Darvish rebounds, Cubs beat Pirates

Yu Darvish followed his rough first start with a dominant second outing leading the Cubs to a 6-3 victory and improving to 5-2.

Darvish threw six shutout innings giving up two hits with a walk while striking out seven. His stuff looked as crisp as ever, and his command was sharp too throwing 56 of his 86 pitches for strikes.

The Cubs got the scoring started in the third when Javier Baez bunted with runners on first and second but Pirates starter Trevor Williams threw the ball away allowing Kris Bryant to score. They would add another in the fourth when Jason Kipnis hit a solo home run.

In the fifth inning the Cubs would add two more when Jason Heyward drove in two runners with a two out 0-2 two run single off Nik Turley that would stretch the lead to 4-0.

The Pirates would get on the board in the 8th inning when Gregor Polanco doubled and was eventually driven in by Jarrod Dyson.

However the Cubs would stretch their lead to 6-1 in the 8th when Anthony Rizzo hit a bases-loaded two run single that drove in pinch-runner Nico Hoerner and Kris Bryant.

Craig Kimbrel would come in for the ninth in a non-save opportunity and it was not pretty. He started out by giving up back to back home runs to Josh Bell and Colin Moran and then he would get three outs to finish the game, but all three outs were hard hit and he still wasn't fooling anyone.

Cubs fall to Reds 12-7

The Cubs lost to the Reds today in a game where none of their pitchers seemed to bring their best stuff.

Kyle Hendricks got roughed up through four and a third innings, he gave up six earned runs on seven hits with two walks and three strikeouts. The home run he gave up was a two-run shot He departed trailing 4-0, but Rex Brothers walked a guy and then gave up a grand slam to familiar face Nicholas Castellanos. He would give up another home run to Nick Senzel to make the game 9-0.

Hendricks didn't seem to have his best command in the zone, he kept leaving his change-up up in the zone and it was getting pounded as a result.

Meanwhile, Sonny Gray was dominant for the Reds, giving up two unearned runs on one hit striking out 11 while walking just one

The Cubs would finally break through in the seventh. Victor Caratini drew a bases loaded walk, Nico Hoerner hit a two-run single, and then Kris Bryant followed with a two-run double.

In the bottom of the inning the Cubs would bring in control challenged Dillon Maples and he would proceed to walk four batters along with giving up a hit making it an 11-5 game. Duane Underwood Jr would come in with the bases loaded and nobody out, but he was able to get Shogo Akiyama to hit a line drive (that definitely bounced) that was "caught" by Kris Bryant, but he was able to step on the bag at third and fire to first to complete the Cubs first triple play since 1997.

The Cubs would add two more runs in the ninth on a David Bote home run, but that was it for their offense and the fell to 4-2.

They play the Reds tomorrow in the finale of the four game set. Yu Darvish will face off against Luis Castillo in a game that starts at 5:10.

Should the Cubs take a look at Mike Foltynewicz?

On Monday the Braves designated former All-Star starting pitcher Mike Foltynewicz for assignment after the Tampa Bay Rays lit him up for six runs in three and a third innings with three home runs and four walks allowed.

He's trying to follow up a rough 2019 campaign where he posted a 4.54 ERA in 21 starts. He struggled significantly with the long ball allowing 23 long balls in 117 innings pitched while striking out 105 and walking 37. He also made 10 starts for their AAA team with a 3.86 ERA in 51.1 innings allowing just two home runs while striking out 45 and walking 17.

He made two starts for the Braves in the postseason with his first start being seven shutout innings allowing just three hits and striking out seven St. Louis Cardinals hitters. His second start, however, was a complete nightmare as he got just one out while giving up six earned runs on three hits and three walks. The Braves would lose that game and the series ending their season.

Foltynewicz, just 28, was an All-Star as recently as 2018 when he posted a 2.85 ERA (3.37 FIP) in 31 starts and 183 innings pitched. He was the ace of a Braves team that won 90 games and appeared in the postseason for the first time since 2013. 

A pitcher who was this good just a few seasons ago doesn't suddenly become available just like that. but does that mean the Cubs should take a look at him?

