As last season fades into a distant memory while a new one takes its place in the minds of fans, you can be certain that the reasons for failure are still fresh in the minds of the Cubs’ front office. The Cubs’ inability to hit the Mets’ vaunted pitching staff in the NLCS led Theo […]
Tag: Trevor Cahill
Competition in the Cubs’ Rotation? Maybe Not.
Now that we’re four games into spring training, it’s time for the worst and least-fruitful discussions to begin: the early looks at “position battles.” The Cubs’ main position battle is for the final two starter spots, which features incumbents Kyle Hendricks and Jason Hammel—who have the inside edge, to be honest—along with new Cub Adam Warren, […]
Embrace the Target: The Cubs’ Bullpen Options Are Good in 2016, Pt. II
Early last week, I reviewed the Cubs’ late inning bullpen options, or at least those options as they appear during the trial period that is known as Spring Training. With the amount of depth and flexibility the Cubs have on their bullpen roster, this is a neverending discussion with a large range of possible outcomes. And […]
The Four Swingmen of the Cub-pocalypse
Yesterday, my fellow contributor Stan Croussett sketched a picture of the 2016 season in which the Cubs give a decent amount of starts to three of their swingmen: Trevor Cahill, Clayton Richard, and Adam Warren. A combination of contract incentives, comments from the front office about their prospective usage, a need to rest the workhorse […]
Your Best Against My, Uh: The Back End of the Cubs’ 2016 Rotation
Over the past month we have learned that Trevor Cahill and Adam Warren have been told–Warren explicitly and Cahill via contractual incentives–that they will be used as starting pitchers during the 2016 season. But how can this be, when the Cubs made it a priority to acquire a clear the rotation arm in John Lackey as well, […]
Trevor Cahill and Unconventionality
During Saturday evening’s contest between the Cubs and the Cardinals, I noticed an interesting amount of curiosity on Twitter about Joe Maddon’s decision to bring Trevor Cahill into the ballgame in a critical eighth inning. Cahill was assigned the task of bridging the gap between Travis Wood, who had relieved starter Kyle Hendricks a few […]