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#Post#: 388886--------------------------------------------------
Re: Cubs in '20
By: brjones Date: October 1, 2019, 8:50 am
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After his season, I bet Strop has trouble finding a job in this
market. I wouldn't be surprised to see him coming back for
something like Brach's contract late in the offseason.
#Post#: 388889--------------------------------------------------
Re: Cubs in '20
By: CUBluejays Date: October 1, 2019, 9:24 am
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[quote author=Ron link=topic=546.msg388866#msg388866
date=1569903803]
I think the Cubs would be fine with living with low contact
rates of Baez and Contreras if they had six other regulars with
good (reasonably hard) contact rates in the lineup. Rizzo and
(hopefully) Hoerner are a start. Maybe Heyward and Schwarber
would count? I look for the Cubs to try hard to get a CF (and
if they trade Bryant a 3B), and maybe a transitional 2B who fits
that bill.
[/quote]
If you look at MLB players with 400 PA, Baez was the 6th worst
contact percentage and Contreras was 21. Eloy is 17 and Soler
is 23 incase you where wondering.
The Astros only had 1 player sub 70% in Chirinos. The Dodgers
are closer to what the Cubs can be. The only sub 70% guys where
Negron, Garlick and Buehler. It is going to be hard to be a
better contact team with both Baez and Contreras getting that
much playing time, unless you are going to start fielding a team
of Rizzos.
#Post#: 388890--------------------------------------------------
Re: Cubs in '20
By: craig Date: October 1, 2019, 9:31 am
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Theo was very positive about Kimbrel going forward. Basically
hoped that with full off-season to get right physically,
combined with a normal spring training, Theo is ready to count
on him for next season. I can totally see how a proud
competitor would be really ashamed of how awful he was, and be
ultra motivated to try to be good again. Whether the "best
version of himself" at this point can actually be any good, time
will tell; hopefully he can be variably useful.
Re Kimbrel, and with Baez and Bryant, Theo said that none of
them need surgery, and that actually there isn't anybody on the
roster who will need surgery, to his knowledge.
#Post#: 388891--------------------------------------------------
Re: Cubs in '20
By: craig Date: October 1, 2019, 9:37 am
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I wonder with new manager and with those contact issues, whether
that won't mean the annual change in batting coach.
Last year, Chili was supposed to be better for situational and
opposite-field and not so all-or-nothing. Were the contact
rates equally bad last year as this?
I recall being surprised when Iapoce came over, that his
comments didn't talk a lot about mechanical stuff. He seemed
more of a cheer up, don't think too much, swing free; you were
a first round pick and a top prospect for a reason, just relax
and let your talent play out. That was in his comments in the
one or two interviews that I read. To some degree seemed pretty
consistent with Maddon's relax, don't practice too much, don't
stress too much, have fun psychology. Which obviously has a ton
of merit.
#Post#: 388892--------------------------------------------------
Re: Cubs in '20
By: JR Date: October 1, 2019, 9:44 am
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[quote author=dev link=topic=546.msg388884#msg388884
date=1569936771]
Brandon Morrow is a free agent now....<strains elbow>
[/quote]
Fixed that for ya, dev.
#Post#: 388894--------------------------------------------------
Re: Cubs in '20
By: craig Date: October 1, 2019, 9:50 am
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I'm an eternal optimist, but I'm hopeful that Schwarber's 2nd
half and season overall will not be too much fluke. I've always
thought he'd have a chance to put together a .250 season, and if
he ever did that HR's and numbers would follow. I think it's
possible that he might hit .250 again before his control
finishes, and with it the kind of slugging that accompanies it
for him.
I think over his career, he's been making a variety of
adjustments. How much to crouch or not; I think he made some
adjustment to stand a little straighter. Obviously going
opposite has been an emphasis; I think for a hunk of this year
that was to the extreme. Seemed like he was very committed to
popping to left; some of that got enough lift to carry out, lots
were easy flyouts. But my perception was that he was so
left-field oriented that he was NOT using the whole field and
was so weight-shift committed to aiming for left field that then
pitchers would work inside, or hang breaking balls that he
should drive to right, that he wasn't using the pull side or
taking advantage very consistently.
Seems to me that during the strong finish, his balance and
weight-shift was better, so that he was effectively pulling the
ball in addition to going opposite. So I'm hopeful that he's
kind of settled into a stance and a weight transfer balance that
is better for him, and that he'll be able to stick with.
Obviously he's going to be a hot-and-cold guy, good pitchers are
going to blitz him, lefties locating their stuff are going to
blitz him, and fastballs above the belt are going to blow
through his swing. So I'm not anticipating some .275-average
guy with a .950-OPS or anything to be sustainable. But his
composite .250-average .871OPS from this year, I wouldn't be
surprised if he didn't repeat that again, during a year in which
he stays healthy.
#Post#: 388895--------------------------------------------------
Re: Cubs in '20
By: craig Date: October 1, 2019, 9:58 am
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One of the "contact" questions is what the ball will be like.
This year, the ball was so juiced that anybody who could make
contact could hit HR's. (Tommy LaStella, etc..)
But I wonder if that won't immediately be corrected? Such that
what you want in the offense might shift somewhat? And perhaps
what works for a hitter might also shift some? Castellanos hit
27 HRs; will de-juiced ball make that 15, and a lot of his HR's
will be deep flyouts, and a lot of his doubles won't get over or
through the OF? Schwarber hit lots of high launch-angle flies
to left that just carried out? Will a bunch of those be routine
outs next year?
Hard to guess what the game will be once they make their annual
correction on the ball....
#Post#: 388896--------------------------------------------------
Re: Cubs in '20
By: CurtOne Date: October 1, 2019, 10:16 am
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Are you sure the powers that be will want to change the ball?
Owners connect offense to attendance. Chicks love the long
ball. Even the change in pitching rules (a reliever must face 3
hitters) is a double intentioned rule...shortens game time and
may result in more offense. They're toying with moving the
rubber back...why? To improve the pitching advantage? (Which
they may be doing unintentionally since pitches that break
nastiest are in the last 3 feet.)
#Post#: 388909--------------------------------------------------
Re: Cubs in '20
By: Ron Date: October 1, 2019, 11:47 am
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"What Theo Epstein is searching for in the next Cubs manager
(Hint: It’s David Ross)"
I'm hoping that Patrick Mooney did not come up with that
headline for his article on Theo's comments on the managerial
search during his press conference. While the article spends a
lot of time discussing Ross, it does not support the headline.
HTML https://theathletic.com/1256607/2019/10/01/what-theo-epstein-is-searching-for-in-the-next-cubs-manager-hint-its-david-ross/
#Post#: 388912--------------------------------------------------
Re: Cubs in '20
By: Bennett Date: October 1, 2019, 12:55 pm
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[quote author=CurtOne link=topic=546.msg388896#msg388896
date=1569942979]
Are you sure the powers that be will want to change the ball?
Owners connect offense to attendance. Chicks love the long
ball. Even the change in pitching rules (a reliever must face 3
hitters) is a double intentioned rule...shortens game time and
may result in more offense. They're toying with moving the
rubber back...why? To improve the pitching advantage? (Which
they may be doing unintentionally since pitches that break
nastiest are in the last 3 feet.)
[/quote]
Why not have three designated hitters instead of one?
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