Bertz
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Everything posted by Bertz
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Back on TV. I'd assume Poteet follows Wicks, but haven't seen that reported. Pressly and Palencia are good guesses to get into today's game as well.
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YMMV on whether this is a reasonable excuse but it looks like Marquee broadcasts every spring home game. Looks like most of the other big market teams are similar. And of course, like most things, the Dodgers appear to be the exception.
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Also do we think the Caissie deal that got squashed was Luzardo? We heard that got scuttled by medicals, but we (at least I) never stopped to think "Are we sure that it is Luzardo's health that's the issue?"
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Despite them having minor league options, I'd be surprised by Pearson or Morgan missing the opening day roster. I'm sure someone will go down to injury and make it moot, but right now I suspect Merryweather's roster spot is the warmest and provides the potential wiggle room for a Brad Keller to make the bullpen or a Brown/Wicks to push Colin Rea out of the rotation. Workman looks good. The defense jumps off the page immediately, and the power is clearly real. I could easily see him being a positive contributor through dongs and defense. Something akin to what Paul Dejong has turned into?
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No TV for today's game
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https://www.thelewsletter.lewispoll.is/p/the-case-for-leaving-the-starter This is really really really good. Empirical data behind the idea of the chad innings eaters
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Is Ivan Brethowr Worth Keeping an Eye on?
Bertz replied to Jason Ross's topic in Cubs Minor League Talk
I'm curious where he opens the year. I know he didn't do well at Myrtle to end the year but a lot of times guys are just gassed playing August/September baseball for more or less the first time. And as a bat-only prospect out of college he really should be too good for low A right from the jump if he's anything worth a damn. If he's at Myrtle much past Memorial Day that's probably a bad sign even if he's hitting well, and I'd feel better if he goes right to SB. -
Happ/Tucker/Suzuki/Swanson at the top of the batting order for the 2nd time in 3 days. I wonder if that's the real deal. Presumably would put Busch #5 and Hoerner #6 from there?
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Oh gosh, yes! Lemme fix that. SHOULD NOT be chronic
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Really good piece on Brown. Some things I thought interesting - Assad's injury, though minor, does probably already rule him out from the opening day rotation - Colin Rea still needs to fight off Brown and Wicks for that spot - Whether Chicago or Iowa, Brown is very likely to be a SP to open the year - Brown's neck injury wasn't a stress fracture, but instead an Osteoma (bone growth). So now that it's dealt with it should not be a chronic/recurring issue
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The Royals and Marlins both passing on a free outfielder speaks volumes.
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No, but Arizona Phil gets the benefit of the doubt on these things IMO. And we did get confirmation about Kilian, which is news Phil broke at the same time as the Alcantara extra option.
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As far as traditional numbers there's been research that say it's pretty strictly strikeouts and walks. So like with Michael Busch don't look at him hitting .500, but do notice the fact that he has gone 10 at bats without a strikeout and all his contact numbers are up as well. The pitch arsenals are harder to say. I would tend to pay a lot of attention to velo increases, especially if a guy's not getting hit around (i.e. he's not artificially throwing hard to try and make the team). New pitches I try to pump the brakes on. I bit hard on the "Jameson Taillon’s got a great new sweeper and he's going to level up now" narrative. I think even if a new pitch has great spin/movement you need to know that a guy's comfortable locating it and using it in games that matter.
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I had stopped paying attention by the time Scalzo was in the game, but his average velo was up 3 full MPH today it looks like. Some of that might be classification, in that he maybe had some AAA cutters get classified FBs and drag down his average. But the top end velo doesn't lie. The fastest pitch he threw in AAA last year was 95.6, today 10 of his 11 fastballs today were harder than that. Including topping 97 twice! Looks like he might be adding a sweeper too, but I'm gonna leave parsing that to the experts.
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95.9. Down a little bit from Thursday, where everyone's velo was up and you wonder if the gun was hot, but still very high for him. Interesting thing to me is that Sharma indicated Keller was being viewed as a SP, but pitched today on 3 days rest. I wonder if he's making enough of an impression to have a real chance at the MLB bullpen as a 2-3 inning guy instead of having to bide his time at Iowa?
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Brett Taylor brought up a really good point this AM that the amount of Ivan Brethowr we're seeing is probably meaningful. You expect to see the Iowa guys all over these games, you don't expect to see a Myrtle Beach guy, especially in like the 5th/6th inning. Given that he's not a Top 30 guy it's a soft sign that the org likes him a lot better than the public.
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104 the other way on a line. Gorgeous
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Brad Keller's velo still way up 👀
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This game is in front of Statcast, so yes! He averaged 95.4 today, down from 96.4 on average last year. I'd guess for it being February that's about where you'd want him to be.
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Ben Brown's alive!
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Amaya looks good. Him being close to his second half self for a full year would be huge.
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I don't know that he looks jacked enough for Soler? On the other hand the white pinstripes can be misleading on that front. And the long sleeves in temperate weather thing is very compelling.
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Spring Training Moves/Transactions Thread
Bertz replied to Outshined_One's topic in Chicago Cubs Talk
It's interesting to me that things have gone radio silent on adding another reliever after it sounded pretty inevitable ~10 days ago. Curious what happened. Some potential explanations? - There's not room in Jed's budget. It was always Turner or a reliever not Turner and a reliever - Julian Merryweather, the most plausible guy to get the boot in the event of another signing, looks great in camp - One or more of the young starters is looking great, which would push Rea to the bullpen - Jed's still got cash earmarked for a David Robertson, but wants to hold off until deeper into ST to make sure he doesn't need to reallocate that money to an emergency SP -
Spring Training Moves/Transactions Thread
Bertz replied to Outshined_One's topic in Chicago Cubs Talk
They probably simply re-sign Quintana but you do wonder about Dylan Cease -
No Marquee today but the team is on MLB.tv and the game has statcast coverage
