Game 29 Thread - Samardzija vs. Hanson

As Cubnut pointed out on Twitter the other day, the Cubs have fallen into an alternating win-loss pattern since April 24th. Unfortunately, today is the day to bet against them.

Braves Cubs
*Bourn, CF
 *DeJesus, RF
Prado, LF
 *Campana, CF
*Freeman, 1B
 Castro, SS
*McCann, C
 *LaHair, 1B
Uggla, 2B
 *Stewart, 3B
#C. Jones, 3B
 Johnson, LF
*Heyward, RF
 Barney, 2B
Pastornicky, SS
 Soto, C
Hunter, P
 *Maholm, P

The Braves are riding a 3-game winning streak and just a half-game out of first place in the NL East. They've done that with great help from Freddie Freeman who just picked up his second NL player of the week honors of this early season.

The Cubs, despite the mediocre play of late, are still proud owners of the second worst record in the National League and fourth worst in baseball. The worst being the San Diego Padres, formerly run by the Cubs current GM. The current Cubs president was previously running the team with the 5th worst record in baseball. The more you know...

Tags: 
Cubs game thread
Submitted by Rob G. on Mon, 05/07/2012 - 7:55pm
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Comments

Submitted by Old and Blue
on Mon, 05/07/2012 - 5:31pm

One of these days, soon, I will arrive on parachat and teach you guys some stuff about baseball.

Submitted by crunch
on Mon, 05/07/2012 - 6:56pm

and maybe 1-2 people will be there.

there used to be 10+ pretty regularly...but that was when transmission (user) was doing chat recaps that enticed people to visit and catch some random real-time talk.

Submitted by John Beasley
on Mon, 05/07/2012 - 7:46pm

I always have login problems. I just gave up.

Submitted by Dr. aaron b
on Mon, 05/07/2012 - 10:32pm

Same here.

Submitted by Rob G.
on Mon, 05/07/2012 - 11:17pm

I disabled the "must be registered" option. Try it again when you get a moment.

It will ask for a username and I strongly suggest just using your TCR username so we know who you are, but it will no longer only accept those that are registered.

You still need the most up-to-date Java for it to work. If anyone has any other chat suggestions that I can embed within a page, I'll happily explore.

Submitted by John Beasley
on Tue, 05/08/2012 - 10:28am

Hey, it's working for me again. I'll try to Parachat a little more often this summer.

Submitted by Old and Blue
on Mon, 05/07/2012 - 5:36pm

I've mentioned more than once that The TheoCorp is a reputation, not a solution. McFail, too, came in hot. Theo has a five year contract, though. If he gets a WS, he is a presidential candidate. If doesn't, it's just another notch in the noggin. I still think he'll prevail.

Submitted by Cubster
on Mon, 05/07/2012 - 7:04pm

Cole Hamels suspension announced, officially 5 days.

Alex Gonzales, Brewers SS out for the year with torn ACL. He had a vesting option for 2013 at $4M which required 525 PA to kick in.

http://www.jsonline.com/sports/brewers/brewsi...

Submitted by John Beasley
on Mon, 05/07/2012 - 7:48pm

We could trade them Barney if only they had a player better than Barney left in their system. I don't suppose they'd deal Wily Peralta.

Submitted by Rob G.
on Mon, 05/07/2012 - 7:09pm

well at the very least, the Cubs farm system has been producing...for the Marlins.

Ricky Nolasco ties another former Hawk, Dontrelle Willis, for most wins in Marlins history

Submitted by Rob G.
on Mon, 05/07/2012 - 7:21pm

if R. Howard has anymore setbacks, would they have interest in LaHair?

not that the Cubs would get a ton, but D. Brown could be a possibility, they seemed to have soured on him.

Submitted by crunch
on Mon, 05/07/2012 - 7:27pm

i kinda wonder what his value is...he's "another" brandon allen/willie mo pena type, but unlike them he's shown up to work when given the chance in the bigs.

that said, it seems they're not going to let him near a lefty pitcher.

it's kinda hard to handicap his value...especially if he keeps knocking homers and making enough contact to tame the Ks.

Submitted by Rob G.
on Mon, 05/07/2012 - 7:24pm

I'll be in parachat until 8:30pm CST...

be there.

Submitted by Cubster
on Mon, 05/07/2012 - 8:25pm

Big Z pitching well thru 5 innings (2 hits, 5K's, 1 BB), even has a 3-0 lead on a Stanton 2run HR. Of course, he's had some success vs the Astros in the past.

