Jason Ross

Alright Justin!

This is why I hit singles. Then the outfielders have to go get it.

Is it okay if you hit the ball all the way over the fence like that?

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"Elite" is hard to classify. I do think the injury last year hasn't helped. He's got a good changeup, as Stuff+ has graded it as a 101 and a 101 the last two years, but it's probably just good. We probably don't give him enough credit for the fastball upgrades, as last year and this year the fastball was pretty good. But as much as people love a fastball-changeup combination, I'm finding myself less excited by the two without something like a slider/sweeper, a cutter or curve mixed in. And he's been searching for a reliable pitch there. I wouldn't bring him up yet, but I don't think we need to get too ahead of ourselves. Entering yesterday Wicks in Triple-A this season had a 3.45 ERA, a 20 K%, 11.4 BB%, and a 3.25 FIP, it wasn't like Wicks has been brutal in Iowa, he's been relatively decent. There's some stuff we could hope for better, but it's not egregious, either. He had a bad start in which is tried to use a new pitch, so I think it's a "let's see where we're going" situation more than anything.

Yeah, by numbers, I don't think yesterday was a great start, though I do wonder if the Cubs are working on something with him and maybe we should give some slack. I say this because of his pitch mix. On April 26th, Jordan Wicks Jordan Wicks went 3 IP and struck out three hitters. This was his last appearance before yesterday. In that appearance, he threw 35% changeups. This matches up to about the number of changeups he threw in the MLB (roughly 29% of the time) back in 2023. He threw just one curveball. Yesterday, Wicks thew the changeup 14% of the time. He threw the curveball 12 times - or 16% of the time. He threw a pitch he didn't use at all the game prior more than his best pitch. Now, if his changeup wasn't his best pitch, and hadn't been his best pitch, we could talk gameflow, opponent, etc...but that's a big deal. His changeup is a pitch he uses a lot against RHH yet yesterday? It was the curveball against RHH. So I'd cut some slack on the outcomes. There's been discussion on here from Matt that he needed to upgrade the pitch mix, and there looks like there's some work being done there. It's probably a sign that: 1. The Cubs want to maximize Wicks 2. That the Cubs are confident that if needed, Horton would be ready for MLB action, as Wicks probably wouldn't be if he's currently workshopping a new pitch I'd probably move him down the pecking order of "who comes up next?" but at the same time, be cautious with writing him off as there seems to be some tinkering occurring if the last game suggests something bigger.

Ivan Brethowr made BA's recent "10 Hitters Who Stood Out in April" article.

Actually, yes! I wrote about how much I like that he has gone away from the sinker. Guess what the home run was given up on? (Hint - it rhymes with Jesse Winker) He threw three sinkers, and the average exit velo was over 100mph. The 4-seam fastball was thrown 45 times and had an exit velo of 87mph. The bad today was that the whiff was way down, but he threw less strikes. I talked about zone-leverage likely being pretty important for him. Whether that's a function of a bad offensive team or what, I'm unsure. I thought (from the little I saw) he looked less sharp today? He also didn't use the sweeper much - I wish he used it more - he had used it around 10% of the time and he only threw it once today.

Dansby is the Mansby.

Matt Shaw Easy #1 for me, regardless of the first taste of MLB life. Kyle Tucker went back twice. Shaw will be fine.Cade Horton Looks all the way back. Statcast loves him. Still building stamina, but clear top arm in the systemMoises Ballesteros I dont care if he can't catch - he can flat hit. Batted ball data is good-to-great across the board. Big fan.Owen Caissie Still love the bat. Louder contact than ever. Unlike Alcantara hits it in the air. K's always an issue, but the xwOBA of .404 is elite.Kevin Alcantara Unicorn body for CF. Still want more in the air. But he's a top-100 guy.Cristian Hernandez Barrel control, power and swing decisions have come a long way. He's starting to match some of the pre-signing-hype.Jaxon Wiggins Think he looks poised to make a big jump TJS+2 now. Great last start (as of writing). James Triantos Love the floor, but his contact quality concerns me a bit. He will play MLB baseball but I'm not sure he's a starterJefferson Rojas Working his way back from injury - this isn't really his faultJonathon Long Statcast darling but defensive position puts him a bit lower. Christian Franklin He's moving up my boards. Better swing, great statcast data - outside chance of a starting OF.Nazier Mule Stuff looks good, body more mature. Needs to up the whiff but the control issues aren't there.Cole Mathis Just need to see more. Any damage in Myrtle is hard to judge. Arm coming back from TJS. He could move fastIvan Brethowr Improved swing, huge profile, managing K's. He's not a breakout yet...but breakout watch.Brandon Birdsell Injury knocks him down. Come back healthy, he goes back up. But, pitchers and injuries...Pedro Ramirez I keep not wanting to believe in him and he keeps hitting. Make me a believer, PedroWill Sanders There's an MLB guy in here somewhere. Floor more than ceiling, but I think he's a good bet to start an MLB game versus not.Derniche Valdez Upside remains huge, but hasn't been seen a lot outside of Complex recently. Just get healthy and mashRonny Cruz Heard great things about his Trajekt performance per BA. Good news coming from AZPhil. Haven't laid eyes on him but trusting my gutAlexey Lumpuy The numbers aren't great yet but he keeps making me watch. Call it a hunch? I wish I had a better reason. System is off to a great start. Everyone you'd hope would be good have been, and there are some real popups. Not a lot of huge changes to how I'd see this pre-season. I knocked some guys for not being healthy, and that's probably a bit unfair, but whatever - it's my list, and I make the rules. The bottom five could have been five other names and I'd have been just as happy. In fact, it's not just five other names. Juan Tomas, Kevin Alvarez, Juan Cabada, Ty Southesene...you get the picture. But it's been a good first four weeks...let's hope the next four as fortuitous.

