Lineups for to-day
Reds
SS Zack Cozart
CF Drew Stubbs
1B Joey Votto
RF Jay Bruce
3B Scott Rolen
LF Chris Heisey
2B Willie Harris
C Devin Mesoraco
P Homer Bailey
Cubs
RF David Dejesus
2B Darwin Barney
SS Starlin Castro
1B Bryan LaHair
LF Alfonso Soriano
3B Ian Stewart
C Geovany Soto
CF Marlon Byrd
P Chris Volstad
Nice to see Bryan LaHair move into the cleanup spot, since he's probably the best hitter on the team (and has been the best so far).
As I noted in the series preview, Volstad's peripherals have actually been pretty good in his two starts. Hopefully the results regress to the peripherals.
You honestly think LaHair is better hitter than Castro?
I am expecting to get swept
@ Mercurial Outfielder:
Castro is a great hitter….for a SS.
LaHair’s projections averaged around the mid .340′s, Castro’s were in the mid .330s
Who fucked up that caught stealing attempt?
game over
Cubs lose
@ Rice Cube:
From what Pat said, it sounds like the wind fucked up Soto’s throw
A double play would be nice. I’m reasonably sure the Cubs can score one run. Two might be pushing it (dying laughing)
Those Reds are running wild!
FAIL (dying laughing)
@ Berselius:
You and your silly “hope”.
Are the stands empty? I’m following gameday at work.
Oh, Byrd…
Pat: “It looks like a lot of people are going to take a pass on their tickets today”
Unreal
@ Berselius:
Don’t blame them. Really cold and crappy out from what I can see out my window…and I’m on the South Side.
/sad trombone
@ Mercurial Outfielder:
/yakety sax
wow, this team is epically bad. worse than 2006 bad.
40% chance of having the #1 pick
20 minutes late turning on the game, and we’re all ready down by 4.
Weren’t you all just saying how Volstad isn’t as bad as we thought?
@ Nate:
PECOTA had the 2006 Cubs at around 85 or 86 wins. Then Lee went down. Same with Wood and Prior. I never counted on those 2 for anything in 2006 so I thought PECOTA was nuts, but if those two were relatively healthy (and Lee) they probably were an 86-win team. This team? They’re just really really bad.
@ josh:
I’ve been saying since the Cubs acquired him that he’s nothing more than a replacement level starter. Volstad is obviously qualified for a rotation that includes Jeff Samardzija.
@ Mercurial Outfielder:
I think LaHair is the best hitter too. Not like it’s saying much. Castro will out-WAR him easily because of position, but as far as hitting goes my money is on LaHair to be at the top of the list in wOBA at the end of the season. I’ve got Soto next, but barely better than Castro.
Wow. What a catch.
Lots of strikes from Bailey today
When does trade season heat up? I’m already tired of most of these players. Even Castro seems like all he can do is hit a ton of singles.
berselius, shift+enter is a line break in the editor so you know.
/nitpicking bastard who gets annoyed with unnecessary spaces. (dying laughing)
Good lord, Joey Votto owns Volstad
http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/04/20/union-league-to-no-longer-allow-milestone-bonuses-in-player-contracts/
No more milestone bonuses.
@ Nate:
There are some random rumors throughout the spring, but nothing with any legs until Junish. Usually late June at the earliest. By mid-July there will be a lot of rumors and by the final week of July it’s all we’ll read about.
LaError
CLANK
Castro has another error already?
I honestly dont think this team even tries
@ mb21:
I’m too used to writing in programming languages where all whitespace is treated the same (dying laughing)
@ mb21:
apparently he didn’t catch a throw from Soto
@ mb21:
I think that error was supposed to be on Soto, unless there was another misplay that I’m forgetting.
@ Berselius:
You can ignore me. It’s just one of those things that stands out to me. This is coming from someone who doesn’t even edit 3/4 of his posts so you probably should ignore me.
