At least the Cubs are making the last month interesting. Kind of:
CHICAGO — Jason Berken didn’t get a win, but he got in the Cubs record books.
Didi Gregorius, pinch-hitter Joey Votto and Xavier Paul hit consecutive RBI singles in the seventh to help Johnny Cueto pick up his 18th win as the Reds beat the Cubs, 5-3, on Thursday to reduce their magic number to clinch the National League Central Division to two.
The Reds were without manager Dusty Baker, hospitalized because of an irregular heartbeat. They relied on Cueto (18-9), who ranks among the NL leaders in wins, ERA (2.84), and innings pitched. He scattered five hits over six scoreless innings, snapping a three-game losing streak.
Berken made a little history in the second, when he struck out four — Ryan Hanigan reached on a wild pitch to prolong the inning — and is the fifth pitcher in franchise history to fan four batters in one inning. The list includes Jim Davis (May 27, 1956), Bill Bonham (July 31, 1974), Kerry Wood (Sept. 2, 2002) and Ryan Dempster (Oct. 4, 2009). That also ties a National League and Major League mark, shared by many.
“I didn’t realize it until I sat down in the dugout,” Berken said. “That’s cool, I guess. By no means am I going for strikeouts.”
And therein lay the problem. “By no means am I going for strikeouts.”
Okay, I get it. He’s not trying to strike everyone out. He’s trying to get outs. At the same time, he should be trying to throw strikes . . and three strikes = a strikeout. So shouldn’t EVERYONE be going for strikeouts all the time? I mean, in an existential sense. In life, are you going for slow grounders to short? Or strikeouts? The Yankees are going for strikeouts. Apple goes for strikeouts. Johnny Cash went for strikeouts. The Cubs aren’t going for strikeouts. Dammit, I hate this team.
And here’s the second quote of the day that sent me into a blackout rage:
CHICAGO — The Cubs have used 12 different starting pitchers this season, tied for third-most in the National League, and set a club record by using 53 different players.
There’s been a lot of on-the-job training, especially for the pitchers.
“Do we miss our core guys? Of course we do,” Cubs pitching coach Chris Bosio said Thursday of Ryan Dempster and Paul Maholm, who were traded, and Matt Garza, who has been sidelined with an injury since July 28. “I think, for the most part, the guys who we’ve filled in have improved. We’ll never be satisfied with anything. These guys are getting a crash course in how to be Major League players.”
Bosio has seen encouraging signs from young relievers such as Alberto Cabrera, Rafael Dolis and Jaye Chapman. Plus, they’ve had to work with young catchers Welington Castillo and Steve Clevenger.
“It seems like everything we’re doing as an organization, it’s a great learning experience,” Bosio said, “but at the same time we want to be competitive and fight and win. The best way to develop is teach them how to win. Hands full? Yes. Eager guys? Yes. Learning on the job? Yes.”
By all means, let’s celebrate the fact that we’ve had to watch a starting rotation that features Chris Volstad and Travis Wood battling it out to be the ace. I guess that makes Justin Germano and his 5.58 ERA our number 3, followed by Brooks Raley and a parade of arms we’ve never heard of (and frankly, I’m not even convinced half these guys are in the Cubs organization. They may be from Iowa, but how do we know they aren’t from the local American Legion league? We don’t.). Let’s celebrate it and talk about how encouraging it all is, because GOD KNOW IT’S BEEN FUN TO WATCH FOR THE FANS.
I love seeing a new pitching I’ve never heard of out there every game. Don’t you? Especially when I also have to watch the Reds, the Cardinals, and the Brewers (the BREWERS, for crying out loud) working their way into the playoffs AGAIN. But by all means, let’s all be encouraged by all the experience the young, craptacular, no-name pitchers are getting. ISN’T IS FUN TO WATCH PEOPLE GET EXPERIENCE? OF COURSE IT IS.
And then there’s this hilarious headline:
“SVEUM LOOKS FORWARD TO REFLECTING ON SEASON”
Of course he does. I know I, personally, can’t wait to sit around this off-season and think back on every,single, freakin’ moment of this incredible season.
Oh, and Cardinals and Chris Carpenter come to town today. JOY. Can’t wait.
GAME THREAD PART THINGY:
Chris Carpenter v. Chris Volstad
1:20 pm CT, Comcast Sports
Let’s hope we send him back to the DL.
I love that the guys that they’ve seen encouraging signs from are all relief pitchers. It’s good to know that we are building our team around middle relief pitchers. I think that’s what the Royals have done over the last 2 decades and that’s worked pretty well for them.
