Went with my son to watch his older sister’s theater performance last night. As we arrive, he sees some friends, asks if he can go sit with them, and totally ditches me.
… which is AWESOME. It’s such a sign of growth for him to be willing to do that. I was not offended. I was thrilled.
- Justin Steele will make his spring debut today when the Cubs host the White Sox at Sloan Park. Look for him to throw a couple innings and hopefully just look healthy and chill.
- Highlights from yesterday’s win:
- This was in the Miscellany last night, but it’s useful to share here, too, since the ramp up of these guys is pretty darn important:
- The Cubs have suggested that the starters could be up to 75-ish by the Tokyo Series, so Imanaga seems to be well on his way.
- A reminder with established veteran pitchers before you look at the results: early in spring competition, they are not trying to get outs in exactly the same way they would in a regular season game. They are simply building up toward what they’ll need for the regular season – arm health and strength, grips, pitch movement, making sure body movements and muscle memory are locked in, setting up certain counts, etc. I’ve been doing this long enough to say with 100% confidence that there is no correlation between spring results and regular season results for (1) established pitchers (particularly starting pitchers) who (2) are completely healthy. The only time you ever see a correlation is where the performance in spring was pretty clearly attributable to some physical issue that carries over into the regular season.
- Jordan Wicks, who probably falls more into the “trying to show some stuff” and “still in development” category, looked solid yesterday. He also definitely looks more fit after an offseason of health and training work.
- He wants to get back to pounding the zone more, letting his defense do more work, and modeling himself a little more after a guy like Jameson Taillon (Cubs.com): “I definitely think I have something to prove this spring and this year as a whole. I felt like last year wasn’t anything close to the production I put in for my whole career before that. I feel like that was the first year people really saw me, and I feel like they didn’t see who I am. For me, I think it’s crucial to get back to who I am this year …. Even [Taillon] was like, ‘I didn’t feel great last year. My velocity wasn’t what it was.’ But we got to see him go out and pitch every day. I feel like that’s what I’ve really got to get back to, just going out there and pitching and not trying to chase these things that, realistically, don’t matter.”
- I wonder if the implication there more specifically is that Wicks felt he was chasing velo and strikeouts too much last year? You’d hate to lose that entirely because he looked potentially really nasty, but then again, he didn’t stay healthy and the end results weren’t really there. I’m still a believer in Wicks, who figures to make a lot of starts for the big league team this year one way or another.
- Because of the oblique injury and the depth, I think we can at this point safely assume Javier Assad is going to start the season behind the rest of the pitchers. That means, if the Cubs go with only five starting pitchers to open the season, there is one spot available for Wicks, Ben Brown, Colin Rea, or a non-roster guy like Brad Keller. The Cubs could theoretically put Rea in the bullpen, option Wicks and Brown, and give the job to Keller to maximize the volume of arms they get to keep. But if the bullpen group is overloaded, the Cubs might want to go with Rea. If Wicks or Brown is simply looking too good to option, they might want to go with one of them.
- But I suppose keep an eye on Keller. Dude was throwing up 97-98 mph in his first spring outing, was formerly a very successful young starting pitcher in the big leagues, and Craig Counsell is already talking him up (Marquee): “I think Brad Keller certainly was a little little more than we expected. And that’s always a good thing …. I’d like to take a longer view with Brad Keller, because I think there’s some ingredients there that can make him a very good pitcher, a very good starting pitcher. This is a pitcher that had big success in the league at a very young age and I always take note of that. I think that’s important to take note of. It’s in there. There’s a really good major league starting pitcher in there. That’s the guy that we want. And so right now, that’s the track that we’re taking.”
- Keller, 29, was signed to a minor league deal, and he’s got an opt out available at the end of Spring Training. So the Cubs are going to have to figure that out if they do want to keep him. It’s entirely possible they go with some kind of modified rotation early on in the year, not only to be able to maximize the guys they can keep, but also to maximize rest and health early on.
- A stunning turn in the Minnesota Twins’ sale process, with Justin Ishbia backing out in favor of taking a larger stake in the Chicago White Sox. It’s still a minority stake and the reporting indicates there are conflicting takes behind the scenes on whether Ishbia’s purchase comes with a path toward majority control down the road (which obviously would be quite major, given the long-time ownership of Jerry Reinsdorf). I assume there’s going to be a lot more coming on this soon.
- Meanwhile, the Twins are in a tough spot now:
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