Bertz
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Everything posted by Bertz
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I like Christian Franklin a lot. I tend to think he's going to be a long term bench guy here.
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Not the most fun lineup aside from Shaw. Hopefully there's a fun surprise or two on the reliever front. Horton for instance is about due to get into a game.
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Great article from Sharma about Kevin Alcantara this AM. Lots of good stuff but this stood out. Expect some stretches where Alcantara (and presumably at other times the other prospects?) are up basically just to hang out and get used to the big leagues.
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It would be great if playing in CF is easier for Seiya. I've always heard that if you have the high level of athleticism for the position, skill-wise it's the easiest spot on the field. And it's a good point about the lights that might add some Seiya-specific help. It might also just be that with his problems it doesn't matter where he plays. He has the speed, he has the arm, he's just kind of a putz out there and makes more mistakes than a typical OF. So if he's going to make an extra misplay or two every month and otherwise be a plus outfielder, then does it matter if those misplays occur in Right or Center or Left?
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Most of the Cubs lefties are starting the night game against Cole Ragans and it is very much not going how you'd expect
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They do need to add them I believe. I might be missing some nuance but basically - The team will have a normal 26 man roster for both games - There will be 5 guys in Japan in case a roster move is necessary (probably all relievers, maybe 4 relievers and Brujan) - There are three roster spots for guys who will stay in the US. This is basically a short term IL for guys in a situation like Nico who are good to go for late March but not mid March Assad will likely go on the regular IL. I believe Taillon/Boyd will be on the regular 26 man roster, and then those 5 extra guys in Japan will likely be dudes like Keegan Thompson just on the outside of the roster looking in.
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That was a dominant inning from Merryweather. If we could get him even like 80% of the way to 2023 form that'd be amazing
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Seiya Suzuki starting in CF today Him as the backup CF addresses a number of issues, hopefully he makes the best of this opportunity
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Split squad today. One game on TV, the other in front of Statcast
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Following up on this. Seiya Suzuki's been our best power hitter the last few years, especially in terms of power to all fields. He has topped out at 115.5 MPH, and he has 114 balls hit in the air at least 106 MPH the last three years. If you limit him to just balls in the air and to the opposite field, he tops out at 110.0 and only has 9 balls at/above 106. Ian Happ only has one such ball , and it was just over the threshold at 106.5. Kyle Tucker has none! Cristian Hernandez appears to have big boy power, he's a true shortstop and he just turned 21. Exciting stuff.
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Cristian Hernandez hit a 106 MPH triple. It went 360 feet to the opposite field on a line If he finally breaks out that's probably the funnest thing that could happen on the farm this year outside of Iowa.
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Wow, I knew his initial stint in the big leagues wasn't great but hadn't looked closely. Good lord
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Gage Workman just hit a 111 MPH dong off of Jack Leiter
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I don't know that I believe Busch is a better 3B than Turner, and I don't mean that as a compliment to Turner. I think the other thing worth considering is who is on the mound. Steele and Shota are expected to start the two games in Japan. With lefties on the mound, you expect more righties in the lineup and more balls pulled to the LF side. And Steele in oarticular is a heavy groundball pitcher. So even if you're comfortable with Michael Busch getting some runway outside of 1B, I think generally it would be would be 3B when someone like Taillon or Brown is starting, and 2B when someone like Shota or Boyd is pitching.
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He's young so it could change but there's not really any evidence Triantos has more power than Hoerner to this point.
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Ethan Roberts looked great, really wish this was a game where we were getting velo.
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The box score won't be kind to him but Wicks looks great IMO
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Happ/Tucker/Suzuki top 3 again. Starting to feel like we can lock that one in Unlike the last few times Swanson isn't cleanup, hes dropped to 5 with Busch in there. I wonder if we're looking at this for the default lineup Happ Tucker Suzuki Busch Swanson Hoerner PCA Amaya Shaw Really loads up the top of the lineup a la the Dodgers and Braves, and aside from Tucker (who doesn't have a problem with lefties) puts two righties front/back of every lefty.
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Hell yeah
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I also take Nico not traveling as a good sign. If he was going to miss like all of April I would think he'd just go ahead and travel with the team. Him staying back feels to me like it means domestic opening day is still the target and doesn't want to burn a few days of runway to that.
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I would say two things: 1. Fastball/changeup from a lefty is not generally a great combo in the pen. It's not unworkable, but it's not something that makes you go "this guy is built for short relief." I think most changeup lefties either have hefty velo or a funky arm slot 2. Wicks actually pitched relatively well last year before the oblique injury in June. He had a 4.18 ERA and a 3.79 xFIP and an above average strikeout rate. He was a hot mess in September, but I think there's some reasonable hope that getting him right physically will cure him I do think Wicks' performance might be a bit sensitive to how his velocity is doing, so in that sense a pen move would obviously help. But I think even then it'd likely look more like him being a 2-3 inning guy with a full assortment of pitches.
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His bullpen/sim game outing was Sunday I think? I would eyeball Friday or Saturday for him getting into a real game.