60 pitches already for Volstad
3 errors already
@ Mercurial Outfielder:
Between he and F7 it’s going to be a battle to see who can throw the most pitches per inning. I’ll give the advantage to F7.
mb21 wrote:
Indeed (dying laughing) (dying laughing) (dying laughing)
My readers want to know: should I bother tuning into this game now?
Solid chance for everyone to committ an error today
@ mb21:
In all seriousness, which of them ends the season with a worse FIP, in your opinion?
That’s an hittable pitch. If every umpire called that strike, no runs would be scored.
@ Mercurial Outfielder:
I’m going Volstad. I still think F7 has more upside and is likely to K more people.
Does anyone have early opinions on Ian Stewart?
@ mb21:
Touché.
Hooray! A baserunner!
/cue the TOOTBLAN
Nate wrote:
He’s Scottish.
@ Rice Cube:
Ah, facts=opinions. I forgot it was election season again already.
Nate wrote:
MO thinks he’s dirty and sucks.
@ Nate:
(dying laughing)
Hey, there’s the run I said would score.
5 errors in 3 innings. NL Central, let it happen to you.
@ Nate:
F7 probably strikes out a few more than Volstad, but not that many. F7 will walk a lot more than Volstad and give up a lot more hits.
As for Ian Stewart, it’s nice to see someone who can field 3B for a change. I’ll leave it at that.
KG
Anthony Rizzo, 1B, Cubs (Triple-A Iowa): 2-for-3, 2 HR (7), 2 R, 3 RBI, BB.
Make no mistake about it, Rizzo is raking, as after last night’s big game he’s now at .393/.433/.786 in 14 games. Just as interesting are the scouting reports that indicate Rizzo has addressed some of the bad habits he got into with his swing last year. This has led to an outcry from all corners of the interwebs for Rizzo to be in the big leagues, and now. Two words: Calm down.
1. It’s easy to forget what happened in 2011, when Rizzo had the best numbers in the minors and then turned into the National League’s version of Adam Dunn when summoned to the big leagues. The Cubs don’t want a repeat of that and don’t want to call up Rizzo until they are assured he can stay up for good.
2. Calling him up is going to require a lot of deck chair re-arranging. Bryan LaHair is hitting quite well, and there’s nowhere to put him should the Cubs recall Rizzo (and no, the Cubs are not just going to release Alfonso Soriano).
3. The Cubs are not going to complete for a playoff spot this year, so what’s the rush?
Marilyn Hagerty wrote:
Seriously. The guy looks like he bathes in bullshit and shaves with a hot rock.
@ Marilyn Hagerty:
He likes survivor like bubbles and responds to his tweets
I think KG’s spot-on about Rizzo.
Volstad is letting it happen to him.
So much for being in the game.
Glancing at the box score, it seems like many of the hits off Volstad have been to the shallow OF. Lots of short flares?
@ Berselius:
Sharp ground balls, mostly. Gameday has a bit more info methinks.
This is almost as funny as the Cubs http://www.buzzfeed.com/mjs538/twitter-spelling-mistakes
DeWitt with a gritty double.
Hey! Keith is saying “Starleen” now with emphasis on “Star.” That’s an improvement over “Starling” with a clear ‘g.’
That’s like winning a World Series for WGN radio.
Didn’t know he was still around/alive; from HBT:
@ Mish:
Wasn’t he going to be the Cubs setup man a year or so ago?
So who else saw Kevin Millar ruin the Fenway anniversary celebration?
What’s the percent chance that LaHair ends up being better than Rizzo?
So I guess Derrek Rose loves his mother? That’s pretty unusual.
Cubs runs today
They just need to work in a GIDP run to round things out
@ Mish:
asswhole
@ Nate:
I don’t know, but probably a lot higher than a lot of people realize. If I was going to make a wild-ass guess I’d say there’s about a 15% chance that LaHair has a more productive MLB career than Rizzo. I’d also guess that he’s more than likely the better player right now. I’d say there’s about a 70% chance LaHair is more productive right now. What do you think?
