Aaron Kennelly

I've been trying to figure out Jake all year now, and I couldn't quite put my finger on it. I've wanted to show that he regained his command, but I just couldn't show it. He throws pitches all over the zone and he's thrown specific pitches in the same spots before and after the start of July. He wasn't missing over the heart of the plate any more early on, either. It was beginning to look to me like he was just really unlucky early on and lucky lately. But I've finally figured it out! And it's definitely that he's regained command. Article incoming. I still need to do some more research first, though.

Yeah it's time to rip off like 12 of 15 and wrap up this division I was just thinking the same. Put these clowns out of their misery.

Just a little note, but BaseRuns and Pythag think we should have about 3 more wins. BP's 2nd and 3rd order wins think we should have 5-6 more wins. And that's after we legitimately put up middling stats for the first half of the season -- which was incredibly fluky. Even still, we've been better than our record shows.

Agreed. Let Monty make another start even if Lester is coming back. I read somewhere the Cubs were considering going to a 6-man rotation at some point. Can't remember where I saw it or if ti was just speculation.

1.69 ERA since the start of July. I really can't believe it. After his second-half last year and then the loss of velocity and him being brutal to start this year, I thought he was cooked. He's about to be:

#wearegood Also Jake Arrieta is great again.

horsefeathers off, Harrison.

Looks like Jake's got some serious movement tonight.

Also, I don't think this front office is too high on the idea of trading a guy when his value is at its lowest.

Addison Russell is being severely underrated. He was worth 4 wins last year as a 22-year-old. He plays Gold Glove defense and has 20+ HR power. I think his upside is even higher than Javy's. First of all, the chance that Javy reaches his is really low. It's just going to be super tough for a guy with his plate discipline to clean that up. Russell's changes don't need to be as drastic. Mainly, though, the difference in defensive value puts Addison's upside higher. He's really freaking good at short. A lot better than Javy. If Addison reached his ceiling on offense, he's an MVP candidate. I think it would be crazy to trade either one. But it's even more crazy to trade Addison.

Also: He hasn't given up a homer as a professional.

Grimm is technically on the DL right? And its probably not a fake injury because he has options and has already gone down to Iowa a couple of times. Just pointing that out because we don't know for sure (unless I missed some news because who pays attention to news about Justin Grimm) if he's healthy to come up on 9/1. i think they mentioned during the broadcast either yesterday or the day before that he is preparing to go on a rehab assignment. He started his rehab assignment last night. And, this is going to shock you, he already gave up a homer.

What's the consensus on Albertos' season? Everyone satisfied? Obviously health and durability are going to be a concern. But he got back out on the mound and is starting to get some innings and is finishing off strong.

It's stupid. Part of it is deserved since our relievers have sucked in high leverage moments. But, it's still pretty stupid.

We need to beat the Pirates in every game the rest of the year. Only 6-7 against them this year, after dominating them each of the last two years. After all that horsefeathers they talked, we need to show them no mercy now that they actually suck.

Albert, stop catching the ball like that!

#wearegood

Ah, there's not much that is as satisfying as the Pirates making fools of themselves. Brings back memories. Get fucked, Gatorade Boy.

Monty is dealing.

Get the horsefeathers out of here,

Javy is decent.

Holy hell, Javy.

He should get to 130+ including the playoffs this year would be my rough guess. Start tonight and let's say he gets 1 more (either for Lester next time thru the rotation or maybe he spots starts 1 more time towards the end of the year) that should put him around 115, then maybe 7-10 innings worth of relief appearances the rest of the year outside of the starts then another hopefully 10 or more in the playoffs if they use him in leverage spots and not just as the long guy. My ide;a role for Monty is roughly what he's been this year. Don't plan for him to be one of the 5 starters going in to the year but have him be first or 2nd man up when inevitable injuries/performance woes hit. I would like to see him be used as less of a long man at times and more in leverage 2-5+ out spots, ideally. I like that idea, too. I think there's a lot of value in having a guy like that. If he can give you 125 innings or whatever, and you use him in higher leverage spots out of the pen, you can get a ton of value there. And you don't have to worry so much about what kind of rotation depth you have at AAA. It's nice to be able to just plug him into the rotation whenever you need to do so. Now, that's a luxury. I'd want 5 starters that I trusted as much or more than him. If we have that, then I'm all for it. I'd be fine with him turning into a 30-start 200-inning starter, too. But, I'm not so upset about him not being that right now.

For the people on the "Start Montgomery" train, what's an acceptable amount of innings for him this year? He had 114.1 IP, including the regular season and playoffs last year. He's at 102.1 IP this year entering tonight. Seems like they've been able to increase his workload a decent amount, without overextending him. And he could be set up to give us 175 or so innings next year without much worry. I know there is a separate question about whether they've actually seen if he can be counted on as a starter, though.

Shut them down, Monty.