There is no such thing as an awesome bullpen entering the season.
There is no such thing as an awesome bullpen entering the season.
There is no such thing as an awesome bullpen entering the season.
Every time you start to think some team has an awesome bullpen in March, repeat those lines ahead. The bullpen is way too inconsistent because of their sample sizes to ever consider one a strength entering the season. Unless Mariano Rivera is your closer, your bullpen has issues. The Cubs bullpen has already blown 2 games and it was considered one of the strengths of the team. One more time.
There is no such thing as an awesome bullpen entering the season.
Does. Not. Exist.
Take the most dominating back end of a bullpen I have ever seen. The 1990 Reds turned games into 6 inning ballgames. If you never got a chance to watch that Reds team play, you really missed out. The end of those games were lights out. You didn’t have a chance.
Entering the 1991 season everybody expected the Reds to have another ridiculously good bullpen. Considering the year before the three combined to post nearly a 190 ERA+, Reds fans and baseball fans all over were thinking it was going to be another 6 inning game vs the Reds. Nope. The three combined for roughly a 120 ERA+ the following season. Still very good, but the idea of that shutdown 7th, 8th and 9th inning releivers was put to rest.
The great bullpen entering the season is a myth. It’s something teams chase like addicts chase the best high of their lives. The end result for both is that they wasted a lot of money on something that doesn’t exist.
Comments
You and I don’t often agree.
Mercurial OutfielderQuote Reply
Are people saying that this year’s Cubs have an awesome pen?
BerseliusQuote Reply
I know we’ve all been down on the Cubs for being a ~.500 team, but I’m really starting to get a sense that this team could be much, much worse. We know this bullpen is going to be pretty inconsistent. We’ve already seen the havoc an injury in the rotation can wreak; heaven forfend, but an injury to Pena or Ramirez or Castro will do the same to the lineup and this team could start looking like a 100-loss candidate pretty quickly.
Mercurial OutfielderQuote Reply
[quote name=Berselius]Are people saying that this year’s Cubs have an awesome pen?[/quote]IIRC, it was frequently cited in during ST as a strength.
Mercurial OutfielderQuote Reply
[quote name=Mercurial Outfielder]I know we’ve all been down on the Cubs for being a ~.500 team, but I’m really starting to get a sense that this team could be much, much worse. We know this bullpen is going to be pretty inconsistent. We’ve already seen the havoc an injury in the rotation can wreak; heaven forfend, but an injury to Pena or Ramirez or Castro will do the same to the lineup and this team could start looking like a 100-loss candidate pretty quickly.[/quote]Stop trampling on the corpse of my optimism.
Suburban kidQuote Reply
[quote name=Suburban Kid]Stop trampling on the corpse of my optimism.[/quote]Savor every moment. The best is yet to come.
Mercurial OutfielderQuote Reply
[quote name=Mercurial Outfielder]I know we’ve all been down on the Cubs for being a ~.500 team, but I’m really starting to get a sense that this team could be much, much worse. We know this bullpen is going to be pretty inconsistent. We’ve already seen the havoc an injury in the rotation can wreak; heaven forfend, but an injury to Pena or Ramirez or Castro will do the same to the lineup and this team could start looking like a 100-loss candidate pretty quickly.[/quote]
This isn’t that unique to the Cubs. Most teams who see two starters hit the DL on the same day are going to have problems.
BerseliusQuote Reply
[quote name=Berselius]This isn’t that unique to the Cubs. Most teams who see two starters hit the DL on the same day are going to have problems.[/quote]Oh, no doubt. My point was more that it’s not like the Cubs will drop out of contention now; it’s more that we might very well be seeing 2006 redux by the end of the season. (dying laughing)
Mercurial OutfielderQuote Reply
[quote name=Berselius]Are people saying that this year’s Cubs have an awesome pen?[/quote]I read a lot about it entering the season. A lot of talk about Marshall, Wood and Marmol and how the game is over after 6. It sounds like a good back of the bullpen, but that’s all it is.
mb21Quote Reply
Fukudome has a strained hamstring. Day-to-day.
