The 2018 Cubes: 2 World, 2 Serious?

[SKO]

Time for a second ring, but also I don't want to derail the Yu Darvish thread with "WHO SHOULD MAKE THE ROSTER?" talk because there's usually a dedicated thread for that stuff, so here it is.

[Tonker]

Justin Grimm can do one.

[World's #1 Astros Fan]

Who bats leadoff?

Seems to be the only question going into Spring Training, aside from the last bullpen roster spot.

[Canadouche]

Who bats leadoff?

Seems to be the only question going into Spring Training, aside from the last bullpen roster spot.

Shouldn't be an issue - the Cubs have the greatest leadoff hitter in baseball history on their squad.

Regardless of who they start at leadoff, I hope/assume that by mid June they've identified their best option based on play up to that point, and that they continue to change the person in that role as needed based on situational hitting.

[R-V]

Who bats leadoff?

Seems to be the only question going into Spring Training, aside from the last bullpen roster spot.

Shouldn't be an issue - the Cubs have the greatest leadoff hitter in baseball history on their squad.

Regardless of who they start at leadoff, I hope/assume that by mid June they've identified their best option based on play up to that point, and that they continue to change the person in that role as needed based on situational hitting.

So you hope that by June, they've identified the one guy who is their best leadoff hitter, and that they then not use that person as their everyday leadoff hitter.

[World's #1 Astros Fan]

Who bats leadoff?

Seems to be the only question going into Spring Training, aside from the last bullpen roster spot.

Shouldn't be an issue - the Cubs have the greatest leadoff hitter in baseball history on their squad.

Regardless of who they start at leadoff, I hope/assume that by mid June they've identified their best option based on play up to that point, and that they continue to change the person in that role as needed based on situational hitting.

So you hope that by June, they've identified the one guy who is their best leadoff hitter, and that they then not use that person as their everyday leadoff hitter.

I'm confused by each of the last 2 posts.

I'm going to suggest Almora vs. lefties and Heyward vs. righties.  Neither is ideal, but the alternatives are not very appealing.  Personally, I wouldn't mind seeing Schwarber get another shot, but I'm pretty sure that's not going to happen.  Technically, Bryant would be a good leadoff hitter, but you'd be robbing yourself of a pretty big run-producer from the middle of the lineup--unless Joe goes back to having the pitcher batting 8th.  Still, I don't see that happening.

[Canadouche]

Who bats leadoff?

Seems to be the only question going into Spring Training, aside from the last bullpen roster spot.

Shouldn't be an issue - the Cubs have the greatest leadoff hitter in baseball history on their squad.

Regardless of who they start at leadoff, I hope/assume that by mid June they've identified their best option based on play up to that point, and that they continue to change the person in that role as needed based on situational hitting.

So you hope that by June, they've identified the one guy who is their best leadoff hitter, and that they then not use that person as their everyday leadoff hitter.

I'm sure the Cubs have their analysis about who would be best suited in that spot on any given day, and I'm sure that might change as the year progresses and their analysis is updated based on actual play.

[SKO]

Who bats leadoff?

Seems to be the only question going into Spring Training, aside from the last bullpen roster spot.

For now I'd put Almora as the lead off hitter vs lefties (.320/.377/.503 vs LHP in his career so far). Against RHP I'm not sure.

VS RHP:
Schwarber LF
Bryant 3B
Rizzo 1B
Contreras C
Happ CF
Russell SS
Baez 2B
Heyward/Zobrist RF

VS LHP
Almora CF
Bryant 3B
Rizzo 1B
Contreras C
Baez 2B
Happ RF
Russell SS
Zobrist LF

would be my arrangement for now, with Heyward/Zobrist/Happ playing time being mostly in favor of Happ unless Zobrist proves last year was more injury than age and looks like 2016 Zobrist or Heyward's work with Chili Davis fixes hahahaha I can't even finish that sentence

[SKO]

Who bats leadoff?

Seems to be the only question going into Spring Training, aside from the last bullpen roster spot.

