OSS: Cubs bats come alive, win comfortably in season opener
Three up:
- Javy Baez homered twice, and drove in four runs. Not a bad start for last year’s MVP runner-up. Perhaps more importantly, he also worked a full count in his first PA. The dude seems like he is picking up where he left off last year.
- The Cubs overall drew 8 walks on the day, and all nine starters got on base at least once, as well as at least one R+RBI. Definitely a team effort all around, even if Javy led the show.
- Jon Lester was credible today, giving up four hits and two walks (and one homer) for two runs. He only struck out three, but I guess this is the pitcher that he is now.
Three down:
- Not much to complain about here, other than the fact that apparently a ten run lead wasn’t enough for a Tyler Chatwood appearance. I guess tomorrow is an off day, but it’s still a little strange to see Strop make an appearance here.
- Mark Zagunis wins the prize for most negative WPA play on the day, a double play in a tie game in the third inning.
- He didn’t win the overall negative WPA crown of the day though, which went to Albert Almora. I don’t mind seeing him lead off against a LHP, but he struck out twice against Minor, who is a guy he should crush.
Next up: An off day tomorrow, then the series resumes on Saturday at 7:05 PM CT, when Yu Darvish takes on Edinson Volquez.
Comments
I didn’t say all they do is throw money around. That’s an uncharitable misread of my point.
Forget it. I apologize for disagreeing with you. Friedman is a very good executive. We agree on that, we just prefer different superlatives when describing him. You think he’s transformative? Cool, man. Roll with that. I won’t bother you anymore about it.
Smokestack LightningQuote Reply
Series previews AND game recaps?
All that’s missing now is game threads. I could get used to this!
SKQuote Reply
Not a fan of the off day following the season opener.
PerkinsQuote Reply
Generally the worst day of the year.
MylesQuote Reply
Baez led the team in players left on base. Have to wonder how long we can keep batting him where he is.
MylesQuote Reply
Perkins,
I hate them. It’s even worse when it happens in back to back weeks (home and away). You only get so many off days in the season and to have them wasted so early pisses me off.
dmick89Quote Reply
SK,
It’s nice of the team to generate content for us, if only the front office would do the same in the offseason.
berseliusQuote Reply
Hayden SimpsonBrach was hitting 93 on his fastball yesterday, which was nice to see.berseliusQuote Reply
berselius,
Hayden Simpson isn’t on the team. There can be only mono.
MylesQuote Reply
Sorry, I guess I don’t understand it then. I have a hard time seeing a team that cut payroll by over 100 million as leveraging its “virtually unlimited resources.”
GWQuote Reply
dmick89,
You have to wonder how many people who plan to attend a home opener actually could attend a game rescheduled for the very next day. It can’t be that many.
andcountingQuote Reply
andcounting,
Probably not that many. It really sucks this year for the Cubs. It happens three times. Texas, Atlanta and then in Chicago. They will have had 3 off days by April 9th.
dmick89Quote Reply
https://deadspin.com/the-inside-story-of-how-the-ricketts-family-schemed-and-1831879476
berseliusQuote Reply
berselius,
Jeebus, it’s long
berseliusQuote Reply
berselius,
(dying laughing) I’m only fractionally into it, but it’s starting to look like Alvin was the Woodward and Bernstein of this transaction
GWQuote Reply
berselius,
Calcaterra has a breakdown if you are tl;dr
https://mlb.nbcsports.com/2019/03/29/the-insanely-revealing-sale-of-the-chicago-cubs/
berseliusQuote Reply
berselius,
I got down to about July 2008 and had to stop. Way too long. (dying laughing)
dmick89Quote Reply
finally got around to listening. this part was so much better/more awkward than i had hoped.
EnricoPallazzoQuote Reply
it will be a true miscarriage of justice if today ends and this comment still only has one faget point.
EnricoPallazzoQuote Reply
The context of my original post should have been clear that resources refers to more than just payroll (it seems it wasn’t, so I apologize). It’s the systems already in place when he got there. It’s the high-quality people already working there. It’s the roster that’s already good. It’s the farm system that’s already in the top 5. Friedman didn’t walk into a disaster zone when he joined the Dodgers, but a pretty strong situation he was expected to keep that way. He didn’t have to come in and clear out the rubble and build everything up from scratch. He didn’t have to write a fucking manual about how to play baseball right. The Dodgers have enjoyed sustained success for a long time now, well before Friedman got there. It was already the norm in LA. AF has kept it going in a much more efficient manner, absolutely, which is why he was brought in. But imo he is at minimum an equal beneficiary of being a part of the Dodger machine as vice versa, and imo that takes what he’s done out of the realm of transformative. He hasn’t come in and raised the dead. He’s taken a generally healthy patient and kept them healthy. And minus the resources and infrastructure, as his last year in Tampa illustrates, even someone as good and smart as he is can’t keep success going forever.
