Are We Urgent or Are We Chill and Other Bullets

Apr 02, 2019

These off-days after an ugly loss, man. It’s been a Cubs staple for years now, right? Even when they’ve otherwise won lots of games. If an off-day looms, the Cubs are about to lose ugly.

I’m pleased not to have seen a ton of “yeah but the offense sucked, too” stuff out there about last night’s game, which has instead mostly (and rightly) focused on the borderline historically bad defense. The bats actually did a good job of grinding last night, accepting their walks, netted nine hits, and had plenty of opportunities to do damage. Ultimately, they didn’t get many extra-base hits (just two Mark Zagunis doubles), grounded into three double plays (two by Jason Heyward … ), and didn’t have any hits with runners in scoring position (0-8). Those are all bad things, to be sure, but they aren’t necessarily predictive of future struggles. I know we’ve done this dance a lot over the past few years, but for now, I’m very content with the offense, and to say: just keep getting guys on base, and the damage will follow.

As for Kyle Hendricks, it’s so hard to fairly evaluate a guy’s performance when everything was falling apart behind him from the get-go, creating extra outs, extra pitches, longer innings, etc. I don’t think Hendricks is the type of guy to get “rattled,” but it’s at all hard to imagine a scoreless first inning if Zagunis just catches that first foul pop fly.

That said, Hendricks did allow seven batted balls of over 100 mph, and he got almost no soft contact – a staple when he’s locating and moving the ball as well as he can. I think it was probably not a great start, but again, so much was messy.

Remember how I wrote about the trouble balancing the “it’s all fine, it’s a long season” attitude of Joe Maddon clubs with the “URGENCY!” message of the front office? Well, here it is, four games into the season, from David Bote at ESPN: “We have 158 to go. No worries. We’ll be all right.” And from Hendricks:

Kyle Hendricks: “We see exactly where we’re at, things we got to clean up. We (have) to get back to the fundamentals: Good pitches, get ahead of guys, put ‘em away and play good defense. At the end of the day, we know where our focus needs to be and we’ll get there. It’s Game 4.”
— Patrick Mooney (@PJ_Mooney) April 2, 2019

That’s the problem. You want guys to feel the sense of urgency right out of the gate … but it doesn’t actually do them any good to have a loss like last night, and then feel like crap about themselves for two days. What’s the point of that? It’s not going to help them perform to the best of their abilities on Wednesday. I worry that the mixed signals are going to be a storyline all year.

Also, this:

The Cubs indicated that their biggest offseason improvements took place behind the scenes.

Anytime they want to come out on stage would be fine.

— Bleacher Nation (@BleacherNation) April 2, 2019

This is fun, thank you for sharing this fun:

Small Sample Size Theater:

Opposing hitters versus #Cubs bullpen so far: .295/.411/.590

Hitters in history with that career slash line or better:
Ted Williams
Babe Ruth
Lou Gehrig
Jimmie Foxx
Hank Greenberg
Barry Bonds

— Jayson Stark (@jaysonst) April 2, 2019

All of us:

Cubs fandom in 2019.

(grabbed by @natemar3i0n) pic.twitter.com/mq7fukjHJC

— Bleacher Nation (@BleacherNation) April 2, 2019

Not sure what this is about, but MLB has made videos on its site un-searchable, and has removed the ability to share clips from the At Bat app. Since those videos are explicitly designed to pump up the sport – that’s what highlights are – and since MLB and its partners can monetize those videos with ads up front, I can’t quite understand any good reason why they would have intentionally removed this stuff. Glitch? Transitional error? Would love to know. But this makes me nervous about the proper perspectives on growing the sport:

https://twitter.com/TepidP/status/1112875289737117696

INSTANT UPDATE: very good news on the MLB/MiLB highlights front right here – indeed, the issues do seem to be technological, rather than philosophical:

We launched a new content management and video workflow system for this season; search is on our backlog to get restored; we're ecstatic that there are videos at all. =) Stay tuned! (I sent a reply earlier, but the Twitter gremlins appear to have eaten it.)
— Justin Erenkrantz (@jerenkrantz) April 2, 2019