For now I'd put Almora as the lead off hitter vs lefties (.320/.377/.503 vs LHP in his career so far). Against RHP I'm not sure.

VS RHP:
Schwarber LF
Bryant 3B
Rizzo 1B
Contreras C
Happ CF
Russell SS
Baez 2B
Heyward/Zobrist RF

VS LHP
Almora CF
Bryant 3B
Rizzo 1B
Contreras C
Baez 2B
Happ RF
Russell SS
Zobrist LF

would be my arrangement for now, with Heyward/Zobrist/Happ playing time being mostly in favor of Happ unless Zobrist proves last year was more injury than age and looks like 2016 Zobrist or Heyward's work with Chili Davis fixes hahahaha I can't even finish that sentence

DPD, people will balk at Schwarber at lead off bc a lot of morons blamed the Schwarber Leadoff Experiment for his slow start rather than "is still functionally a rookie and missed an entire year of development" but he has a career .344 OBP vs RHP and I'd bet it was even better than that vs RHP after his return from Iowa last year.

[World's #1 Astros Fan]

Who bats leadoff?

Seems to be the only question going into Spring Training, aside from the last bullpen roster spot.

For now I'd put Almora as the lead off hitter vs lefties (.320/.377/.503 vs LHP in his career so far). Against RHP I'm not sure.

VS RHP:
Schwarber LF
Bryant 3B
Rizzo 1B
Contreras C
Happ CF
Russell SS
Baez 2B
Heyward/Zobrist RF

VS LHP
Almora CF
Bryant 3B
Rizzo 1B
Contreras C
Baez 2B
Happ RF
Russell SS
Zobrist LF

would be my arrangement for now, with Heyward/Zobrist/Happ playing time being mostly in favor of Happ unless Zobrist proves last year was more injury than age and looks like 2016 Zobrist or Heyward's work with Chili Davis fixes hahahaha I can't even finish that sentence

If Russell can bounce back this year then we can live with Heyward in the lineup, even if he's still got a limp-dick bat.  I do like having a premier defender out there.  Whenever a well-struck ball is hit toward the gap in right-center I immediately feel confident that Heyward will run it down, whereas when, say, Jorge Soler was out there and a merely decently-struck ball was headed to straightaway right field, it would immediately make me feel nervous.

The challenge for Joe will be getting Happ his 350-400 plate appearances, so if Heyward is still not hitting, then he'll likely lose some at-bats to Happ but I'd still rather see Heyward out there most days. I really want  to see Almora play CF every day, but I understand Happ will probably be out there from time-to-time, hopefully just to give Almora  a blow (against tough righties) and not as part of a platoon.  I think Happ will get most of his playing time at 2nd base--when Javy sits, when Russell sits (with Javy covering short) and when Bryant sits (Javy to 3rd).   Of course those guys aren't sitting every week--maybe once every 2 weeks?--so Happ's playing time will need to be augmented with some OF rotation.  If Happ is the go-to for when Bryant, Russell, Baez, Almora, Heyward and Schwarber all get a day off, and assuming this is one-day-for-every-2-weeks, then that would come to about 12 starts a month for Happ--72 starts a year, which would bring him to only around 250 or so plate appearances a year.  Maddon will have to figure it out--that's why he makes the big bucks.

Personally, I really see Zobrist sliding into full-time bench jockey role but I understand Maddon probably doesn't see it that way, which of course creates a bigger challenge if he's already struggling with getting Happ enough at-bats.  But again, here's hoping Maddon can figure this shit out.

[SKO]

Who bats leadoff?

Seems to be the only question going into Spring Training, aside from the last bullpen roster spot.

For now I'd put Almora as the lead off hitter vs lefties (.320/.377/.503 vs LHP in his career so far). Against RHP I'm not sure.