Matt Shaw Easy #1 for me, regardless of the first taste of MLB life. Kyle Tucker went back twice. Shaw will be fine.Cade Horton Looks all the way back. Statcast loves him. Still building stamina, but clear top arm in the systemMoises Ballesteros I dont care if he can't catch - he can flat hit. Batted ball data is good-to-great across the board. Big fan.Owen Caissie Still love the bat. Louder contact than ever. Unlike Alcantara hits it in the air. K's always an issue, but the xwOBA of .404 is elite.Kevin Alcantara Unicorn body for CF. Still want more in the air. But he's a top-100 guy.Cristian Hernandez Barrel control, power and swing decisions have come a long way. He's starting to match some of the pre-signing-hype.Jaxon Wiggins Think he looks poised to make a big jump TJS+2 now. Great last start (as of writing). James Triantos Love the floor, but his contact quality concerns me a bit. He will play MLB baseball but I'm not sure he's a starterJefferson Rojas Working his way back from injury - this isn't really his faultJonathon Long Statcast darling but defensive position puts him a bit lower. Christian Franklin He's moving up my boards. Better swing, great statcast data - outside chance of a starting OF.Nazier Mule Stuff looks good, body more mature. Needs to up the whiff but the control issues aren't there.Cole Mathis Just need to see more. Any damage in Myrtle is hard to judge. Arm coming back from TJS. He could move fastIvan Brethowr Improved swing, huge profile, managing K's. He's not a breakout yet...but breakout watch.Brandon Birdsell Injury knocks him down. Come back healthy, he goes back up. But, pitchers and injuries...Pedro Ramirez I keep not wanting to believe in him and he keeps hitting. Make me a believer, PedroWill Sanders There's an MLB guy in here somewhere. Floor more than ceiling, but I think he's a good bet to start an MLB game versus not.Derniche Valdez Upside remains huge, but hasn't been seen a lot outside of Complex recently. Just get healthy and mashRonny Cruz Heard great things about his Trajekt performance per BA. Good news coming from AZPhil. Haven't laid eyes on him but trusting my gutAlexey Lumpuy The numbers aren't great yet but he keeps making me watch. Call it a hunch? I wish I had a better reason. System is off to a great start. Everyone you'd hope would be good have been, and there are some real popups. Not a lot of huge changes to how I'd see this pre-season. I knocked some guys for not being healthy, and that's probably a bit unfair, but whatever - it's my list, and I make the rules. The bottom five could have been five other names and I'd have been just as happy. In fact, it's not just five other names. Juan Tomas, Kevin Alvarez, Juan Cabada, Ty Southesene...you get the picture. But it's been a good first four weeks...let's hope the next four as fortuitous.

In 162 games, weird things will happen. Ball bounced poorly a few times tonight. Offense didn't have it against some bad pitching. Go get 'em tomorrow.

It felt like to me he was jumping up while grabbing the railing and his momentum took him up and over being unable to keep a hold of kr. But it's hard to tell and just one guess

Thats really awful. Hopefully they're okay.

Man, that's dumb.

We'll have to see what happens with Triantos. His contact quality hasn't been good since getting to Iowa, and his production was not great before getting a hamstring issue. The hope is that it isn't long term and he's back and producing better, Good for him and the Cubs.

Both have done significant work on their swings. Both have taken off since then. Credit to both players and the Cubs. The Cubs coaching deserves credit for identifying changes and those players deserve credit for being willing to listen and work through those changes.

Wehiwa Aloy is A-Okay with me! I like him a bunch.

Morgan or Assad to the 60 feels like what's coming down the pipeline. But I agree. There's nothing in the profile I can find interesting despite the arm slot change. I really like the arm slot change for Colin Rea. I don't think there will be similar results for Flexen.

Yeah, I want a few weeks of consistently good EV's. I think May 12th is my target day. If he's cruising at that point, it's when the schedule really eases up and the Cubs head home for a homestand.

My guess is that he's going to take a 40-man spot that will be vacated by Assad to the 60-Day IL. Cosgrove, who pitched last night, feels like the guy who gets optioned (akin to Holliwell the other day). Plan for Flexen is probably something around being the piggyback fallback for Ben Brown. But I really don't think there's success to be found. Ignore the ERA in Triple-A, and everything else is not good. A good amount of hard contact and a lack of ground balls against worse-than-MLB pitching. The Cubs have altered the armslot but unlike Colin Rea, I don't think they're going to find the same level of success. In their defense, if Brown needs a piggyback, it's probably because he isn't pitching well, so Flexen will be the "designated loser" more than someone thrust into an important game situation. I think in the end it won't be a major deal, they won't actually lose anyone, but I don't think Flexen is someone I'd really worry about opting out or not, myself. Here is Cosgrove's Triple-A statcast:

Yeah, saw that. Flexen sucks. The Cubs shouldn't feel the need to add him, regardless of the slot.

Per Jesse Rogers, the Cubs will select P Chris Flexen from Iowa today. This is not related to the Shota Imanaga cramp, and is related to his impending FA. Flexen is not on the 40-man, and the Cubs have a full 40-man so a corosponding move will have to happen

Per Jesse Rogers, the Cubs will call up Chris Flexen today. This has nothing to do with Shota, but that they had to call him up now or lose him. Frankly, I'd lose him. This is his Triple-A statcast page.