Biggest Cubbie addition: Rossy as manager

[tehmpus]

David Ross is gonna be one hell of a manager.  Each time he heads to the mound, I imagine what he's saying... from leaving Hendricks in for an entire game, or going to talk to Lester, Ross is making the right moves.  

Hendricks conversation:  You've got this last hitter before I pull you.  Get a quick out, or you're done.

Lester conversation:  Don't even think about a no-hitter.  You're not going that long.  Get these guys out as quickly as you can.  

[GoCubsGo4ever]

Too bad he can’t pitch out of pen.

[batman66]

I said the same thing when people were judging off season moves or lack there of.
I said out of any transactions throughout the game that hiring Ross is going to be one of the more impactful ones.

[foolforthecity]

He is learning every day. Last night was poor judgement on leaving Kimbrel in, but that is the learning curve. Hopefully if that happens again, he will pull the trigger sooner.

[tehmpus]

Jul 28, 2020 12:53:20 GMT -5 foolforthecity said:

He is learning every day. Last night was poor judgement on leaving Kimbrel in, but that is the learning curve. Hopefully if that happens again, he will pull the trigger sooner.

As I posted last winter, I hope Kimbrel has adjusted his style of pitching to reflect his loss of velocity.  He cannot just be a flamethrower anymore.  

[Mike]

The consensus last night was that Kimbrel was tipping his knuckle curve and the Reds didn't swing at any of them.
As a manager, you have to recognize that ASAP and adjust accordingly... Kimbrel's wildness seems like a secondary issue.

[batman66]

I dont think he made a mistake leaving Kimbrel in.
He has to get his confidence back and pulling him wont help that issue.
But you cant afford to let a game like that get away so
I might have pulled him a batter sooner .

[batman66]

I dont think it was tipping the knuckle curve at all, it was the only pitch he was getting strikes on.
He could not hit the zone with a fastball to save his life.
Even the ones he did get strikes on were right on the border of Kzone.
But he was hitting 97 so I'm not worried about velocity.
What I am worried about and I mentioned it in another thread is he is a guy that feeds off adrenaline and with no crowd to help get you pumped its going to be a different atmosphere on the mound.

[idontcare]

Jul 28, 2020 14:25:25 GMT -5 batman66 said:

I dont think it was tipping the knuckle curve at all, it was the only pitch he was getting strikes on.
He could not hit the zone with a fastball to save his life.
Even the ones he did get strikes on were right on the border of Kzone.
But he was hitting 97 so I'm not worried about velocity.
What I am worried about and I mentioned it in another thread is he is a guy that feeds off adrenaline and with no crowd to help get you pumped its going to be a different atmosphere on the mound.

I'm not really buying the whole "feeds of adrenaline" argument. Kimbrel was pretty awful last season, he was awful in his first outing this season. I would say it probably has more to do with something between his ears than the lack of crowd noise. 

I personally think what has happened is that Kimbrel is over throwing his fastball. He didn't have a spring training last season, this year it was abbreviated so what I think is that he attempted to ramp things up to game speed too quickly and the result is he is over throwing and he cannot control where it's going. 

[batman66]

I did not say feeding off the crowd was the problem.
I am just worried it could contribute to his struggles.
I think its in his head that he lost velocity so like you said he is overthrowing.
I meant it in the way he has actually lost velocity and in his head he had the mentality to try to prove he has not.

[tehmpus]

Jul 30, 2020 17:52:23 GMT -5 batman66 said:

I did not say feeding off the crowd was the problem.
I am just worried it could contribute to his struggles.
I think its in his head that he lost velocity so like you said he is overthrowing.
I meant it in the way he has actually lost velocity and in his head he had the mentality to try to prove he has not.

I agree mostly.  

Seems that pitchers that lose velocity, do overthrow in an attempt to show that they haven't.  

Problem is, when you overthrow... the speed gun looks good, but your control vanishes.  Throwing a controlled 97 and a wild 97 are two different things.  

Like I said before, the solution for Kimbrel isn't to just somehow "regain" his lost velocity, but to alter how he pitches in order to not just be a flamethrower anymore.  We need to see more craftiness from him at this point, and adjustments.  

[GoCubsGo4ever]

One thing I've noticed with 9 games in: AA hasn't led off a game even against lefties. That has to be an improvement!

