Spring Training Twofer But Brewers Bust

On Saturday the Cubs split the squad but kicked butt in both games picking up 2 wins in the process. Everyone seems totally on board the Nico Hoerner train at this point and how can you not be with an explosive offensive game?

Regardless of his Cubs career, the potential that he and other members of the minor league squads have been demonstrating this preseason makes me feel bullish on the future.

Slightly less bullish after Sunday's game where the Cubs again lost to the Brewers. Almora had yet another hit (what else is new) as did Contreras but the rest of the squad didn't really show up. Not helping the cause was Hendricks giving up 3 earned runs.

Still the Cubs go into their off day with 11-7 record. Up next, the Cubs play the Reds, Athletics, Rangers, White Sox and D-Backs. Of these, I am most interested in the Reds to see how their new teammates are progressing since the NL Central is shaping up to be pretty tight this year.

Enjoy the off day everyone and see you on Tuesday! 

Spring Training- The Last Few Days

So the Cubs beat the Royals, lost to the Rockies and beat the Mariners. Here are a few takeaways from the last few days.

The Cubs Are Hitting! 

In the last 3 games, the Cubs have 32 hits. For a team that was primarily manufacturing runs via the homer last year this is a great development. The Brewers hit early and often in their games and I am all about the Cubs hitting, hitting and hitting some more.

The Pipeline Has Some Juice Still

The common wisdom is that the Cubs have sacrificed their minor league pipeline for the win-now window. Still though, there is some real talent in the minors that I am excited about. Including Trent Giambrone. Trent is absolutely raking it in spring training and is leading a trio of offensive talent that is looking better and better.

https://www.cubsinsider.com/2019/03/06/cubs-prospects-mark-zagunis-trent-giambrone-jared-young-making-major-noise-this-spring/

Pitching Is Meh? 

There isn't much you can tease out of Spring Training when it comes to pitching. Maddon has a strict pitch count, pitchers can't really get into a rhythm and the starters might look sharp one game and rusty the next. One seeming bright spot is the "righting of the ship" of Chatwood.

So far he is pitched in 8 innings sporting a 2.35 ERA and a 1.13 WHIP. Solid numbers which I will take in a heartbeat given the absolute train wreck the second half of the season was with Tyler. Not sure what portends for Chatwood this season but at least this Spring he looks like a major league pitcher which could be a game changer for the Cubs this year. Time will tell.

Spring Training Game 11

I mean, just when you think the Cubs are starting to put together some mojo, they have another meltdown losing 9-2 to the Angels.

The game did feature one of my favorite things, defensive incompetence leading to an inside the park home run for Contreras.

The rest of the game was downhill in some many categories. Zobrist, Bryant, Heyward Happ and Bote went a combined 0-14 and Hendricks gave up 2 earned runs.

An interesting fact for this Spring Training is that when the Cubs have lost a game, they have lost by the average score of 8-3. Of course, as I mentioned yesterday when they have won, they have won big. Do these crazy swings mean anything? Probably not although I wish I could see the Cubs try to close the gap in these blowouts but in reality, these games don't count so I am not going to get too worked up over it.

Spring Training Game 10

It was the Almora show today folks. I have been going on and on about the Spring this guy is having but he really brought it today against the Reds. He had a home run and a great defensive effort (at least according to this great report by BCB) and is just having a killer preseason.

https://www.bleedcubbieblue.com/2019/3/4/18250570/cubs-reds-recap-albert-almora-alec-mills-mlb-scores

This squad was mostly minor leaguers but so many got hits off of Reds pitching (ending up with 11 hits) in a blowout of the Reds.

There isn't much I can say about this game so let's look at some overall trends.

Through 10-11 games (I note this as game 10 because I don't count the split squad game as 2 separate games) the Cubs have scored 77 runs with a 19 run differential. Sure major league hitting is beating up on minor league pitching a bit but still, that is a lot of hitting. The only team to have scored more runs than the Cubs are the Angels (88 runs) and they only have a 17 run differential.

Not only are the Cubs hitting but they are also selective. They are currently 5th in walks and 12th in strikeouts. Coupled that with the runs and the hitting, the Cubs are looking pretty good offensively.

On the pitching side, the Cubs are 12th in ERA and 9th in WHIP. Despite the facts they are trotting their pitchers out there for 2 innings max per game, to be above average in pitching is also a good sign.

Overall the Cubs are trending up, which I am all about!

Spring Training Game 9

The Battle of Chi-Town, Cubs vs White Sox. Yet all of this is taking place in Arizona of all places. The White Sox are slowly trying to build a "window" for winning but a few of their hot rookies have unfortunately been getting hurt. The Cubs meanwhile have a few draft picks making meaningful contributions to the squad but have mortgaged the rest of the farm for a win now "window".

This lineup is the closest we have seen to a MLB lineup so far. So given that, it no surprise that the Cubs won 13-4 scoring 10 runs in the first 3 innings. The Cubs were led by KB going 2-2 with 3 RBIs and Bote was no slouch either, with 3 RBIs.

Darvis looked really good throwing 3ks in 2 innings and said afterward that he was feeling really good and sharp. Good, this is exactly the type of game the Cubs needed after the Brewers loss. Explosive offense mixed with great pitching, well that is a recipe for success for any team.

Spring Training Game 8

Ahh the Brewers. The town and the team seem to be perpetually in the shadow cast by Chicago but recently the BrewCrew have been turning things around and definitely took it to the Cubs last season. Can Chicago turn it around in a pre-season setting? Let's see!

Almora AGAIN leading off, the guy has been on fire. Zobrist in the spring training DH role. My boy KB batting cleanup plus Baez and Contreras this is looking MUCH more like a MLB opening day lineup.

Almora AGAIN had a hit but the other big names really didn't come up with much. Lester got knocked around a bit with 2 earned runs in 3 innings. In the later part of his career, he seems to have a rocky inning or 2 before settling down. Hopefully that trend doesn't translate into 2019 but who knows?

Then in the top of the 6th, the wheels fell off. The Brewers just kept hitting and scoring. Last season the Cubs were much more feast or famine, home run or shut out. The Brewers then and the Brewers now show what contact and hustle can do to put runs up on the board. By the time we got to the bottom of the 6th the score was 5-2.

Now the Cubs did scramble back to make 5-4 at the bottom of the inning helped out with,  you guessed it, a home run. Ultimately however the Cubs fell 7-4. I am not sure if this game is emblematic or not of the last season but it sure kinda felt like it.

Also of note for Cubs fans, they are selling seats from Wrigley, if you have a spare $1k pick one up! https://www.mlb.com/cubs/fans/seat-sale

Spring Training Games 6-7

It was a tale of two games with the Cubs being beat up 10-3 by the A's then turning around and doing the same to the Diamondbacks (10-2).

What were some of the highlights?

Almora keeps hitting, I am really liking what I see out of him so far. Same goes for Heyward who picked up another hit in the As game. Quintana and Chatwood both looked good in the Diamondbacks game.

Some of the lowlights?

Well Tseng was again a disaster, I don't think he is making the roster. Outside of him, everyone looked pretty solid.

I really don't care about Spring Training records but at least the Cubs are 5-3 so far. I think the Central is going to be a dog fight this year with the Cardinals and Brewers looking tough (heck even the Reds and Pirates are more stocked) but I think the Cubs are going to give them a run for their money.