September call-ups have arrived early for the Cubs, not that they had much choice. They are 5-17 since the trade deadline. We've already noted that the Cubs collapse since that fated day really has not had that much to do with the overhaul of the pitching rotation. That overhaul was dramatic, but, by and large, the youngsters they have brought up have not pitched all that badly. Rusin and Raley, in particular, have shown some promise, and Germano has done a creditable job. Volstad is Volstad, but then no one would have expected any better.
This team still won't work the count or play baseball. So they just do not score runs consistently. I haven't seen a lot to be confident about so far among the new Cubs who seem determined to hit a home run or strike out no matter the circumstances. Brett Jackson might become a good hitter if he could control the strikeouts, which, right now, make Tyler Colvin look like Pete Rose. Welington Castillo, to my mind, looks like the only one of these youngsters who is ready to play at a major league level now. Vitters might make an interesting platoon in left field with someone like Bryan LaHair, but he is not a good third baseman and looks to be the farthest away from the majors.
The Cubs probably did the right thing in signing Castro long term, especially as they seem to have gotten a favorable deal and they can still trade him. I'm not sure what it is about young players who come up now, but they seem to have one or two physical skills, but no real baseball sense. They are just unfinished and it takes a lot of coaching, quality coaching, to get them where they need to be for a team to contend in the long run. So far I haven't seen real evidence of this coaching taking effect since the regime change. This has to be the most disappointing aspect of the new era of the Cubs under Epstein and Hoyer and Sveum. This team is still worse than the sum total of its individual components.
Just watched Starlin botch up two double-plays in the same inning, giving the Rockies the lead. So it goes.
Speaking of the Epstein legacy, it looks like the Dodgers are out to spend as much money as they can and to reconstruct the infamous 2011 Red Sox, acquiring most of the Epstein "mistakes" in the process. I put mistakes in quotes mainly because of Adrian Gonzalez, whom I still regard as a premier first baseman and pure hitter. Gonzalez is probably worth the haul of over-rated minor league talent the Red Sox are likely to acquire in the mega-deal. Of course, the rest of the baggage the Dodgers are taking on kind of means you are really paying Gonzalez upwards of $50 or $60MM a year.
Just as an aside, we finally have found out the secret of Melky Cabrera's remarkable improvement, as well as Bartolo Colon's comeback season. Not exactly edifying, and the case of Cabrera, some monumental evidence of terminal stupidity as well.
Back to the Cubs. Just so we all know, Dale Sveum is frustrated as well. Good news. However, right now the Cubs are following the Astros/Pirates/Royals model and you kind of wonder how long they can get away with it, considering they have the most expensive tickets in baseball in terms of the likelihood of seeing a win, and really, I think, the second most expensive tickets in baseball straight up.
No comments:
Post a Comment