What it looks like when a player in Cub position stagnates, the good trade of Jed and other Cubs balls

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I still try to put my feet under me after yesterday and the weeks before it. I know we can be a little overloaded and beaten up in these situations – “it’s just sport, folks” – but, first of all, it’s okay to feel what you are feeling. It’s just a thing of life. Never let anyone tell you that your feelings are wrong and neither do you. It only makes matters worse. Second, for me, once I have passed the feelings, it takes me another hot minute to plant my feet in the new world that has arisen around me. Doing a regular Bullet series, for example, seems so weird when there are so many changes in this organization and the way we fans will experience it. To say nothing of, you know, the pandemic which is always a thing.

Alright … let’s try this …

• There may be some lessons to be learned from the way things turned out with Albert Almora, the No. 1 draft pick of the Theo Epstein era, who was not nominated this week. Bryan dropped a note about Almora’s adjustments in the big leagues – or, more specifically, her inability to adjust to pitchers clearly making a very obvious adjustment – and it made me dig a little deeper:

• This is of course not a weird situation – most hitters are better prepared to hit fastballs than MLB caliber breaking stuff. What is striking about Almora is how extreme, linear and obvious the league fit was… and how Almora never improved. Consider his odor rate and expected wOBA against breaking throws:

2016: 34.0%, 0.215
2017: 39.0%, 0.212
2018: 39.3%, 0.223
2019: 35.3%, 0.214
2020: 40.9%, 0.158

• These are just terrible numbers (especially xwOBA), and completely stagnant despite seeing those throws more and more every year. Almora could still hit fastballs and shifts, but as pitchers learned (1) how to better pinpoint those locations to take advantage of her contact ability and poor terrain recognition, and (2) to simply throw at her more curves and sliders, its offensive trajectory has been full. Maybe there is a trick to help him recognize and attack breaking throws better, but it’s beyond my knowledge, especially when it’s five years in a row that look like this. The Cubs had reason to keep Almora on the Big League squad because of his glove and because they convinced themselves that he was a right-hander who could hit left-handed people, but you’re just wondering if he would have. could be better developed.

• Compare Almora, for example, to Javy Báez – another Cubs right-handed hitter that people think of when they talk about crushing fastballs and battling brittle pitches – who was equally brutal against brittle pitches during of his early years, but who eventually began to abuse them. his breakthrough of the 2018 and 2019 seasons. Maybe it’s just a credit to Báez, in particular, and a debit to Almora. But, again, I just wonder if there was something else to the way the two were developed as prospects (Báez got a taste of big league pitching in 2014 and then was sent to AAA in 2015 to work on things before returning to the big leagues for good).

• Oh, and your first look at a guy who fits this Almora profile? It’s Nico Hoerner, who destroyed fastballs (and never, ever misses them) in his first two partial seasons in the big league, but who was humiliated by breaking shots. He didn’t sniff a ton against them, but his expected wOBAs were atrocious. Heck, his average launch angle against breaking pitches in 2020 was 3 degrees NEGATIVE. When he got a breaking pitch this year, if he did swing, Hoerner was quite likely to put him on the pitch. It’s not good, and it’s another example of pitchers taking advantage of his contact ability. Now will he have the chance to work more on it in the minor leagues, or will the Cubs risk Almora’s road? Also, a reminder that Hoerner had almost no minor league experience. He got a taste in 2019 because of injuries (and, I guess, because the Cubs wanted him to see how much the big-league pitching would attack him) and then he stayed with the squad. in 2020 because there was no minor league season. Hoerner starting the year at AAA should be the expectation right now, not a surprise.

• Regarding Kasper’s replacement, all of the Cubs and Marquee talk yesterday was about a research process, and despite rumors to the contrary, Marquee denies that Chris Myers already has the job (although he has a * A * job with Marquee):

• Jed had a good trade 10 years ago:

• Seriously, though, I still remember when this transaction took place (BN was about two years old at the time), and Kelly was the big name by far. And Fuentes was this huge upside down youngster. Rizzo, on the other hand, was seen as a possible future solid bat on first base, but he had been a 6th rounder in high school three years earlier and had yet to set the minor leagues on fire. Yet we now know from Theo Epstein that it was Jed Hoyer who insisted that Rizzo be in the deal, instead of the guy Epstein was pushing. This guy, Lars Anderson, was actually one of the consensus top 100 prospects at the time (Rizzo was not), who * had * lit up the minor leagues back then. Still, Hoyer insisted on Rizzo. It’s a win, eh?

• Watches, writing utensils, baby gear and more are your daily deals on Amazon. #a d

• Our last pod:

• I won’t be integrating this whole thread because it’s so long, but it’s worth going to Twitter to check the calls if you want to have some memories:

• The White Sox got Kasper, but also, there’s always this:



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