Tag: random

Random Thoughts On a Saturday

I chose the Craig jpg by berselius mostly because it’s funny, not because the Cubs are bad. In fact, if we take a look right now (before they play the second game of their series at Fenway as of this writing), the Chicago North Side Baseball Club is actually the fourth best team in the majors, albeit third best in the National League and still lurking behind the division-leading Milwaukee Brewers, who must have some residual Counsell Magic in them. Time will tell who comes out on top, but the early returns of a team now ravaged by injury and suffering at times from sporadic underperformance gives me a bit more confidence than I otherwise should have. Holding a wild card spot comfortably this early in the season doesn’t mean anything really, but it’s better than the alternative.

Shota Imanaga

Anecdotally it seems like Shota has been really good at his command, and while I am bracing myself for the blowup start we probably all feared when we first looked at his scouting report, limiting the walks and really just controlling the zone and giving up a minimum of big bombs has helped him snag a place in history as he has factored into five victories in his first five career MLB starts. Also anecdotally, why he’s supposed to be an extreme fly ball pitcher, he seems to be getting a lot of outs on the ground, and at least in the last game against the Red Sox, has shown proficiency at fielding his position. Imagine Shota Imanaga, Rookie of the Year, Cy Young, and Gold Glove winner? Or don’t, I can’t tell you what to do (also it’s still April).

A Slump-Proof Offense?

The Cubs were incredibly lucky during the spring, but that luck has not persisted into the regular season with regards to injury as two key bats are out in Cody Bellinger and Seiya Suzuki. In limited action, Pete Crow-Armstrong finally got his first knocks and RsBI, and probably looks more comfortable here because there is no expectation he will stay up when Cody and Seiya come back. That’s probably because Mike Tauchman (?!) has continued to play well, which I guess we both didn’t and should expect, given his ability to drive up pitch counts and take his base if there’s nothing doing in his plate appearance. Tauchman (along with various Cubs and really a lot of batters, after all, baseball is hard) does have the issue where he is late swinging at 90s heat, but it does seem like when one guy goes oh-for, some other guys step up, so you have a continuously grindy offense one-through-nine in the order that gives opposing pitchers fits, and then you see things like Hall of Fame-to-be pitcher Justin Verlander not even going a full five innings, or formerly really-hard-to-score-on pitcher Kutter Crawford finally giving up more than a single run. Just for funsies, if we count everyone who has contributed on offense so far this season, the Cubs are collectively batting .250/.330/.411, scoring 5.38 runs/game to rank fifth amongst all MLB clubs for offensive output. And we didn’t even gush about Michael Busch yet.

Defensive (Mis)Adventures

This is again kind of anecdotal and I’m not going to look up the defensive stats because I just don’t care that much right now, but it does appear the Cubs have some things to clean up on defense. Dansby Swanson should probably be more careful with his throws on “routine” plays, they have to determine when to charge the ball and/or just pocket it, etc. The thing AC was bugged about re: Michael Busch picking the baseball seems like a persistent issue, as there were a few plays that you assume a competent first baseman should just, you know, catch the ball. Throws in the dirt are more problematic for any first baseman, but there are a handful where you kind of know that an Anthony Rizzo would have picked it clean. So there are things to work on, but I’m confident they’ll figure it out, just as they have with the bullpen during this chunk of season where they’re just riding the storm out.

Pesky Brewers

I don’t even think you can attribute their record to an easy schedule, but unlike the Cubs, the Brewers have had a few NL Central matchups and have done well in those. I had started this season thinking that all five Central clubs had a shot at the division, but it would appear that the flaws of the other three teams are more glaring that those of the Brewers and Cubs. We will find out a little bit about the mettle of the guys at the top of this division when the Cubs face the Brewers (and simultaneously a Central foe) for the first time in May.

The Cubs Night Before Christmas 2022

‘Twas the night before Christmas, including Chicago

Barely anyone stirring because it’s so cold

The Cubs had signed Dansby and young Bellinger

With hopes for a new ring for the baby bears

The plan was to load up on pitchers and D

To ensure the opponents scored fewer than three

As many batters put on other teams’ caps

What’s to be done to avoid offensive crap?

When over on Clark in the darkened Cubs offices

Jed Hoyer wanted this team not to be novices

Though folks normally would be celebrating Christmas

Jed was, as far as we know, still Jewish

Though free agent selection had dwindled

While the Giants, now the Mets, try not to be swindled

Jed still had money to make the team more stacked

Instead of the Ricketts blowing it on some Super PAC

With his fingers on the mouse, so lively and quick

Jed scoured the waiver wire for undervalued sticks

On several Post-Its he set up reminders

To claim some hitters who could handle sliders

A bench guy? A speedster? A random first baseman?

