Aaron Kennelly

Well, I've got some good news for you.

We've got them right where we want them.

lol

One of the weird things I've noticed about Butler is that he's changed how he pitches, but not how he was supposed to change. When he was a prospect, he used to pitch from a lower angle and he got a lot more drop on his pitches, as Eno Sarris showed when we traded for him: http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/eddie-butler-then-now-and-in-the-future/ The Rockies tried to change him and it really messed him up. When we got him, Bosio was supposed to get him back to his natural pitching motion. https://www.si.com/mlb/2017/02/21/chicago-cubs-chris-bosio-pitching-lab Essentially, this is what happened with Arrieta. That's why he was supposed to be Arrieta 2.0. His previous club was messing with him to fit their organizational preferences. Bosio would let him be himself and he'd go back to what made him good. Then, there was this note in a Fangraphs piece, when he was in Iowa: http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/sunday-notes-whitleys-cattle-cubs-butler-gausmans-analogy-yard-goats-more/ Going downhill is the exact opposite of what he was supposed to be doing. That's what the Rockies were having him do. He was supposed to be going back to his natural, lower release point. And if you look at his release points, he is going more downhill. His vertical release point is way up from where it was even in Colorado. He's pretty much straight-over-the-top now. http://www.brooksbaseball.net/velo.php?player=572750&b_hand=-1&time=year&minmax=ci&var=z0&s_type=2&startDate=03/30/2007&endDate=06/06/2017&gFilt=&pFilt=FA|SI|FC|SL|CU|CS|KN|CH|FS|SB If you look at it game-by-game, he was all over the place the last couple of years. He may have been going up from where he was when he was a prospect, but it was constantly fluctuating; nothing was repeatable. At least this year, it's been more stable. It seems like his delivery is more repeatable. And the gap between his release points on different pitches has shrunk. This delivery may help him to better disguise his off-speed stuff from his fastballs. http://www.brooksbaseball.net/velo.php?player=572750&b_hand=-1&gFilt=&pFilt=FA|SI|FC|SL|CU|CS|KN|CH|FS|SB&time=game&minmax=ci&var=z0&s_type=2&startDate=03/30/2007&endDate=06/06/2017 But, this isn't the Arrieta process. In fact, it's pretty much the exact opposite of it.

Yeah, ground balls are good. He should try to get more of them. *Crap, I forgot about the powers* Actually ground balls are bad. He should continue to do that.

Called it.

Yeah, ground balls are good. He should try to get more of them.

It's a recipe for sustained success; get them behind immediately so a lineup filled with struggling players presses even more. Add the bonus of battling just to have league average-quality defense, and VOILA: a treading water .500 team out of one that should be dominating fools. at this point let's just break out the fried chicken and beer They'd find a way to screw that up, too. KFC and Zima.

This whole team sucks. It is a bag of asses. It won't be long before Bryant and Rizzo join the others in suckitude.

Send Butler back to Iowa when Hendricks is back.

And Eric Sogard is OPS'ing 2.500 and they still suck. The Brewers are trash.

The Brewers suck. The whole division sucks. We've played pretty much the worst we could possibly play and we're 1 game out. The Brewers got a month of Barry Bondsian production out of a guy who strikes out every other AB now, and they are still a .500 team. They blow. And the talent disparity is still ridiculous, even if it's not as huge as we once thought it was. I'm not scared whatsoever by any team in our division. We'll be resting guys for a full week in September.

The Cubs are going to finish 10 games ahead of the Brewers.

Because one of our starters unexpectedly went on the DL and we had to spot start with one of our bullpen arms?

This is silly.

good start

Eloy is so good.

horsefeathers, man

By exit velocity, he did.

horsefeathering horsefeathers

[expletive] run.

KB!

Absolutely. But you also admit to yourself that you too are a douche for doing it. Yeah, I'm ashamed about it. And I feel more strongly about the issue because of how much I regret it. I posted it, though, to show we can have faults and be hypocritical and yet still be aware of what is right and wrong.

I've drank and drove -- even got a DUI -- and I judge others for drinking and driving.