Some love in the Bullpen, Schwarber’s decisions, Miller’s debut, and other Cubs bullets

08/18/2020 Health


Is there a reason it’s a really bad idea to use coffee bags twice? Like, if I follow two quickly? Of course, the second coffee is not as much coffee as brown-ish water, but it gives my brain a little more THINK that I drink coffee when I write.

• Jose Quintana is up to four innings (yesterday’s sim game at South Bend), and Theo Epstein told ESPN 1000 yesterday that it would have been ideal if he returned this week, seeing the other disruption in the rotation and the double buyers . Doesn’t sound like that’s in the plans for Wednesday, though. We know Yu Darvish will start tonight and Alec Mills will take on one of the doubleheader games tomorrow. Who else starts is probably a matter of whether Adbert Alzolay is good to go (he took a comebacker from the forearm, which is apparently why Tyson Miller started yesterday instead of Alzolay). It could just be a bullpen game, with Colin Rea relaunching the ‘start’.

• In locating three in the evening of his work last night, Ryan Tepera threw his 88 mph cutter and 83 mph slider 14 times (I group them together because they both have that annoying movement). Of those 14 pitches, the Cardinals swung 7 times. She whiffed every 7 times. He now has a rate of 42.4% K on the year.

• I still love hearing from David Ross, who pleaded guilty to holding Dillon Maples in the opening day bullpen over Tepera (via The Athletic):

“I do not have all the answers,” Ross said. “There is something powerful in a player who tries to prove the manager wrong. There is also an edge to it. That’s not the corner I took, but there are those corners with players, and guys who get a chip on the shoulder. As we have seen, (some) boys are sent down and come back better.

“Tep and I have had several discussions about him. He was as professional as it gets, and a man who has a lot of experience in a really tough division in another league. I’ve made my choice and I like to admit, ‘Hey, I made a mistake. I was wrong.’ And I’m glad he’s helping here. ”

• Many thanks to Jeremy Jeffress, in fact, for making that final inning a super-fast, super-low stress, seven-pitch conclusion. I could not take any drama after the Bote explosion.

(Photo by Nuccio DiNuzzo / Getty Images)

• Tyson Miller’s debut probably did not go as well as he hoped, but on a fundamental level it should be cool to say that you made it to the big leagues:

• Of course, Miller struggled with his location (10% of his pitches were mid-middle, and he also ran three), gave up rockets that found gloves, no one hit, and of course gave up the two-run homer. There is no need to follow such a call a call like this: the results were poor.

• BUT! You could see the bones in his performance for a future big leaguer. As Bryan thought, the four-seamer (with a bit of a cut) at 94+, paired with a good slider, made the makings of at least a future up-down middle reliever (which is no criticism! The best organizations have a lot) of those guys, and get a lot of valuable innings out of them). Whether he can be more than in relief depends on those pitches playing up after a conversion. Whether he can be a great league starter depends on improving command and making the curveball and / or switching real weapons. The move is already pretty clearly a big classification pitch, but we know it takes longer.

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• Kyle Schwarber made some questionable decisions yesterday – trying to score from second base on a passing ball, and trying to ball for a hit in a 0-2 count – none of which worked out for him. When I look back at the ball game, eh, I really did not try. He pulled the Cardinals off-guard when the ball bounced off again, pushing her to make a play, and he was still only about three inches away from scoring:

• When Schwarber made the decision to go, it looked like Andrew Knizer had no idea where the ball was. Like, that exact moment. And then Knizer found the ball immediately. I really do not like Schwarber’s decision the more I see it.

• As for the 0-2 bunt attempt, well, I hate it. It felt like just giving up the bat at a critical spot (I hate Ian Happ’s next bunt at least as much). But Schwarber’s manager defended the decision (Cubs.com): ‘I’m fine with that. I encourage players to go outside the box and do things when they do not feel comfortable. I guess if you look at the two swings before, I do not think he saw that man’s ball. So he tried to get out of the box and help his team. ” Fair enough. I do not agree with the decision, but I do not agree with it, based on Ross’ statement.

• Cubs defense still shines this year:

• Hope Starlin Castro’s wrists heal quickly and well, but in the meantime this is fun:

• I chuckled:

• A very nice thing:

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