Last night in the bottom of the ninth, Carlos Marmol interrupted his meltdown by throwing three straight fastballs past Juan Uribe for the second out. The strikeout halted the Giants’ momentum, and a few additional pitches secured the Cub victory. Jon Miller, the Giants’ play-by-play announcer, reflected on how Marmol, protecting a four-run-lead, had gotten [...]
I grew up watching the Cubs play ball in the afternoon, when I could have been watching soap operas. I feel pretty much the same way today.
What I find interesting and relevant about Zambrano is that he doesn’t have very good aim with any of his pitches. His minimal pitching motion is also a concern.
When [...]
I like Jeff Stevens in the 8th-inning mix next year, and was surprised when he gave up three runs in one inning (in his first ML win!) on Friday, so I watched the inning later on mlb.com. Very interesting. Votto and Phillips singled and Gomes hit a home run; but none of those three [...]
The answer depends on how much credit you are willing to give Joshua for Derrek Lee’s resurgence as a power hitter. The timing of Lee’s second-half power burst favors Joshua, as does the following syllogism.
a) Lee has been looking for–and turning on–fastballs middle-in, pitches that confounded him during the previous two seasons as he [...]
Early in the 2008 season, Rich Hill walked 18 batters in 19.2 innings, for a BB/9 ratio of 8.44, before being sent out, never to return to the Cubs.
This season, Carlos Marmol has walked 52 in 56.1 innings, giving him a BB/9 value of 8.34.
Steve Blass syndrome, fine–but on the same team in consecutive seasons?
I [...]
Phil Rogers thinks the Cubs should put Zambrano on waivers.
Last year the Cubs gave up on Michael Wuertz and Rich Hill. This year it’s hair-pulling time over Zambrano and Marmol. Before they send another once-promising pitcher out the door, maybe they should consider showing the door to the one pitching coach any of these four [...]
I’m probably the wrong person to give Gerald Perry his due. I was leery of a coach with a reputation for raising a team’s OBP, and I called for Perry’s dismissal last October after the offense went flat in the Dodger playoff series, even though a coach should not be blamed for his hitters’ performance [...]
I’m surprised how willing some people are to let the Cubs off the hook on the question of, who lost Rich Hill?
After all, it was Larry Rothschild who taught Hill the slide-step. This was before Hill had any back issues or elbow issues or control issues–except controlling baserunners.
As a general matter, do you think it’s [...]
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Posted 02 June 2009
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It’s been a great spring for filling scarce roster spots, not so great for showcasing legitimate major-league prospects.
This is going to be an excellent Cub team, the best I’ve seen, good to the last roster spot. All of the battles for positions and roster spots have broken the right way. Fontenot has replaced DeRosa at [...]
I’ve written everything that I think needs to be said about Larry Rothschild and the Wuertz-ification of the Cubs’ staff, except to offer some historical perspective: when Rothschild coached the Marlin staff in ‘97 and they won the Series, Cleveland scored 44 runs in 7 games, or 6.3 per game.
I’d rather turn my attention to [...]
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Posted 05 October 2008
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Hendry § pie § trade
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Tagged: derrek lee, felix pie, gerald perry, jim edmonds, kosuke fukudome, larry rothschild, mark derosa, micah hoffpauir, michael wuertz, mike fontenot, reed johnson, von joshua