This organization lacks talent…especially pitching talent. In fact, outside of the Astros, they may have the worst organizational pitching outlook of any team in baseball.
Which explains why we just HAD to get rid of Paul Maholm.
*sound of garment rending*
Huh? What does Paul Maholm have to do with this. Maholm is a free agent at the end of the season. Better off getting something for him now as opposed to just letting him walk.
The Cubs got a couple of decent prospects for him and Johnson…and Chapman is currently on the big league club. Vizcaino was one of the Braves top prospects. A 30 year old Paul Maholm was never to be the future of this team, he was a short term reclamation that turned out to nab the Cubs a couple players that helped their talent level in the minor leagues.
Signing Maholm was perhaps the 2nd best move made by Theo and Jed this season (after acquiring Rizzo)…and the third best move was trading Maholm.
Just because Maholm would become a free agent at the end of this season does not mean he would have walked.
30 is not old for a pitcher and having him for the next 3-4 years would not have necessarily been a bad thing.
Of course after he looked at who was left in the organization as far as pitching, THEN he may have decided,”Uh, later you guys and good luck the next decade.”
30 years old? No team control?
He nothing better than a #3 pitcher on a bad team.
We got two halfway decent prospects. That’s a win.
Besides, if the Cubs wanted to re-sign Paul Maholm next year, they still can! He’s a free agent!
I think their is a reasonable team option on Maholm but trading him was the right move. By all reports Arodys Vizcaino could be a very pomising long term solution somewhere on our pitching staff.
As I recall, the only real knock on him was the fact he went down for Tommy John surgery. It wouldn’t shock me to see him on the team late in 2013.
I’m going to the Brewers game on September 30th (as part of an outing for the timing company I work for part time)…
and you know what, I think I might actually cheer for the Brewers. I know Julie would disagree with me, but I’d rather see the Brewers make the playoffs than the Cardinals.
You have lost your freaking mind
Gravedigger needs to bring back the down thumb option ASAP….
So you are telling me that you’d rather have the Cardinals in win the wild card slot?
Than Ryan douche-bag Braun, yes, I would!
Same. I think I might hate the Brewers more than the Cardinals.
I could never hate anyone more than the Cardinals. Sorry. It’s just genetic or something.
One player (Braun) does not change that.
And besides, Brewers fans are much better than Cardinals fans. I’d much rather hang around Brewers fans than Cardinals fans. In fact, before the Brewers actually became competitive again 6 or 7 years ago, many of the current Brewers fans actually cheered for the Cubs.
Given the choice between rooting for the Cardinals or the Brewers, I would pick neither, and root for the Giants, or even (God-forbid)the Nationals,if for nothing else to spite the stupid Dodgers and their followers…
We are talking about the last wildcard spot right now…unless the Phillies get hot, it’s down to the Brewers and the Cardinals (and sorry, but you can put a fork in the Dodgers…they’re done).
I’m going for the Brewers.
Just don’t wanna hear it out loud or read it or think about it. I hate em both equally but saying the words cheering for Brewers or Cardinals just makes me get that lil sick feeling in m stomach.
So exactly wtf do we do about this pitching staff aside from continuing to sign scrap heap in hopes some of them actually become worth a fuck?
Greinke is gonna cost a king’s ransom and I’m sure there will be no less 10 teams in the bidding for him. So I’m guessing were out of the running there.
Will some of the 2nd tier guys be willing to take a shorter contract for higher value. Are we willing to do that? Guys like Peavy, Edwin Jackson, Kuroda, Lohse, etc
What about Dempster coming back or signing guys like Liriano, Sanchez, Daisuke etc?
Do we go after Shields if he becomes available?
I would not go after Kuroda- the Yankees resurrected him after his awful season with the Dodgers. They basically broke him down and rebuilt his delivery. The Yankees have resources for that, and the Cubs don’t. Also Kuroda had extra help from Mariano Rivera in the spring;again the Cubs don’t have that pitching mind either. What I would do if I were the Ricketts, is hire Orel Hershiser to consult with some of these young pitchers. I have been listening to him all year break down different teams pitching(hey, I don’t get to watch the Cubs most of the time) and he has really good insights into how to improve starters,middle relievers,and closers. When he has talked about the Cubs pitchers,or even hitters, he has stated ways to improve them. The Cubs are not going to cough up $$ for name pitchers,as they are in rebuilding. What the club could do it get outside help to work with these pitchers so the fans will see light at the end of the tunnel. One thing I do know: I want Dale gone, as he seems to live on another planet as everyone else…
I disagree about Dale. He knows for the most part what he’s doing. I mean he’s done and said some things I disagreed with but for the most part he’s fine. I mean he can’t come out and say these junk heap pieces of shit suck. He can’t say these kids coming up are in no way gonna make it. He has to play the game so to speak to stay gainfully employed.