Again, he is one of the best in the biz. Any team in baseball would be lucky to have him.
Smokestack LightningQuote Reply
Smokestack Lightning,
I think the biggest difference between the two has been the focus the minor leagues. At some point Thoyer stopped focusing on that and I’m not going to complain too much since we won a World Series, but it is frustrating to now see the Cubs minor league system almost as bad as it was when they took over. There is no way for this team to get better without spending a shitload of money, which was the same position Hendry was in when he was fired. The difference in talent between executives has narrowed as we talked about, but it’s still disappointing to see this organization’s future in nearly the same point as it was back in 2009.
dmick89Quote Reply
I wouldn’t say there is no way, but it’s fair to say it isn’t likely. You can unearth prospects in the late 1st round, and if you are lucky and/or good, you can find the Max Muncys and Justin Turners of the world. Friedman continually has a great farm because his additions don’t cost prospects. Thoyer spend the prospects and have not really shown an ability to develop them. They have been Reds-level at developing pitching since they’ve been here. Literally zero of the pitchers on the 25-man roster were drafted by the Cubs. 0! That’s unbelievable. It’s a huge problem that will only continue to hurt this team.
MylesQuote Reply
The Cubs have $134.7 million in payroll commitments this year on pitching alone. That’s the cost of not developing one.
MylesQuote Reply
You’re right, but everyone said there was no way for the Cubs to get better without spending huge amounts of money back in 2008-2009. I think that was the primary point I was trying to get across. We’re in the same situation that we were in 2009. Our core is a bit younger so there’s that, but they’re going to and are getting expensive.
dmick89Quote Reply
Why is there no Cubs baseball today?
MylesQuote Reply
Myles,
I don’t know. It’s stupid. This also happens next series in Atlanta and then again back in Chicago.
dmick89Quote Reply
Myles,
Teams that don’t play in domed stadiums always put a scheduled off day after the opener in case it rains, since the opening day tickets usually go for a premium and to make sure whatever festivities/ceremonies can still happen to open the season.
berseliusQuote Reply
berselius,
That’s what I’ve read too and if it is true then it should be mandated that all stadiums have domes. You get 18 days off throughout the season (not including the all-star break). The Cubs will have burned 3 of those before they even start their 11th game. I’d also bet that one of these first 10-15 games gets rained out and they have to use another day off for that. It sucks when you’ve barely started the season and days off are already an issue. I’d gladly trade away playing outside to know that the Cubs are going to get days off spread throughout the season better than it usually ends up being.
dmick89Quote Reply
Knebel —–> TJS
berseliusQuote Reply
berselius,
Yikes.
MylesQuote Reply
berselius,
I have been reading continually since you posted, and I finished it. Lots of interesting details, but we knew the broad strokes of pretty much all of it at the time. Except for the infighting within the family about who owns the Cubs, of course. Was not aware of that.
I really feel for Todd’s kids, who have to deal with their friends thinking that their uncle- not their father- owns the Cubs. It sounds rough.
GWQuote Reply
GW,
The struggle is real.
berseliusQuote Reply
GW,
I was going to check if Alvin is taking a victory lap on the “who owns the cubs” issue, but then I remembered that it would require reading his writing.
berseliusQuote Reply
Come to think of it, I bet Todd’s ill-fated Undercover Boss appearance was a direct response to this, to show him as Cubs’ owner. I wonder if they fired that PR firm, too.
GWQuote Reply
It’s rare to encounter such admiration for Ned Colletti. The farm was clearly in a good spot, but I think you underestimate the amount of house-cleaning Friedman did. He hired four GMs to start with, and basically all-new coaches throughout the minors. Whatever he is doing with young pitchers is clearly working. Every year some random Dodger seems to break the minor-league K-BB leaderboard, often a cast-off from another team. They hired JD Martinez’s magic hitting coach. And while I’m loathe to credit him completely, something clearly worked with Max Muncy.
