The Cubs have made the decision on who gets the ball tomorrow, and it’s Tyler Chatwood, not Jose Quintana.
"We'll continue to assess as we go along," said Ross, who thought one bad outing shouldn't cause Chatwood to be bounced from rotation now.
— Mark Gonzales (@MDGonzales) August 29, 2020
Ross said Tyler Chatwood will start on Sunday vs. Reds. The manager said "we'll let you know" when asked what's next for Quintana. So, TBD there.
— Jordan Bastian (@MLBastian) August 29, 2020
Although Quintana looked much better than Chatwood last time out, it was also pretty clear that he wore down after a few innings of work. Maybe the plan is to keep him back in a piggyback role again.
As for Chatwood, though, I won’t reinvent the wheel. His last time out – which was his first start after the back injury – was a scary echo of how he looked in 2018, and the Cubs don’t have the time to eff around with getting him back on track if he doesn’t show it tomorrow:
Against that backdrop, seeing Chatwood look completely out of whack last night is all the more concerning. He’s always been a guy with complicated mechanics, which make him harder to hit, but also make it a lot harder for him to repeat and stay on point from outing to outing and even within a single outing. His rhythm looked totally disrupted last night, and you couldn’t even start to comment on his ability to command his pitches, because he couldn’t even control them half the time.
It was the Chatwood we saw throughout 2018. A guy who throws as many completely noncompetitive pitches as he does strikes. A guy who falls behind constantly, and then misses his spots in hitters counts and gets wrecked. A guy who walks himself into trouble. A guy who’s pitch location chart looks like this:
Chatwood’s manager thought some of what happened was because of the scope of the moment, following the layoff. From David Ross (via The Athletic): “It looked like he was amped up to be back out there. That’s something I’ve seen from him in the past. He just gets in a hurry, at times, trying to make that next pitch. Slowing him down, getting him back into game rhythm will be important.”
Chatwood, himself, wasn’t interested in making any excuses. He just wants to study what happened (The Athletic): “I’m not going to make any excuses — I just wasn’t good tonight. My stuff’s still all there. I’ll go back, watch the video, see what it is and make the adjustment.”
Because of the doubleheaders ahead, it’s possible Chatwood is going to get another start even if the Cubs were otherwise ready, after this outing, to bounce him back to the bullpen. Again, I’ll say: if Chatwood gets another start, it has to be because the Cubs have evaluated their options for that day, and believe he gives them the best chance. It cannot be because they want to afford him time to “make the adjustment.” That time no longer exists. If he gets the start because they’ve decided he’s the best option and in that start he looks good again? Well, that’s swell. But if he gets the start and looks like 2018 Chatwood again? The Cubs made an avoidable mistake.