Firebarn David Ross

[InternetApex]

/thread

Firebarn SKO. This David Ross is a WINNER

Best walk-up music in MLB.

Used to be Paul Konerko #SKYPOINT

I forget, what did he have?

Harvester of Sorrow

Is that a good song? I don't know where the current opinion of white people on Metallica stands.

EDIT: 35 seconds in - meh.

I've noticed that Soler comes out to Pitbull, which is probably why God punished his ankle this week. BUT PITBULL IS TEH CUBAN??!!?!?

So is Cypress Hill. Now go kill yourself.

[Quality Start Machine]

/thread

Firebarn SKO. This David Ross is a WINNER

Best walk-up music in MLB.

Used to be Paul Konerko #SKYPOINT

I forget, what did he have?

Harvester of Sorrow

Is that a good song? I don't know where the current opinion of white people on Metallica stands.

EDIT: 35 seconds in - meh.

I've noticed that Soler comes out to Pitbull, which is probably why God punished his ankle this week. BUT PITBULL IS TEH CUBAN??!!?!?

So is Cypress Hill. Now go kill yourself.

Josh Reddick and "Careless Whisper" is still the benchmark.

[Oleg]

/thread

Firebarn SKO. This David Ross is a WINNER

Best walk-up music in MLB.

Used to be Paul Konerko #SKYPOINT

I forget, what did he have?

Harvester of Sorrow

Is that a good song? I don't know where the current opinion of white people on Metallica stands.

EDIT: 35 seconds in - meh.

I've noticed that Soler comes out to Pitbull, which is probably why God punished his ankle this week. BUT PITBULL IS TEH CUBAN??!!?!?

So is Cypress Hill. Now go kill yourself.

Did you just tell Soler to kill himself because he comes out to Pitbull instead of Cypress Hill?

[InternetApex]

/thread

Firebarn SKO. This David Ross is a WINNER

Best walk-up music in MLB.

Used to be Paul Konerko #SKYPOINT

I forget, what did he have?

Harvester of Sorrow

Is that a good song? I don't know where the current opinion of white people on Metallica stands.

EDIT: 35 seconds in - meh.

I've noticed that Soler comes out to Pitbull, which is probably why God punished his ankle this week. BUT PITBULL IS TEH CUBAN??!!?!?

So is Cypress Hill. Now go kill yourself.

Did you just tell Soler to kill himself because he comes out to Pitbull instead of Cypress Hill?

No. He's been too busy becoming awesome at baseball to concern himself with the history of Cuban-American Hip Hop Music. That's my jorb. I just want Pitbull to get in a carpool with Kid Rock and a bunch of Cardinals and find the business end of a tow truck somewhere. I'm sorry to include Soler in this.

[Eli]

... the history of Cuban-American Hip Hop Music. That's my jorb.

I question this.

[InternetApex]

... the history of Cuban-American Hip Hop Music. That's my jorb.

I question this.

Yeah. I don't have a jorb. And I'm homeless and addicted to meth.

[Saul Goodman]

... the history of Cuban-American Hip Hop Music. That's my jorb.

I question this.

Yeah. I don't have a jorb. And I'm homeless and addicted to meth.

Can you confirm or deny that meth is a helluva drug?

[flannj]

... the history of Cuban-American Hip Hop Music. That's my jorb.

I question this.

Yeah. I don't have a jorb. And I'm homeless and addicted to meth.

Hoosier represent.

[Saul Goodman]

It's not David's fault the other team stole his home run.  Give the guy a break.

[R-V]

From today's Joe Sheehan Newsletter (spend the measly $25 a year for it, you lousy buttpuddles):

Cubs 17, Indians 0

Schwarber DH   5 3 4 2 3B
Ross C             5 1 1 0

So, there's a plan for Kyle Schwarber, who was called up as the Cubs hit a stretch of five straight games under AL rules. Whether that plan can survive contact with a 1000 OPS remains to be seen. Will the Cubs be able to stick to their guns if Schwarber comes up and provides big left-handed power and more OBP, in a season where they have a legitimate chance to make the playoffs? Can the team continue to roster a binky for Jon Lester even as that binky looks more tattered and threadbare?