I mean, basically every team did that. Sam Miller wrote an article about all of them at one point.
GWQuote Reply
So the owners are the epitome of capitalistic corruption and the Ricketts are entitled billionaire racist assholes? (And ALL the owners are having a party at the news that Mike Trout, the best player in baseball, has no clue how much money he should be making….YOU get an extension, and YOU get an extension….) Deadspin gets all the scoops.
andcountingQuote Reply
GW,
I never went back to pick up where I left off yesterday. It looked way too long for me and like you said, I think we knew the gist of the business aspects of it.
dmick89Quote Reply
To-day’s base ball squadron
2b Zobrist
LF Bryant
1b Rizzo
SS El Mago
DH War Bear
C Contreras
RF Heyward
3B McBoatface
CF Almora
SP Darvish
berseliusQuote Reply
Bryant! Báez!
Rizzo the RatQuote Reply
Baez!
dmick89Quote Reply
Schwarber!
Rizzo the RatQuote Reply
Schwarber!
dmick89Quote Reply
Willson!
Rizzo the RatQuote Reply
Contreras!
dmick89Quote Reply
Wait. Elvis Andrus is the number 3 hitter?????
Rizzo the RatQuote Reply
Sigh.
Rizzo the RatQuote Reply
Darvish is broken.
dmick89Quote Reply
Not great, Bob.
berseliusQuote Reply
Darvish makes Carlos Zambrano look efficient.
dmick89Quote Reply
Here’s the Efficiency Scale I just made up:
Maddux——————————-Zambrano————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————Darvish
dmick89Quote Reply
About 70% of MLB pitchers in history are somewhere between Maddux and Zambrano.
dmick89Quote Reply
So this Darvish contract might not be the best deal Theo has ever done…only 4 more years after 2019. Maybe he and Chatwood can bookend their starts and see if they can set an MLB record for BBs.
North Side PatQuote Reply
Schwarber!!!
dmick89Quote Reply
Even Báez and Almora walked today.
Rizzo the RatQuote Reply
It’s fucking 50 degrees out there and one of the rangers has a full ski mask on
WaLiQuote Reply
Cool, man. All good points. I’m ready to move on if you are.
Smokestack LightningQuote Reply
dmick89,
Where does Shawn Boskie fall on that scale?
BVSQuote Reply
Stop sliding headfirst into 1st base!
dmick89Quote Reply
dmick89,
Seriously it should be an automatic out. I can’t believe players still do it
WaLiQuote Reply
Cubs lose.
dmick89Quote Reply
Good to know the Cubs bullpen still sucks.
dmick89Quote Reply
Not sure Carl Edwards did his homework on how to pitch a hitter like Joey Gallo.
Fastballs down the middle = bad.
Any other type of pitch anywhere else = probably okay. He generally swings at and misses those.
Smokestack LightningQuote Reply
The last thing Edwards needs is to make pitching more difficult.
dmick89Quote Reply
dmick89,
I’m never sure whether to +1 these because I totally agree with you, or -1 because making things difficult is obviously bad…
BVSQuote Reply
dmick89,
Not sure what you mean by “still.” (The Cubs lead the league in bullpen ERA last year, though I have no high hopes for them this year.)
Rizzo the RatQuote Reply
I just wish there were a good relief pitcher on the free agent market.
Rizzo the RatQuote Reply
What up, 2018, we missed you.
berseliusQuote Reply
Rizzo the Rat,
We had this talk about three dozen times last year. There’s nothing you can tell me that is ever going to convince me the 2018 Cubs bullpen was anything other than horrible.
dmick89Quote Reply
dmick89,
No, last year you argued that the 2017 bullpen was horrible, but the 2018 one was improved.
Rizzo the RatQuote Reply
Rizzo the Rat,
Heading into the season I felt that way. You’re right. I was wrong though and especially after Morrow went down my opinion changed.
dmick89Quote Reply
Hey, at least the Cubs have scored more through game 2 this year than they did in the last 20 or so last year….
BVSQuote Reply
To-day’s south paw packed base ball squadron
LF Zobrist
3B Bryant
1B Rizzo
SS Baez
DH War Bear
2B Descalso
RF Heyward
CF Almora
C Caratini
berseliusQuote Reply
New Shit
http://www.obstructedview.net/gameday-3-31-2019-cubs-1-1-rangers-1-1/
mylesQuote Reply