Good, good day of deals at Amazon, including sound machines, vacuums, and cast iron cookware.

written by

Brett Taylor

Brett Taylor is the Lead Cubs Writer at Bleacher Nation, and you can find him on Twitter at @BleacherNation and on LinkedIn here. Brett is also the founder of Bleacher Nation, which opened up shop in 2008 as an independent blog about the Chicago Cubs. Later growing to incorporate coverage of other Chicago sports, Bleacher Nation is now one of the largest regional sports blogs on the web.

more cubs news

Chicago Cubs

The Mini-Break Pays Off: Ian Happ with a ROCKET Home Run!

After a red-hot first ten games of the season (172 wRC+), Ian Happ had gone ice cold offensively. Aside from continuing to take his walks (he always does), his overall production plummeted to the point where Craig Counsell game him...

Michael Cerami

May 16, 2024

Chicago Cubs

Kevin Alcantara Doubles, Matt Shaw Singles, and Moises Ballesteros HOMERS THEM ALL IN!

Brennen Davis isn't the only hot Cubs prospect. In fact, Moises Ballesteros is basically THE hot Cubs prospect of the season so far. And tonight, after two of the Cubs top prospects — Kevin Alcantara (on a double) and Matt...

Michael Cerami

May 16, 2024

Chicago Cubs

Pre-Gamin’: Pirates at Cubs (6:40 CT) – Lineups, Broadcast Info, Game Thread

CUBS LINEUP — The Chicago Cubs are back at Wrigley Field tonight against the Pirates, facing a 22-year-old fireballer who threw six strong innings against them last weekend, Jared Jones. Here's a look at the Cubs lineup for the rematch...

Michael Cerami

May 16, 2024

Chicago Cubs

Brennen Davis Just Homered AGAIN

For a moment, it seemed like we were in for another round of terrible Brennen Davis luck. Just as the Cubs outfield prospect was heating back up, this happened: https://twitter.com/thats_so_cub/status/1791239496777760989 Davis is just a magnet for HBPs, even when it's...

Brett Taylor

May 16, 2024

Chicago Cubs

MLBits: Red-Hot Rockies, Sticky Stuff Suspension, Salvy’s Patience Paying Off, More

The longest active winning streak in baseball belongs to ... the Rockies. More on the red-hot Rox and more in today's MLB Notes. The Red-Hot Rockies? A little over a week ago, the Rockies were 8-28. Since then, they've won...

On Friday, in a series opener at Busch Stadium, Brayan Bello starts for the Boston Red Sox (22-21) against Kyle Gibson and the St. Louis Cardinals (18-25), with first pitch scheduled for 8:15 PM ET.If you're planning on watching this...

Data Skrive

May 16, 2024

How to Watch

How to Watch Rangers vs. Angels: Live Stream or on TV

Marcus Semien and the Texas Rangers (23-22) host Taylor Ward and the Los Angeles Angels (16-28) on Friday in a series opener, with first pitch at 8:05 PM ET.Keep reading to find out all the details on how to watch...

Data Skrive

May 16, 2024

How to Watch

Pirates vs. Cubs: Free Live Stream, TV Channel, How to Watch

The Pittsburgh Pirates (19-25), led by Connor Joe, visit Nico Hoerner and the Chicago Cubs (25-19) at 2:20 PM ET on Friday in a series opener.See how to watch the Pittsburgh-Chicago matchup below.When is Pirates vs. Cubs and when does...

Data Skrive

May 16, 2024

Chicago Cubs

The Mini-Break Pays Off: Ian Happ with a ROCKET Home Run!

Michael Cerami

May 16, 2024

Chicago Cubs

The New York Mets are on the road, opening a three-game set versus the Miami Marlins on Friday, May 17 at 7:10 PM ET.Marlins vs. Mets Series Info Mets @ Marlins Time: Friday, May 17 at 7:10 PM ET Marlins...

Data Skrive

May 16, 2024

Are We Urgent or Are We Chill and Other Bullets

Read More

more cubs news

Latest News

more cubs news

Most Popular

Most Popular

Latest News

Most Popular

Most Popular