Did The Cubs Win?

Good Lord, where to begin? It was the longest game in team history, at nearly six and a half hours. Travis Wood pinch hit in the 4th inning. His fly out was followed by an Emilio Bonifacio homer, after which neither team scored for the next 12 innings. Jake Arrieta pinch hit in the 13th so the Cubs could save John Baker in case they needed to use him on the mound later, which they did. To repeat, the Cubs batted a pitcher in a high leverage situation just in case a position player was needed to pitch in a high leverage situation later. And given the state of pitcher usage in 2014, no one finds this all that odd. Keep in mind that the Cubs are currently rostering a 13-man pitching staff.

The Rockies actually used starter Tyler Matzek to finish the game, and of course he was outpitched by Baker and his mid-70s heat, loading the bases before giving up a sac fly to Starlin Castro.

I don’t want to gloss over the Arrieta pinch hit appearance, because it was a disaster. Runners were on first and second with one out. It was the highest leverage moment of the game to that point, and a situation in which pitchers should never bunt. It wouldn’t have been a bad idea for the previous batter, Nate Schierholtz, to bunt, but of course Renteria didn’t do that because he knew that a pitcher was following him to the plate. (Because, again, he had to save John Baker to pitch.) Arrieta struck out trying to bunt and I was relieved, because I was fully expecting him to bunt into a double play.

So basically, 21st century baseball hits its nadir on July 29-30, 2014.

— Joe Sheehan (@joe_sheehan) July 30, 2014

None of this is intended to kill Ricky Renteria. There are no good tactical managers. But, man, 21st century baseball is weird.

Trade Deadline Update

Justin Masterson is reportedly heading to the Cardinals.

Jonathan Martinez is the player to be named in the Darwin Barney deal.

Theo had some interesting comments to Jim Bowden yesterday. With regard to the future (approximately five minutes into the video), one gets the distinct impression that this offseason won’t be that different than last year, contrary to some prior indications from the front office. He did make this promise:

365 days from now, when you look up, there’s going to be impact talent on the field

Quick Links

• The territorial rights dispute between the Nationals and Orioles is about to go nuts. Craig Calcaterra has a great summary.

• Neil Ramirez is now resting on the DL.
• Trade negotiations leak all the time, but rarely do you hear front office types explicitly call out another GM’s negotiating tactics the way multiple folks did to Jack Zduriencik here.

He has made offers and then pulled back after we have said, ‘This is something we would do.’ He responds (by saying) it wasn’t an offer and that he will need to discuss it with his guys.

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I don’t always get the sense that he knows what he wants to do.

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They think, ‘Who can we give up that will never be any good?’ They don’t want to give up anyone who will haunt them. That’s just flat-out fear.

• Ever notice how in modern-day Sidd Finch stories, the discovering team is never alone in their find? When a player breaks out, there are always multiple teams on hand, not just some lone-wolf rogue scout in a virtual ghost town that America forgot. More than anything, that story just reminded me of the classic FJM/Andre Ethier saga. Are there any exceptions? C.J. Edwards, maybe. Rinku Singh and Dinesh Patel, I guess.