Cubs 12, Rangers 4

In Uncategorized by berselius73 Comments

OSS: Cubs bats come alive, win comfortably in season opener

Three up:

  1. Javy Baez homered twice, and drove in four runs. Not a bad start for last year’s MVP runner-up. Perhaps more importantly, he also worked a full count in his first PA. The dude seems like he is picking up where he left off last year.
  2. The Cubs overall drew 8 walks on the day, and all nine starters got on base at least once, as well as at least one R+RBI. Definitely a team effort all around, even if Javy led the show.
  3. Jon Lester was credible today, giving up four hits and two walks (and one homer) for two runs. He only struck out three, but I guess this is the pitcher that he is now.

Three down:

  1. Not much to complain about here, other than the fact that apparently a ten run lead wasn’t enough for a Tyler Chatwood appearance. I guess tomorrow is an off day, but it’s still a little strange to see Strop make an appearance here.
  2. Mark Zagunis wins the prize for most negative WPA play on the day, a double play in a tie game in the third inning.
  3. He didn’t win the overall negative WPA crown of the day though, which went to Albert Almora. I don’t mind seeing him lead off against a LHP, but he struck out twice against Minor, who is a guy he should crush.

Next up: An off day tomorrow, then the series resumes on Saturday at 7:05 PM CT, when Yu Darvish takes on Edinson Volquez.


Share this Post

Comments

  1. Smokestack Lightning

    GW: If you think what the Dodgers have been doing is maintaining success by throwing money around, then you haven’t been paying attention. Their best offensive player since Friedman arrived was acquired in a salary dump. They have also made it policy never to trade their best prospects. They certainly have had opportunities to do so (and needs to fill), which is why I brought up the hypothetical divergent path with the Cubs.

    I didn’t say all they do is throw money around. That’s an uncharitable misread of my point.

    Forget it. I apologize for disagreeing with you. Friedman is a very good executive. We agree on that, we just prefer different superlatives when describing him. You think he’s transformative? Cool, man. Roll with that. I won’t bother you anymore about it.

      Quote  Reply

    0

    0
  2. dmick89

    Perkins,

    I hate them. It’s even worse when it happens in back to back weeks (home and away). You only get so many off days in the season and to have them wasted so early pisses me off.

      Quote  Reply

    0

    0
  3. Author
    berselius

    SK,

    It’s nice of the team to generate content for us, if only the front office would do the same in the offseason.

      Quote  Reply

    0

    0
  4. GW

    Smokestack Lightning: I didn’t say all they do is throw money around. That’s an uncharitable misread of my point.

    Sorry, I guess I don’t understand it then. I have a hard time seeing a team that cut payroll by over 100 million as leveraging its “virtually unlimited resources.”

      Quote  Reply

    0

    0
  5. andcounting

    dmick89,

    You have to wonder how many people who plan to attend a home opener actually could attend a game rescheduled for the very next day. It can’t be that many.

      Quote  Reply

    0

    0
  6. EnricoPallazzo

    Myles:
    My favorite part of this podcast is the complete no sell when I tried to mumble my way through a Tyler Chatwood missing his target driving the bullpen cart joke.

    finally got around to listening. this part was so much better/more awkward than i had hoped.

      Quote  Reply

    0

    0
  7. Smokestack Lightning

    GW: Sorry, I guess I don’t understand it then.I have a hard time seeing a team that cut payroll by over 100 million as leveraging its “virtually unlimited resources.”