As far as Orel goes, I mean yeah he’s knows his stuff but you can only do so much with alot of these guys we have. I’m just like everyone else that would love to find the next David Ortiz of pitchers or something but that shits rare.
I mean I’m not trying to be a apologist for Bosio or Sveum but they have just about gotten all out of these guys that the guys were humanly capable of.
For the most part the point of my post was to guage other’s opinions on what to do with the pitching staff. We don’t have much coming for the foreseeable future in the minors and the FA market is overall pretty thin.
You can’t ultimately judge this coaching staff on this season. We’ll need to wait another year. Remember, most of the guys on this team were part of the clusterfuck that was the Cubs minor league system pre 2012. It takes a long time to unlearn what they have learned. At this point, it is about slow, steady improvement. If the baserunning isn’t better next year, if pitch selection isn’t better next year, if the pitchers’ walk ratio isn’t better next year…well, then you need to start examining the structure of the coaching staff.
Look, I was never a fan of the Sveum hiring, and I have a lot of questions about Bosio at this point too…but a lot of what happened in spring training this year seemed like a very positive step forward to me. Is Sveum a good gameday manager? It didn’t appear so…but that isn’t why this team was bad. Sveum was brought in here to develop players. Look at some of the impressive improvements that some of the more established players made this year…especially Soriano, Samardzija, Barney and Castro. (Yes, Castro did improve drastically during the 2nd half of the season defensively.) Now we get to watch to see if we see improvements from other players next year…Jackson, Castillo, Clevenger…maybe even Vitters if they haven’t given up on the kid.
Unfortunately, I don’t see much hope for the pitchers the Cubs have around right now.
WOW!!!! DOC GAVE BARNEY A SMIDGEN OF PRAISE!!! SEE, Sometimes Doc’s warm and fuzzy side sneaks out.
I just said he improved.
Improved from “super sucky” to “not quite as super sucky”.
And I said a ‘smidgen’.And you used the word ‘impressive’. But don’t worry Doc, I blame it on ‘the BOOT’.
stupid boot
“(sniff) Well…um…all I can say is that..um..well Doc, he…(sniff,sniff)….”
Barney as he was unable to finish comment when asked about his 2-run homer in the 9th which tied up the game 4-4 sending the game to extra innings.
“This one’s for you Doc!”
Barney after he heard Doc complimented him and promptly lined a rbi single up the middle.
Later he said in the post-game interview:
“I just felt that I had to fly and try to score from 1st(on Soriano’s double). I owe it to the inspiration I got from Doc. I know it wasn’t easy for him to say and I wanted to be sure let him know what it meant to me.”
The first thing you do about this pitching staff is not go out and buy some free agents this offseason when you team doesn’t have a chance in hell to compete next year.
You slowly build the pitching staff from within in hopes that in 2014 or 2015 the overall talent level on this team is good enough to compete for a division title. At that point, you can sign a free agent or two. Until then, you develop the talent you got.
To some degree I agree with exactly this. BUT I’m just not seeing the talent to even develop right now. Greinke and Peavy and hell probably even Edwin Jackson are gonna cost astronically. I don’t think Garza gets traded until at least the deadline next season. Ultimately I doubt we can get what were gonna demand because of the injury. He’s gonna have to be showcased awhile longer for Theo and Co to either ultimately decide to offer him longterm or trade him away.
With that being said we have Garza, Shark, Wood, and a heaping pile of shit to choose from for the rest of the rotaion. I’m also figurng Volstad to get DFA’d. I’m sure were gonna sign some reclamation projects or a cheap vet or 2.
Here’s something I’ve been thinking about….what about signing Kyle Lohse? I know, I know his age and yes I realize his agent is Scott Boras. I also realize were not gonna contend. My thinking on this is… if we can get him on 2-3 year deal at let’s say 14 million or so would he be worth it in the sense he’s a veteran pitcher who does alot of things well and pitches nicely and would provide a nice veteran presence for all of youngsters? That would give us a nice top of the rotation of Shark, Lohse, and Garza. Then we could have say Wood and one of the picks of week off the heaping pile of shit line.
We can hope that some of the lower minor leaguers develop into something. Yes…there is nothing in the upper minor leagues right now (AA and AAA), both of which are the much more visible parts of the organization. When rebuilding everything like the Cubs are, that’s just the way it is going to be.
