Hendricks Gets the Results, Bullpen Steps Up, Wesneski, Tauchman, MLB Takes Over a Broadcast, and Other Cubs Bullets

May 31, 2023

I wound up staying up way too late last night enjoying the warm glow of a Cubs win, and the kiddos got me up bright and early this morning. So much coffee coming my way …

In something I expect has been deeply frustrating to the Tampa Bay Rays, the league’s best team has now lost two in a row – and over 11% of their total losses so far – to the Cubs by a single run. I could argue the Cubs were due a little good luck in one-run games, but I also want to say that the Cubs’ pitching has been absolutely outstanding the last two days. Pitching and defense is how we thought maybe the Cubs might have to win this year, and they’ve certainly done it the last two days (after, uh, not so much doing it the few days before).

To that end, a very solid 5.0-inning start from Kyle Hendricks last night, allowing just the one run against a loaded Rays lineup. Hendricks struck out just three, but he did get eight whiffs on his 75 pitches. He walked three, but boy were they all really close (and one of them probably should’ve been a strikeout rather than a walk). There was a lot of hard contact, and he did probably have some good fortune (and good defense behind him) that kept the scoring to just one run. But, on the other hand, he did not allow a barrel (i.e., the most damaging type of hard contact).

I also like hearing that Hendricks feels more and more like himself, especially when paired with his revised mechanics and 87-89 mph velocity. “Felt much more like myself from the start,” Hendricks said of his start last night, per the Sun-Times. “Had a much better game plan going in, felt much more comfortable out there in general.” Hendricks feels like a guy who gets better as he settles more and more in a groove, and he had such a long disruption to his routine that you could see him improving from here.

If you were going to open up a question going forward on Hendricks, it would be the groundball rate, which has been well below 30% in both of his starts so far. Hendricks, contrary to many of our mental images of him, was never really a huge groundball pitcher (he was closer to league average). But when things started going really off the rails for him the last couple years – as his command and velocity faded – his groundball rate trended down to nothing. The worst damage you can give up is in the air, obviously, so we’ll want to see some more groundballs coming.

Despite a shorter outing that COULD have called for a piggyback, it wasn’t Hayden Wesneski who followed Hendricks. Instead, in a tight game, David Ross went with a more traditional bullpen approach, deciding that Julian Merryweather, Mark Leiter Jr., and Adbert Alzolay were his three high-leverage guys for the night. It worked out quite well.

Which isn’t to say that gives us much of an idea on how Wesneski will be used since being called back up last night. Here’s how Ross had described the move before the game (Cubs.com): “We’re trying to get the most talented pitchers we can down there. He’s a guy that’s going to go out and do him, so I don’t worry about the heart rate. And he’s been in the bullpen before and in big, big moments. I think long-term, we see him as a starter, but right now, just a little help down there with a group that’s scuffling a little bit.”

It’ll be really interesting to see whether Wesneski actually gets high-leverage moments in a true relief role, or if the Cubs prefer – all else equal – to keep him to long relief outings, which tend to be lower-leverage by their nature (though not always).

Longer-term, the idea is still that Wesneski will be a starter. And he said he can see how this relief stint will help (Sun-Times): “This could help me out [in the long run]. I know this sounds funny, like, ‘Hey, this could help you start.’ It actually does translate. You can start cutting stuff down and figure out, ‘I actually don’t need this, this and this. Why have I been doing this for the last year?’ ”

How about Mike Tauchman driving in the winning run in each of these two wins over the Rays? It stings not to have Cody Bellinger available (for, what, still another couple weeks?), but Tauchman has absolutely filled in well. He probably won’t continue sporting a .435 BABIP or 16.2% walk rate, but he’s been playing good defense and putting the ball in play. You never know when those depth moves are going to be needed, and this is why the Cubs (and every other team) tries to get as many of these solid veterans in the offseason on minor league deals.

Seiya Suzuki doing his part to make the Cubs look less bad for trading Harold Ramirez for Esteban Quiroz:

Seiya steals a hit from Harold Ramirez! pic.twitter.com/3TvEvHN2Zl
— Marquee Sports Network (@WatchMarquee) May 31, 2023

That is mostly a joke and an opportunity to share a really nice play from Seiya Suzuki, but since Ramirez came up, I am obligated to point out that he’s hitting .294/.341/.503/138 wRC+ this year, after a very good year in 2022, and the Cubs almost certainly really biffed by not keeping him at the end of Spring Training in 2022. (You’ll recall that he arrived late, didn’t have any minor league options, so it was UNDERSTANDABLE that the Cubs let him go in the trade with the Rays, but it was nevertheless probably the wrong move.)

Dogs are good:

Timeline cleanser: Christopher Morel meeting Marcus Stroman’s dog. pic.twitter.com/ViSeXI3QrO
— Jordan Bastian (@MLBastian) May 30, 2023

Agreed, quality McNugget:

That’s a quality McNugget. pic.twitter.com/7a60jYV7c3
— Matt Clapp (@TheBlogfines) May 31, 2023

It has happened. Diamond Sports declined to pay its rights fees to the Padres, so MLB took back the broadcast rights and is taking over the games starting today:

MLB will take over broadcasts for the star-laden Padres beginning tomorrow, a monumental step within an uncertain, rapidly evolving landscape.

Our earlier story has been updated with several details …https://t.co/J6g8G9GTKZ— Alden González (@Alden_Gonzalez) May 31, 2023

Of particular note, this will be the first time that in-market games will be streamed on MLB.tv without local blackouts, which is the model MLB would love for all of its teams going forward (but we know is massively complicated by cable networks paying huge carriage fees, and that don’t want to compete with direct-to-consumer).

This free streaming preview chunk, by the way, will include three Cubs games this weekend:

MLB to produce and distribute @Padres games starting on May 31. Fans in-market can watch on DirecTV, Spectrum, Cox, Fubo and @MLBTV. Padres games will be streamed free on https://t.co/Z3s2EpgF39 and https://t.co/qiGCQEYFvE through June 4: https://t.co/JKWNEvSeJO pic.twitter.com/MjLbwvkpyq— MLB (@MLB) May 31, 2023

This guy is ridiculous, and he’s coming up to the Reds very soon:

"The legend of Elly De La Cruz just continues to grow."

The No. 1 @Reds prospect crushes a 432 ft. walk-off homer — his 11th big fly of the year for the @LouisvilleBats: pic.twitter.com/aM2uSZ8UYG— MLB Pipeline (@MLBPipeline) May 31, 2023

Speaking of ridiculous, a 16-year-old catcher who was JUST signed in IFA is heading to A-ball:

🚨No. 3 #Padres prospect Ethan Salas has been added to the Single-A Lake Elsinore roster.

The 16-year-old catcher was signed for $5.6 million in January. He skips over the Dominican Summer and Arizona Complex Leagues to make his pro debut in California. https://t.co/tvlXHSapW1— Sam Dykstra (@SamDykstraMiLB) May 30, 2023

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Hendricks Gets the Results, Bullpen Steps Up, Wesneski, Tauchman, MLB Takes Over a Broadcast, and Other Cubs Bullets

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