    The context of my original post should have been clear that resources refers to more than just payroll (it seems it wasn’t, so I apologize). It’s the systems already in place when he got there. It’s the high-quality people already working there. It’s the roster that’s already good. It’s the farm system that’s already in the top 5. Friedman didn’t walk into a disaster zone when he joined the Dodgers, but a pretty strong situation he was expected to keep that way. He didn’t have to come in and clear out the rubble and build everything up from scratch. He didn’t have to write a fucking manual about how to play baseball right. The Dodgers have enjoyed sustained success for a long time now, well before Friedman got there. It was already the norm in LA. AF has kept it going in a much more efficient manner, absolutely, which is why he was brought in. But imo he is at minimum an equal beneficiary of being a part of the Dodger machine as vice versa, and imo that takes what he’s done out of the realm of transformative. He hasn’t come in and raised the dead. He’s taken a generally healthy patient and kept them healthy. And minus the resources and infrastructure, as his last year in Tampa illustrates, even someone as good and smart as he is can’t keep success going forever.

    Again, he is one of the best in the biz. Any team in baseball would be lucky to have him.

      Quote  Reply

    1

    0
  8. dmick89

    Smokestack Lightning,

    I think the biggest difference between the two has been the focus the minor leagues. At some point Thoyer stopped focusing on that and I’m not going to complain too much since we won a World Series, but it is frustrating to now see the Cubs minor league system almost as bad as it was when they took over. There is no way for this team to get better without spending a shitload of money, which was the same position Hendry was in when he was fired. The difference in talent between executives has narrowed as we talked about, but it’s still disappointing to see this organization’s future in nearly the same point as it was back in 2009.

      Quote  Reply

    1

    0
  9. Myles

    dmick89:
    Smokestack Lightning,

    I think the biggest difference between the two has been the focus the minor leagues. At some point Thoyer stopped focusing on that and I’m not going to complain too much since we won a World Series, but it is frustrating to now see the Cubs minor league system almost as bad as it was when they took over. There is no way for this team to get better without spending a shitload of money, which was the same position Hendry was in when he was fired. The difference in talent between executives has narrowed as we talked about, but it’s still disappointing to see this organization’s future in nearly the same point as it was back in 2009.

    I wouldn’t say there is no way, but it’s fair to say it isn’t likely. You can unearth prospects in the late 1st round, and if you are lucky and/or good, you can find the Max Muncys and Justin Turners of the world. Friedman continually has a great farm because his additions don’t cost prospects. Thoyer spend the prospects and have not really shown an ability to develop them. They have been Reds-level at developing pitching since they’ve been here. Literally zero of the pitchers on the 25-man roster were drafted by the Cubs. 0! That’s unbelievable. It’s a huge problem that will only continue to hurt this team.

      Quote  Reply

    1

    0
  10. dmick89

    Myles: I wouldn’t say there is no way

    You’re right, but everyone said there was no way for the Cubs to get better without spending huge amounts of money back in 2008-2009. I think that was the primary point I was trying to get across. We’re in the same situation that we were in 2009. Our core is a bit younger so there’s that, but they’re going to and are getting expensive.

      Quote  Reply

    0

    0
  11. Author
    berselius

    Myles,

    Teams that don’t play in domed stadiums always put a scheduled off day after the opener in case it rains, since the opening day tickets usually go for a premium and to make sure whatever festivities/ceremonies can still happen to open the season.

      Quote  Reply

    0

    0
  12. dmick89

    berselius,

    That’s what I’ve read too and if it is true then it should be mandated that all stadiums have domes. You get 18 days off throughout the season (not including the all-star break). The Cubs will have burned 3 of those before they even start their 11th game. I’d also bet that one of these first 10-15 games gets rained out and they have to use another day off for that. It sucks when you’ve barely started the season and days off are already an issue. I’d gladly trade away playing outside to know that the Cubs are going to get days off spread throughout the season better than it usually ends up being.

      Quote  Reply

    0

    0
  13. GW

    berselius,

    I have been reading continually since you posted, and I finished it. Lots of interesting details, but we knew the broad strokes of pretty much all of it at the time. Except for the infighting within the family about who owns the Cubs, of course. Was not aware of that.

    I really feel for Todd’s kids, who have to deal with their friends thinking that their uncle- not their father- owns the Cubs. It sounds rough.

