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squally1313

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Everything posted by squally1313

  1. squally1313
    Are you me
  2. squally1313
    Alec Mills erasure
  3. squally1313
    The Cubs averaging 5 runs a game in the Giants series, after averaging 5.3 runs a game in the Brewers series, after averaging 6.6 runs a game in the Pirates series, is technically yes trending down, but not at all portending a 'slump'. 5 runs a game gets you 810 over a season which would have been fourth in baseball last year. We were hitting at a borderline historic pace for the first month or so of the year (123 wRC, which would have been second best of any single season team in baseball since 2020). It's coming down to 'just' being a really good offense and we're having grouping/timing issues. It happens. To 1908's point: it's absolutely going to get worse than this. And that's fine, we had a really strong start and we have a really good opportunity coming out of the Mets series to pad the record (Miami, CWS, Miami, Cincy maybe without Hunter Greene, Colorado, Cincy, Washington). We need a starter, maybe two, and we need Shaw to provide some consistency at third (even if it's not a bunch of excess production). But I think the offense alone gets us to 85 wins and I think that probably is enough to win the division, so we have some cushion to identify the needs and the best solutions to optimize getting beyond just a playoff appearance.
  4. squally1313
    PHers have a wRC of 133 this year. In a DH world where you're limited to four bench bats, having a starter level bat (which Turner was, to be fair) isn't something that is a Cubs specific problem. It's the pitching. It was the pitching going into this year, and it's even more the pitching now in a post Steele world. We're second in offensive fWAR and 16th in pitching.
  5. squally1313
    Cubs Pitchers Throwing Less Than 20 Pitches In An Inning Challenge, Impossible
  6. squally1313
  7. squally1313
    Let Pomeranz start the 7th, Merryweather if there are any guys on once they get past Lee, hope that that and Hodge get you through 9. Could see Counsell waving the white flag if there are any more runs scored (kinda think he was half doing that with Flexen last night), but also not totally sure who the white flag pitcher is at this point.
  8. squally1313
    I'm team Keep Turner For Now, but I'd imagine it's a little harder to fight your way out of those slumps at one or two starts per week plus PH spots. But maybe I'm overthinking it/just playing devils advocate again.
  9. squally1313
    Stop walking the lead off guy. We're going to need at least 4 innings out of....Merryweather and someone?
  10. squally1313
    Correct. His Mom grew up in Alabama, which, I guess, but PCA spent the formative years of his life with his parents both starring on Heroes, which I can't imagine would be a very redneck-y lifestyle.
  11. squally1313
    10 innings in a row without an earned run going into last night. I mean, you might be right, you simply aren't going to be effective with this K rate. But it's 14 innings vs like 7 years of being a good to great reliever. And again, right now it's not 'is he going to be a good closer at any point this season'....it's 'is he more likely to turn into an effective contributor than Hollowell/Roberts/etc' with the added caveat that we get to keep those guys in the minors as future options whereas we don't get to keep Pressly. The money is spent, we can and should judge the signing, especially coming off Neris the year before and the general shortage of pitching we currently have. But that's a different decision than what we should do now.
  12. squally1313
    He has rich kid dbag vibes. The redneck squad is Brown, Steele, and Pressly.
  13. squally1313
    You thought the kid who grew up in southern california to two successful actors who went to a high school that cost $50k a year is a redneck?
  14. squally1313
    If we all agree to stop calling him the closer and instead call him the 7th man out of the pen, are you more ok with him sticking around a while longer?
  15. squally1313
    Going to really need a nice, long outing from Brown today. If we're trying to avoid relievers going three appearances in four days, you're already down Palencia, Thielbar, and Pomeranz, and would expect we're not going to see Pressly. Merryweather can go, Hodge and Keller pitched yesterday but could most likely go, Hollowell pitched over 30 on Monday but not last night so probably, and not sure if Flexen can go back to back like this. Brown looked great last time out, another one would be great. Otherwise it might get ugly.
  16. squally1313
    Yeah I mean, he might just suck! If he's hurt to the extent that they can only use him once a week and he hasn't effective before this, you'd think they would have gone down the IL route by now. The human element plays into it a little bit, he's had a long successful career these guys by nature have to be super confident in their abilities and would (maybe!) be hesitant to taking what he thinks is a phantom IL stint, especially after going a month without giving up an earned run. And if he's actually healthy, just bad, you probably don't want to set the precedent of abusing the phantom IL route, especially with a veteran player. Actually healthy/bad becomes where I think we've ended up, which is him being at the bottom of the totem pole but them making a calculated decision that he's at least somewhat likely to right the ship (or at least taking that chance outweighs the value of giving those minimal innings to Roberts/Hollowell in Chicago at maybe improved performance and benefit to their development).
  17. squally1313
    He was the sixth pitcher out of the bullpen last night. He had pitched twice in the last two weeks before last night, and the last time was the 9th inning of an 8-3 game. Before that was last Sunday. If you want to imply that Counsell trusts him in high leverage spots, why wasn't he pitching the ninth?
  18. squally1313
    Man, really don’t like this current set up of having Rea and Brown go back to back. And that’s after having to be cautious with Boyd. We need some innings
  19. squally1313
    In a hypothetical world where counsell rigidly adheres to the concept of A Closer, he should have still been pitching him more than he has to keep him fresh, and by definition he wouldn’t have pitched last night in a non-save spot. In the closer to reality world where counsell leans on the guys he trusts to throw more innings than the guys he doesn’t, it’s pretty obvious where pressly fell in the pecking order even before last night.
  20. squally1313
    This is nowhere close to that game, in my opinion. We came back in the 9th and then we didn't score in two ghost runner innings (though I don't begrudge them too much for mailing it in in the 11th). We peaked at 84% to win when PCA had second and third and one out. The 3/30 DBacks game had us at 96.1% when Tucker homered in the 8th to put us up 4.
  21. squally1313
    Generally agreed. The sample sizes are so small for a short reliever that it's tough to like, map out a path to reliability. It's not like he's a starter who can go face 40 AAA hitters in a week. Edit: This is where you have to hope the pitching brain trust can identify the flaw and be able to track improvement outside of the outcomes of actual ABs. They clearly haven't figured out how to get swings and misses yet. A soft reset is probably the next attempt at a solution.
  22. squally1313
    I think you got to give Counsell a little more credit than that. He's not the type to rigidly stick to defined roles like that, and even if he was, A. it's not good practice for someone as important as your Closer to pitch 2 innings in 2 weeks, and B. as mentioned earlier, why did Hodge get the 9th against the middle of the lineup and not Pressly? Because it wasn't a save opp? And if so, then why did he pitch the 10th?
  23. squally1313
    In the last two weeks, Keller, Palencia, Hodge, Merryweather, and Thielbar all have 5 appearances. Pomeranz has 4. Pressly has 2.
  24. squally1313
    a. I dont know! b. Pitching better, if not 'well' in low leverage spots is a good sign?
  25. squally1313
    'Was this a bad pickup' and 'should we cut/banish him forever' are two different conversations. He's here, and we can either hide him (which we've been doing pretty successfully) or lose him. In my mind, the other options aren't better.
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