The Cubs kick off a homestand with a two game set against the Mike Trouts of various geographical locations. The Cubs are riding a seven game winning streak, while the Angels were just swept by the Mariners. I was surprised to see that the Angels actually have run differential that is far, far better than their record would suggest (-4). However, their third order win percentage is right in line with their actual win totals.
Team Leaders
Cubs
- OBP: Dexter Fowler (.397)
- ISO: Anthony Rizzo (.281)
- HR: Kris Bryant (27)
- R+RBI: Bryant (152)
- wRC+: Rizzo (152)
- BSR: Bryant (3.3)
- SP K/9: John Lackey (9.08)
- SP BB/9: Kyle Hendricks (2.34)
- SP FIP: Arrieta (2.99)
- RP K/9: Carl Edwards (12.50)
- RP BB/9: Hector Rondon (1.06)
- RP FIP: Edwards (1.91)
- WAR: Bryant (5.7)
Angels
- OBP: Mike Trout (.427)
- ISO: Trout (.239)
- HR: Trout/Albert Pujols (21)
- R+RBI: Trout (162)
- wRC+: Trout (169)
- BSR: Trout (6.8)
- SP K/9: Nick Tropeano (8.96)
- SP BB/9: Matt Shoemaker (1.83)
- SP FIP: Shoemaker (3.52)
- RP K/9: Cam Bedrosian (11.38)
- RP BB/9: Deolis Guerra (0.50)
- RP FIP: Bedrosian (2.12)
- WAR: Trout (6.7)
It’s such a waste to have Trout on this team.
Pitching Matchups
K/9, BB/9, ERA, FIP, projected ERA listed for each starter.
Tuesday: Jered Weaver, RHP (4.67, 2.41, 5.11, 5.42, 4.86) vs John Lackey, RHP (9.08, 2.57, 3.70, 3.77, 3.46), 7:05 PM CT
Teams have feasted on Weaver’s comically slow fastball this year, which has averaged about 82 mph. Though it’s not like I can throw that hard, let alone hit a ball thrown at that speed. I just hope it doesn’t confuse the Cubs too much. You’d think there would be some competitive advantage to pitching differently from the rest of the league, but Weaver is failing that experiment.
Wednesday: Derrek Lee and Felix Pie, RHP (6.68, 2.00, 5.23, 4.47, 4.80) vs Jason Hammel, RHP (7.48, 2.77, 3.07, 4.27, 4.10), 7:05 PM CT
The Angels picked up Nolasco at the trade deadline from the Twins. More accurately, it looks like they used Nolasco’s contract to pick up Alex Meyer from the twins. It’s hard to believe Nolasco is only 33, it feels like he’s been around the league forever. Over his three seasons with the Twins, Nolasco posted ERAs of 5.38, 6.75, and 5.13. They’re regretting that contract a bit, I’d say. In his last start he was knocked around by that formidable A’s offense that we saw last week.
Comments
If there’s a hitter-friendly breeze in Wrigley, the Cubs could hit twenty home runs in this series. Then again, I thought they could hit against James Shields.
Rizzo the RatQuote Reply
Holy shit, Mike Trout is good.
MylesQuote Reply
I didn’t realize Nolasco was still pitching. (dying laughing)
dmick89Quote Reply
dmick89,
Imagine going through life not realizing you are a meme.
SKQuote Reply
Don’t tell me what to do
berseliusQuote Reply
So apparently Tim Lincecum did not work out so well for them.
EdwinQuote Reply
SK,
Just ask MO.
JonKneeVQuote Reply
I sang this in my head to the melody of “Imagine” by John Lennon.
MuckerQuote Reply
Edwin,
I was hoping he’d hold on to his rotation spot (after Weaver) long enough to make a start against the Cubs.
Rizzo the RatQuote Reply
Those are some intriguing/bizarre/confusing quotes from Maddon about LaStella circulating on the twitters
SKQuote Reply
SK,
Cue the “I always thought La Stella sucked anyways” comments.
EdwinQuote Reply
So…Prince Fielder is done. That sucks.
