Chris Coghlan had one of the best games of his career yesterday. He doubled, homered, and even played 3 innings of 3B, a position he hadn’t played in years (and did it capably!). He also added a walk and a single.
No one cares, though. Chris Coghlan will never be the lede for any other story, because Jorge Soler put on a laser show. Chris deserves more credit than he’ll get for what is likely his career’s best day.
How can you blame them, though? Soler crushed two balls. His first homer almost landed when it was still rising, it was scalded so hot. The second one didn’t look that impressive, until you realize it was 5 feet right of dead center. What a fun game.
Bryant Watch
The whispers are getting louder, and even Theo admitted they are mulling it over. The move makes even less sense now than it did then, so the Brain Trust is probably just paying lip service to the hordes here. The Cubs have two men on the roster already who can capably play third: Arismendy Alcantara and Jonathan Herrera. The other one would be forced to play 2B, but it’s not killing you for one week or until Olt gets back (which could be any day).
People Watch
The Cubs game drew the highest TV rating in 4 years. That’s not that important to me (the Bulls game wrapped up and players switched to this because it was compelling), but it is at least a sign that the average fan is taking notice of the team. That can only be a good thing.
Lester Watch
He threw over twice early in this game. The first one was bad. The second one was awful (though perhaps it was a ploy to get Soler to blow Cozart away at 3rd).
I think it’s a real problem. That being said, it’s not the end of the world. Ben Lindbergh has a great article about this, but it’s important to note that this is the worst case scenario, and Lester isn’t going to be the worst at this forever.
Trade Castro?
At BP Wrigleyville, Jeff Lamb has an article about Starlin Castro/Addison Russell and how it makes sense to trade him. I strongly disagree with much of it, but it’s an interesting article. I’ll have a longer piece on this later this week, but I think it’s a very foolish idea to increase player variance at the exact time we should be looking to decrease it.
Literal Box Score
The first time I saw the literal box score, I thought it was a joke. The second time I saw it, I thought it was an eyesore. The third time I saw it, I realized that it’s pretty interesting. I don’t think it’ll replace anything (how could it?), and there is way too much going on to digest easily, but if you spend 5 minutes trying to grasp it, it actually ends up being really cool.
It Gets Better
The one sore spot this season is our starting pitcher this season…right? The Cubs lead the league in FIP by starters, so let’s not worry too, too much. The BABIP for our starters is .413. That’s…not sustainable.
OV podcast #4