Mercurial OutfielderQuote Reply
I also think part of the great bullpen talk was about 2008 Kerry Wood joining the bullpen. The problem with that is that Wood shaved about 2 walks per 9 off his career total in 2008 and immediately after that season it jumped back up and has remained high again. Kerry Wood can be dominating, but he’s probably not all that good at this point. Above average for a reliever probably, but that’s not hard to do.
mb21Quote Reply
Excellent example with the ’90 vs. the ’91 Reds, MB.
Aisle424Quote Reply
If the Royals hold on today, they’ll be 7-3.
mb21Quote Reply
Wow, the D’Backs are beating the Reds.
Rice CubeQuote Reply
The nice thing for the team is that Wood has a long leash with the fans when it comes to performance. Can you imagine if it had been Marmol that gave up the HR? Or, God forbid, John Grabow? Wood will be forgiven a bad outing or two.
Aisle424Quote Reply
[quote name=Aisle424]Excellent example with the ’90 vs. the ’91 Reds, MB.[/quote]I wasn’t a Reds fan, but I loved watched that team. Lou Piniella, Eric Davis, Barry Larkin, Rob Dibble, Norm Charlton and Randy Myers. That was a fun team. Those 3 relievers were worth about 9 WAR that season. Some of that was as a starter, but most was as a reliever.
mb21Quote Reply
[quote name=Aisle424]The nice thing for the team is that Wood has a long leash with the fans when it comes to performance. Can you imagine if it had been Marmol that gave up the HR? Or, God forbid, John Grabow? Wood will be forgiven a bad outing or two.[/quote]Yeah he will. Coming back for such little money will probably make him exempt from much booing at all this season. Fans love that stuff.
mb21Quote Reply
[quote name=mb21]If the Royals hold on today, they’ll be 7-3.[/quote]They won like 2 hours ago, and they’re 6-3.
GBTSQuote Reply
[quote name=mb21]I wasn’t a Reds fan, but I loved watched that team. Lou Piniella, Eric Davis, Barry Larkin, Rob Dibble, Norm Charlton and Randy Myers. That was a fun team. Those 3 relievers were worth about 9 WAR that season. Some of that was as a starter, but most was as a reliever.[/quote]Same. And don’t forget Chris Sabo and his amazing RecSpecs!
Mercurial OutfielderQuote Reply
[quote name=GBTS]They won like 2 hours ago, and they’re 6-3.[/quote]That’s it. You’re outta here.
Mercurial OutfielderQuote Reply
[quote name=Mercurial Outfielder]That’s it. You’re outta here.[/quote]I’m already crafting my apology.
GBTSQuote Reply
[quote name=GBTS]I’m already crafting my apology.[/quote]Don’t plan on eating dinner tonight, either.
Mercurial OutfielderQuote Reply
[quote name=GBTS]They won like 2 hours ago, and they’re 6-3.[/quote]So that’s what that little REPLAY means under FSN Royals? (dying laughing) Didn’t even notice it.
mb21Quote Reply
Now you ruined it for me.
mb21Quote Reply
[quote name=mb21]Now you ruined it for me.[/quote]BTW, Darth Vader is Luke’s father. I learned this from a recent movie I enjoyed.
Mercurial OutfielderQuote Reply
[quote name=Mercurial Outfielder]Same. And don’t forget Chris Sabo and his amazing RecSpecs![/quote]I’d forgotten about him. For some reason I always get him and Matt Williams confused.
mb21Quote Reply
[quote name=Mercurial Outfielder]BTW, Darth Vader is Luke’s father. I learned this from a recent movie I enjoyed.[/quote]Thanks. We were planning to go to the theaters to see that one when it came out.
mb21Quote Reply
[quote name=mb21]I’d forgotten about him. For some reason I always get him and Matt Williams confused.[/quote]Matt Williams looked like a Cabbage Patch doll, and Sabo wore massive RecSpecs. (dying laughing)
Mercurial OutfielderQuote Reply
[quote name=mb21]Thanks. We were planning to go to the theaters to see that one when it came out.[/quote]False.