The first thing to talk about is his velocity. In 2018 his four-seam fastball averaged a blazing 96.3 MPH, but in 2019 it had dropped to 94.8 MPH, and in his only start this year it averaged a very concerning 90.9 MPH.

You can see a similar trend in all his pitches. His sinker went from 96.5 MPH to 89.9 MPH, his slider went from 86.7 to 79.5 MPH, and his curveball went from 80 to 74.6 MPH. A velocity loss like that is extremely concerning because the slower your pitches are the opposing batters chance to put the ball in play increase significantly.

It's hard to put too much weight on the 2020 data because the sample size is too small, but the numbers speak for themselves when you look at his plate discipline and batted ball data. His swing and miss percentage (Whiff%) went from 25.4 percent in 2018 to 23.5 percent in 2019 to just 14.3 percent this year. You can see it in his strikeout rate as well as he went from striking out 27.2 percent of hitters in 2018 to striking out just 21.4 percent in 2019.

He gave up a lot more hard contact as his solid contact percentage went from 5.3 percent in 2018 to 6.9 percent in 2019. That's shows in the batted ball data where is line drive percentage jumped from 22.9 to 23.9 percent while his fly ball rate jumped from 24 to 28.8 percent and his ground ball rate went from 43.7 to 39.2 percent.

He doesn't have a significant injury history, he missed a week in 2018 with right triceps tendinitis, and he missed around a month in 2019 with a bone spur in his right elbow. It's unknown if these can be directly traced to his velocity loss.

It would be hard to find a spot for him on this Cubs team right now. They just had an excellent first turn through the rotation and with Jose Quintana set to return fairly soon from injury it would be even harder to fit him in the 2020 picture.

With the shortened season it becomes much more risky to take a chance on a bounce back candidate like this, but if he becomes available and the Cubs have an opportunity to sign him to a deal that focuses on 2021 that would be ideal to give him time to gain his velocity back.

Javier Baez helps carry Cubs past Reds

The Cubs beat the Reds 8-5 today in a game that featured significantly less drama than the night before.

The Cubs struck first in the third inning when Nico Hoerner singled in Jason Kipnis who had just tripled. Kipnis would drive in a run of his own in the fourth when he drove in Jason Heyward who had singled and advanced to third on another single by David Bote.

Former Cubs RF Nicholas Castellanos would tie the game off Alec Mills in the bottom of the fourth, but the Cubs would retake the lead on an RBI single by Kyle Schwarber that featured a nifty piece of sliding by Javier Baez. The Cubs would add another run on a Hoerner sacrifice fly.

Like last night the Cubs got the power game going late as Baez hit a solo home run in the seventh, Bote hit a solo home run in the eighth, and then Baez would add some more on a two-run home run in the ninth.

Alec Mills was very good in his first start of the year. He allowed two runs in six innings walking two and striking out three. The only hits he gave up were a double and a home run to Castellanos.

Casey Sadler was the first guy used out of the pen and he struck out the side in his first inning of work, but gave a home run to Curt Casali to his first batter in the eighth and was pulled in favor of Kyle Ryan.

Ryan allowed a single, but got Joey Votto to ground into a double play and would strike out Christian Colon after Eugenio Suarez hit a two out double.

Ryan Tepera came in for the ninth, but after he struck out his first two batters he gave up a walk to Aristides Aquino and allowed a two-run home run off the bat of Freddy Galvis. He would ease any Cubs fans fears of a potential bullpen meltdown to strike out Curt Casali to close out the game and send the Cubs to 4-1.

The Cubs and Reds square off again tomorrow at 5:40. Kyle Hendricks will attempt to follow up on his Opening Day shutout, he will face off against Sonny Gray who will look to follow up his own excellent Opening Day start.

Cubs hang on to beat Reds

Wow.

The Cubs barely hang on to beat the Reds 8-7 after what should've been a blowout win for the Cubs turned into a nail-biting finish.

The Cubs got off to a great start after Wade Miley hit Kris Bryant to start the game and then walked Anthony Rizzo. Willson Contreras and Steven Souza Jr. hit back to back two out doubles to drive in runs and then David Bote followed up with a single to give the Cubs a 4-0 lead in the first.