Perhaps a new catcher or a new third baseman?

If only he could just square up the ball

Jed might not have to trade Madrigal

Can he rely on Mervis to hit 30 deep flies

Or will that strikeout rate unnervingly rise?

Will Patrick Wisdom’s defense return anew

Or will he be nearly unplayable too?

The pitching is solid though without an ace

Though Marcus Stroman could maybe keep pace

Jameson Taillon will help raise the floor

So the Cubs won’t have to play with the humidor

The bullpen is capable of making leads stick

As long as they’ve somehow fixed Rowan Wick

Perhaps baseballs will stop being murdered

With solid assistance from Brad Boxberger

With Nico and Dansby and Cody up the middle

The defense hopes to make runs against little

A catching tandem with gloves but no bats

Can at least keep the staff’s ERA less fat

Though AC’s epic plan might not come to fruition

And most guys on the roster cost less than Yale tuition

Perhaps with some luck and bounceback years

The Cubs next season can allay all our fears

Although the Cards added Willy and the Brewers have pitchers

The Reds and Pirates are still at best mediocre

And with a balanced schedule negating the suck

Of this National League Central division of muck

Jed was fully committed to the plan

Trusting the process, no guff from the fans

He spoke not a word, and went back to his work

Aiming to deliver though we were such jerks

If we squint we might see a plan without reproach

But let’s take a wait and see approach

For now let us clock out for the night

Merry Christmas, jabronis, now go eat some pie!

Random Crap For the Off Day

We have to wait for the World Series to end before anything will happen that necessitates any level of “analysis,” so I figured it was fine to just pull a Seinfeld and write a post about mostly nothing.

I thought about some of the silly baseball terms that people still argue about online (at least until Twitter dies, but I’m sure we’ll move elsewhere sometime after that) and let’s take a look below.

Batting Around vs. Batting Through

It is no surprise that there’s an article about this, but what is a surprise is that it is over seven years old. I offer this:

If you consider every plate appearance as a unit of time, then nine units of time are covered by the entire lineup, and those nine plate appearances will complete the circle. So for me, batting around is nine batters once that circle is completed.

Semantics about Perfection and Immaculate…ness?

I do see this some and I myself have stirred the pot a bit, but a “perfect” game is defined as one in which no baserunner reaches safely, basically 27 up, 27 down. Is it really “perfect” though if the pitcher has to rely on his defense and/or the umpire to help make outs and call strikes?

So if you really want an absolutely perfect game, maybe it’s either 27 popups to pitcher or 81 swinging strikes for those outs.

Along the same vein, an “immaculate” inning is three strikeouts in nine pitches. That includes called strikes and foul balls. But if you want to be “immaculate,” I feel like the batters shouldn’t make contact at all, not even a foul tip. Nine purely whiffy swinging strikes or GTFO!

Stuff about Hits and BABIP

A lot of accounts on the Twitters involve umpire scorecards, whether the home run would’ve been a home run in other parks, etc. And of course we have the usual angst with the exaggerated shift when there’s a guy standing right where the ball is scalded. There’s a sense, with exit velocity and launch angle and what have you, that some hits and homers are deserved and some are not, but they all count.

Jumping off the train of thought from above with pitchers making their pitches, the eternal battle between pitcher and batter is decided by the narrowest of margins, between a pitcher’s guile and deception and the batter’s ability to at least get wood on the ball. If the beauty of baseball is in the chaos, maybe it’s okay if a ball ends up in the Wrigley basket on a day when the wind blows out, or a ball hangs in the air for a few seconds before dropping untouched in no man’s land. Maybe just enjoy what happened and don’t try to analyze it to death? Speaking of which…

What’s Up with the Cycle?

Since baseball has been around for a very long time now, it seems like the 339 cycles in MLB history aren’t all that much. But if it happens at least twice every season, you kind of wonder why it’s such a bit deal when it’s happened more often than a no-hitter or an unassisted triple play (now those are rare! and cool). I guess it’s just one of those quirks people like to talk about, like home runs hit during a full moon on a Tuesday. It would be more productive to have Kris Bryant’s full house game where he hit three doubles and two homers (or was it the other way around?) or one of those four-homer games (which are rightly celebrated), but baseball does love their random trivia. And speaking of no-hitters…

Combined No-Hitters

This comes on the heels of Philly getting no-hit by an arsenal of Astros pitchers. In an era where pitch counts are strict, the three-times-through threshold is gospel, and max effort specialization even with the three-batter minimum is the norm, having a single pitcher complete a no-hitter is more rare than before, and a perfect game hasn’t been achieved since Félix Hernández did his thing a decade ago.

