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Bertz

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Everything posted by Bertz

  1. Bertz
    I'd believe anything with Kimbrel. His velocity and his spin are both down, but not by a crazy amount. So I'd believe a minor mechanical issue will at some point have him right as rain. I also saw some screengrabs where his glove is not up as high as it used to be. Could simply be that hitters are seeing the ball out of his hand way early? Add a little bit of deception back in, and maybe he's at least back to 2018 Kimbrel? At the same time, he appears to have literally no command. He's the rare occurrence of control but not command. He can throw strikes, but they're all right down the middle. Anytime he tries to finesse a pitch at all it goes wild. I haven't seen this since late career Dontrelle Willis. It seems very much like a "he's irreparably broken" sort of thing. So yeah, I just hope that the offense keeps going nuts and giving us 5+ run leads for him to work with while they figure it out.
  2. Bertz
    Really glad that Mills is showing to be an adequate back-end guy. Assuming the team doesn't pick up Lester's option, there's three rotation spots opening up next year. And given everything going on, there's no way PTR is going to give the FO the resources needed to fill all three externally. If Mills continues to show he can be a cromulent back-end guy, that helps immensely with planning for next season. Especially since the minors got axed this year, we're not sure who if anyone from the Iowa staff will be worth giving a spot to next year. If Mills keeps this up we can have him be the initial #5 guy, and still hope that Abbott or somebody supplants him mid-year.
  3. Bertz
    He has to be the best ever at tagging runners. I've literally seen nothing like it He definitely is. Also a big change considering prior to him we had Stsrlin, who was a huge dufus at tagging
  4. Bertz
    Javy Tag!
  5. Bertz
    His velo was up a tick from last outing, so that's something...I guess?
  6. Bertz
    Ross better still bring in Kimbrel. He needs and work and has not earned that "only in save situations" primadonna horsefeathers
  7. Bertz
    Contract the Marlins
  8. Bertz
    That definitely was the plan and over 162 things probably would’ve been sorted out with a few arms internally and 1-3 acquired arms that a solid pen is formed. In 60 games/not having a full spring, it’s tough and basically impossible to go with that plan unless a few guys just catch heaters. Wonder what a trade deadline is going to look like, gonna assume it's not much with over half the league making the playoffs. Even the Marlins might not be out by then given their week off here. It's going to be weird. I imagine there will be a good bit of activity, but very little money changing hands. Also, unless the expanded Arizona Fall League is able to move forward, any notable prospects traded will have to be players to be named later. Pro scouts aren't allowed to attend the alternate sites, so teams would have to be comfortable seeing on video and via statcast if prospects they liked pre-pandemic still have the qualities they like today.
  9. Bertz
    In low leverage spots like this you try your high upside guys to see if they're a thing. Maples and Winkler each 100% need to be a part of this game. If Kimbrel is recovered from Monday he does too, if not you probably give Norwood his last chance to make a good impression.
  10. Bertz
    I was thinking this as well. I have really liked the 30 man roster when combined with the 3 batter minimum. We're seeing teams have real benches again, and because of the three batter rule there hasn't been a stupid number of relievers. Maybe 28 is better, to make sure there is still incentive to have starters regularly go 5+, but I just generally like the expanded roster.
  11. Bertz
    So, in addition to the Cubs now being in first place, because they've played the Brewers and Reds while the other three contenders have all had series against the Pirates or Tigers, the Cubs now have the easiest remaining strength of schedule per Fangraphs. It's not a huge difference, looks like about a quarter of a win over 55 games, but with such tight margins it matters. The Cubs now project as a .545 win % team versus .535 at the start of the season (an 88 win team versus an 87). That's partly performance so far and partly partly the schedule.
  12. Bertz
    Looks like the outbreak is thankfully contained to the Marlins. I think this speaks to the fact that the game itself between the lines actually lends itself pretty well to preventing spread
  13. Bertz
  14. Bertz
    The Padres are super fun. They've been my west coast MLB.tv team in the early going this year
  15. Bertz
    Yup. Also this I consider this a good process bad results kinda night for the pen.
  16. Bertz
    Holy horsefeathers that was dominant
  17. Bertz
    That puts a lot of pressure on Carlos Martinez in the rotation. Something he hasn't done in nearly two years to the day, and something he hasn't been particularlu good at since 2017
  18. Bertz
  19. Bertz
    I'll be honest, I'm not too worried about the non-Kimbrel parts of the pen. This period was always going to involve feeling out which of the ~15 guys fighting for a pen spot were indeed worth a damn. We've gotten some indication on the bad end (Norwood is trash, Underwood probably is as well) and on the good (Brothers, Maples, and Tepera all looked good). I think you can get by the next week or two by leaning on Wick/Ryan/Jeffress and whichever guys have looked good thus far while you continue sorting things out. Kimbrel though... horsefeathersing yikes. You can't put him in a high leverage game right now. Hopefully it's rust. Last year he seemed to be finding it right before he had the leg injury. Focus on getting him into a game every 2-3 days just to get work in right now, and hope he justifies giving him high leverage work again soon.
  20. Bertz
    This is pretty much why he was able to be had for an (admittedly fun) reliever. Sucks for the guy though. I feel like his game 1 of the World Series was some of the most impressive stuff I've ever seen.
  21. Bertz
    Contract the Marlins
  22. Bertz
    This should be the benefit to the way they aligned the schedule this year. You have to certainly think about doing that for the East, but the Central and West shouldn't really be affected. This does show why it was so dumb for the owners to bleed so much time. The season should have had more off days, not fewer. Build in a mini ASB, in case an entire series has to be postponed.
  23. Bertz
    I love having 2 switch hitters in the lineup. Really helps with matchups later in the game, especially with the 3 batter rule. Those last 4 can be LLLL or LRLR depending on the pitcher Yeah I love it. I think I want this as the semi-permanent lineup. Let Souza spell Heyward a good bit, and obviously lots of Nico, but give me this most days.
  24. Bertz
    Burnes has massive L/R splits, so good on Rossy here
  25. Bertz
    Man what a relief to have Yelich be at worst the tying run
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