...at least until they bring in Heath Bell.

Submitted by The E-Man
on Mon, 05/07/2012 - 9:18pm

Man - little Campy...

Helped manufacture a run off a HB, bunt, and Castro single.

Submitted by The E-Man
on Mon, 05/07/2012 - 9:19pm

And - a TERRIBLE AB by Stewart with bags juiced.

What a selective hitter.

Submitted by crunch
on Mon, 05/07/2012 - 9:25pm

back to back walks for marmol...0 outs, top 8.

awesome.

Submitted by crunch
on Mon, 05/07/2012 - 9:31pm

lineout, K, and K....after a SB and wild pitch, but hey, no runs.

Submitted by johann
on Mon, 05/07/2012 - 9:32pm

Marmol! Holy hell that was an adventure.

Submitted by The E-Man
on Mon, 05/07/2012 - 9:39pm

The last two batters were vintage Marmol, though.

Submitted by johann
on Mon, 05/07/2012 - 9:41pm

None of us know the true issue with Marmol but my hope is the pressure of closing was too much and he can go back to being a dominant regular relief pitcher once he gets in the groove there. We'll see.

Submitted by The E-Man
on Mon, 05/07/2012 - 10:07pm

In my mind (and maybe statistically?), his greatest success was as a set-up guy.

Many times he'd strike out the side in the 8th. 2007 and 2008 were spectacular.

2008 his ERA+ was 171 setting up for Woody.

2007 his ERA plus?

325!!

96 K's in 69IP. Setting up for Dempster. "Fucking A"

Submitted by Ryno
on Tue, 05/08/2012 - 7:13am

It's not much of a mystery in my opinion. He can't reliably throw strikes. Sometimes he gets lucky and wiggles out of tight spots that he gets himself into.

Submitted by VirginiaPhil
on Tue, 05/08/2012 - 10:26am

Right--has so little confidence in his ability to throw a fastball for a strike that he throws sliders on 3-0. Sveum has been muttering about that for days. Marmol's problem is public knowledge.

Submitted by johann
on Tue, 05/08/2012 - 10:38am

I mean yeah he can't throw strikes but is it a mental issue or a mechanical issue. If it was just mental not being able to handle the pressure of closing then maybe moving him back will help him. I dunno that's not something any of us are gonna figure out. Just know if we can get back dominant set up Marmol we're in really good shape bullpen wise.

Submitted by Tito
on Tue, 05/08/2012 - 10:51am

From the all-star break in '09 through '10, Marmol went 50 for 55 in save chances. He can handle the pressure.

Submitted by Ryno
on Tue, 05/08/2012 - 12:09pm

I'm reading this book by Daniel Kahneman: Thinking, Fast and Slow... I figured I do so little thinking as it is, I might as well read up on the subject and start learning to do it on a regular basis. Anywho... in it, he talks about the very subject of high performers and how if you want to project future performance, instead of following performance trends, you should project the other direction and anticipate regressions to the mean. While the book refers mainly to economics, I assume the mathematics involved applies across many other domains, especially sports.

Obviously, it is more complex than trading away all your guys that are getting good numbers (which would be silly), but I think in Marmol's case, this is what happened- in other words:

"He doesn't throw many strikes and is pretty wild, but he's getting good results."

Maybe statements like this should be a red flag. Or:

"Castro is swinging at some crazy pitches and striking out, but hey, he's hitting .345"

Anyways, I just traded Castro for Jose Reyes in my fantasy league this week, so I'll get to see first-hand how all this regression towards the mean bullshit works out. Or not.

Submitted by Rob G.
on Tue, 05/08/2012 - 12:16pm

regression to the mean is pretty much the foundation of all baseball projections

Submitted by big_lowitzki
on Tue, 05/08/2012 - 12:22pm

See Rob...Castro is going to suck, so you should clearly trade him to me!

Submitted by Rob G.
on Tue, 05/08/2012 - 12:25pm

everyone is available for a price, the price for Longoria and Castro is just very high.

Submitted by John Beasley
on Tue, 05/08/2012 - 12:38pm

In real life news, it's probably too late to give a Longoria contract to Castro, but I wouldn't be opposed to a 8 or 9-year deal to give him some security and the team a chance to lock up free agent years and get a bit of a price break in return.

