Schwarber Better Faster Stronger: Chicago Cubs 2017

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my prediction is ... they will be good

jiggleschwarber dot gif

what is the tommy la stella situation?

unclear, but he is in spring training: http://m.cubs.mlb.com/news/article/216538828/cubs-la-stella-glad-to-be-back/

I'm sure Maddon is going to move people around like he usually does, but who exactly is going to get the most playing time in CF?

Almora and/or Jay I believe

i'm assuming mostly Jay since Almora is still pretty green but Jon Heyman at least is expecting a platoon situation

maddon has announced that schwarber will be the lead-off batter. seems like a weird move given that he's a slow-moving slugger.

really good OBP, though. if the 2010-15 version of jason heyward returns, though, it might end up being his spot. or zobrist?

but who will hit ninth?

http://i.imgur.com/N4ZWR7i.jpg

https://twitter.com/CarrieMuskat/status/835204783422111744

David Ross will be on Dancing With the Stars

preseason Cubs projections and their unsustainable BABIP

https://theringer.com/2017-mlb-preview-chicago-cubs-babip-run-hit-prevention-projection-d64b121f4756#.xqb30qwka

https://www.fanragsports.com/mlb/cubs/will-cubs-25th-man/

everyone loves muni

@JonHeyman
sources: Kris Bryant sets record for 2nd year player, tops Trout, signs for $1.05M. cubs very fair with young players.

Cubs are still a crazy deep roster, you got to think 25th man like LaStella or Szczur would get more playing time on a bad clubs. They might start for the Padres.

otm but i feel like with maddon's fiddling the 25th man on the cubs gets more playing time than the average 25th man ... he takes advantage of the deep lineup to get the stars rest and doesn't just leave the bench players on the bench

@JonHeyman
sources: Kris Bryant sets record for 2nd year player, tops Trout, signs for $1.05M. cubs very fair with young players.

― Supercreditor (Dr Morbius), Thursday, March 9, 2017 3:56 PM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

the fangraphs article on this points out that this is still less money the cubs cost bryant by holding him back by starting him in triple-a in 2016 to delay free agency

yeah it's neat how the cubs get to look magnanimous while paying him 2% of what he'll likely be worth this year

I paid the ticket premium to buy good seats to see dodgers/cubs in LA w/ my father in law. tickets that usually cost ~30 were 50+.

yeah other ppl made those Bryant points, i though "@JonHeyman" was enough of a sarcasm signal on my part.

http://images.footballfanatics.com/FFImage/thumb.aspx?i=/productimages/_2617000/altimages/ff_2617011alt1_full.jpg&w=600

Wow. That is pretty next level weird.

http://variety.com/2017/film/news/chicago-cubs-world-series-movie-radar-pictures-1202013089/

at least it's not camo xo

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C7m3U7vVsAET0XM.jpg

what a bro

well it's nice to see someone with his visibility disinclined to self-mythologize.

also Fortune = pro bullshitters

https://muskat.mlblogs.com/cubs-release-kawasaki-22e17b512ab9
kawasaki released

only real player decision left is what to do with matt sczcur and tommy la stella. sczcur is out of options and la stella didn't react well the last time they sent him to the minors.

sczcur and le stella both make opening day roster, thanks to reliever brian duensing being sent to the DL

bats looked pretty good last night (esp schwarber) but cubs pitching makes me nervous

https://twitter.com/MLBNetwork/status/849450171477917696

Bullpen could be shaky and one injury to the rotation could be bad. The lineup is deep as any team has been in a good long time.

i'm just observing the bottom of the 11th via gameday, but with 1 out and the bases loaded, maddon just switched rizzo and schwarber - rizzo to LF, schwarber to 1B. i guess in the sac fly situation they want a better arm out in left? or maybe more range? you'd think schwarber would have the better arm as a catcher. anyway, maybe they do this frequently but it's the first i've noticed.

according to b-ref, rizzo has played all but one out of his career at 1B. that out was at 2B

bizarre. maybe it's just a matheny diss track?

if matheny had schwarber he'd play him in CF

so the bullpens down the line are gone from Wrigley? sacrilege.

@BNightengale
John Lackey gives up leadoff HR to Andrew Toles after #Cubs ring ceremony, and then yells at home-plate umpire Greg Gibson

yeah that was weird. ump made a bad call on the first pitch but it's not like that led to the home run on the third pitch

not really weird, john lackey is an enormous asshole

you'll miss him when he's gone!

well, probably not actually

bryant's first HR of the season finally. he's been struggling a bit so far.

http://ak-hdl.buzzfed.com/static/enhanced/webdr03/2013/8/17/1/anigif_enhanced-buzz-3260-1376716493-12.gif

Unable to untangle his complex financial holdings to the satisfaction of the Office of Government Ethics, Cubs board member Todd Ricketts, tapped by President Donald Trump to be the Deputy Commerce Secretary, on Wednesday withdrew his nomination, the Chicago Sun-Times has learned.

bats looked pretty good last night (esp schwarber) but cubs pitching makes me nervous

― na (NA), Monday, April 3, 2017 9:13 AM (two weeks ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Schwarber with the beard is definitely channeling a bit of John Kruk in his look now.