David Ross was once an excellent backup catcher, a lefty-masher who played good defense, including a strong throwing arm. Now, he's in the league pretty much entirely because Lester likes throwing to him. Thirteen of his 17 starts this year have come with Lester on the mound; 18 of his 36 starts for the Red Sox last year prior to the trade of Lester were with Lester on the mound. This while his game slowly fades away: Ross is hitting .192/.278/.355 since the start of the 2013 season, while throwing out just 14 of 52 basestealers the last two years. You can argue that the latter number is disproportionately affected by his pairing with Lester, whose problems throwing to first are well documented. However, Lester's issues make it all the more important that he be paired with a strong-armed backstop.

Having to use Ross as Lester's bobo limits the ability to use him in the lefty-mashing role in which he has some value. Every time Ross starts against a right-handed pitcher, a kitten dies:

David Ross vs. RHP

         PA   AVG   OBP   SLG UIBB  SO
2013   55  .167  .273   .271     6     23 
2014  104  .158  .223   .295     8     37
2015   55  .174  .296   .283     6     18

That's a 36% strikeout rate and a SLG well below .300. Hard to do.

Jon Lester is signed through 2020, and I can't imagine the Cubs intend to keep playing David Ross every fifth day until the end of the first Trump Administration. Ross has already cost the Cubs a league-average catcher in Welington Castillo, someone who would have been a perfect third catcher as the team brought along Schwarber. Nevertheless, Schwarber presents an opportunity, right now, to put an end to this nonsense. Here's hoping he forces the Cubs' hand in what is becoming a fascinating season on the North Side.

[Powdered Toast Man]

From today's Joe Sheehan Newsletter (spend the measly $25 a year for it, you lousy buttpuddles):

Cubs 17, Indians 0

Schwarber DH   5 3 4 2 3B
Ross C             5 1 1 0

So, there's a plan for Kyle Schwarber, who was called up as the Cubs hit a stretch of five straight games under AL rules. Whether that plan can survive contact with a 1000 OPS remains to be seen. Will the Cubs be able to stick to their guns if Schwarber comes up and provides big left-handed power and more OBP, in a season where they have a legitimate chance to make the playoffs? Can the team continue to roster a binky for Jon Lester even as that binky looks more tattered and threadbare?

David Ross was once an excellent backup catcher, a lefty-masher who played good defense, including a strong throwing arm. Now, he's in the league pretty much entirely because Lester likes throwing to him. Thirteen of his 17 starts this year have come with Lester on the mound; 18 of his 36 starts for the Red Sox last year prior to the trade of Lester were with Lester on the mound. This while his game slowly fades away: Ross is hitting .192/.278/.355 since the start of the 2013 season, while throwing out just 14 of 52 basestealers the last two years. You can argue that the latter number is disproportionately affected by his pairing with Lester, whose problems throwing to first are well documented. However, Lester's issues make it all the more important that he be paired with a strong-armed backstop.

Having to use Ross as Lester's bobo limits the ability to use him in the lefty-mashing role in which he has some value. Every time Ross starts against a right-handed pitcher, a kitten dies:

David Ross vs. RHP

         PA   AVG   OBP   SLG UIBB  SO
2013   55  .167  .273   .271     6     23 
2014  104  .158  .223   .295     8     37
2015   55  .174  .296   .283     6     18

That's a 36% strikeout rate and a SLG well below .300. Hard to do.

Jon Lester is signed through 2020, and I can't imagine the Cubs intend to keep playing David Ross every fifth day until the end of the first Trump Administration. Ross has already cost the Cubs a league-average catcher in Welington Castillo, someone who would have been a perfect third catcher as the team brought along Schwarber. Nevertheless, Schwarber presents an opportunity, right now, to put an end to this nonsense. Here's hoping he forces the Cubs' hand in what is becoming a fascinating season on the North Side.

