Cubs 6, Rockies 3

In Postgame by berselius65 Comments

OSS: The Cubs played through some tight games over the weekend and a blowout on Monday, but sometimes what you need is a relatively uneventful, closeish win to really get back into the groove of winning, or something.

Three up:

  1. Cyle had a solid start, striking out ten batters in seven innings and allowing three runs. I was in and out of the broadcast but Coomer made it sound like the wind was blowing out today, though maybe not *that* hard. Hendricks’ stuff was clearly working, as the Rockies whiffed 21 times in this game. Two of the Rockies runs came on an RBI groundout and as the result of an infield single. Hendricks also knocked in a run himself to give the Cubs their first lead of the game.
  2. The other Kyle only had one big moment, but it was a massive 476 foot blast to RF that gave the Cubs the lead in the fifth. The real MVP was the dude who caught it one handed without spilling his beverage.
  3. Javy also homered and had a big day overall, going 3-4.

Three down:

  1. Not that much to complain about. Jason Heyward went 0-3, including failing to drive in a runner from third with less than two outs in the second inning.
  2. Vic Caratini, presumably in to give Willson a little extra rest while the Cubs are in a few long stretches without off days, also had a rough game. While Heyward’s outs were mostly in the air, Caratini grounded out three times and struck out looking.
  3. The Brewers getting shellacked 16-0 at home by what is easily the worst team in baseball costs them just as much as a 1-0 loss would have. It feels like they should get two losses for this one. At least they kept putting actual relief pitchers out there down 15 runs, though they did finally turn to relief ace Hernan Perez to close out the game

Next up: Yu Darvish takes on Rockies ace German Marquez at 7:05 PM CT

Share this Post

Comments

  4. Myles

    Brennen Davis has a nice swing. Reminds me of a right-handed Schwarber.

    That must mean he has gaping holes in his plate protection that will prevent him from ever taking the next step as a major-league hitter.

      Quote  Reply

    0

    0
  13. BVS

    How good has this front office really done with drafting position players since they’ve been in Chicago? Kris Bryant is the only star player they’ve gotten so far and he was as close to a guarantee as it gets with MLB draft picks. Albert Almora isn’t all that good. Kyle Schwarber is okay. Ian Happ is back in the minor leagues. I’m not convinced they’ve done as well as they should have with position players. They’ve really had nobody else hit from the lower rounds either. While this front office definitely gets a lot of credit for developing Javier Baez, I think we all know there is no chance this front office would have drafted him if they had the chance. …..I don’t think they’ve done poorly, but I don’t think they’ve done nearly as well as what seems to be the public consensus.

    So currently in the majors, the Cubs drafted:
    1 superstar in KB,
    3 starters or regular platoon guys in AA, Schwarb, and Bote,
    1 bench: a decent #2 C in Caratini.
    1 They had some success with Happ
    5 Cup of Coffee–Rotating back end of the bullpen and 5th starters (Zastryzny, Norwood, Zagunis, Underwood, and Tseng).
    -Developing Baez
    Plus on other teams are
    4 starters: Jorge Soler, Eloy, Gleyber Torres, Dylan Cease (is he up yet? any day now if not).

    Cherry picking teams, let’s compare to Houston. Luhnow started about the same time as Theo.
    2 Superstars: Carlos Correa. Alex Bregman
    3 Starters/Regular Platoon: McCullers, Tony Kemp, Josh James,
    2 Bench: Tyler White, Derek Fisher
    8 Cup of Coffee: Brady Rodgers, AJ Reed, Dean Deetz, Kyle Tucker, Garrett Stubbs, Myles Straw, Corbin Martin, Cionel Perez

    4 Starters elsewhere: Daniel Mengden, Ramon Laureano, Trent Thornton, Teoscar Hernandez
    1 Bench Elsewhere: Rio Ruiz,
    7 Cup of Coffee elsewhere: Nolan Fontana, Preston Tucker, Brett Phillips, Mike Hauschild, Jordan Jankowski, Jason Martin, Jacob Nottingham

    Houston certainly has more depth in the folks it has graduated to the majors. What I noticed doing this comparison is that it seems like the Cubs have picked up a lot of “promise” AAAA guys (Rosario, Ryan, Webster etc) while Houston has done less of that. Many of the Houston “coffee” guys really are 1-3 games or >30 AB. Also, the 2016 draft for the Cubs was awful. The top 20 picks (rounds 3-22) had 18 P, Zack Short, and a C who is out of baseball now. None of those P have been up (Mekkes is closest, I guess.) However, Houston doesn’t have anyone from their 16 draft up yet either.

    It’s harder to track the international signings. I didn’t see an easy list of all signees.