@ Mish:
Umbeyonce. (dying laughing)
@ Berselius:
A pass ball, wild pitch and balk that all score runs would tie it up. After Marmol gives up the lead they can give up the game winning GIDP.
Who could’ve seen Joe Mather performing at this level?
I posted this after yesterday’s game, but it applies for today as well: http://obb.joshuallen.com/2012/04/20/new-perspective/
This might be an overreaction but i honestly think the 2003 tigers record is in play
@ bubblesdachimp:
Bad defense, bad bullpen, so-so starting lineup, bad offense, bad baserunning. They do none of the little things right (i.e., throwing into the cutoff man, etc.)…
It’s not good.
@ josh:
I mean 43 wins is real low… But i wouldnt doubt it…
@ mb21:
I say let’s find out right now. Bring him up, shift LaHair to a platoon in LF with Soriano. Say fuck all to the OF defense. It’s not there anyway.
Wow, just looking at the Cubs’ batting lines for the year is depressing (with the exception of LaHair, and, to a lesser extent, Castro). Those are some ugly, ugly slash lines.
The team was hitting .233/.296/.328 before this game (in which they only got 5 hits).
http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/04/20/ok-the-mlb-press-office-is-now-trolling-me-about-minor-league-suspensions/
I didn’t know Angel Guzman took PEDs until today. Black mark on the sport.
@ ACT:
Yep. Well, they aren’t always going to be this bad. They’ll have a couple of good runs. The victories this season will be when they finally win a couple series in a row. It’ll feel like winning the division compared to the rest of the season.
@ ACT:
To be fair, offense is down league-wide (for like the 6th straight year). Also April weather and such.
Smokestack Lightning wrote:
I’m not against anything that sits Alfonso Soriano against right handed pitching.
Pittsburgh’s offensive numbers are hilarious. .205/.252/.287, barely over 2 runs per game.
By contrast, the Rangers are scoring like a football team.
@ Rice Cube:
It says drug of abuse so I’m assuming it’s cocaine or something like that. Isn’t a 2nd suspension for PED 100 games?
According to Wiki these are the drugs of abuse in MLB’s drug policy:
Drugs of abuse
Cocaine
LSD
Marijuana
Opiates (e.g., heroin, codeine, morphine)
MDMA (“Ecstasy”)
GHB
Phencyclidine (“PCP”)
@ mb21:
They’d still need to clear a roster space somehow. Then again, who needs that Mather guy?
@ ACT:
Maine, Mather, Castillo. For that matter you could also include DeWitt, Baker and Barney, but that would totally fuck up the Cubs master plan of having as many shitty 2nd basemen as possible.
@ mb21:
They might as well ban alcohol while they’re telling people how to enjoy their free time.
The Cubs kinda need Barney since he’s the only person besides Castro who can play short.
Don’t know if this has been repeated here yet.
That’s unfortunate. His and Garza’s starts are the only Cubs games worth watching.
@ mb21:
He was just celebrating 4/20. Red Sawx better watch out, you know it all starts with chicken and beer and ends up with Weed and Coke. Testing on/near stoner christmas for recreational drugs is wrong.
I’d be all for DFA’ing DeWitt and moving LaHair to Left. He’s hitting well enough.
Bah, we could offer to pay his salary and throw in Josh Vitters to make some other team take adolfo. That nearly worked last time.
mb21 wrote:
All three of them are much better than Mather, IMO.
@ ACT:
I hadn’t heard about the possibility of the DL. That sucks. I agree, Garza and Dempster’s starts are the only games I’m inclined to watch.
Mather should definitely go before any of the others, but I don’t really care if they get rid of all their 2nd baseman and just play without one. (dying laughing)
http://espn.go.com/chicago/mlb/story/_/id/7837168/winning-concern-chicago-cubs-2012
The snark is strong with this one.
I think Castro is going to flash more power this year. Just a hunch. No real basis for that.
new shit: http://www.obstructedview.net/news-and-rumors/wood-to-the-dl-dempster-had-an-mri-sveum-concerned-about-lack-of-home-runs.html