Very Bad News for the Brewers on Nelson, Maddon’s Unique Value, and Other Bullets

Sep 21, 2017

A few sleepness nights (one caused by The Littlest Girl’s sickness, one caused by an early-rising Little Girl who was separately sick, and one caused by my own sickness) have taken their toll on me. Last night, The Wife had to repeat herself several times before I could fully grasp a couple statements she was offering, and she said that confirmed that I am sleep-deprived. If anything around here has been incomprehensible the last two days, blame my tired brain.

Good news on the pitching front for the Cubs in the big series against the Brewers: while the Brewers wound up having to lean heavily on the best of their bullpen in the Pirates series, the Cubs gave their top arms a break yesterday by getting blown out by the Rays (veteran move). With Jake Arrieta making his return today on a pitch count, that could loom large.

Very bad news for the Brewers in the longer term, as Jimmy Nelson’s shoulder injury ended up being worse than they were hoping once they got in there for surgery:

Jimmy Nelson surgery update: He did require a labrum repair and is likey to miss "a chunk" of '18, David Stearns said. How big a chunk? TBD.
— Adam McCalvy (@AdamMcCalvy) September 20, 2017

Labrum injuries are just about the worst thing that can happen to a pitcher, and it’s an injury that has nicknames like “The Career Ender,” “Baseball’s Toughest Injury,” and “A Pitcher’s Death Sentence.” The rate of pitchers coming back from it at the same level they had before is very low. Just a terrible break for the Brewers and for Nelson, who’d emerged as one of the best starters in the NL, and then jacked up his shoulder because he took an aggressive turn at first base and had to dive back.

Among other things, Kyle Schwarber is working on choking up in contact situations, though without sacrificing too much power (CSN). He’s still a work in progress, but it’s impossible not to be encouraged by what he’s done in the second half.

I really enjoyed this read at ESPN about Joe Maddon’s path with the Rays, and how he fit with what they were trying to do (and how that, in turn, helped create the manager he is today). A quote from his former boss, Andrew Friedman, on the subtle things Maddon would do: “And one thing that Joe did really well when being mired in something, human instinct is X and he had a tremendous ability to rise above it and do the opposite. I feel like it benefited our players in a lot of different ways and often times they didn’t realize it in the moment, didn’t necessarily appreciate it in the moment, but that over time was wildly beneficial.” I think that’s probably true not only with the way Maddon manages young players and veterans, but also the day-to-day decisions he makes about who plays and when. It may not always look great in the moment, but there’s a longer game at work. It can’t be a coincidence that Maddon’s teams are always this good in the second half.

Hector Rondon felt fine after his bullpen session yesterday, but he still might not appear in a game for a few days (Tribune).

Old friend Clayton Richard had a rejuvenated year with the Padres (at least by the underlying metrics, if not his ERA), and he’s sticking around, signing a two-year extension worth $6 million.

In case you want to take a trip to Milwaukee tonight to watch the Cubs:

Get-in-the-door for Cubs-Brewers tonight has dropped even lower at Stubhub: https://t.co/88OzFkC0Vl pic.twitter.com/G4lUx8GVLS

— Brett Taylor (@BleacherNation) September 21, 2017

One of the most interesting relief prospects in baseball (because of the huge success in the the low minors, the physical size, and the wide range of possible outcomes) is now a top 30 prospect for the Cubs:

Dakota Mekkes enters the #Cubs Top 30 Prospects list after #SFGiants claimed Pierce Johnson: https://t.co/VxfwPmvp8g pic.twitter.com/N2bvCG9P2m
— MLB Pipeline (@MLBPipeline) September 20, 2017

Man, you can rip on sabermetrics all you want, but the Pythagorean Theorem has been around for millennia and it never hurt nobody:

No words. pic.twitter.com/btsaBZLrpf

— Alex Seixeiro (@alexfan590) September 21, 2017

So, former Cubs outfield prospect Jacob Hannemann won the minor league Gold Glove (there’s one for the entire minor leagues) in center field, and it’s wholly deserved, because the guy is a defensive stud. I’m reminded that the Cubs essentially let Hannemann go so that they could pick up Leonys Martin, instead. Martin was insurance, so I can’t rip the Cubs too much for getting him, even though he hasn’t actually been needed all that much (and certainly hasn’t done anything that Hannemann couldn’t have done yet, assuming Hannemann could also toss an inning). The Mariners actually brought Hannemann up to the big league level, where he’s been a bench piece, and I wish him well. It’s possible the Cubs weren’t going to keep him on the 40-man roster all offseason anyway, making this entire discussion moot. But there’s a part of me that wishes they’d found a way to give him just one more year to see if the bat would come around.

An addendum to yesterday’s Jon Lester discussion, and the importance of location for his four-seamer (we’ll have more on Lester soon):

I posted this in the comments, but check his fourseam location to RHH in '16 vs '17. And compare to this article: https://t.co/cdhCPyPqi1 pic.twitter.com/KVI0aeW6yy
— Fred Fredburger (@Frozun_yogert) September 20, 2017

A play in three acts:

It's crazy what happens when you aren't tinkered with and can just go out and pitch

— Brett Anderson (@BAnderson3737) September 4, 2017

https://twitter.com/BleacherNation/status/910652973310758912

Brett Anderson ripping/destroying his hat #BlueJays #royals #LetsRISE pic.twitter.com/fab6AmKM5b

— Jordan Tomiyama (@Jttomiyama) September 20, 2017

People really seemed to appreciate the cold brew recommendation yesterday, and it’s still on a big sale at Amazon. If you’ve never considered cold brewing your coffee, I highly recommend it (to me, the taste is SO MUCH better than traditionally-brewed, bitter-as-heck coffee). And you can try the one I use for under $20, so there’s not a ton of risk if you decide it’s not for you.

Over at TYL, the top graded player so far for the Bears is a cornerback, and I was totally not expecting that. Also: Tanner Gentry is sticking around, Mitch Trubisky still isn’t getting first team reps, and one pundit says the Mike Glennon signing was the worst move in all of football.

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.

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Very Bad News for the Brewers on Nelson, Maddon’s Unique Value, and Other Bullets

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