      Quote  Reply

    3

    0
  14. Myles

    If I had to quibble about the FO, it’s all about development, not drafting. They can’t develop pitching at the same level as other truly elite FOs can, and they can’t evaluate the talent they do have. Good teams put homegrown talent in the staff every year, and we can’t seem to do that.

      Quote  Reply

    0

    0
  15. Myles

    BVS,

    Mostly agree. Tyson Miller might be a serviceable swingman in a year, but other than that, it’s Mekkes or bust in ’16 (besides Short, who has his own issues).

      Quote  Reply

    0

    0
  16. North Side Pat

    BVS,

    Only name I can think of to add to your list would be Zach Godley. I was going to add Maples but then looked him up and he was a Hendry pick as well (dying laughing).

    EDIT: Nico has looked good when healthy, FWIW. He just can’t seem to stay healthy.

      Quote  Reply

    0

    0
  18. WaLi

    BVS,

    Have the Astros had more draft picks due to competitive balance and also better draft picks due to being near the bottom of the barrel as well?

      Quote  Reply

    0

    0
  19. dmick89

    BVS,

    Nice work. These things are always difficult to measure. About the best way is to look at WAR in my opinion, but even that is going to be misleading when much of that production comes from a player or two. I’m not entirely sure how the Cubs compare to other organizations, but I guess my opinion is that the Cubs aren’t nearly as good at drafting as we’ve thought they are. We’ve given them too much credit and it was earned on their part from their time in Boston, but the rules are different now. Considering these new rules, I don’t really see any reason to think the Cubs are better than their peers. I don’t think they’re bad, but I’m disappointed. I hoped for better and early on it looked like it was headed in that direction.

      Quote  Reply

    0

    0
  20. Author
    berselius

    BVS: What I noticed doing this comparison is that it seems like the Cubs have picked up a lot of “promise” AAAA guys (Rosario, Ryan, Webster etc)

    At the time they acquired him, this could also describe Jake Arrieta FWIW.

      Quote  Reply

    2

    0
  21. Myles

    I know that I do overlook how the Cubs acquire Kyle Hendricks (and Christian Villanueva) for Ryan Dempster. He was a high-A low-K guy that basically cloned his peripherals at every single level. Since his first full season (2015), he’s 14th among all starters in fWAR. You could (and I would, frankly) make the argument that he’s been the best acquired Cub in the Theo era, INCLUDING Arrieta (Arrieta was better when he was here, but Kyle is cost controlled for the next few years so he’ll provide more value overall). I give him the edge over Rizzo, too; Rizz is great but he’s a first baseman.

      Quote  Reply

    3

    0
  22. andcounting

    BVS,

    That is quite the cherry pick, though. They had three first-overall picks followed by a second, and I believe a 4th and 5th overall thrown in there as well. The Cubs had three years with top 10 slots, one year with no first round pick, and a lot of late round slots. If you’re picking first overall that many times, you’d better produce serious results.

      Quote  Reply

    1

    0
  23. Author
    berselius

    To-day’s base ball squadron

    LF War Bear
    3B Bryant
    1B Rizzo
    SS Baez
    RF Gonzalez
    C Willson
    CF Heyward
    2B Bote
    P Yu

      Quote  Reply

    1

    0
  24. GW

    BTW, the Red Sox under Theo were kind of stealthily shitty at drafting pitchers, as well. Papelbon/Buchholz/Masterson, and some semi-useful middle relievers. They really excelled at finding stud position players in the mid-rounds (Rizzo/Ellsbury/Betts).

      Quote  Reply

    0

    0
  30. andcounting

    The story that the Cubs, owned by literal billionaires, can afford to pay one new player for a half season of work because a different player is going through a divorce is being submitted as serious news by actual journalists. I can’t believe this is real.

      Quote  Reply

    5

    0
  48. North Side Pat

    WaLi

    WaLi:
    Can Kimbrel come in tonight? May need him.

    Came here to ask the same thing. And if they can release Brach mid-inning.

      Quote  Reply

    2

    0
  64. andcounting

    dmick89,

    Yeah, you have these rules (compensatory draft picks and luxury tax) that are nominally anti-dynasty or pro-small-market that give penalties to teams who spend money on (ownerspeak for pay appropriate compensation to) free agents, but they wind up being strictly anti-player and built-in collusion. No team was willing to pay for the best closer available because of the rules. That is a broken system, and fortunately for us Cubs fans our team is run by people rich enough to exploit and perpetuate every broken system on the planet. It’s about time they used their powers on baseball again instead of just white nationalism.

      Quote  Reply

    3

    0

Leave a Comment