Spring Training Miscellany: Kimbrel’s Throwing Program, Love for Hultzen, Javy Faces Lester, More

The latest from around Cubs camp on the final day before the games begin …

  • You know, I probably wouldn’t have thought a thing about it if Brandon Morrow’s name hadn’t been mentioned:
  • Kimbrel, 31, is coming off of a greatly abbreviated year in 2019, missed time with a knee injury, and never seemed quite right. The fact that he’d have a conservative, individualized ramp-up program with a focus on the regular season is not something that would bother me. So I guess it still shouldn’t. But when you talk about Morrow, and his EXTRA conservative program, it makes you a little squeamish, given how critical Kimbrel is to the Cubs this year.
  • But to be VERY CLEAR, there is not actually any specific concern here about Kimbrel:
  • Ross with some love for lefty Danny Hultzen (Cubs.com): “His story’s great, right? His main thing is how to bounce back when he’s in that bullpen role that you put guys in, and how taxing that can be on a guy and their body. And how he holds up is really going to be a big determination, because his stuff’s real.” The three very big hurdles for Hultzen when it comes to making the team: (1) can he pitch back-to-back days, ever? because you almost flat-out cannot carry a guy who can’t ever do it; (2) can he succeed reasonably well against righties? we know he can absolutely own lefties; and (3) no options left means once he’s up, he can’t be sent back down unless he clears waivers (which means it’s far more likely he starts the season at Iowa).
  • The beginning:
  • Javy Báez gets jammed(?) by a Jon Lester cutter(?) and feels it in his hands:
  • Great shots:
  • Nico Hoerner in the cage:
  • You never know:
  • Heh:
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    lol @darvishsefat11 #Cubs

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    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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