Reds at Cubs game thread 4.20

In Game Threads by berselius108 Comments

Lineups for to-day

Reds

SS Zack Cozart

CF Drew Stubbs

1B Joey Votto

RF Jay Bruce

3B Scott Rolen

LF Chris Heisey

2B Willie Harris

C Devin Mesoraco

P Homer Bailey

Cubs

RF David Dejesus

2B Darwin Barney

SS Starlin Castro

1B Bryan LaHair

LF Alfonso Soriano

3B Ian Stewart

C Geovany Soto

CF Marlon Byrd

P Chris Volstad

 

Nice to see Bryan LaHair move into the cleanup spot, since he's probably the best hitter on the team (and has been the best so far).

As I noted in the series preview, Volstad's peripherals have actually been pretty good in his two starts. Hopefully the results regress to the peripherals.

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  24. mb21

    @ Nate:
    PECOTA had the 2006 Cubs at around 85 or 86 wins. Then Lee went down. Same with Wood and Prior. I never counted on those 2 for anything in 2006 so I thought PECOTA was nuts, but if those two were relatively healthy (and Lee) they probably were an 86-win team. This team? They’re just really really bad.

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  25. mb21

    @ josh:
    I’ve been saying since the Cubs acquired him that he’s nothing more than a replacement level starter. Volstad is obviously qualified for a rotation that includes Jeff Samardzija.

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  26. mb21

    @ Mercurial Outfielder:
    I think LaHair is the best hitter too. Not like it’s saying much. Castro will out-WAR him easily because of position, but as far as hitting goes my money is on LaHair to be at the top of the list in wOBA at the end of the season. I’ve got Soto next, but barely better than Castro.

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  29. Nate

    When does trade season heat up? I’m already tired of most of these players. Even Castro seems like all he can do is hit a ton of singles.

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  30. mb21

    berselius, shift+enter is a line break in the editor so you know.

    /nitpicking bastard who gets annoyed with unnecessary spaces. (dying laughing)

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  33. mb21

    @ Nate:
    There are some random rumors throughout the spring, but nothing with any legs until Junish. Usually late June at the earliest. By mid-July there will be a lot of rumors and by the final week of July it’s all we’ll read about.

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  41. mb21

    @ Berselius:
    You can ignore me. It’s just one of those things that stands out to me. This is coming from someone who doesn’t even edit 3/4 of his posts so you probably should ignore me.

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  45. Mercurial Outfielder

    mb21 wrote:

    This is coming from someone who doesn’t even 3/4 of his posts so you probably should ignore me.

    Indeed (dying laughing) (dying laughing) (dying laughing)

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  49. Mercurial Outfielder

    That’s an hittable pitch. If every umpire called that strike, no runs would be scored.

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  58. mb21

    @ Nate:
    F7 probably strikes out a few more than Volstad, but not that many. F7 will walk a lot more than Volstad and give up a lot more hits.

    As for Ian Stewart, it’s nice to see someone who can field 3B for a change. I’ll leave it at that.

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  59. Mish

    KG

    Anthony Rizzo, 1B, Cubs (Triple-A Iowa): 2-for-3, 2 HR (7), 2 R, 3 RBI, BB.

    Make no mistake about it, Rizzo is raking, as after last night’s big game he’s now at .393/.433/.786 in 14 games. Just as interesting are the scouting reports that indicate Rizzo has addressed some of the bad habits he got into with his swing last year. This has led to an outcry from all corners of the interwebs for Rizzo to be in the big leagues, and now. Two words: Calm down.

    1. It’s easy to forget what happened in 2011, when Rizzo had the best numbers in the minors and then turned into the National League’s version of Adam Dunn when summoned to the big leagues. The Cubs don’t want a repeat of that and don’t want to call up Rizzo until they are assured he can stay up for good.

    2. Calling him up is going to require a lot of deck chair re-arranging. Bryan LaHair is hitting quite well, and there’s nowhere to put him should the Cubs recall Rizzo (and no, the Cubs are not just going to release Alfonso Soriano).

    3. The Cubs are not going to complete for a playoff spot this year, so what’s the rush?

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  69. josh

    Hey! Keith is saying “Starleen” now with emphasis on “Star.” That’s an improvement over “Starling” with a clear ‘g.’

    That’s like winning a World Series for WGN radio.

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  70. Mish

    Didn’t know he was still around/alive; from HBT:

    The Office of the Commissioner of Baseball announced today that Los Angeles Dodgers Minor League pitcher Angel Guzman has received a 50-game suspension after a second violation of the Minor League Drug Prevention and Treatment Program for a drug of abuse.