[batman66]

Yep ,they need to adjust Kimbrel's approach because its no longer working.
He used to throw 98 before 98 was common so he was ahead of the game.
Now that just about every staff has guys that can and he has lost a tick they are sitting on his fastball and he has to be tipping his breaking pitches because they are not swinging at the knuckle curve and a lot of the non swings looked like damn good pitchers where you say how did that guy not swing.
Hopefully they can get him fixed and soon.

[trav768]

small sample size, but I gotta say I love Ross so far as manager. team is 7-2. they seem to have that fun we saw in 2015-2016. lineups been fairly consistent. letting starters go longer as he trusts them. even some of bullpen arms gone multiple innings. starters been consistently good. gotta get the bullpen straighten out, they finally had great performance in yesterday's ball game. that be a confidence booster they needed. all in all Ross done a great job.

[batman66]

Aug 3, 2020 14:55:03 GMT -5 trav768 said:

small sample size, but I gotta say I love Ross so far as manager. team is 7-2. they seem to have that fun we saw in 2015-2016. lineups been fairly consistent. letting starters go longer as he trusts them. even some of bullpen arms gone multiple innings. starters been consistently good. gotta get the bullpen straighten out, they finally had great performance in yesterday's ball game. that be a confidence booster they needed. all in all Ross done a great job.

Well I figured Ross could read pitchers better than Joe ,hell better than most in the game so as far as handling pitchers I thought that would be a strength of his.

[fine09]

Aug 4, 2020 7:45:46 GMT -5 batman66 said:

Aug 3, 2020 14:55:03 GMT -5 trav768 said:

small sample size, but I gotta say I love Ross so far as manager. team is 7-2. they seem to have that fun we saw in 2015-2016. lineups been fairly consistent. letting starters go longer as he trusts them. even some of bullpen arms gone multiple innings. starters been consistently good. gotta get the bullpen straighten out, they finally had great performance in yesterday's ball game. that be a confidence booster they needed. all in all Ross done a great job.

Well I figured Ross could read pitchers better than Joe ,hell better than most in the game so as far as handling pitchers I thought that would be a strength of his.

I agree 100%.  Then again if the BP had blown 1/2 of the games where they struggled terribly for the first 8 games & we are sitting at 4-6 this thread probably takes on a whole different feel about now..

I like Rossy very much & as of yet I really haven't seen any issues where he completely dropped the ball which is great.  Having Green right there beside him has to be a huge help to a rookie manager.

Keep it up Rossy!  Go Cubs!!

[batman66]

Aug 4, 2020 7:52:15 GMT -5 fine09 said:

Aug 4, 2020 7:45:46 GMT -5 batman66 said:

Well I figured Ross could read pitchers better than Joe ,hell better than most in the game so as far as handling pitchers I thought that would be a strength of his.

I agree 100%.  Then again if the BP had blown 1/2 of the games where they struggled terribly for the first 8 games & we are sitting at 4-6 this thread probably takes on a whole different feel about now..

I like Rossy very much & as of yet I really haven't seen any issues where he completely dropped the ball which is great.  Having Green right there beside him has to be a huge help to a rookie manager.

Keep it up Rossy!  Go Cubs!!

Not really because if the pen did blow those and turn them into L's I can't blame Ross.
Even Kimbrel's first disaster I understood why he was giving him a chance to get out of it.
And regarding the rest of the pen , it takes some time to figure out who to trust in what situation.

[fine09]

Aug 4, 2020 8:59:52 GMT -5 batman66 said:

Aug 4, 2020 7:52:15 GMT -5 fine09 said:

I agree 100%.  Then again if the BP had blown 1/2 of the games where they struggled terribly for the first 8 games & we are sitting at 4-6 this thread probably takes on a whole different feel about now..

I like Rossy very much & as of yet I really haven't seen any issues where he completely dropped the ball which is great.  Having Green right there beside him has to be a huge help to a rookie manager.

Keep it up Rossy!  Go Cubs!!

Not really because if the pen did blow those and turn them into L's I can't blame Ross.
Even Kimbrel's first disaster I understood why he was giving him a chance to get out of it.
And regarding the rest of the pen , it takes some time to figure out who to trust in what situation.

I agree completely that it wouldn't have been Rossy's fault had that happened, but when has reality ever stopped fans from piling on the manager when things go wrong?  I know that you wouldn't but many others would in a heartbeat..