We all know Ross is there because he has beardgrit and is a great guy to have in the locker room playing towel snap and doing stand up impersonations. That does have some value that you just cannot measure. The value that does have measure is his game...and it's not very good. I wish the Cubs could find a way to keep him around but not on the 25 man roster.

The fact that Montero was a late scratch and Schwarber didn't take his place in the lineup on defense had me guessing at first...but I guess it makes sense because then who would DH with there being like -2 bench players on the roster? Mike Baxter...no thank you. But that happenstance would have given us a look at Schwarber behind the plate and I do wonder why the Cubs didn't jump on that opportunity...unless they just didn't want to burden Schwarber with defense during his first start.

[Eli]

From today's Joe Sheehan Newsletter (spend the measly $25 a year for it, you lousy buttpuddles):

Cubs 17, Indians 0

Schwarber DH   5 3 4 2 3B
Ross C             5 1 1 0

So, there's a plan for Kyle Schwarber, who was called up as the Cubs hit a stretch of five straight games under AL rules. Whether that plan can survive contact with a 1000 OPS remains to be seen. Will the Cubs be able to stick to their guns if Schwarber comes up and provides big left-handed power and more OBP, in a season where they have a legitimate chance to make the playoffs? Can the team continue to roster a binky for Jon Lester even as that binky looks more tattered and threadbare?

David Ross was once an excellent backup catcher, a lefty-masher who played good defense, including a strong throwing arm. Now, he's in the league pretty much entirely because Lester likes throwing to him. Thirteen of his 17 starts this year have come with Lester on the mound; 18 of his 36 starts for the Red Sox last year prior to the trade of Lester were with Lester on the mound. This while his game slowly fades away: Ross is hitting .192/.278/.355 since the start of the 2013 season, while throwing out just 14 of 52 basestealers the last two years. You can argue that the latter number is disproportionately affected by his pairing with Lester, whose problems throwing to first are well documented. However, Lester's issues make it all the more important that he be paired with a strong-armed backstop.

Having to use Ross as Lester's bobo limits the ability to use him in the lefty-mashing role in which he has some value. Every time Ross starts against a right-handed pitcher, a kitten dies:

David Ross vs. RHP

        PA   AVG   OBP   SLG UIBB  SO
2013   55  .167  .273   .271     6     23  
2014  104  .158  .223   .295     8     37
2015   55  .174  .296   .283     6     18

That's a 36% strikeout rate and a SLG well below .300. Hard to do.

Jon Lester is signed through 2020, and I can't imagine the Cubs intend to keep playing David Ross every fifth day until the end of the first Trump Administration. Ross has already cost the Cubs a league-average catcher in Welington Castillo, someone who would have been a perfect third catcher as the team brought along Schwarber. Nevertheless, Schwarber presents an opportunity, right now, to put an end to this nonsense. Here's hoping he forces the Cubs' hand in what is becoming a fascinating season on the North Side.

I just tweeted about this and I'll assume Sheehan managed to write this whole thing up in 5 minutes after seeing my tweet.

ETA: Someone on Twitter just told me that Ross has been "excellent." Good grief.

[SKO]

From today's Joe Sheehan Newsletter (spend the measly $25 a year for it, you lousy buttpuddles):

Cubs 17, Indians 0

Schwarber DH   5 3 4 2 3B
Ross C             5 1 1 0

So, there's a plan for Kyle Schwarber, who was called up as the Cubs hit a stretch of five straight games under AL rules. Whether that plan can survive contact with a 1000 OPS remains to be seen. Will the Cubs be able to stick to their guns if Schwarber comes up and provides big left-handed power and more OBP, in a season where they have a legitimate chance to make the playoffs? Can the team continue to roster a binky for Jon Lester even as that binky looks more tattered and threadbare?