VS RHP:
Schwarber LF
Bryant 3B
Rizzo 1B
Contreras C
Happ CF
Russell SS
Baez 2B
Heyward/Zobrist RF

VS LHP
Almora CF
Bryant 3B
Rizzo 1B
Contreras C
Baez 2B
Happ RF
Russell SS
Zobrist LF

would be my arrangement for now, with Heyward/Zobrist/Happ playing time being mostly in favor of Happ unless Zobrist proves last year was more injury than age and looks like 2016 Zobrist or Heyward's work with Chili Davis fixes hahahaha I can't even finish that sentence

If Russell can bounce back this year then we can live with Heyward in the lineup, even if he's still got a limp-dick bat.  I do like having a premier defender out there.  Whenever a well-struck ball is hit toward the gap in right-center I immediately feel confident that Heyward will run it down, whereas when, say, Jorge Soler was out there and a merely decently-struck ball was headed to straightaway right field, it would immediately make me feel nervous.

The challenge for Joe will be getting Happ his 350-400 plate appearances, so if Heyward is still not hitting, then he'll likely lose some at-bats to Happ but I'd still rather see Heyward out there most days. I really want  to see Almora play CF every day, but I understand Happ will probably be out there from time-to-time, hopefully just to give Almora  a blow (against tough righties) and not as part of a platoon.  I think Happ will get most of his playing time at 2nd base--when Javy sits, when Russell sits (with Javy covering short) and when Bryant sits (Javy to 3rd).   Of course those guys aren't sitting every week--maybe once every 2 weeks?--so Happ's playing time will need to be augmented with some OF rotation.  If Happ is the go-to for when Bryant, Russell, Baez, Almora, Heyward and Schwarber all get a day off, and assuming this is one-day-for-every-2-weeks, then that would come to about 12 starts a month for Happ--72 starts a year, which would bring him to only around 250 or so plate appearances a year.  Maddon will have to figure it out--that's why he makes the big bucks.

Personally, I really see Zobrist sliding into full-time bench jockey role but I understand Maddon probably doesn't see it that way, which of course creates a bigger challenge if he's already struggling with getting Happ enough at-bats.  But again, here's hoping Maddon can figure this shit out.

Heyward finished 20th in fWAR among all right fielders with at least 450 plate appearances last year. 16 of the 19 right fielders ahead of him were negative value, defensively. Ian Happ graded out positively somehow as a center fielder last year (per UZR, anyway), so I bet he'd be quite good full time in a corner. The Cubs staff figures to get a lot of groundballs and K's this year.

Long story short: right field defense isn't that important at all and was supposed to be the thing that bumped Heyward from an above average hitter into an overall elite player. With the pool noodle he's been swinging he's dropped all of the way down to a below average right fielder, all things considered. I don't care if Russell bouncing back means they could "afford" Heyward in right. I'm not interested in building a lineup that can cover for Jason Heyward. The best team they can field probably doesn't include Heyward at all unless he makes a massive improvement offensively.


You can always insert Heyward when you have late leads anyways. I doubt many teams are concerned with organizing their lineup in such a way as to make sure they can include their All Glove, No Hit fourth outfielder every day.

[Quality Start Machine]

Unless the Brewers shock the world and sign both Arrieta and Cobb, the first 162 games of the year will be plenty of time to sort shit out before the Cubs will have to break too much of a sweat. Let's swee how it all plays out.

[SKO]

Unless the Brewers shock the world and sign both Arrieta and Cobb, the first 162 games of the year will be plenty of time to sort shit out before the Cubs will have to break too much of a sweat. Let's swee how it all plays out.

I mostly agree with this sentiment, but I'd be in favor just playing the best lineup in the first half and boat racing the NLC and then "Jason Heyward gets another chance to prove himself before kicking himself in the dick repeatedly" can wait until the division's already salted away.

[R-V]

Thinking about playing time in terms of plate appearances rather than platoons, you can get everyone who matters to 500 PA's if you just parcel out Jay's playing time from last year:



Managing is easy. All you need is a spreadsheet.

[Quality Start Machine]

Thinking about playing time in terms of plate appearances rather than platoons, you can get everyone who matters to 500 PA's if you just parcel out Jay's playing time from last year:



Managing is easy. All you need is a spreadsheet.

They're going to score more runs, so there will be even more plate appearances.