Kyle SKOwarber Hulking Thread of Sploogepower

[Quality Start Machine]

I can't wait until Schwarber becomes the first catcher since Geo Soto to homer in the postseason prior to winning the Rookie of the Year.

Did you just call Schwarber a pothead?

Haven't you seen him at the meetings?

[Oleg]

I can't wait until Schwarber becomes the first catcher since Geo Soto to homer in the postseason prior to winning the Rookie of the Year.

Did you just call Schwarber a pothead?

Haven't you seen him at the meetings?

It's cute that you think potheads are motivated and organized enough to have meetings.

[R-V]

Up to 621 PAs. If the target is 750, like it ended up being with Bryant, we're looking at 4 to 5 weeks. Iowa plays at Salt Lake on the 22nd and has a day off before playing in Des Moines the 24th. Cubs are off the 24th and go to San Fran the 25th. Guess here is Stu gets to see his permanent debut on the 25th.

They're at CWS/DET August 14-19. How long would he have to stay down if they optioned him after that? 10 days? What's the point?

I don't think Kyle Schwarber is in the minors due to not having the ideal number of plate appearances no matter what Theo says he likes. He's there because they want him to learn how to play catcher or at least leave him at catcher in the minors until the trade deadline just in case someone wants to treat his trade value like he's Johnny Bench. He's either going to be traded, called up after the deadline to take some starts in left field or hit off of the bench, or they'll wait till Iowa's season is over and he's gotten as much development time as possible behind the plate, but he's not going to be called up the day he reaches an arbitrary number of plate appearances in Des Moines.

He'll keep working on his catching, but I think the Cubs will take the same tack with his the Yankees did with Yogi Berra, splitting his time between catching and the outfield (fun fact: When Mazeroski hit his HR to end the 1960 WS, the Yankee LF who watched it go out was Berra). My guess (such as it is) is that Montero gets maybe 67% of the starts behind the plate next year while SKOWarber continues learning his craft at the big league level.

Totally possible. He might also be traded for a young, cost controlled stud of a pitcher and the Cubs could use the money we have earmarked for a Cueto/Price type and instead sign an actual left fielder like Upton or a third baseman like Donaldson or move Javy to third/Bryant to left. He might do any number of things, his future is bright.

I just don't think his # of minor league plate appearance matters a bit. Number of starts at catcher, maybe, but not plate appearances. His bat is ready.

Donaldson is arbitration-eligible for the next few years, so not a free agent this offseason, right? If he is I'd back up seven trucks full of cash for that guy. He's awesome.

[SKO]

Up to 621 PAs. If the target is 750, like it ended up being with Bryant, we're looking at 4 to 5 weeks. Iowa plays at Salt Lake on the 22nd and has a day off before playing in Des Moines the 24th. Cubs are off the 24th and go to San Fran the 25th. Guess here is Stu gets to see his permanent debut on the 25th.

They're at CWS/DET August 14-19. How long would he have to stay down if they optioned him after that? 10 days? What's the point?

I don't think Kyle Schwarber is in the minors due to not having the ideal number of plate appearances no matter what Theo says he likes. He's there because they want him to learn how to play catcher or at least leave him at catcher in the minors until the trade deadline just in case someone wants to treat his trade value like he's Johnny Bench. He's either going to be traded, called up after the deadline to take some starts in left field or hit off of the bench, or they'll wait till Iowa's season is over and he's gotten as much development time as possible behind the plate, but he's not going to be called up the day he reaches an arbitrary number of plate appearances in Des Moines.

He'll keep working on his catching, but I think the Cubs will take the same tack with his the Yankees did with Yogi Berra, splitting his time between catching and the outfield (fun fact: When Mazeroski hit his HR to end the 1960 WS, the Yankee LF who watched it go out was Berra). My guess (such as it is) is that Montero gets maybe 67% of the starts behind the plate next year while SKOWarber continues learning his craft at the big league level.

Totally possible. He might also be traded for a young, cost controlled stud of a pitcher and the Cubs could use the money we have earmarked for a Cueto/Price type and instead sign an actual left fielder like Upton or a third baseman like Donaldson or move Javy to third/Bryant to left. He might do any number of things, his future is bright.

I just don't think his # of minor league plate appearance matters a bit. Number of starts at catcher, maybe, but not plate appearances. His bat is ready.

Donaldson is arbitration-eligible for the next few years, so not a free agent this offseason, right? If he is I'd back up seven trucks full of cash for that guy. He's awesome.

Ahhh you're right. I just read his contract status of "signed through 2015". He's not a free agent till 2019, when he'll be 33. Damn, there goes that pipe dream.

[World's #1 Astros Fan]

Reports are that he's getting called up.

BOING

[Chuck to Chuck]

Reports are that he's getting called up.

BOING

Yep. Here tomorrow.

[Saul Goodman]

Reports are that he's getting called up.

BOING

Yep. Here tomorrow.

There's no way he's become an elite catcher or even a good catcher with so few games at Iowa so I guess this is an acknowledgement that they can't do without his bat any longer. This must be why Joe choked Chris Coghlan's consecutive games streak to death ... now there's nothing in Kyle's way.

Or he's being showcased.

[Chuck to Chuck]

Reports are that he's getting called up.

BOING

Yep. Here tomorrow.

There's no way he's become an elite catcher or even a good catcher with so few games at Iowa so I guess this is an acknowledgement that they can't do without his bat any longer. This must be why Joe choked Chris Coghlan's consecutive games streak to death ... now there's nothing in Kyle's way.

Or he's being showcased.

Or, like Bryant, he's being called up a bit sooner because there's an injury.

[Quality Start Machine]

I can't wait until Schwarber becomes the first catcher since Geo Soto to homer in the postseason prior to winning the Rookie of the Year.