Rice in limboQuote Reply
Change realizing to knowing then contract the you are and it fits better.
ceruleanQuote Reply
cerulean,
I like it. And maybe instead of the little “yoo hooo ooo” you can do “but you oooo”
MuckerQuote Reply
Rice in limbo,
I remain surprised that this kind of thing doesn’t happen all that often. Kudos to Fielder for not trying to do a David Wright. I sucks, but bodies fail.
ceruleanQuote Reply
By this kind of thing I mean the hard realization that you cannot return to form. So many athletes see themselves as a combination of being blessed with God-given talent and the will to work hard.
When God closes a door, just jump headlong through a window and everything will work out, because God is good. (Or some similar tautological rot.)
ceruleanQuote Reply
That Joe Smith trade continues to pay dividends.
The league should move to 27-man rosters. Why in the hell is it 25-man rosters anyway. Numerically speaking, 3 and 4 are baseball numbers—5 doesn’t ever show up except for starting rotations, which used to be a cycle of 4, meaning the benches have gotten smaller. Meanwhile, the option restrictions that were supposed to keep players from being shuttled back and forth are actually keeping players that want to be on the roster off for this arbitrary number of days, possibly hurting service time. It’s idiotic and penalizes depth.
ceruleanQuote Reply
If the 25-man is sacrosanct, require that rosters be declared pregame, allow no restrictions on the number from the 40-man carried on the MLB team (practicing and traveling with the team, getting paid and accruing service time) but require ten days between transfers to other teams (with injury exceptions). Easy. Better for the team, better for the players.
ceruleanQuote Reply
To-day’s squadron
Fowler
Bryant
Rizzo
Zobrist
Soler
Heyward
Russell
Contreras
Lackey
berseliusQuote Reply
I like the healthy scratch idea.
Rice in limboQuote Reply
I like the idea of 27 man rosters. Especially since we see teams with 9 relievers from time to time, which is ridiculous even if there was a 30 man roster.
dmick89Quote Reply
I don’t know why they haven’t adopted the NHL-style roster/healthy scratch system, either. It especially bugs me in September, when teams might be carrying 40 active players in games that matter.
uncle daveQuote Reply
I’d rather stick with the 25 man roster. I feel like a team having a 7-8 man bullpen is more than enough. Giving more roster spots so that teams can carry more RP, more specialists, I’m just not a fan. If a team has too many good players and has to resort to playing option games, that’s their problem. Do better at managing the roster, making trades, and figuring out which players to try and pass through waivers. The Cubs created a lot of the current roster crunch themselves.
EdwinQuote Reply
one of lincecum’s nickname’s is “big time timmy jim” just in case any of you guys were wondering
EnricoPallazzoQuote Reply
Edwin,
I strongly disagree. As we saw against Seattle, a 12-inning game can exhaust an entire bench and bullpen. Imagine if it went 15 or 18 innings.
ceruleanQuote Reply
The Alex Reyes era begins…in the bullpen. Let’s hope his walk rate remains elevated.
ceruleanQuote Reply
EnricoPallazzo,
I think this is where it came from:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXdvuJ47YGk
Rizzo the RatQuote Reply
cerulean,
Are 12, 15, or 18 games that normal? I just don’t really see much of a current problem that needs fixing. To me, adding more roster spots means either having more players like Clay Dick who end up pitching something like 3 IP per month, so essentially the extra roster spots are mostly redundant other than the rare extra inning game, or it ends up with even more late inning reliever/subs, which I’m not really a fan of. I don’t like September baseball for exactly that reason, that rosters expand and managers can be much more liberal with their bullpen usage.
EdwinQuote Reply
Edwin,
Very often a player is injured and unavailable but not enough to merit a DL-stint. One or two arms in the pen may also be unavailable. And none but the day’s starter in the rotation are available.
Now imagine the starter is getting rocked because he doesn’t have the feel for his pitches, and he and everybody else knew it. Then a player gets injured. Now you’ve got a three-man bench and a five-man bullpen That is a recipe for compounding injury, forcing players into action contrary to their well-being.
Bad events like that don’t tend to happen, but in the course of the season, the probability of it happening at least once is quite high. And when they do, they tend to cascade.