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  76. Author
    Berselius

    Cubs runs today

    – S. Castro safe at first on left fielder C. Heisey’s fielding error, D. DeJesus scored, S. Castro to second
    – B. LaHair singled to shallow right, S. Castro scored
    – D. Barney grounded out to third, B. DeWitt scored
    – A. Soriano grounded out to shortstop, B. LaHair scored

    They just need to work in a GIDP run to round things out

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  78. mb21

    @ Nate:
    I don’t know, but probably a lot higher than a lot of people realize. If I was going to make a wild-ass guess I’d say there’s about a 15% chance that LaHair has a more productive MLB career than Rizzo. I’d also guess that he’s more than likely the better player right now. I’d say there’s about a 70% chance LaHair is more productive right now. What do you think?

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  86. Smokestack Lightning

    @ mb21:

    I say let’s find out right now. Bring him up, shift LaHair to a platoon in LF with Soriano. Say fuck all to the OF defense. It’s not there anyway.

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  87. ACT

    Wow, just looking at the Cubs’ batting lines for the year is depressing (with the exception of LaHair, and, to a lesser extent, Castro). Those are some ugly, ugly slash lines.

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  90. josh

    @ ACT:
    Yep. Well, they aren’t always going to be this bad. They’ll have a couple of good runs. The victories this season will be when they finally win a couple series in a row. It’ll feel like winning the division compared to the rest of the season.

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  92. mb21

    Smokestack Lightning wrote:

    I say let’s find out right now. Bring him up, shift LaHair to a platoon in LF with Soriano. Say fuck all to the OF defense. It’s not there anyway.

    I’m not against anything that sits Alfonso Soriano against right handed pitching.

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  95. mb21

    @ Rice Cube:
    It says drug of abuse so I’m assuming it’s cocaine or something like that. Isn’t a 2nd suspension for PED 100 games?

    According to Wiki these are the drugs of abuse in MLB’s drug policy:

    Drugs of abuse

    Cocaine
    LSD
    Marijuana
    Opiates (e.g., heroin, codeine, morphine)
    MDMA (“Ecstasy”)
    GHB
    Phencyclidine (“PCP”)

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  97. mb21

    Discipline
    Failure to comply with treatment program

    First failure to comply: 15 to 25 day suspension and/or a fine of up to $10,000
    Second failure to comply: 25 to 50 day suspension and/or a fine of up to $25,000
    Third failure to comply: 50 to 75 day suspension and/or a fine of up to $50,000
    Fourth failure to comply: minimum one year suspension and/or a fine of up to $100,000
    Any subsequent failure(s) to comply: The level of the discipline will be determined by the Office of the Commissioner, consistent with the concept of progressive discipline.

    All suspensions are without pay.
    [edit] Positive steroid test results

    First positive test result: 50 game suspension
    Second positive test result: 100 game suspension
    Third positive test result: lifetime ban from MLB

    All suspensions are without pay. In addition, a suspended player can be replaced on the active roster by another player. If a player is on the disabled list, the suspension is served while on the disabled list.
    [edit] Conviction for use of prohibited substances

    First offense: 15 to 30 day suspension and/or a fine of up to $10,000
    Second offense: 30 to 90 day suspension and/or a fine of up to $50,000
    Third offense: minimum one year suspension and/or a fine of up to $100,000
    Fourth offense: minimum two year suspension
    Any subsequent offense(s): The level of the discipline will be determined by the Office of the Commissioner, consistent with the concept of progressive discipline.

    All suspensions are without pay.

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  98. mb21

    @ ACT:
    Maine, Mather, Castillo. For that matter you could also include DeWitt, Baker and Barney, but that would totally fuck up the Cubs master plan of having as many shitty 2nd basemen as possible.

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  101. ACT

    Don’t know if this has been repeated here yet.

    Ryan Dempster ‘s start on Sunday questionable. Right quad strain. MRI today.DL possible.— Bruce Levine (@ESPNBruceLevine) April 20, 2012

    That’s unfortunate. His and Garza’s starts are the only Cubs games worth watching.

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  102. Pezcore

    @ mb21:
    He was just celebrating 4/20. Red Sawx better watch out, you know it all starts with chicken and beer and ends up with Weed and Coke. Testing on/near stoner christmas for recreational drugs is wrong.

    I’d be all for DFA’ing DeWitt and moving LaHair to Left. He’s hitting well enough.

    Bah, we could offer to pay his salary and throw in Josh Vitters to make some other team take adolfo. That nearly worked last time.

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  104. mb21

    @ ACT:
    I hadn’t heard about the possibility of the DL. That sucks. I agree, Garza and Dempster’s starts are the only games I’m inclined to watch.

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  105. mb21

    Mather should definitely go before any of the others, but I don’t really care if they get rid of all their 2nd baseman and just play without one. (dying laughing)

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