They chased Miley after he allowed two more runs on an RBI double by Javier Baez and then a passed ball that would allow another run to score. The Cubs would add two more runs on a solo home run by Anthony Rizzo and an RBI double by David Bote.

Jon Lester was excellent in his season debut going five no hit innings walking one while striking out one as well. He induced a lot of weak contact and did a good job of keeping the ball in the zone throwing 50 of his 76 pitches for strikes.

The bullpen, however, was a different story.

Dan Winkler made his Cubs debut walking two batters and getting a strikeout. Rowan Wick came in to fix his mess, and although he did give up an RBI single he was able to limit the damage.

 

Duane Underwood Jr. came in for the seventh and gave up a home run to Tyler Stephenson (in his first MLB plate appearance) and then gave up a single and a walk before being pulled. Ryan Tepera came in and would get out of the jam after allowing a run by striking out Josh VanMeter.

Tepera would start the eight but after striking out the first two batters he was pulled after allowing a single. James Norwood would come in and like the others before him allowed a run before getting out of the jam.

And then Craig Kimbrel, the man with a 2.08 ERA and 346 games would come in for the ninth to protect an 8-5 lead.

He quickly got ahead of Nicholas Castellanos 0-2 before falling behind and walking him. He would get Jesse Winkler to ground out and then he completely lost it. He walked Josh VanMeter, Shogo Akiyama, hit Freddy Galvis to drive in a run, and then walked Tyler Stephenson to drive in yet another run. Next thing you know Kimbrel has thrown 13 of his 34 pitches for strikes and David Ross is on his way to the mound with the winning run in scoring position.

Jeremy Jeffress would come in and would strike out Philip Ervin on what would've been ball four and then got Joey Votto to line out to center to secure an unnecessarily nail-biting 8-7 victory.

Obviously Kimbrel is going to be the big discussion, but the entire bullpen is extremely concerning for the Cubs. They don't have the luxury of a 162 game season to allow guys to get comfortable in their role so any reliever will be on a much shorter leash than they would normally be.

The Cubs play the Reds again tomorrow at 5:40. Alec Mills will take the mound against Tyler Mahle.

The Marlins have an outbreak

It took three days and Major League Baseball already has to face a COVID-19 crisis. According to Jeff Passan of ESPN 14 total players/coaches for the Miami Marlins have tested positive for the virus.

Obviously this already puts the season in a bit of a crisis. Todays Orioles-Marlins game has been cancelled as well as Yankees-Phillies due to the fact that the Marlins just played the Phillies and also occupied the visiting clubhouse.

As of now the Phillies are still awaiting their test results.

This raises the question of why they were able to play yesterday. The Marlins already had to replace their starting pitcher and three players in their starting lineup after they tested positive. Does that not define an outbreak? Why were they allowed to play and put another team at risk?

Rob Manfred should have to answer to this, he had to have known what was going on with the Marlins and it makes no sense why they would've been allowed to step foot on that field if they were in the beginning stages of a serious outbreak.

Jon Heyman of MLB Network says that cancelling/pausing the season hasn't been seriously considered, but it's fair to question how sustainable the season is if a team is going to be allowed to play when they're having an outbreak.

The Cubs game today is still expected to go on, but it comes against a Reds team that is without Mike Moustakas and Nick Senzel who missed yesterdays game because they weren't feeling well.

Cubs lose Robel Garcia to Reds

Just a few days after being designated assignment the Cubs have lost IF Robel Garcia on waivers to the Cincinnati Reds.

Garcia was a nice comeback story after being signed from the Italian leagues after not playing in affiliated ball since 2013. He raked in the minor leagues hitting 21 home runs in 72 games between AA Tennessee and AAA Iowa earning himself a big league chance.

He showed plenty of power belting five home runs and nine extra base hits in 80 plate appearances while striking out 35 times and walking just seven. If you want to drive the ball you have to make contact with it, and Garcia proved that he will not make enough contact for his power to be as valuable as it could be.

For the Reds it's definitely a nice reclamation project for them. He has shown that he can hit the ball hard. If he can improve his contact rate he can prove to be a valuable bench piece, but as of now there is too much swing and miss in his game for him to be counted on.