*****Official Cubs 2024 Thread 🪦*****
- Thread starter QChawks
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- qcpizzasucks
He was up there, but I get giddy about a lot of long range prospects. Rojas is built to hit for power, but projects to stick at SS. And, due to his age I don't think he arrived in MB until mid season? You can't play in the US until you turn 18.
While I know you meant Crow-Armstrong, the kid is nowhere near ready for the bigs. Defensively, he can clearly make it but his plate discipline looks worse this year. I hope he isn’t pressing because he thinks he should be up.
And, outfield starts won’t be that plentiful this year. If things hold with Busch there is no reason to use Bellinger at 1B. PCA needs a full year at AAA. The bat just isn’t ready.
Edit: I’m not sure his base running is ready, either. He gets into trouble too much being aggressive. That works at AA and AAA, but not in the majors.
It sounds like Taillon will join the team and make a start in Arizona. He threw 68 pitches in his last start in Des Moines. I thought he’d make one more rehab start, but he must be feeling GTG. Hopefully Brown gets another start if he is ticketed to be demoted.
Thought I'd take a moment to give a shoutout to former Cubs farmhand Paul Blackburn, who has been the shining star within that black hole of an organization known as the A's. 3 starts with 19.1 shutout innings to start the season. It was tough giving up PB (with Vogel-bomb), but obviously Mike Montgomery was an important piece of the '16 WS puzzle. I hope he gets a chance to pitch for a competitive team someday.
This guy has not shown any indication of his hitting slowing down. I really think they're gonna have a hard time keeping him out of the Majors this summer. Would not surprise me at all to see him as our regular 3B sometime after the ASB, with Morel relegated to DH (nothing wrong with that, and despite his great defensive game last night).
Edit - K. Alcantara, on the other hand. Ouch! Hard to start a season 0-24 with 10 K and not let it get to your head. Hopefully he snaps out of it soon...
I really enjoy watching Javier Assad pitch. I hope the can find a way to keep him in the rotation.
As JD said during the broadcast, I forget against which hitter, he's getting better at pitching. He and Gomes worked a guy all over the zone. The stuff is not overpowering, but changing speeds and location is lethal. He also seems in control of himself. He doesn't get overly excited and lose focus.
Should have brought him back out in the 8th. He threw 2 pitches
Whew. Neris pitches around 3 walks.
Is Luke Little hurt? Well-rested lefty pitching well with a bunch of lefty batters coming up, and Counsell brings in a guy who pitched yesterday and hasn’t been able to find the strike zone all year? Thank goodness he was bailed out by the DP after walking the bases loaded.
Never a doubt! Neris really needs to get his shit together he’s been terrible. And also wondering like @MeetTheFerentzes where Little has been. I think he’s had one bad outing his entire career (obviously small sample).
For what it’s worth, Alcantara got off to a really bad start last season, too, before coming on really strong. His start is definitely worth watching and I wouldn’t dismiss it, but it’s also 24 PAs. If he was having a solid season and this stretch happened in June, we wouldn’t pay nearly as much attention to it.
It might be usage on a young guy, leverage, and that they fly to AZ tonight for 3 games, then start a set at Wrigley on Thursday. The Cubs are 5th highest in bullpen usage and I have a feeling they will shuttle another arm soon.
