squally1313

I love Schwarber and Baez as much as anyone around here and have totally bought into investing on offense, but there is no way either of those guys brings back either Sale or Quintana without including another main piece. Sale and Quintana rank 5th and 8th in fWAR over the last three years (sandwiching Lester and Jake, for what it's worth), each making between 50% and 75% of what Mike Leake just got on the open market last year. While I do think we need to figure out another starter to slot in the rotation for multiple years, we may not line up well with them. If they trade them both off, they aren't going to hope to contend for at least a couple years, so getting players that already have their service clocks ticking might not be their ideal path. Let them raid Boston or LA's farm system and watch the attendance plummet.

Got to work around 12:00....started this thread around page 15. Between clicking on all the external links, watching all the videos, reading the articles, ordering the bobbleheads, I'm finally here. Incredible, unforgettable couple days/months/years. Look at that, 5:15, time to go home.

At redmonds. Internet is fucked. Love you all.

I'm sure 8 minutes will make all the difference. You'd think Fox would have loved the 19:08 narrative.

He's so fun to watch because (among obvious other things) you can follow along with where he's at in his approach so easily, just from his swings and how expressive he is. The last couple games he was taking those early pitches, hoping to get ahead, and you could see signs of frustration when he was passing up on middle in fastballs. And then he figured out the two strike approach on those curveballs, taking two back up the middle, so that's encouraging. His ability to just put contact on the ball and his speed is big. And then that last at-bat he got into a two strike count and they went shoulder high fastball, which was a great pitch given everything else, and he swung under it, but you could see him nodding to himself on the way back. I doubt we're getting all-star Javy back tonight, especially against the pitchers he's going to face, but I think the 0-4 with 4 Ks stretch is probably over.

If you want Ross in the game, why not start Hendricks (to keep him on routine) and Willson, then bring in Ross when Lester comes in for defense? Ross has crushed LHP this year as well. I guess just, if you're looking for some combo of Hendricks and Lester to get you 7 innings, if you start Hendricks and then bring in Lester/Ross after 5 or 6, then Contreras is done for the game. In a 9 inning game, it probably only means one more AB for Contreras over Ross, which, you're right, probably isn't worth screwing with the routine.

Please tell me why this is a dumb idea (and it can't just be 'because Ross is a better hitter than Contreras right now' because that's wrong): Start Lester, start Ross in the 9 hole. Pull them both either the first time Ross' spot comes up in the lineup for Contreras/Hendricks, or after 3, or whenever Lester puts a runner on after 2 or whatever. Like, I know conceptually this is dumb, but I'm having trouble putting it into words.

A preemptive horsefeathers off to Dave Cameron and all the other dumb ass writers (but especially Dave Cameron) writing about what a terrible 9-3 victory that was for the Cubs last night.

It's games 6-7 of the World Series. If there's ever a time for him to go back to back its now Yeah your arm better be dang near torn out of your body for you to not be available for freaking game 7 of the WS. At this point it's not a health issue, it's a 'do you want him doing something he hasn't done this year' issue.

I feel like for whatever reason, faking a bunt on the first pitch tends to lead to more 1-0 counts. Whether it distracts the pitcher, catcher, umpire, whatever, might not be a bad idea to get him ahead, especially if it ends up being something he can lay down the line.

I don't have a ton of faith in Jake tonight...there just isn't enough evidence over the last 3-4 months to make me think he can flip a switch. But he did have them very off balance in Game 2...if the Indians expand their zone trying to close this thing out, Jake should be alright. No guarantees though. However, whether by a dong attack or just smoking line drives all over the field, there is no reason we shouldn't tear into Tomlin early and often. If we have him on the ropes in the second or third, Francona will have to decide if he wants to go to Miller that early and leave Kluber on his own tomorrow, or serve up the soft part of the bullpen and let us continue to rake.

I know how much some of you guys dislike Cameron, but he just threw out another option I didn't see mentioned much....Lackey as reliever. http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/joe-maddons-other-relief-option-tonight/ Thoughts? Really a sign of how thin our pen has gotten when this doesn't seem like a terrible idea.

I'm not sure that hurts so much with Jake, as opposed to Hendricks or even Lester who loves that low outside corner to RHs. And frankly, if not calling a low strike means Bryant and Baez will stop fishing at low breaking balls, then I'm all for it. Throw a bunch of high curve balls to KB. Be my guest. Yeah, the Indians lefties thinking they may have to swing on that slider/cutter up and in on the hands would be a big advantage for us. And absolutely agreed on Tomlin trying to get a bunch of high strikes against pretty much all of this lineup.