Did you just call Schwarber a pothead?

Haven't you seen him at the meetings?

It's cute that you think potheads are motivated and organized enough to have meetings.

I figure you all just meet at the weed store.

[Tonker]

I can't wait until Schwarber becomes the first catcher since Geo Soto to homer in the postseason prior to winning the Rookie of the Year.

Did you just call Schwarber a pothead?

Haven't you seen him at the meetings?

It's cute that you think potheads are motivated and organized enough to have meetings.

I figure you all just meet at the weed store FroDog's head shop, surely?

[Saul Goodman]

Reports are that he's getting called up.

BOING

Yep. Here tomorrow.

There's no way he's become an elite catcher or even a good catcher with so few games at Iowa so I guess this is an acknowledgement that they can't do without his bat any longer. This must be why Joe choked Chris Coghlan's consecutive games streak to death ... now there's nothing in Kyle's way.

Or he's being showcased.

Or, like Bryant, he's being called up a bit sooner because there's an injury.

Up until now I hadn't seen anything about the extent of Montero's injury, but I just got the MLB.com alert that says he's out for six weeks.  That makes more sense (although honestly they could have called him up just for the bat and I wouldn't question it).

[SKO]

Reports are that he's getting called up.

BOING

Yep. Here tomorrow.

There's no way he's become an elite catcher or even a good catcher with so few games at Iowa so I guess this is an acknowledgement that they can't do without his bat any longer. This must be why Joe choked Chris Coghlan's consecutive games streak to death ... now there's nothing in Kyle's way.

Or he's being showcased.

Or, like Bryant, he's being called up a bit sooner because there's an injury.

Up until now I hadn't seen anything about the extent of Montero's injury, but I just got the MLB.com alert that says he's out for six weeks.  That makes more sense (although honestly they could have called him up just for the bat and I wouldn't question it).

Sounds like Schwarber will split time with Teagarden as the main catchers, with Ross catching Lester obviously. I would assume Schwarber will get some starts in LF when he's not catching.

Still think a 6 week injury to Montero sucks if it means 4 or so days of Teagarden/Ross a week. Scwharber will help the offense to an extent, but if he's in left when he's not catching does Schwarber>Coghlan cancel out the drop off from Montero to Rossgarden? Probably not.

Would be nice if they hadn't gotten rid of Beef and the 900+ OPS he's got over the last month in Arizona.

[World's #1 Astros Fan]

Reports are that he's getting called up.

BOING

Yep. Here tomorrow.

There's no way he's become an elite catcher or even a good catcher with so few games at Iowa so I guess this is an acknowledgement that they can't do without his bat any longer. This must be why Joe choked Chris Coghlan's consecutive games streak to death ... now there's nothing in Kyle's way.

Or he's being showcased.

Or, like Bryant, he's being called up a bit sooner because there's an injury.

Up until now I hadn't seen anything about the extent of Montero's injury, but I just got the MLB.com alert that says he's out for six weeks.  That makes more sense (although honestly they could have called him up just for the bat and I wouldn't question it).

Sounds like Schwarber will split time with Teagarden as the main catchers, with Ross catching Lester obviously. I would assume Schwarber will get some starts in LF when he's not catching.

Still think a 6 week injury to Montero sucks if it means 4 or so days of Teagarden/Ross a week. Scwharber will help the offense to an extent, but if he's in left does Schwarber>Coghlan cancel out the drop off from Montero to Rossgarden? Probably not.

Would be nice if they hadn't gotten rid of Beef and the 900+ OPS he's got over the last month in Arizona.

Yes.  Teams should always prepare for the worst-case scenario.  You sound like my wife.

They never planned on keeping Castillo the moment they traded for Montero.  Let it go.

[SKO]

Reports are that he's getting called up.

BOING

Yep. Here tomorrow.

There's no way he's become an elite catcher or even a good catcher with so few games at Iowa so I guess this is an acknowledgement that they can't do without his bat any longer. This must be why Joe choked Chris Coghlan's consecutive games streak to death ... now there's nothing in Kyle's way.

Or he's being showcased.

Or, like Bryant, he's being called up a bit sooner because there's an injury.

Up until now I hadn't seen anything about the extent of Montero's injury, but I just got the MLB.com alert that says he's out for six weeks.  That makes more sense (although honestly they could have called him up just for the bat and I wouldn't question it).

Sounds like Schwarber will split time with Teagarden as the main catchers, with Ross catching Lester obviously. I would assume Schwarber will get some starts in LF when he's not catching.

Still think a 6 week injury to Montero sucks if it means 4 or so days of Teagarden/Ross a week. Scwharber will help the offense to an extent, but if he's in left does Schwarber>Coghlan cancel out the drop off from Montero to Rossgarden? Probably not.

Would be nice if they hadn't gotten rid of Beef and the 900+ OPS he's got over the last month in Arizona.

Yes.  Teams should always prepare for the worst-case scenario.  You sound like my wife.

They never planned on keeping Castillo the moment they traded for Montero.  Let it go.

This was stupid, and is still stupid. Once it was obvious that Welington's trade value was "AAA reliever" they should have kept him and gotten rid of Ross. Thinking that a 30+ year old catcher who has seen his numbers drop precipitously the last two years due to various nagging injuries might eventually give way and leave you with David Ross is hardly a "the sky is falling", scenario. It's a fairly logical sequence of events, one so obvious that Andy predicted it back in April.

[SKO]

DPD,  but keeping Castillo over Ross wouldn't have been "planning on the worst case scenario" if would have been "not getting rid of a player to make room for a guy who is worse". That it's come back to bite them with a Montero injury is just salt on the wound