NEWS/RUMORS/AROUND MLB Thread

Kershaw starts Sat's game, Hill Sunday, Maeda Monday

Andrew Toles has "tweaked his batting stance". No longer doing the backwards toe tap, though that was mostly gone by the end of the season and resulted in a bit more pop out of him. Will be interesting to see how that goes this Spring and if the club uses it as an excuse to have him start the year in AAA.

 

Besides going on a plant based diet in the off season, Grandal also spent the winter trying to improve his swing from the RH side. It sounds like he has done a good job of generating a bit more loft with it as injuries caused the swing to really flatten out over the last couple of years.

 

Fucking plant based diet? Pfffff

Go for a roid based diet instead, and don't suck shit in the playoffs.

 

Urias went up against Seager, Turner, Grandal and one other guy yesterday. The report is that he looked downright unhittable.

Kazmir and Ryu are throwing live BP today. Though they are facing MiLB hitters. Makes sense since Ryu is slowly making his way back and they have been working with Kazmir on his mechanics since they were so out of whack due to the injury.

 

How many big league innings do you think we can get out of him in 2017? 130?

 

If I added it up correctly, last year between minors, majors, and postseason he threw 127.2 innings.

 

You would think MGT would want him to throw 150 or 170 to get him close to the 200 mark, but by keeping him in extended ST I think we will be lucky to get 130 out of him this year.

 

I can smell that baseball is back intown

 

noon tomorrow!!!!!!

 

I'm feeling some measured optimism about Ryu after today's session.

 

• Prior to Chase Utley’s agreement to return to the Dodgers, the Cubs briefly spoke to the veteran infielder about a bench/pinch-hitting role, Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports recently tweeted. The talks never became serious, however, and a formal offer was never made to Utley’s camp. The Cubs clearly value depth, though it’s tough to imagine how Utley would receive any semblance of regular playing time with the reigning World Series champs. Javier Baez’s emergence may have already pushed Ben Zobrist into a crowded outfield, and the team also has Tommy La Stella on the roster as an additional infield option on the bench.

 

Whatever the goal innings are, I suspect the team will error on the low end. If we make the playoffs and go deep in the playoffs, we will want Urias without any restriction. A long playoff run could add up to 30 innings onto his workload.

 

I was like fuck I never saw it coming........lol.

 

Yeah, I'm feeling the same. All reports thus far have been positive and there is no denying that if he's back to where he was before, this team will be tough to beat. I'm also under the idea that this could be the FO trying to up his stock in the event they do need to make a move when camp breaks. Who knows, but it would be damn nice to have the missing arms from the past couple of seasons back in action and performing up to their capabilities.

 

hyeah: