*****Official Cubs 2019 thread*****
- Thread starter QChawks
- Start date
Guys,
When all is said and done, I am convinced that Yu Darvish may end up being one of my all-time least favorite Cubs. The new pitching coach said that he felt Yu was not very focused for his start yesterday, in part due to going against his old team in his formerly home ballpark.
This is Major League Baseball and you're being paid $21M this year to have laser focus every 5th ballgame.
He is such a headcase.
When all is said and done, I am convinced that Yu Darvish may end up being one of my all-time least favorite Cubs. The new pitching coach said that he felt Yu was not very focused for his start yesterday, in part due to going against his old team in his formerly home ballpark.
This is Major League Baseball and you're being paid $21M this year to have laser focus every 5th ballgame.
He is such a headcase.
He’s always had good velocity. He just has no control.
He and Darvish are both serious head cases.
Interesting theory on the Score this morning that Maddon going to Quintana on Saturday was a middle finger to Theo. I’m not entirely too sure about that. It could be just that with off days it made sense to throw Quintana for an extended relief appearance.
Let’s review...
Arguably, the 2 biggest question marks going into this season—Darvish and the pen—may have already been answered.
I’m hoping there’s still a chance for Darvish to be a solid starter. I feel like he was nibbling WAY too much yesterday and the ump just wasn’t giving it to him. But if this is a sign of things to come... woof. Velocity was also down—yikes.
The pen, on the other hand, is a massive problem. Fans were worried going into the season, and for good reason. Remember late last season? The only trustworthy guys in the pen were a one-legged Pedro Strop and Jessie Chavez. The pen needed to be rebuilt and they did NOTHING. Cishek is good, but he will be overused again and have nothing left after the first half. They needed to bring in a big-time closer (hello, Kimbrel) and at least 2-3 brand new arms, including a lefty power arm.
This pen is garbage. Bring up Maples and Underwood now and see what they can do. The offense will need to score 10+ a game. The Brewers and their stellar bullpen are about to add Kimbrel. Cubs will not make the playoffs this season.
Arguably, the 2 biggest question marks going into this season—Darvish and the pen—may have already been answered.
I’m hoping there’s still a chance for Darvish to be a solid starter. I feel like he was nibbling WAY too much yesterday and the ump just wasn’t giving it to him. But if this is a sign of things to come... woof. Velocity was also down—yikes.
The pen, on the other hand, is a massive problem. Fans were worried going into the season, and for good reason. Remember late last season? The only trustworthy guys in the pen were a one-legged Pedro Strop and Jessie Chavez. The pen needed to be rebuilt and they did NOTHING. Cishek is good, but he will be overused again and have nothing left after the first half. They needed to bring in a big-time closer (hello, Kimbrel) and at least 2-3 brand new arms, including a lefty power arm.
This pen is garbage. Bring up Maples and Underwood now and see what they can do. The offense will need to score 10+ a game. The Brewers and their stellar bullpen are about to add Kimbrel. Cubs will not make the playoffs this season.
Why would this use of Quintana be a middle finger to Theo? Are they theorizing this is about Joe's contract?
Hopefully the pen just needs a little time getting into form. Same with Darvish. You gotta think if the offense is going to be like this, the pen would just need to be decent to give the Cubs a chance to outscore you.
Maples is terrible. The "stuff" is great, but no batter should intend to swing against him.
This front office took over in 2012 and still haven't produced a decent pitcher that's been drafted/signed as an amateur.
Hate to say it, but I have to agree with you. Ill admit that I did believe he could turn it around and be a serviceable starter this year but I have my doubts now. I know it was only one game but if you cant stay focused to pitch against the Rangers in March, how bad will he be throwing at Wrigley in the thick of a pennant race? The media and fans will eat him up.
Offense looked great, though. But as others ha e said, not going to score that many runs against legit playoff teams.
It's the first series, relax.
Good news is that the pen isn't giving any false hope right now, it obviously needs to be addressed, and we have all season to tinker with it and get it fixed.
The day the Cubs signed Yu Darvish I was like "Ugh." This is going to go bad and might just be the single biggest blunder and will be the nail that hammers the window shut. Yeah, Heyward's contract is bad, but JeyHay helped to win a WS, and he at least brings something to the table with his defense, and the guy actually got some hits this weekend. Darvish is going to be a complete black hole, and we're stuck with him.
