Cub of Coffee 3/28/24: Cubs 3, Rangers 4

Despite leading three times in this game, it felt like the Cubs were playing from behind after Justin Steele left his start with an injury in the fifth inning. Thoughts follow...

Merryweather the fireman?
Why was Julian Merryweather the first man in after the Steele injury? It’s possible he was simply able to get ready the fastest, but it may also be an indicator that Counsell is thinking of using him in a fireman role this season.

The splitter is back
Although he allowed two deep fly outs, it looked like Mark Leiter Jr. has his splitter back. It was his most-used pitch in his outing (almost 50%), and he got four whiffs on six swings against it.

Michael Busch’s good at-bats
Busch saw 21 pitches in his four plate appearances tonight while only making one out. He combined that with heads-up baserunning on an incorrectly-called foul ball which gave the Cubs the lead.

Reliever velocity watch
Velocity fluctuations are not unusual this time of year, but are interesting to monitor. Merryweather’s fastball was down a tick, though that could be a result of having to get ready in a hurry. Yency Almonte’s sweeper was down 1.7 MPH from last season, though his sinker was only down 1.2 MPH. After velocity concerns this spring, Héctor Neris looked solid, much more like he can fill the role the Cubs signed him to. Adbert Alzolay’s velo was also down a tick and he didn’t get any whiffs. Fingers crossed it was just an off night.

Pitching depth
The Cubs are staring down what looks to be at least a couple of weeks without Justin Steele or Jameson Taillon, and they had to use Drew Smyly in extra innings. This team has a lot of serviceable starting depth, but none with the same current upside as Steele. It will be interesting to see how Counsell manages the pitching staff during this stretch.

It was great having baseball back today—if only the Cubs played tomorrow to help get the taste of the loss out of everyone’s mouth. Hopefully Steele’s injury is not too serious and Kyle Hendricks can shut down the dangerous Rangers lineup on Saturday.