Mercurial OutfielderQuote Reply
http://chicago.cubs.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=13659431
Second or third great defensive play by Kosuke in this game. Hope Colvin/Reed are up to the task while he recovers from the hammy strain.
Rice CubeQuote Reply
Wow. This team is bad. Bad. Bad. Bad.
ZappBranniganQuote Reply
They aren’t very good, but they are what we thought they’d be.
mb21Quote Reply
[quote name=ZappBrannigan]Wow. This team is bad. Bad. Bad. Bad.[/quote]Maybe not bad. Just not good. Painfully mediocre. They did plate 5 runs off one of the better pitchers in the NL. They’re just not good enough to overcome a mediocre pitching performance, a TOOTBLAN, and two key managerial mistakes.
Mercurial OutfielderQuote Reply
I’m still fuming over Byrd getting thrown out. Why Quade why?
ZappBranniganQuote Reply
I’d like to know if it was Quade’s decision or Byrd’s. If Quade called it then it’s just stupid. If Byrd felt he could take the base then I don’t have much of a problem with it. Probably a bad decision in that situation, but if it’s something the player decided then I’m assuming he felt confident enough he could get it and that’s good enough for me.
mb21Quote Reply
[quote name=ZappBrannigan]I’m still fuming over Byrd getting thrown out. Why Quade why?[/quote]I’d really like to hear why he did that, and why the asinine AB by Coleman. But expecting the beat hacks to ask those kinds of questions is likely a bridge too far. Maybe Miles, if he traveled.
Mercurial OutfielderQuote Reply
Looked to me like it was a hit and run all the way, but it could’ve just been Byrd’s call. Regardless, I think you’re right in not expecting any answers or difficult questions asked to find out.
ZappBranniganQuote Reply
[quote name=mb21]I’d like to know if it was Quade’s decision or Byrd’s. If Quade called it then it’s just stupid. If Byrd felt he could take the base then I don’t have much of a problem with it. Probably a bad decision in that situation, but if it’s something the player decided then I’m assuming he felt confident enough he could get it and that’s good enough for me.[/quote]
Sullivan reports Quade didn’t want Byrd running and called it miscommunication. He then said the miscommunication could have been his fault.
Byrd got pissy with the media and walked away from the interview as they pressed him on it, but he indicated he got a steal sign from DeJesus.
This shit is just getting started as the losing piles up.
Aisle424Quote Reply
So much for the clubhouse chemistry?
mb21Quote Reply
[quote name=mb21]So much for the clubhouse chemistry?[/quote]
Losing will do that.
Aisle424Quote Reply
[quote name=Aisle424]Playing for a gung-ho 1st-time manager will do that.[/quote]Fixed for precise correctness.
AndCountingQuote Reply
It’s also going to be interesting to see the difference in Mike Quade. Surely he can’t remain as upbeat and giggly as he has been so far, right?
mb21Quote Reply
[quote name=mb21]It’s also going to be interesting to see the difference in Mike Quade. Surely he can’t remain as upbeat and giggly as he has been so far, right?[/quote]You might notice it in the post-game interviews. Up until now, he’s the guy who doesn’t want those interviews to end. It’s like he’s hanging out at a bar with the press. Things get ugly, that mood will almost certainly change.
AndCountingQuote Reply
Yeah, the press conference will be telling, AC. Hadn’t thought about that. I also think it’s interesting that there’s already blaming going on (Byrd blaming coaches, coaches blaming Byrd).
mb21Quote Reply
new stuff: http://obstructedview.net/chicago-cubs/articles/11-cubs-sure-to-disappoint.html
mb21Quote Reply
[quote name=mb21]I also think it’s interesting that there’s already blaming going on (Byrd blaming coaches, coaches blaming Byrd).[/quote]That’s just Hope Shifting.
GBTSQuote Reply
http://www.csnchicago.com/pages/video?PID=l2KsqnNBhk0ERCyaZGAjRoWu5P_B85g_
Byrd pissed off.
ZappBranniganQuote Reply