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squally1313

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Everything posted by squally1313

  1. squally1313
    Some Twitter searching isn't getting me much anywhere, how do I get a little more context without clicking a barstool link? Apparently the new thing for Barstool type people in the bleachers is making long piles of empty beer cups ("Cup Snakes"). Barstool started encouraging it, think they are selling shirts on it now. The bleacher security people have been pretty quick to try and shut it down (looking under seats, etc.), and between that and Barstool pushing it, it seems like it's just getting more prevalent. Anyways, Barstool Chicago published an article today with a (pretty terrible) email from Julian Green, head of marketing or whatever, basically threatening to pull all access/affiliation/etc (and even legal action) unless they stopped promoting it. Really, everyone involved is terrible. Edit: They also apparently fired some bleacher security guy who went on one of the podcasts to give some background on the Cubs position towards it all.
  2. squally1313
    Do we want to talk about Cubs vs Barstool? No? Alright cool.
  3. squally1313
    And we were already pretty good at it... [tweet] [/tweet]
  4. squally1313
    Eh, if not apples to oranges, apples to much higher quality apples. Javy was always going to be able to fall back on solid, if not elite defense, and he always showed the power that Happ has struggled to consistently display. Don't get me wrong, I thought it was a mistake to send him down to start the year...but I also thought he'd go down there and tear it up for a month or so and force his way back up. Even if he was pissed off for a couple weeks and let it affect his play...it's the middle of July and he's still showing a 95 wRC+ down there, even with this hot streak. It's been disappointing. When Javy spent much of 2015 in AAA, he put up a 144 wRC+.
  5. squally1313
    I'm more interested in having a potential Almora replacement since the trade market is pretty much lacking in any interesting CFers not named Starling Marte. I want one too, but Happ isn't it. This bizarro version of Almora (87 wRC+ vs RHP, 48 vs LHP), you're right. Happ had a 118 wRC against RHPs last year. That was what made the original move so surprising, was because they seemed like a solid enough platoon. But with the way things have played out this year (Almora flipping, Happ struggling all year)...not sure what the plan is.
  6. squally1313
    Additionally...Maldonado was always going to get traded to a contender. We got there first, and sorting the catchers on FG by defense, there isn't a whole out there in terms of non-prospects from non-contending teams. Looking at the non-contenders, you have Hedges, Posey, Danny Jansen, Alfaro, Carson Kelly all as prospects. Then you hit Maldanado. Then you get to Barnhart, Wolters, and Maile, who are all hitting as bad, if not worse, than Maldanado (without nearly the track record). Everyone wants the veteran backup catcher...we might have gotten the best one available. Which, I'm aware isn't saying much, but it's something.
  7. squally1313
    every bench player is already effectively a no hit catcher so why not get a real one? Agreed. We're only going to be about a month out from expanded rosters when Contreras comes back (if you're optimistic about his injury, which I'm not). For that month, Caratini becomes your top bat off the bench who you can use freely, instead of worrying about burning your backup catcher. Plus, as has been pointed out, we were one catcher injury away from putting Taylor Davis on a postseason roster (and there are no more August trades). This gives you flexibility on the injury, pinch hitting, trading Caratini, etc.
  8. squally1313
    Are you talking about Willson Contreras? The converted infielder who has been the primary catcher the past four years? You are disappointed they handed the keys to him, 4 years ago? Four years they've largely spent in 1st place and been among the best teams in baseball. That disappoints you? I don't really like him as a catcher and our pitching has degraded each year hes been our fulltime catcher. So, yes. He's had the keys. But they have an opportunity to hand those keys to a better defender. So I'll rephrase and say that I'll be disappointed if he retains those keys. Alright first off, let's throw out 'our pitching has degraded', because that's nonsense. Fairly positive he isn't responsible for Lester and Hendricks getting older, or Theo picking Yu over Jake, etc etc etc.
  9. squally1313
    I like how everyone glosses over the whole 'Just convert Contreras to an outfielder! He'll be fine!' thing too.
  10. squally1313
    Might have gotten mentioned elsewhere, but two home runs from Happ tonight.
  11. squally1313
    I’m fine letting some team dream on him being a starting caliber catcher and selling highish. He has a career 87 wRC+, he’s most likely a career backup. Steering clear of the whole Caratini/Happ discussion, but FWIW, here are the league average wRC+s for catchers the last few years: 2019: 88 2018: 84 2017: 89 2016: 87 2015: 85 Four more years of control on someone who has hit like an average catcher in a small sample size (and is showing a lot more this year in an even smaller sample size) isn't nothing. He may not work out with someone like the Giants given their catching situation, but I'm hoping he could bring back a reliable reliever.
  12. squally1313
    Eh. Maldonado > Descalso (also Russell, but that's a stretch). His presence on the bench means more PH opportunities for Vic or Willy. This could also be part 1 of a 2 part move, assuming Willy is healthy in a couple weeks. If there are teams that believe Caratini can be a starter, he becomes a pretty intriguing trade piece.
  13. squally1313
    We all love Zobrist, but I'm not sure how much he can help the team. He's 38 years old, was terrible early this season, and hasn't faced live ML pitching since he left. He might help inspirationally, but I'm not expecting much on the field. Hopefully he will prove me wrong. Counterpoint: Unless Robel Garcia is the real deal (which, given the K rate, I don't see it as anything more than a hot month that we should enjoy/take advantage of before the league stops throwing him fastballs), we throw out at least one complete zero in the line up on a daily basis. Zobrist didn't show much earlier this year, but I'll gladly take him over Russell/Descalso at second or Almora in the outfield.