David Ross was once an excellent backup catcher, a lefty-masher who played good defense, including a strong throwing arm. Now, he's in the league pretty much entirely because Lester likes throwing to him. Thirteen of his 17 starts this year have come with Lester on the mound; 18 of his 36 starts for the Red Sox last year prior to the trade of Lester were with Lester on the mound. This while his game slowly fades away: Ross is hitting .192/.278/.355 since the start of the 2013 season, while throwing out just 14 of 52 basestealers the last two years. You can argue that the latter number is disproportionately affected by his pairing with Lester, whose problems throwing to first are well documented. However, Lester's issues make it all the more important that he be paired with a strong-armed backstop.

Having to use Ross as Lester's bobo limits the ability to use him in the lefty-mashing role in which he has some value. Every time Ross starts against a right-handed pitcher, a kitten dies:

David Ross vs. RHP

        PA   AVG   OBP   SLG UIBB  SO
2013   55  .167  .273   .271     6     23  
2014  104  .158  .223   .295     8     37
2015   55  .174  .296   .283     6     18

That's a 36% strikeout rate and a SLG well below .300. Hard to do.

Jon Lester is signed through 2020, and I can't imagine the Cubs intend to keep playing David Ross every fifth day until the end of the first Trump Administration. Ross has already cost the Cubs a league-average catcher in Welington Castillo, someone who would have been a perfect third catcher as the team brought along Schwarber. Nevertheless, Schwarber presents an opportunity, right now, to put an end to this nonsense. Here's hoping he forces the Cubs' hand in what is becoming a fascinating season on the North Side.

I just tweeted about this and I'll assume Sheehan managed to write this whole thing up in 5 minutes after seeing my tweet.

ETA: Someone on Twitter just told me that Ross has been "excellent." Good grief.

Well he picked a guy off first base, man. Did you miss that part? We have to shut up forever now.

[Tonker]

From today's Joe Sheehan Newsletter (spend the measly $25 a year for it, you lousy buttpuddles):

Cubs 17, Indians 0

Schwarber DH   5 3 4 2 3B
Ross C             5 1 1 0

So, there's a plan for Kyle Schwarber, who was called up as the Cubs hit a stretch of five straight games under AL rules. Whether that plan can survive contact with a 1000 OPS remains to be seen. Will the Cubs be able to stick to their guns if Schwarber comes up and provides big left-handed power and more OBP, in a season where they have a legitimate chance to make the playoffs? Can the team continue to roster a binky for Jon Lester even as that binky looks more tattered and threadbare?

David Ross was once an excellent backup catcher, a lefty-masher who played good defense, including a strong throwing arm. Now, he's in the league pretty much entirely because Lester likes throwing to him. Thirteen of his 17 starts this year have come with Lester on the mound; 18 of his 36 starts for the Red Sox last year prior to the trade of Lester were with Lester on the mound. This while his game slowly fades away: Ross is hitting .192/.278/.355 since the start of the 2013 season, while throwing out just 14 of 52 basestealers the last two years. You can argue that the latter number is disproportionately affected by his pairing with Lester, whose problems throwing to first are well documented. However, Lester's issues make it all the more important that he be paired with a strong-armed backstop.

Having to use Ross as Lester's bobo limits the ability to use him in the lefty-mashing role in which he has some value. Every time Ross starts against a right-handed pitcher, a kitten dies:

David Ross vs. RHP

        PA   AVG   OBP   SLG UIBB  SO
2013   55  .167  .273   .271     6     23  
2014  104  .158  .223   .295     8     37
2015   55  .174  .296   .283     6     18

That's a 36% strikeout rate and a SLG well below .300. Hard to do.

Jon Lester is signed through 2020, and I can't imagine the Cubs intend to keep playing David Ross every fifth day until the end of the first Trump Administration. Ross has already cost the Cubs a league-average catcher in Welington Castillo, someone who would have been a perfect third catcher as the team brought along Schwarber. Nevertheless, Schwarber presents an opportunity, right now, to put an end to this nonsense. Here's hoping he forces the Cubs' hand in what is becoming a fascinating season on the North Side.

I just tweeted about this and I'll assume Sheehan managed to write this whole thing up in 5 minutes after seeing my tweet.