Don’t be so quick to think Garza is going to stick around…if he hadn’t gotten hurt, they would have probably traded him too. It’s not out of the realm of possibility he will be traded next year.
Quite simply, they Cubs aren’t going to make any major signing for a pitcher this year. If they sign anyone, it’s going to someone similar to Maholm whom they hope to flip for some prospects come the trade deadline.
Ok…now to Kyle Lohse….
SERIOUSLY? Are you Jim Hendry? Sign Kyle Lohse to a multiyear contract at the age of 34 coming off of a career year? This is exactly how the Cubs got into this situation. You will over pay for a player who is on the down side of his career with a contract that will probably be very difficult to move. Let the Cardinals re-sign him.
I have no doubts trades will be explored for Garza but I highly doubt we get a package that we really want for him until at least the deadline. By then even if he’s pitching well he will be a FA at year’s end and I’m not sure we will get a ton of talent in return but we will see.
As far as Lohse goes he’s been under Dave Duncan and possesses knowledge on how to be somewhat successful even when your not overpowering. I said 2-3 years thats not going to kill us and he wouldn’t be blocking anyone. Yeah he’s having a career year but he keeps the ball down pretty well and could be a nice veteran presence.
I mean fuck I know were rebuilding and I’m all for leaving a spot or 2 open for a Maholm type pitcher that we can flip midseason or a prospect tryout but fuck this 3-4 spots in the rotation with worthless, not enough talent to ever make it at the MLB level shit is for the birds. At least give us 2-3 games a week worth daring to turn our TV’s on for.
Kyle Lohse will project to be worse than his career averages in 2013…
That would be a 4.50 ERA, a .500 record, and a WHIP of around 1.4….
That isn’t something you are going to really want to watch every 5th day any more than any of the young guys we’ve got…and he’ll cost about $12 million more than those young kids. Signing him would simply be a flat out stupid move.
If you want to have someone to spread Dave Duncan’s knowledge a bit, then hire Dave Duncan, who no longer under contract after this season.
Signing a player to be a “coach” rarely works…and Lohse really hasn’t had a consistent record of success to really make him a good candidate. It’s expensive and pointless.
If anyone wants to hear this rant live, Wrigley Talk Friday starts in 20 minutes:
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/wrigley-talk-friday
It didn’t get good until you started talking about star wars.
Julie, speaking of Life and Strikeouts…Even at my age, with women I’m never hoping for a strikeout with my best ‘pitch’.
It’s ok for Sveum to look forward to reflecting on season. What he has to careful with is the season reflecting back on him.
This season sucks so much, I’m not sure it even has a reflection.
That would make the season a non-sparkly vampire of a season…
That’s kind the idea. More like a True Blood vampire of a season.
And since the thumbs down is gone…I’ll go ahead and say it…
I’m not voting for Obama this fall.
Don’t bring up politics here. Seriously, I see way too much of it on Facebook already.
That still isn’t going to make me vote for Obama.
(I’m not voting for Romney either…for what its worth.)
Doc is going to write himself in.
No…I was thinking about it for a while since this is the first year I would be eligible to be president…but I’ll be voting for Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson who I’ve determined most closely reflects my views on most issues. Not a perfect match, but he’s a hell of a lot closer than Romney or Obama.
Don’t make me.
Please bring back the thumb. PLEASE!!!!!!!
In a stunning development…the Cubs are losing.
I’m stunned by this…aren’t you?
Just saw the space shuttle Endeavour go by our building, Now I can go home…
I’m about to run on the field naked but my wee wee has shrunkin into nothingness and I think I would actually be more embarrassing then the Cubs are. If that’s possible.
I could make a racial comment but since the ‘thumbs-down’ is gone, the comment would stay.
Rob Schneider’s 7th inning stretch has been the best part of the game.
In this game Rizzo by himself has made the Cards throw 20 pitches so far and he may get another at bat(7th inn now).
UH, then again maybe he won’t.
Castillo finishes off a 1-2-3 8th inning with a 6-pitch at bat: 3 balls and 3 called strikes.
I guess none of those pitches warranted a swing.
Hey!Hey! I guess we will see Rizzo for another at bat thanks to Barney!
Watch the replay of Barney’s HR.
He “YEAH!”s at 1st base, claps his hands once and yells “DOC!”.
WOW!!! CUBS WIN!! CUBS WIN!!
Thanx Doc.
Cue harp music, and Barney and Doc, go off in the sunset?
I’m fully expecting the Cubs to send me a check for about $200k for today’s win.
Had to be one of the funnest games I’ve ever been too!