Chatwood’s Control Problems Pop Up to Say Hello, Montgomery Debuts, Hagerty Strained, and Other Bullets

The nature of staying a couple miles from Sloan Park is such that you don’t want to get a ride there every time you want to check something out, but if you commit to walking, you are going to do an absurd amount of walking if you keep going back to the park only to find various things rained out. Between three trips to-and-fro the park yesterday, I hit 12 miles. And this morning, I hit a wall.

  • Tyler Chatwood’s spring is necessarily a “show me” situation, where no one is going to be able to accept the real impact of mechanical changes until we see him successfully and consistently throwing strikes for, well, pretty much the entire spring. Maybe that’s a bit much and unfair, but so deep were the control problems last year that it’s just hard to trust anything until you see it with your eyes for a long, long time.
  • To that end, it is really unfortunate what I saw with my own eyes last night at Sloan. After a smooth and successful first inning of work, Chatwood came out for the second and could not throw a strike. It was brief, but it also had the feel of peak-2018 Chatwood, where something got off in his mechanics, and he simply could not right the ship. It sucks to now have all of that doubt right back, because he’d otherwise looked pretty darn good this spring, not only by the numbers, but also by most of the eyes-on accounts.
  • Who knows what happens from here, even if Chatwood looks great the rest of the way. Maybe we decide all is well again, and we go back to thinking about Chatwood being the long man in the bullpen, and swinging into the rotation from time to time (or maybe being traded). Or maybe this is the start of a chain where things go sideways for him again. Here’s hoping the Cubs know the best ways to help him out.
  • (Photo by Justin Berl/Getty Images)

  • Mike Montgomery made his Cactus League debut last night after doing simulated games (shoulder stiffness), and he seemed to be fine. Gave up some knocks early in his two-inning stint, but really the point is to just get in there, throw all your pitches, throw strikes, and get strong.
  • The Cubs’ bullpen was thrown into even more flux last night with the revelation that Pedro Strop has a mild hamstring strain, and may not be ready for Opening Day. But if the Cubs were going to add someone like Tony Sipp, nope:
  • Yeah, but he probably cost a good bit right … nah:
  • At least Carl Edwards Jr. looked great again last night, alternating between his new hesitation delivery and his old slide step.
  • Lots of profiles on Luke Hagerty, the former Cubs pitching prospect who was out of the game and is now back as a 37-year-old pitching prospect:
  • You just want to see this guy succeed, both because it’s an incredible story, and because a lefty who can throw 98 mph could probably help this bullpen. Unfortunately, for now, Hagerty is shut down with a flexor strain in his forearm. He could start throwing again this weekend.
  • If this is to scale on Jon Lester, it is a reminder that he is enormous, and I am quite small:
  • Pretty cool graphic full of memories:
  • Power tools, cookware, and vacuums are among the Deals of the Day at Amazon today.
  • Grumble – it me, greedy Bears fan who wants all the stars:
  • written by

    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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