Submitted by Jumbo
on Tue, 05/08/2012 - 6:00pm

I was surprised at that trade. Reyes is clearly the better player, but routinely injured. If I had known you were looking for a SS I could have hooked you up with Furcal.

Submitted by Rob G.
on Tue, 05/08/2012 - 6:29pm

is it a keeper league? if so, it was D-U-M-B, dumb to trade Castro away for that return.

Submitted by Jumbo
on Tue, 05/08/2012 - 7:12pm

Kind of a short term keeper league. I guess both are not eligible to keep after this season (long complicated explanation here), so in effect it is not a keeper issue. I think I would still rather have Castro due to Reyes' injury history.

Submitted by VirginiaPhil
on Tue, 05/08/2012 - 1:25pm

I think it's mental in the sense that he's too dumb (or stubborn) to know that there's something wrong when you have to throw a slider on 3-0. Look around you. Who else does that?

It's probably about 100% of the time that when Marmol shakes off the catcher, a slider is coming. Just throw what the catcher asks for (and what the manager has been asking for since spring training).

It's frustrating to watch because hitters are so geared to the slider that they can't help being late on the fastball, like Uggla yesterday, who was as late on the third fastball as on the first. But Marmol had to be demoted for that at-bat to happen.

Submitted by Rob G.
on Tue, 05/08/2012 - 1:39pm

so far Marmol has been throwing his fastball 48.3% of the time, the highest since 2008. His velocity is averaging 92.7 mph, down from the 94.1 mph he had it going in 2010, but up a tick from 2011. It was just 91.8 mph last year when he threw it just 35.7% of the time. In bizzarro world, if he just threw it more, it would go faster, but in 2010 when he topped out at 94.1 mph he was throwing it at 40% of the time, the second lowest of his career.

"You can use facts to prove anything that is even remotely true."

My crazy offbeat theory and I know I'm a loon is that Marmol is having trouble throwing a fastball for a strike (always has) and since it's not in the mid 90's anymore, he's gonna be more comfortable throwing the slider that he has a better idea where it's going. Hitters have done a much better job laying off that slider though. I don't even know if he's fixable at this point. Relievers are a weird bunch, a small tweak in his delivery might work, but no one has been able to get him to do it consistently.

Submitted by crunch
on Tue, 05/08/2012 - 1:41pm

imo, he shouldn't be falling off the mound toward 1st so haphazardly. i dunno how he even finds a release point doing it. his footing comes down in a different place almost every pitch.

Submitted by John Beasley
on Tue, 05/08/2012 - 2:05pm

Better yet, try to finish the delivery with a little hop.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxYE3upgWVk

Submitted by Cubster
on Mon, 05/07/2012 - 9:55pm

Winning streak hits 2.

actually, they've won 3 of 4. Feels nice.

Submitted by Charlie
on Mon, 05/07/2012 - 9:59pm

Three homeruns, and Stewart and Soto have much better (limited) May numbers than April numbers.

Wonder where LaHair will end up in the Three True Outcomes standings. I'm betting high, but well behind Adam Dunn.

Edit: And another solid start by Samardzija. Gotta enjoy the little things.

Submitted by Dr. aaron b
on Tue, 05/08/2012 - 2:48pm

Adam Dunn......921 OPS right now.

Just saying

Submitted by Charlie
on Tue, 05/08/2012 - 3:00pm

LaHair could probably do a decent Dunn impersonation. He may never hit 40 HRs in the bigs, but he could very well be a poor man's Dunn (and what a discount it is).

Submitted by Rob G.
on Tue, 05/08/2012 - 3:05pm

still not outperforming Cubs 1b-men

Just saying

Submitted by Cubster
on Mon, 05/07/2012 - 9:59pm

They've won the first game of a series for 5 consecutive series (Cards, Phils, Reds, Dodgers and Braves). I'm liking that.

Submitted by big_lowitzki
on Mon, 05/07/2012 - 10:12pm

Not only that...but they:
Won the Cards series (2-1)
Split the Phillies (2-2)
Split the Red (1-1)
Won the Dodgers (2-1)

Solid play against solid/good teams.

It is really good to see the Cubs playing decent and respectable ball. If they could keep getting starting pitching like this, they will be watchable all year. I know... watchable... the bar is set pretty low.

Submitted by jacos
on Mon, 05/07/2012 - 10:15pm

Were do I sign for the apology letter to Samardrzija?

Submitted by The E-Man
on Mon, 05/07/2012 - 10:42pm

Put my name on it too, will ya?

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