of place that should know not to get excited over a tiny sample size of plate appearances. It's hard to fake hitting the ball hard and he's doing that better than anyone since he's been up and he's playing solid defense and clearly looks like he has a solid idea and approach at the plate. Yes of course it's ridiculous to think he will ever move Bryant off third but he's shown enough that he's probably one of the better 8 starting options on a given day with where the roster is at now. He's better than Tommy and better than Almora vs RHP and probably Happ, Heyward and Schwarbs vs LHP and at times a better option than Russell depending on the defense you want to run out.

First yes, we wish they have been better. But he's been able to use that because they've been the best team in the NL for a few weeks now so they're doing something right (or maybe the NL just isn't that good). It's also mathematically impossible to be 6th in the NL in the next 3-4 days. man you guys don't even try to understand things, it's crazy What don't we, or I, understand?

Sorry for not going full doom-boner when my favorite team has the best record in their league. this is a fair point, but it's also pretty disingenuous how you've used it like 10 times in the last few weeks. they could have the 6th best record in the league with a bad 3-4 days First yes, we wish they have been better. But he's been able to use that because they've been the best team in the NL for a few weeks now so they're doing something right (or maybe the NL just isn't that good). It's also mathematically impossible to be 6th in the NL in the next 3-4 days.

He just needs to be better than LaStella for him to have plenty value for the current crop/window of players. Which I'm fairly certain he's already there.

He made a swing change and is an exit velocity god

We’re 15-11 (94 win pace) the last month going back to July 8. If you’re somehow trying to say we haven’t been good over the last month +/-.

I think I’ve gotten to the bottom of Q’s problems. After tonight I have dropped him from my fantasy team.

How likely do you think it is that the Cubs win the division? I could see it being a Clinton/Trump-type scenario. So, what, approx. 75% or so? So that’s why you won’t get too confident in the Cubs. The ole’ reverse jinx from the Clinton election certainty

my stout adult son wrecking shop in South Bend, brings a tear to my eye I saw a tweet with a pic of him tonight. Mix in a salad every 10 meals dude

Top of the NL is the JV this year compared to the top of the AL Probably shouldn’t even have the playoffs this year. Just have a Yankees, Red Sox, Astros round robin

Happ, Cease, they drafted Rizzo in Boston, Willy (not a pick but developed), Torres/Eloy we used for the exact reason they were signed as capital to add real MLB talent (argue about the return all you want). "what have they done in the draft outside of those high draft picks?" *answers by naming off people who were not drafted* edit: also i want to state that no one should be lamenting the torres loss. And not just because the return won us the world series, but because torres just really isnt that good. id rather have addison russell and i really dont like addison russell. I know, was just more lamenting they have the ability to develop dudes. Vogelbach, Zagunis, Zas, Maples, I’m sure there’s a few more draft picks that have at least made the majors. I mean what more do you want? Most teams have very few “homegrown” dudes and we have plenty including basically 1/4thish of the starting roster of a World Series team. Agree with you on Torres/Russell.

They still have the best record in the NL and still have the highest (or 2nd highest playoff odds), the season was over in May, then over after the Cincy sweep, and now over when they start 11-10 out of the break or whatever it is (disappointment sure, but not crippling). Eh, they’ll be fine

This is a nuclear take, even for you They get a ton of credit for the high first rounders (Almora, Bryant, Schwarber); that's not easy. But what have they done outside those picks? Bote? They were good at getting talent out of the 1st round in Boston, I guess the loose money restrictions played a huge role in what they did. Happ, Cease, they drafted Rizzo in Boston, Willy (not a pick but developed), Torres/Eloy we used for the exact reason they were signed as capital to add real MLB talent (argue about the return all you want).

It’s funny because both good and bad, this is exactly how his Boston run went. They could actually draft in Boston This is a nuclear take, even for you

At least we won the series but holy horsefeathers

What would you say our advanced scouts do?

Score runs idiots

They’re playing well enough if the manager isn’t handicapping them with lineup construction