I would like prevent for-lack-of-a-horseshoe scenarios altogether.
ceruleanQuote Reply
Edwin,
To solve the late inning subs, limit managers by allowing only 1 or 2 mid-inning pitching changes.
dmick89Quote Reply
WTF, Anthony?
Rizzo the RatQuote Reply
2 strikeouts vs Weaver and the pitcher hasn’t even batted yet.
dmick89Quote Reply
dmick89,
And both were swinging!
Rizzo the RatQuote Reply
Willson!
Rizzo the RatQuote Reply
Now that’s what I was expecting from a Weaver start!
Rizzo the RatQuote Reply
Willie!
dmick89Quote Reply
Rizzo! Zobrist!
Rizzo the RatQuote Reply
Here we go.
uncle daveQuote Reply
—Ron Coomer
It’s a shame they won’t also face a tough guy like two-time Cy Young winner Tim Lincecum.
ceruleanQuote Reply
Russell!
Rizzo the RatQuote Reply
I hope this doesn’t get overturned.
Rizzo the RatQuote Reply
Looks safe, dammit.
Rizzo the RatQuote Reply
Rizzo the Rat,
Yeah, that’s the only negative about replay in my opinion.
dmick89Quote Reply
Rice in limbo,
Strange guy. Strange career.
I’m sad to see him go. ARod, too. I’m not really sure why.
GWQuote Reply
I can’t call that a negative. I think it’s worse when there is a great play but a botched call.
ceruleanQuote Reply
cerulean,
I appreciated Joniak saying that it would really help the Cubs if Heyward turned his season around, and in the same sentence noting that there were currently no weak spots in their lineup.
uncle daveQuote Reply
Bryant!
Rizzo the RatQuote Reply
I think Weaver just might be terrible.
Rizzo the RatQuote Reply
That and how it has turned every sport into a slow-moving exercise in forensic videography.
GWQuote Reply
“Quiet in the Angels’ bullpen.” Music to my ears.
Rizzo the RatQuote Reply
GW,
(dying laughing)
dmick89Quote Reply
GW,
I actually think replay has been quicker this season. Not sure if that’s accurate Or not, but it seems like it.
dmick89Quote Reply
—Said no one
ceruleanQuote Reply
Heh, Prince and Cecil finished with the same number of career home runs. I bet that just infuriates Prince. Did we every figure out why he hates his dad?
GWQuote Reply
GW,
I think his Dad left he and his mother when he was young. That’s what I recall. I’m sure there’s more to it than that though.
dmick89Quote Reply
And yeah, that had to piss Prince off.
dmick89Quote Reply
Lackey has been really good tonight.
dmick89Quote Reply
What a catch.
dmick89Quote Reply
i just looked it up because i was mildly curious. i did the bare minimum of research but it sounds like cecil and his wife got along fine; the issue was that cecil blew all of his earnings on gambling. once the bank(s) came and started repo-ing everything, cecil moved in with prince (who had just received a $2.4m signing bonus from the mlb draft) and basically stole $200k from him. at some point, it sounds like divorce was filed for, but it was strictly due to the financial fallout.
EnricoPallazzoQuote Reply
dmick89,
There was a divorce and a gambling problem.
Rizzo the RatQuote Reply
Oh, I was late on that.
Rizzo the RatQuote Reply
Inverted M
berseliusQuote Reply
berselius,
sideways sigma?
EnricoPallazzoQuote Reply
EnricoPallazzo,
i’ll show myself out
EnricoPallazzoQuote Reply
EnricoPallazzo,
Don’t tell yourself what to do
berseliusQuote Reply
The Reds take the lead, the starter gives it back, the Reds take the lead, the bullpen gives it back…the Reds take the lead?
ceruleanQuote Reply
Jesse Rogers reports that Rondon has a “tricep issue.”
Rizzo the RatQuote Reply
Rizzo the Rat,
Cubs lose.
ceruleanQuote Reply
Cardinals lose.
Rizzo the RatQuote Reply
Rizzo the Rat,
Everyone wins.
Rice CubeQuote Reply
http://obstructedview.net/cubs-6-trouts-1-8-9-16/
berseliusQuote Reply