Reds and Cubs have played some pretty weird beer league style softball games this year.

i just looked at their schedule and they don't face another truly intimidating team the rest of the season. they've got potentially important (but winnable) series against the brewers and cardinals, and that's about it, unless you expect the pirates to make a big late-season run.

It looks like Arrieta has gotten some of his mojo back over the last few weeks.

man quintana has not been good for the cubs since that first game

javy stole home

you guys might get to see sean rodriguez pitch tonight

quintana actually did alright after that first inning. 9 ks in 6 innings.

their fourth game with 13 or more runs this month

leonys martin made his cubs debut today ... as a pitcher (he did not do well)

so much for arrieta's comeback (FIP has been suspicious anyway)

it feels like not having one reliable bullpen pitcher could be a problem

possibility the Cubs and Yankees miss the postseason: I Live For This

it feels like you're exaggerating

The Cubs are going to make the playoffs, but outside of getting fluky hot don't seem built to win it all.

Their starting pitching is straight dumpster fire.

I'd say more hit and miss. They get some good starts, sometimes they win softball game scores.

They are perhaps reminiscent of Torre's later Yankee's clubs without The Sandman. They can win alot as against lesser clubs they can outslug them, but against good pitching they can turn into K machine and their pitching is spotty.

that was weirdly worded lol, i had to check to make sure torre left NY before mo retired

weekend of putting away the Brewers not going so well

Cubs' BP playoff odds have fallen 26% in a week, to 68%.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMWap2wzBD0

Lackey is a good heel. He had a point in that one clip where both him and Contreras got tossed, as that was a strike. I'm thinking how Contreras caught the ball with a glove in motion might have thrown the ump off, but it was easily a strike.

yeah that one was honestly such a bad frame job that i wasn't sure it was a strike or not lol

good week

Next weekend at the Brew Crew is pretty much playoff baseball.

yeah i'm feeling fairly nervous about this series, particularly the cubs pitching

ugh i know why they had to pull arrieta early but i wish they hadn't

pretty huge at bat

p sick baseball game

yes in that i feel like puking

sure go to the bullpen in the sixth inning of a close game when your bullpen is garbage, why not

whoa he really looked out

call on the field was pretty much always gonna stand there, looked like an exact tie to me

crazy shift from maddon

lol huge swing from santana trying to pull the ball

wow that had to be 450 feet

Maddon surely used the 5-man infield at least once last October?

yeah obv maddon loves his crazy shifts but the 5 man infields are rare enough that they're still exciting

the injuries in this game suck :-/

who got hurt

happ kind of slid into the bottom part of the outfield wall (which is just concrete until about half a foot up) and had to leave the field. contreras also had a incident with a foul tip off the knee. and i guess i'm newly experiencing yadi's foul tips off the facemask from last night's game because i didn't hear about them or see them until this game.

almora jr, not happ, oops

sounds like almora's gonna be fine, just a bruise. contreras has been banged up a lot recently, and he hasn't shown much power since coming back from the dl. they should probably give him a lot of rest leading up to the playoffs.

i'm pretty curious/nervous about what their post-season rotation is going to be. seems like lester and arrieta are likely, though lester has been bad lately and arrieta has been hurt. i hope they don't stick lackey in there. quintana and hendricks have both looked better in the past couple of weeks.

and now it sounds like arrieta is still somewhat injured

his hamstrings are just too big and snappy

Hector Rondon's first career hit... Exit velocity of 39 MPH at a -7 degree launch angle. 🔥🔥🔥

— Daren Willman (@darenw) September 29, 2017

apparently arrieta shaves his beard every off season but I've never seen him without it

Well hello there 👋🏼🙈😍#myoffseasonboyfriend #babyface pic.twitter.com/tqzPJg7cgG

— Brittany Arrieta (@MrsArrieta49) October 22, 2017

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bae0dD3HJTukRlIc8Le8s-vlR-NtSXFxTCmqso0/

Tony once asked me what his Era would be over a full season 🚀☝🏼🌖😂🤣😂 https://t.co/FWr7m5zHhv

— Jake Arrieta (@JArrieta34) October 23, 2017

arrieta's an unfairly good looking dude