  14. squally1313
    It should KB or Heyward. Robel is much closer to a Baez type hitter right now (and probably going forward).
  15. squally1313
    So what are the odds we get to see a 'perfect' lineup at any point this season. Obviously opinions differ, but right now I'd love to see Schwarber/Heyward/KB, Bote/Baez/Robel/Rizz and then Willy. Hopefully when Happ gets promoted in the next couple days, it's for Descalso or Russell. You'd think Robel has shown enough in his small sample size to not get sent back down.
  16. squally1313
    I would go with Russell. His ceiling was higher. It’s (highly) debatable that it would have worked out without the injury, but schwarber still having the ability to play catcher once or twice a week would have helped his value quite a bit. Schwarber has pretty much plateaued, which I don’t think anyone expected given how quickly he moved through the minors. Russell has gotten actively worse.
  17. squally1313
    Agreed on the first part, but where are you getting the second part? KB seems pretty solid against changeups this year, and over his career. https://www.fangraphs.com/leaders.aspx?pos=all&stats=bat&lg=all&qual=y&type=7&season=2019&month=0&season1=2019&ind=0&team=0&rost=0&age=0&filter=&players=0&startdate=2019-01-01&enddate=2019-12-31&sort=7,d I'll admit it's pretty anecdotal. I looked at those stats and it doesn't show up as an obvious effect. I *think* it's because he can hit the hell out of a B- changeup but suffers disproportionately as the quality improves, but I don't have rock solid evidence to back that up. I'm guessing you're probably right, but I'm not sure how much of that is a KB thing vs an everyone in baseball thing. Which goes back to your earlier point...opposing managers are going to make the move to get their top pitcher in against KB more often than they would someone at the bottom of the order. (Though that theory would imply he would see more plus pitches, and yet his numbers remain solid). It's been frustrating for sure, but still think it's mostly noise.
  18. squally1313
    Agreed on the first part, but where are you getting the second part? KB seems pretty solid against changeups this year, and over his career. https://www.fangraphs.com/leaders.aspx?pos=all&stats=bat&lg=all&qual=y&type=7&season=2019&month=0&season1=2019&ind=0&team=0&rost=0&age=0&filter=&players=0&startdate=2019-01-01&enddate=2019-12-31&sort=7,d
  19. squally1313
    It's actually worse than that. The players held a players only meeting on Monday (typically hitters and pitchers will meet in two groups before each series, this one was all together)....which led to the 18-5 game. Then Joe had his ASB meeting last night before the game...which led to this one. In the grand scheme of things, Joe's management of Monty this year is like 37th on my list of complaints. But it's getting incredibly frustrating how poor his decisions are in that area. Joe's management of the bullpen has been bad, but he's also had to deal with a really bad bullpen situation, personnel wise. His management of the position players has been similarly bad, but he's also been given zero bench. Why put Maples in the fourth inning the night after our bullpen got wrecked if you're going to have that short of a leash on him (groundout, walk, strikeout, single). And how many times does it have to be proven that Monty is not a loogy, has been much worse against lefties this year, and is much better coming in for a clean inning. It was a really bad decision that led to the game getting put away. And Theo deserves most of the blame for putting players of no value at the end of the bench. Joe deserves the blame for giving Russell essentially the same amount of PAs as Bote since Russell came back. Play your best players.
  20. squally1313
    I'm out of town through next weekend, but when I come back, I'll let you know and you can throw me on the list. Might as well sprinkle some...well, not optimism, but not overt pessimism into the mix.
  21. squally1313
    I think that was just Joe’s annual midseason team meeting unless I missed something Yeah it was like his annual “State of the Team” type thing he does every year going in to the break/half way point. It's actually worse than that. The players held a players only meeting on Monday (typically hitters and pitchers will meet in two groups before each series, this one was all together)....which led to the 18-5 game. Then Joe had his ASB meeting last night before the game...which led to this one. In the grand scheme of things, Joe's management of Monty this year is like 37th on my list of complaints. But it's getting incredibly frustrating how poor his decisions are in that area.
  22. squally1313
    Jesse got rightfully ratio'd to hell on this one, and honestly it made me even angrier to realize it was essentially 50/50. I was made thinking it was 65/35. And that's before all the other ways to get Bote in the line up.
  23. squally1313
    Remember when Randy Rosario was a terrible pitcher his entire minor league career, then drastically outperformed his peripherals for 22 whole innings in AAA last year (0.79/3.79/4.66), and then continued outperforming just long enough when he got called up to become a 'trusted' member of the bullpen, even though it was clear to anyone he remained terrible, and then he put up a 6.16 ERA and a 1.79 WHIP in the second half? Anyways, after he was terrible for the Cubs earlier this year, he's put up a 2.25/4.47/4.60 in AAA. So this should go well.
  24. squally1313
    This is actually a fitting typo. Autocorrect has gotten smart enough that when they detect 'Rosario' and 'no worries' in the same sentence, they assume it must be a typo of some sort.
  25. squally1313
    Bote had a rough June from a production standpoint. You can tie most of it to BABIP (.235), but that also follows a May where BABIP helped hide some pretty rough rate stats (30.5% K%, .378 BABIP). Additionally, his batted ball profile dropped off a little bit in June (hard hit by month: 42%, 45.8%, 29.6, although he posted his best LD% so I continue to be confused by those stats). Regardless, he should be playing a lot more than he is, especially given the garbage we're putting out there instead.
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