This is part of it, but not the entirety of the issue. The worry isn't that the Cubs are going to take a bunch of curveballs for strikes, but that they're going to chase them out of the zone. It's more a worry for the back half of the lineup than the front half, and it's more of a worry the better a breaking pitch that you have. Tomlin's curve sits somewhere between Bauer's and Klubers on the quality scale, with more risk of him being like Bauer than upside to be like Kluber, especially on short rest. It's also good to remember that for all the hand wringing about Tomlin, in his outing where everything went right he still only went 4.2 IP. That's probably the best shot the Cubs have considering the Indians can pretty easily get 4-5 IP from Shaw/Miller/Allen, but the other half is still an opportunity. Shaw has given up 3 hits and 2 walks for a run in 3.2 IP. Miller has given up 5 baserunners(including a HR) and multiple lineouts in 5.1 IP. In a game where the Indians very easily might struggle to score 3, the Cubs don't need to bomb Tomlin into oblivion to have the upper hand. Yeah I'm not so worried about the Cubs taking curve balls for strikes as I am about them not doing much with the contact they make (lowest exit velocity or whatever). Also agreed on the rest of the game...Miller is obviously excellent (though him being left-handed and a fastball/slider guy lines up pretty well for us), and Allen is alright (though it's a down year), but Shaw doesn't do a whole lot for me, nor does Salazar at this point. He seems to have gotten away from Otero for some reason...he had a lot of success this year too. Let's hope the Indians come out looking like we did in Games 3 and 4 and are willing to chase Jake out of the zone. If West starts squeezing Tomlin, he's going to be in a lot of trouble.

I don't think we can argue that this isn't the biggest Cubs game of our lives as we've never been 2 wins from a championship before. This is what we've been waiting for our whole lives as Cubs fans. Yeah I agree with you...just wanted to add in 'arguably' in case someone tried to say that game 7 against the Marlins was more important. It wouldn't be a terrible argument, but I'll take tonight.

Putting out the Duke and/or TT signal to reassure me/yell at me about this whole curveball thing. I feel like the conversation over the past 24-36 hours is that it's really hard to throw a curveball for a strike, and so with someone like Bauer you just wait him out and put him in bad counts where he has to try and beat you with a fastball, and then you strike (as Bryant, Rizzo, etc did). That all makes sense. Tomlin doesn't walk people. Obviously, he gives up a ton of hard contact...does that just mean his breaking pitches aren't good, and therefore we don't need to worry about the Cubs struggling against them? I know, big picture, it's dumb to be worried about Josh Tomlin and his 4.80 FIP for any reason, but just want to be reassured for if he gets someone in the first on a curveball in the dirt.

It is November 1st. The Chicago Cubs will be playing baseball tonight. In arguably the most important game of any of our lives. Let's horsefeathering go.

I want November baseball.

Caught up through the last ten pages or so this morning. Favorite part was the dude calling for an all defense lineup that somehow didn't include Javy Baez. Ok. Heyward isn't catching that ball, and literally no one is scoring on Soler's fly ball. That thing started out like 15 rows deep. Go back through the playoffs and I guarantee every single person in the lineup has popped a ball up and half-assed it down the line. Should they have been busting it out in case the shortstop drops out? In a video game world, sure. In real life, that's just not how these things work. We should have scored against Tomlin, and eventually we're going to need to break through against the bullpen. Miller is great, the rest don't do much for me. Wish Maddon would be more like Francona with Chapman, but it is what it is at this point. Even with that, we're still the much better team. Hopefully that translates into winning three out of the next four.

No If we have guys on base I'd do it without a second thought. No

Prediction #1: Soler is going to biff a fly ball in this wind. Prediction #2: It's not going to horsefeathering matter.

People upset about Schwarber not being able to play the outfield reminded me of this clip Like 33 seconds in if it starts at the beginning. [bbvideo=560,315]https://youtu.be/ZFsOUbZ0Lr0?t=34s[/bbvideo]

Hate to be this guy, but I feel like Jake is definitely getting the better zone so far. I'll take it.

He'll be worse nobody knows this, and even if he is, will he still be better than Lackey? I'd say most likely yes They'd all be going on short rest. Game 2 is Wednesday, Game 5 is Saturday for Bauer. Game 3 is Friday, Game 6 is Tuesday. There are studies on this page showing that pitchers on short rest in the playoffs, typically aces, perform worse than the average pitcher starting on normal rest. Yes, there is no way to know for sure if that applies to Kluber. But I like our odds. Game 4 against Lackey, sure. Game 7 against Hendricks? After his last start, I'd maybe take Hendricks over a well rested Kluber, much less one on his second straight short start.

He'll be worse