Good news is that the pen isn't giving any false hope right now, it obviously needs to be addressed, and we have all season to tinker with it and get it fixed.
The day the Cubs signed Yu Darvish I was like "Ugh." This is going to go bad and might just be the single biggest blunder and will be the nail that hammers the window shut. Yeah, Heyward's contract is bad, but JeyHay helped to win a WS, and he at least brings something to the table with his defense, and the guy actually got some hits this weekend. Darvish is going to be a complete black hole, and we're stuck with him.
Theo did an absolutely terrible job surrounding the Cubs core with good free agent signings. The Darvish, Heyward, Morrow, and Chatwood contracts killed any hopes of a dynasty.
unfortunately we wont be seeing the rangers pitching staff every game too.
Heyward at least brings SOMETHING to the table. No, he's not worth the contract value, but he'll at least make some plays in the outfield, has had some key hits here and there, etc. The pitching signings are absolute black holes, you can't even put those guys on the mound because they will torch it. At least you can "hide" Heyward and he'll maybe contribute something. Those pitchers, nope, gas cans and Bic lighters, flaming all over the place.
For the most part I am serious, I'm overreacting but I have pretty low expectations for this year. I just feel like there's no way this season doesn't end without Joe getting pushed out which I think is a terrible move. I also don't think we have the pitching to compete for a championship this year.
I thought it was a good move, with their days off it works out to just a throw day for him anyway and saved the bullpen from being burned up.
Honestly, if that's the case, that's stupid and childish and maybe the Cubs move on from Maddon early in the season.
That said, it was likely Q's throw day anyway and they needed to eat some innings and get Q some work.
We do have to remember sample size. While it's been two days in a row, we're still talking about 1 Darvish start and 2 bad pen performances. I want to see what Darvish does across his first few starts, as I never expected him to roll out with 30 quality starts. Ditto the pen. There are going to be times during the season where the pen struggles over the course of a weekend.
I'll say the same for the offense. I like what I see so far in terms of aggressiveness, turning the lineup over and power, but it's been 3 games. Last year's team had plenty of 3-game hot runs. It's too early in the season so far to draw any clear conclusions.
Extending the championship window was always going to depend upon their ability to augment their increasingly expensive young position core with cost-controlled young pitching.
This front office has been as bad at pitching development as they have been good at assembling hitting talent.
I agree that Theo will scapegoat Joe if the season does not work out, which would be a poor choice. His buddy Jason McLeod should be the first to go.
This pen is hot garbage and everyone knows it. We have a multiple year sample size
Their bullpen was one of the best in the majors last year by about any possible metric.
But I do agree that it may struggle this year, I thought Maddon did an amazing job handling the bullpen last year, but It was a tightrope act that I don’t think they can repeat.
By amazing job you mean wearing down Cisek and Strop and not listening to the Front Office on Morrow, then yes he did a great job. Last two years the bullpen has been spent by August.
Edwards is a head case who collapses every season, Chatwood sucks, Montgomery has no desire to pitch out of the pen, Brach almost failed his physical
Opening day this year was a perfect example. We are up 8 and he goes to Strop.
As already stated, they were very good last year by basically every metric.
Strop’s two best months by WHIP were Aug and Sep last year, although in only a few innings in Sep. He pulled a hamstring, he showed no signs of wearing down before that. So good try bud.
Also if the front office gives you a closer that can’t go in back to back games, and you don’t want him to throw Strop and Cisek and you have the worst starting pitching in the NL by WAR in the first half of the season, who exactly do you want him to pitch? Caratini?
Who had Strop hitting last year, bud?
You say they had the best bullpen by any metric last year but Morrow, Strop, Cisek and Caratini are the only options? You just proved my point. There bullpen wasnt good. They had guys who had good individual months.
no response. Best bullpen in baseball has caratini as their #4 guy. Makes sense clown
He said statistically they were the best. There is a difference between having the best and putting up the numbers. The fact Joe was able to get the numbers he did out of that group speaks to the fantastic job he did in managing that group.
It wasn't the pen or the pitching that let us down in the stretch run, it was the complete lack of offense in the second half of the season.
It wasn't the pen or the pitching that let us down in the stretch run, it was the complete lack of offense in the second half of the season.
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