Looking at the list of no-hitters in MLB history, a large portion of the no-hitters in the past few years have been of the combined variety. Obviously no-hitters are a team effort and pitcher safety and health are a priority, but there’s something about the combined no-hitter that makes it seem so ordinary even if they are counted in the record books. It’s too bad they don’t let pitchers just keep going until they give up that hit, but then again, you probably don’t want your guy throwing 150 pitches like Edwin Jackson because he happened to walk nine guys doing it.

Like Kyle Schwarber said, why give a shit about a no-hitter? Especially when it’s a relatively ordinary combined no-hitter, just move on.

Random Cubs Notes and Ramblings

The world won’t end today, but by the 5th inning of tonight’s game, you’ll wish it had.

The Cubs aren’t just modeling themselves after the Red Sox, they’re four years ahead of the curve. They signed a speedy left fielder with diminishing potential to a gaudy longterm contract long before Theo Epstein made it fashionable. (h/t, of course, to Berselius)

The debate over who is faster, The Flash or Superman, once became so heated that it shut down the DC Comics discussion forum. Peace was restored after the argument was rendered moot by Tony Campana. 

It’s too bad the Cubs aren’t playing at home this weekend. Tom Ricketts could have blamed the empty seats on the Rapture.

RIP Randy Savage.

Since both broadcasting teams remind us three times a game, I don’t think we really have that hard of a time remembering that Starlin Castro is only 21 years old.

I honestly have no idea what to make of Darwin Barney.

Dishonestly, I’m sure Darwin Barney is the second coming of Mickey Morandini.

Keith Moreland could stand to loosen up a bit.

A decent owner would have lowered ticket prices after last season. A lot.

The Cubs used to have a ballgirl named Marla Collins. That was weird.

Arnold Schwarzenegger was governor of California. That’s a lot harder to believe than that he’s the political equivalent of Shawn Kemp.

Bill Buckner is not a broadcaster. He’s Ron Swanson trapped behind a microphone.

Someday, Tony Campana will get lost in the ivy.

The next time the Cubs hold a team meeting they should invite better players.

It might be time to admit that Alfonso Soriano‘s biggest asset is his defense.

Pretty sure Wellington Castillo is just Koyie Hill with thumbs.

What if Rudy Jaramillo really is making the Cubs offense better? How bad could they have been without him?

Len and Bob will be broadcasting a game from the Bud Light Bleachers. They’re actually getting paid to sit there. The Cubs’ best customers must be livid.

Hurry up, Randy Wells.

Take it easy, Andrew Cashner.

Stay away, Kevin Millwood.

Do your thing, Derrick Rose.

Continue reading “Random Cubs Notes and Ramblings”

Can’t-Lose Thursday: Random Points of Hopefulness

The Cubs can’t lose today.

Nary a single Cubbie appendix has ruptured.

Starlin Castro hasn’t been put in timeout yet.

Alfonso Soriano leads the league in homers.

Wrigley Field hasn’t had chunks of itself fly off in several months.

Albert Pujols‘ free agent value has tumbled to $299 million.

No new Nicolas Cage movies are being released this weekend.

It’s been over 24 hours since a Cub got put on the DL.

Derrek Lee is playing for a winning team comprised almost exclusively of ex-Cubs.

Chris Archer’s career with the Rays is entirely unimpressive thus far.

Starlin Castro.

No reports of any Cubs having dinner.

I haven’t heard a word uttered from the Ricketts family since the season started.

The plan to have 163 starting pitchers vie for the fifth starter position is finally paying off.

I’m pretty sure the Reds will lose eventually.

I’m not so sure the Astros will ever win.

It’s only April.

That last point hasn’t been lost on Kosuke Fukudome.

Carlos Pena being out of the lineup means not having to hear Keith Moreland pronouncing his name like it rhymes with La Niña.

Obstructed View merchandise has yet to sell out (even if we have).

The bullpen test has been scrapped in favor of the starting rotation test.

Jim Belushi is nowhere to be seen.

87,827,230 views already.

If you buy tickets for the cheapest seat in Wrigley, there’s a good chance a Wrigley Field Ambassador will offer you better ones for free.

A new episode of Parks & Recreation is only a week away.

Derrick Rose. He’s not a Cub, but he’s good for everyone.

The Cubs beat writers have apparently run out of ideas for running players out of town.

It’s baseball . . let’s see what happens!

Continue reading “Can’t-Lose Thursday: Random Points of Hopefulness”