      Quote  Reply

    1

    0
  14. Author
    berselius

    GW,

    I was going to check if Alvin is taking a victory lap on the “who owns the cubs” issue, but then I remembered that it would require reading his writing.

      Quote  Reply

    3

    0
  15. GW

    Come to think of it, I bet Todd’s ill-fated Undercover Boss appearance was a direct response to this, to show him as Cubs’ owner. I wonder if they fired that PR firm, too.

      Quote  Reply

    0

    0
  16. GW

    It’s rare to encounter such admiration for Ned Colletti. The farm was clearly in a good spot, but I think you underestimate the amount of house-cleaning Friedman did. He hired four GMs to start with, and basically all-new coaches throughout the minors. Whatever he is doing with young pitchers is clearly working. Every year some random Dodger seems to break the minor-league K-BB leaderboard, often a cast-off from another team. They hired JD Martinez’s magic hitting coach. And while I’m loathe to credit him completely, something clearly worked with Max Muncy.

    Smokestack Lightning: He didn’t have to come in and clear out the rubble and build everything up from scratch. He didn’t have to write a fucking manual about how to play baseball right.

    I mean, basically every team did that. Sam Miller wrote an article about all of them at one point.

      Quote  Reply

    0

    0
  17. andcounting

    So the owners are the epitome of capitalistic corruption and the Ricketts are entitled billionaire racist assholes? (And ALL the owners are having a party at the news that Mike Trout, the best player in baseball, has no clue how much money he should be making….YOU get an extension, and YOU get an extension….) Deadspin gets all the scoops.

      Quote  Reply

    0

    0
  18. dmick89

    GW,

    I never went back to pick up where I left off yesterday. It looked way too long for me and like you said, I think we knew the gist of the business aspects of it.

      Quote  Reply

    0

    0
  19. Author
    berselius

    To-day’s base ball squadron

    2b Zobrist
    LF Bryant
    1b Rizzo
    SS El Mago
    DH War Bear
    C Contreras
    RF Heyward
    3B McBoatface
    CF Almora

    SP Darvish

      Quote  Reply

    0

    0
  20. dmick89

    Here’s the Efficiency Scale I just made up:

    Maddux——————————-Zambrano————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————Darvish

      Quote  Reply

    2

    0
  21. North Side Pat

    So this Darvish contract might not be the best deal Theo has ever done…only 4 more years after 2019. Maybe he and Chatwood can bookend their starts and see if they can set an MLB record for BBs.

      Quote  Reply

    0

    0
  22. Smokestack Lightning

    GW:
    It’s rare to encounter such admiration for Ned Colletti. The farm was clearly in a good spot, but I think you underestimate the amount of house-cleaning Friedman did. He hired four GMs to start with, and basically all-new coaches throughout the minors. Whatever he is doing with young pitchers is clearly working. Every year some random Dodger seems to break the minor-league K-BB leaderboard, often a cast-off from another team. They hired JD Martinez’s magic hitting coach. And while I’m loathe to credit him completely, something clearly worked with Max Muncy.

    I mean, basically every team did that.Sam Miller wrote an article about all of them at one point.

    Cool, man. All good points. I’m ready to move on if you are.

      Quote  Reply

    0

    0
  23. Smokestack Lightning

    Not sure Carl Edwards did his homework on how to pitch a hitter like Joey Gallo.

    Fastballs down the middle = bad.

    Any other type of pitch anywhere else = probably okay. He generally swings at and misses those.

      Quote  Reply

    0

    0
  24. Rizzo the Rat

    dmick89,

    Not sure what you mean by “still.” (The Cubs lead the league in bullpen ERA last year, though I have no high hopes for them this year.)

      Quote  Reply

    0

    0
  25. Author
    berselius

    To-day’s south paw packed base ball squadron

    LF Zobrist
    3B Bryant
    1B Rizzo
    SS Baez
    DH War Bear
    2B Descalso
    RF Heyward
    CF Almora
    C Caratini

      Quote  Reply

    0

    0

Leave a Comment