Joe Versus Joe, Inevitable Robel Adjustments, Rizzo’s Top Speed, and Other Bullets

The kiddos and I are heading to see The Grandma and The Papa today, which will be a lot of fun if I can survive the solo car trip. The big kids mostly can’t reach each other, so that’s a good start … but what if they figure out they can throw their shoes at each other?

I’d give credit to Joe West for blocking the Joe Maddon spin move, but I’m not entirely sure he wasn’t just gonna mostly stand there anyway:

SPIN MOVE!!!! pic.twitter.com/8dHg2lS8C1

— Cubs Talk (@NBCSCubs) July 4, 2019

Joe Maddon also gave props to Joe West for blocking his spin move: “Believe me, he’d make a nice left tackle.”

— Patrick Mooney (@PJ_Mooney) July 5, 2019

Joe West been ridin’ them trails a long time:

#Cubs managers ejected by Joe West include:

Herman Franks
Don Zimmer
Frank Lucchesi
Jim Essian
Dale Sveum
Joe Maddon

— Christopher Kamka (@ckamka) July 4, 2019

If you missed it, Joe Maddon got the boot yesterday and then got even more ticked at the Pirates. More from the Cubs on the Pirates’ pitching proclivities, and their manager having their back:

Willson Contreras: “We needed that. We took his fire. Seeing Joe doing that, that means a lot to us. This is the first time that I’ve seen Joe that mad. I just told him, ‘Hey, we have your back and we’re going to win this game.’”

— Patrick Mooney (@PJ_Mooney) July 5, 2019

The Cubs offense erupted Thursday after manager Joe Maddon was ejected, and the players say that was not a coincidence.

"We took his fire, and seeing Joe doing that means a lot to us. It was the first time I saw Joe this mad."https://t.co/fawwwMCmD2 via @MDGonzales pic.twitter.com/aMd1yS4as2

— Chicago Sports (@ChicagoSports) July 5, 2019

Contreras: “There were too many times (the Pirates) went in on Baez” pic.twitter.com/awWm7QiYay

— Mark Gonzales (@MDGonzales) July 5, 2019

Kris Bryant: “nobody should be getting hit on the head” pic.twitter.com/2LKysqvH4x

— Mark Gonzales (@MDGonzales) July 5, 2019

Thankfully, by the way, David Bote was OK after taking a pitch to the helmet.

Amidst all the very deserved love for Robel Garcia, it’s worth reminding folks that – as he already has – the dude is going to strike out A LOT. Over time, he’s probably going to strike out too much to be productive unless he is able to make significant adjustments on the fly at the big league level. Given his extremely limited high-level stateside professional experience, you would have to assume that’s not going to be possible. The most likely outcome is that Garcia is able to do some damage despite the strikeouts for a little while, then gets brutalized for a while, and is sent back down to Iowa to keep working. Obviously I hope he is just a crazy guy who can adjust quickly on the fly – he can survive at maybe a 35% K rate, given the power, but that’s where he already was at AAA. Given his story and the work he’s put in, I wouldn’t put it past him emerging as a nice player in the coming years, but expectations for what he can be for all of 2019 should be limited. (No one is stopping us from loving the heck out of every good moment in the meantime, though!)

Single all the way for 97% of MLB players:

Any other player in baseball MAYBE legs out a double here.@ARizzo44? Thinking three the whole way.

Incredible. #Wheels pic.twitter.com/viUlHgbov6

— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) July 4, 2019

And I will have you know that there are 62 big league players who are slower than Rizzo, per Statcast. (Shouts to Albert Pujols, Yadi Molina, and Brian McCann for being the slowest guys in the league, which sounds extremely correct.)

Love seeing a big day from one of the Cubs’ best prospects:

Miguel Amaya had his best game of the season tonight for @Pelicanbaseball.

The #Cubs' No. 2 prospect homered as one of his four hits, driving in three runs and catching a shutout in a 6-0 Myrtle Beach win.

Live @Cubs prospect stats: https://t.co/hTaBEUyYTV pic.twitter.com/n7mTpjeZMb

— MLB Pipeline (@MLBPipeline) July 5, 2019

Miguel Amaya to start the evening: 207/333/351. Which may surprise you, was still good for a 103 wRC+ according to @FG_Prospects.

After three singles and a home run tonight, his line is up significantly to:

.222/.344/.377

Good stuff from the young backstop. https://t.co/O1kVMYaZto

— Cubs Prospects – Bryan Smith (@cubprospects) July 5, 2019

Here come the draft picks:

Ems land a slew of draftees: Jensen, Strumpf, Clarke, Burgmann, etc.

Today was a good day for Cubs Prospect news. May the vibes continue. https://t.co/kflXPX66YT

— Cubs Prospects – Bryan Smith (@cubprospects) July 4, 2019

The sublime of the ridiculous:

Charlie Blackmon's home/road splits this year are the most gloriously ridiculous thing you'll see today. #Coors pic.twitter.com/a1HUq7Rws1

— Bleacher Nation (@BleacherNation) July 5, 2019

Too on the nose:

The fireworks for the St. Lucie Mets did not go well tonight at First Data Field. They set a fire outside the stadium.

Photos from Shannon Cullen pic.twitter.com/KaALifPeki

— Michael Mayer (@mikemayerMMO) July 5, 2019

Thankfully no one was hurt, except perhaps for the Mets prospects who could see what their future might look like in the organization.