ETA: Someone on Twitter just told me that Ross has been "excellent." Good grief.

Well he picked a guy off first base, man. Did you miss that part? We have to shut up forever now.

I had no idea that he'd been that bad.  I don't completely pooh-pooh the concept of veteran leadership and clubhouse skills, but the Cubs simply cannot afford to carry that kind of offensive suckiness, even if it accompanies defensive excellence, which it doesn't.  He's got to go.

[SKO]

From today's Joe Sheehan Newsletter (spend the measly $25 a year for it, you lousy buttpuddles):

Cubs 17, Indians 0

Schwarber DH   5 3 4 2 3B
Ross C             5 1 1 0

So, there's a plan for Kyle Schwarber, who was called up as the Cubs hit a stretch of five straight games under AL rules. Whether that plan can survive contact with a 1000 OPS remains to be seen. Will the Cubs be able to stick to their guns if Schwarber comes up and provides big left-handed power and more OBP, in a season where they have a legitimate chance to make the playoffs? Can the team continue to roster a binky for Jon Lester even as that binky looks more tattered and threadbare?

David Ross was once an excellent backup catcher, a lefty-masher who played good defense, including a strong throwing arm. Now, he's in the league pretty much entirely because Lester likes throwing to him. Thirteen of his 17 starts this year have come with Lester on the mound; 18 of his 36 starts for the Red Sox last year prior to the trade of Lester were with Lester on the mound. This while his game slowly fades away: Ross is hitting .192/.278/.355 since the start of the 2013 season, while throwing out just 14 of 52 basestealers the last two years. You can argue that the latter number is disproportionately affected by his pairing with Lester, whose problems throwing to first are well documented. However, Lester's issues make it all the more important that he be paired with a strong-armed backstop.

Having to use Ross as Lester's bobo limits the ability to use him in the lefty-mashing role in which he has some value. Every time Ross starts against a right-handed pitcher, a kitten dies:

David Ross vs. RHP

        PA   AVG   OBP   SLG UIBB  SO
2013   55  .167  .273   .271     6     23  
2014  104  .158  .223   .295     8     37
2015   55  .174  .296   .283     6     18

That's a 36% strikeout rate and a SLG well below .300. Hard to do.

Jon Lester is signed through 2020, and I can't imagine the Cubs intend to keep playing David Ross every fifth day until the end of the first Trump Administration. Ross has already cost the Cubs a league-average catcher in Welington Castillo, someone who would have been a perfect third catcher as the team brought along Schwarber. Nevertheless, Schwarber presents an opportunity, right now, to put an end to this nonsense. Here's hoping he forces the Cubs' hand in what is becoming a fascinating season on the North Side.

I just tweeted about this and I'll assume Sheehan managed to write this whole thing up in 5 minutes after seeing my tweet.

ETA: Someone on Twitter just told me that Ross has been "excellent." Good grief.

Well he picked a guy off first base, man. Did you miss that part? We have to shut up forever now.

I had no idea that he'd been that bad.  I don't completely pooh-pooh the concept of veteran leadership and clubhouse skills, but the Cubs simply cannot afford to carry that kind of offensive suckiness, even if it accompanies defensive excellence, which it doesn't.  He's got to go.

Frankly I don't get why Lester is so willing to hurt his own run support by demanding an automatic out in the lineup every time he pitches. In the first 17 games where Ross has started (not going to count last night because Schwarber as the DH basically cancelled out Ross as the catcher) the Cubs have averaged 2.7 runs per game and have been shut out 3 times. If my math is right in non-Ross starts (not counting last night in the interest of fairness) they've averaged about 4.5 runs per game.


It's obviously not just Ross' fault their offense declines when he's in there, considering Lester is usually countering the other team's ace as well, but it just seems bizarre that they'd not seek as much offensive help as they could in those games. Montero's not Michael Barrett, for fuck's sake. He's perfectly capable of providing even better defense and framing for Lester than Ross does.