Chicago Cubs 2020 Season

#402      
https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/29804825/inside-yu-darvish-return-elite-status-chicago-cubs-ace

Nice story on the changes Darvish made to get his performance to the level it is today.

Interesting is Darvish's relationship with Trevor Bauer. Bauer openly idolizes Darvish, and Darvish goes to Bauer for pitching advice. Bauer is a free agent after this year, is having a great year, has expressed an interest in signing short term contracts (that will be less likely to scare the spending adverse Cubs), and the Cubs will be signing at least one - probably two - free agent starting pitchers in the off season.
 
#403      

bdutts

Houston, Texas
https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/29804825/inside-yu-darvish-return-elite-status-chicago-cubs-ace

Nice story on the changes Darvish made to get his performance to the level it is today.

Interesting is Darvish's relationship with Trevor Bauer. Bauer openly idolizes Darvish, and Darvish goes to Bauer for pitching advice. Bauer is a free agent after this year, is having a great year, has expressed an interest in signing short term contracts (that will be less likely to scare the spending adverse Cubs), and the Cubs will be signing at least one - probably two - free agent starting pitchers in the off season.

I'd be down with the Cubs signing Bauer short term. And I kinda like Bauer's attitude about baseball purism.
 
#405      
It’s a little weird because of the uneven # of games the teams will be playing this year, but if I’m calculating right, win one of two tomorrow and the Cubs magic # will be 20.
 
#408      
Is this the end of Jon Lester?

He’s had periodic phases where he’s looked like he’s lost it and then clawed his way back. But right now he looks like complete toast out there.

If he can’t at least eat some innings, the Cubs are down to 2 reliable starting pitchers. Not a fun place to be when Jeffress is their only reliable relief pitcher.

Darvish and Happ might be able to drag this team to the post season, but I don’t see much good happening after that.
 
#411      
I’m shocked at how good he is at home and how average he is away.

And it’s really just these last two years. He actually had better road ERAs in 17 and 18 and before that his road ERA was a bit worse, but within the realm of what you’d expect. He has a career 3.77 ERA on the road. So it’s not like he has a history of being bad on the road prior to 2019.

At this point, I’d guess it’s just a random relatively low sample size thing rather than anything that needs to be corrected.
 
#412      
Looking more at Hendrick's game logs, a huge chunk of his road woes can be chalked up to his last 3 starts against Cincinnati (all on the road), where he's given up 18 runs in 13 innings pitched.

Overall, in 19 and 20, Hendricks has a 3.45 ERA. If you take out those 3 starts in Cincinnati, he has a 2.92 ERA! So, if you're looking for issues, it might have more to do with the Reds than the road.
 
#413      

bdutts

Houston, Texas
Looking more at Hendrick's game logs, a huge chunk of his road woes can be chalked up to his last 3 starts against Cincinnati (all on the road), where he's given up 18 runs in 13 innings pitched.

Overall, in 19 and 20, Hendricks has a 3.45 ERA. If you take out those 3 starts in Cincinnati, he has a 2.92 ERA! So, if you're looking for issues, it might have more to do with the Reds than the road.
thanks, that makes sense.
 
#415      
Fun fact: The Cubs don’t need to win any more games if the rest of the division keeps losing.

But seriously, the magic # is 18 for the division and 15 for the playoffs.
 
#416      
Mills is such an intriguing pitcher to me. Seems like a heavy rhythm guy--once he's thrown off he's done. I'm still confident he can be a 4 starter in the playoffs, but sadly we'd probably need a solid long relief guy or two if we want to talk about deep runs. Something I dont think the Cubs have.

Anyways, really need KB and Rizzo to step it up down the stretch. Pretty remarkable how poorly Baez, Rizzo, and Bryant have been slashing and we're still well in the lead in the division.
 
#417      
Mills is such an intriguing pitcher to me. Seems like a heavy rhythm guy--once he's thrown off he's done. I'm still confident he can be a 4 starter in the playoffs, but sadly we'd probably need a solid long relief guy or two if we want to talk about deep runs. Something I dont think the Cubs have.

Anyways, really need KB and Rizzo to step it up down the stretch. Pretty remarkable how poorly Baez, Rizzo, and Bryant have been slashing and we're still well in the lead in the division.
It's a problem if Mills is our 4 come playoff time. Lester in the playoffs is a whole nother animal so no matter how poorly he's performing he will always be in that top 4. I still have faith Quintana can come back and be effective, so lets hope that's the case. I'm totally fine with Mills being the long relief guy you allude to. Chatwood has done well in the past in those roles as well if he can get back to healthy.
 
#422      
It's a problem if Mills is our 4 come playoff time. Lester in the playoffs is a whole nother animal so no matter how poorly he's performing he will always be in that top 4. I still have faith Quintana can come back and be effective, so lets hope that's the case. I'm totally fine with Mills being the long relief guy you allude to. Chatwood has done well in the past in those roles as well if he can get back to healthy.
Maybe I was wrong